Jamgon Kongtrul (1813-1899 CE) was a Tibetan Buddhist student and scholar who trained deeply and wrote prolifically. By the age of thirty, he had received teaching and empowerment from sixty lamas of various sects and lineages. The following brief excerpt is from The Torch of Certainty, a manual giving instruction on foundational meditation practices. One of the foundations is ‘impermanence,’ addressed in this passage.

Think That Nothing Lasts

First, the external world is produced, then it persists. Finally, destroyed by fire and flood, nothing remains of it, not even specks of dust!

Last year, this year, yesterday, today, even months and years, are quickly used up.

All living beings, the contents of the world, are impermanent. First you were a child; then a youth; now an old person. Each day, each month quickly brings us closer and closer to death. Meditate on this and think, “What should I do?”

Translation Judith Hanson