On Permanence

"If you would be free of greed, first you have to leave egotism behind. The best mental exercise for relinquishing egotism is contemplating impermanence." (Eihei Dōgen, "Shōbōgenzō Zuimonki" ["The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Record of Things Heard"], 1235-1238)

"One must be deeply aware of the impermanence of the world." (Eihei Dōgen, Shōbōgenzō Zuimonki ["The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Record of Things Heard"], 1235-1238)

"When you ride in a boat and watch the shore, you might assume that the shore is moving. But when you keep your eyes closely on the boat, you can see that the boat moves. Similarly, if you examine many things with a confused mind, you might suppose that your mind and nature are permanent. But when you practice intimately and return to where you are, it will be clear that there is nothing that has unchanging self." (Eihei Dōgen, "Shōbōgenzō Zuimonki" ["The Treasury of the True Dharma Eye: Record of Things Heard"], 1235-1238)

"Meditation is a vehicle for opening to the truth of this impermanence on deeper and deeper levels." (Jack Kornfield & Joseph Goldstein, "Seeking the Heart of Wisdom: The Path of Insight Meditation", 1987) 

"[...] the ultimate idea of rebirth is not purely the idea of physical birth and death. Physical birth and death are very crude examples of it. Actually, rebirth takes place every moment, every instant. Every instant is death; every instant is birth. It’s a changing process: there’s nothing you can grasp onto; everything is changing. But there is some continuity, of course - the change is the continuity. The impermanence of the rebirth is the continuity of it. And because of that, there are possibilities of developing and possibilities of regressing."(Chögyam Trungpa, "Transcending Madness The Experience of the Six Bardos", 2010)

"One day some people came to the master and asked: How can you be happy in a world of such impermanence, where you cannot protect your loved ones from harm, illness or death? The master held up a glass and said: Someone gave me this glass; It holds my water admirably and it glistens in the sunlight. I touch it and it rings! One day the wind may blow it off the shelf, or my elbow may knock it from the table. I know this glass is already broken, so I enjoy it - incredibly." (Ajahn Chah)