Words of My Perfect Teacher - Week 3 (Impermanence, Part 1)

We continued Patrul Rinpoche's commentary on the Longchen Nyingtik ngöndro,The Words of My Perfect Teacher, following Rinpoche's teachings from San Francisco in 1999-2002. We started Chapter Two, "Impermanence" (from p.39 in the Padmakara translation of The Words of My Perfect Teacher), and spent most of our time discussing our understanding of impermanence and how we can live our lives with an awareness of impermanence. A recording of our conversation is available here.

The topics we covered included:

• Impermanence and death: how we relate to the process of death and dying
• The difference between "post hoc", reactive applications of impermanence (e.g. "this too shall pass" once something bad - or good - has happened) compared to impermanence as a view to be applied as an approach to life
• Impermanence and flow: How life/reality has the interdependent, fluid, nondual quality of flow. How our (eternalist) tendency to solidify experience (and create a sense of permanence) leads us to interrupt the flow of life as we attempt to cling to (or reject) experience.
• The difference between flow as impermanence/nonduality/compassion and flow as a 1960s-style (or New Age) "going with the flow"
• What creates blocks to our remaining in the flow? Where do we lack awareness of (aspects of) flow? How do we choose not to engage in the flow?
• Impermanence and compassion: how meditation on impermanence gives rise to tenderness, the genuine heart of sadness, and compassion
• Impermanence as path