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anicca

anicca

1 9.9
The idea that nothing lasts and everything changes
  • noun
  • /əˈnɪkə/
  • Specialized
: anicca
  • According to Buddhist teachings, anicca refers to the idea that everything is constantly changing.

Examples

  • The notion of anicca helps practitioners understand that attachment leads to suffering due to the impermanence of all things.

  • All reality is transitory (anicca, in Pali).

    Blog text (7)
  • Everything that exists is impermanent (anicca) and not-self (anatta); nothing is permanent and "self."

    Academic text (1990)
  • The meditator experiences insights into the nature of ordinary experience and phenomena as anicca, dukkha, anatta: as impermanent, unsatisfactory, and selfless.

    Academic text (1994)
  • In meditation, one reflects on the principle of anicca to cultivate a deeper awareness of life's fleeting nature.

Antonyms

283 3.1

Being steady and not likely to change

14 5.5

A situation where something lasts a long time without big change

Surface Forms

anicca singular
aniccas plural

Etymology

Anicca comes from old Indian languages and is made of a- 'not' and nitya or nicca 'lasting', so it literally means 'not lasting'. That is why in Buddhism anicca names the idea that all things are impermanent and always change.