Quotation
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“All conditioned things are impermanent. When one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering.”
The Buddha · Buddhism · Ancient · verse collection of the early tradition
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is that whatever is conditioned will come apart, and seeing that with wisdom, not merely agreeing, loosens the grip that produces suffering. A competing reading hears a bleak claim that nothing matters, which the verse does not say: impermanence is treated as the feature that makes release conceivable. The lines are the impermanence verse in the Dhammapada, inside a set of three marks, and translators differ on the word rendered 'conditioned things'. This is not the poster about thinking yourself into a new identity.
Did The Buddha really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Standard sense of the famous anicca verse. Translators differ on 'conditioned things' (sankhara). This is canonical tradition, not the fake line 'the mind is everything; what you think, you become.'
Where it comes from
Dhammapada, verses 277–279 (the impermanence verse)
Approximate date: verse collection of the early tradition.
How to use it
Use the verse on one thing you are clutching as if it could be frozen: a role at work, a mood you think defines you, a person's opinion on a parents' evening. The seeing is the practice, not the agreement that posters are wise. Nothing in the verse says the role was worthless while it lasted.
A mindset reading
Impermanence is not automatically depressing in this tradition. It is the feature that makes a release conceivable. The habit is to notice where you are demanding that a conditioned thing stay, and to call that demand the extra suffering.
Understand the philosophy
The verse answers the wish to find a permanent refuge inside what is put together. Anicca means impermanent, and sankhara are conditioned things, formations put together from causes. The three marks of such existence, in early teaching, are impermanence, suffering, and non-self. Wisdom here means direct understanding, not the ability to recite the line on a bad day.
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FAQ
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is that whatever is conditioned will come apart, and seeing that with wisdom, not merely agreeing, loosens the grip that produces suffering. A competing reading hears a bleak claim that nothing matters, which the verse does not say: impermanence is treated as the feature that makes release conceivable. The lines are the impermanence verse in the Dhammapada, inside a set of three marks, and translators differ on the word rendered 'conditioned things'. This is not the poster about thinking yourself into a new identity.
Did The Buddha really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Standard sense of the famous anicca verse. Translators differ on 'conditioned things' (sankhara). This is canonical tradition, not the fake line 'the mind is everything; what you think, you become.'
Which work is it in?
Dhammapada, verses 277–279 (the impermanence verse) Approximate date: verse collection of the early tradition.