This too shall pass. Whatever you are going through right now, the pain, the fear, the exhaustion, the grief, there is one thing the Buddha returned to again and again across his forty-five years of teaching.
Nothing lasts.
Not the suffering. Not the darkness. Not the storm you are standing in right now. This is not wishful thinking. It is one of the central truths of Buddhist philosophy, and it is available to you in this moment, exactly as you are.
“Impermanence is a principle of harmony. When we don’t struggle against it, we are in harmony with reality.”
– Pema Chödrön, on the Buddha’s teaching of anicca
What the Buddha Taught About Impermanence
The Pali word is anicca, impermanence. It is one of the three marks of existence in Buddhist teaching, alongside suffering and the absence of a permanent self. The Buddha did not teach impermanence as a reason for despair. He taught it as a reason for release.
If everything passes, and it does, then no pain is permanent. No loss is the final word. No dark season lasts indefinitely. The same law that ends happiness also ends suffering. Anicca cuts both ways, and that is precisely the point.
The lotus is the Buddha’s most enduring symbol for this reason. It grows in muddy water, not despite the mud, but because of it. The conditions that feel like obstruction are often the very conditions from which something new can emerge.
Why We Struggle Against What Is Passing
The Buddha observed that most human suffering comes not from pain itself, but from our resistance to it. We cling to what is pleasant, hoping it will stay. We push against what is painful, hoping it will leave faster. Both are a form of fighting with reality, and reality always wins.
When we understand that this moment, however difficult, is already in motion, already changing, already moving toward something else, the grip of suffering loosens slightly. Not because the pain disappears, but because we stop adding to it with the belief that it is permanent.
This Too Shall Pass: How to Hold the Teaching When You Are Suffering
“This too shall pass” is easy to say and hard to feel. Here is how to bring it closer in difficult moments:
- Name what is happening without adding a timeline. Instead of “I will always feel this way,” try: “I feel this right now.” The present tense is true. The always is not.
- Look for what has already changed. Think of a pain from five years ago that felt permanent. It passed. This one will too.
- Let nature remind you. The Buddha pointed to seasons, rivers, and the sky for a reason. After every storm, flowers bloom again. After every night, the sun rises. This is not metaphor. It is the law of all things.
- Don’t demand that it pass faster. Resistance adds weight. Allowing, not approving, but allowing, is what lets impermanence do its work.
Whatever you are carrying today, it is already moving. Already changing. Already, in ways you cannot yet see, beginning to pass.
You will rise again. 🙏
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Source: Anicca (impermanence), Pali Canon, Buddhist teaching on the three marks of existence
Tags: this too shall pass buddha, impermanence buddhism, anicca teaching, buddhist teaching on suffering, hope and healing buddhism, everything changes buddha
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