On his deathbed, The Buddha spoke to his followers:
"Behold, O monks, this is my last advice to you. All component things in the world are changeable. They are not lasting. Work hard to gain your own salvation."
Then the Buddha lapsed into the jhana stages, or meditative absorptions. Going from level to level, one after the other, ever deeper and deeper. Then he came out of the meditative absorption for the last time and passed into nirvana, leaving nothing whatever behind that can cause rebirth again in this or any other world.
The Buddha passed away, entering the final nirvana, in 543 BC on a full-moon day in the month of May, known in the Indian calendar as Vesak.
These final words of The Buddha are loosely summarized as "all things must pass"; they are also the title of a triple album by George Harrison . The statement that "All Things Must Pass is one of the greatest truths of all, simple and straight forward.
All living things will die, all objects will change and be no more – from mountains to animals, from the rocks on a shoreline the stars in the galazy, to the galaxy and universe itself. All Things Must Pass. However, it does not apply just to the material world but also to the phases of our lives. We pass from childhood to adult, from mid-life to death . We pass from a good period of life- moments of joy and fruifulness- to difficult times of challenge and pain. The winter of our lives is always followed by the renewal of spring the warm summers of life are replaced by cold winters. As the words of the Bible and song by the 60's group, The Byrds, say "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven..." (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
Relationships are also transitory . Marriages end, children grow up and leave home; people lose jobs or retire. We all experience little deaths and rebirths throughout life. Eventually, we all get sick and must give up our bodies to death. All Things Must Pass.
Is anything permanent? Our non-physical Self which lives in the eternal now; the present is all that is permanent.
Sunrise doesn't last all morning
A cloudburst doesn't last all day
Seems my love is up
And has left you with no warning
But it's not always be this grey
All things must pass
All things must pass away
Sunset doesn't last all evening
A mind can blow those clouds away
After all this my love is up
And must be leaving
It's not always been this grey
All things must pass
All things must pass away
All things must pass
None of life's strings can last
So I must be on my way
And face another day
Darkness only stays at nighttime
In the morning it will fade away
Daylight is good at arriving
At the right time
It's not always
Going to be this grey
All things must pass
All things must pass away
All things must pass
All things must pass away.
~ George Harrison
