What is "Impermanence" (Anicca)?
什么是“无常”？

All phenomena in the universe exist in mutually dependent interrelationships, so that when this arises, that arises; when this ceases, that ceases. There is no permanent existence at all. Therefore, all phenomena are impermanent in nature, arising and ceasing from instant (khaṇa) to instant. This is what is meant by the "nature of impermanence" and "extinction in every Khaṇa" mentioned in the eleven implications of Paṭiccasamppāda, and also meant by the canonical saying: "Impermanent are all component things; subject are they to birth, and then decay." ("Aniccā vata saṅkhāra, Uppādavaya dhammino"). "All Saṅkhāra" denotes all things or phenomena. The word "Saṅkhāra" means flux and change. Since all phenomena are in fluid and changing, they are named "Saṅkhāra". The term itself implies the meaning of impermanence. The words "birth" and "cessation" actually cover three meanings: origination, destruction and cessation, or four meanings: origination or arising (uppāda or jāti), maintenance or existence (ṭhitika), destruction or decay (jarā or aññathatta) and cessation (nirodha). Each of the four denotes a characteristic or a state of a phenomenon: the birth of a phenomenon is called origination, the moment when it exists and functions is called maintenance, the moment when it functions but begins to decay is called destruction and the perishing of a phenomenon is called cessation. A khaṇa is a very short moment. According to the description in Buddhist texts, the flicking of a finger spans 60 khaṇas. "Extinguishing in every khaṇa" means that origination, maintenance, destruction and cessation are all completed within one khaṇa. Some people ask "why do we speak of 'instantaneously arising and ceasing' when the life-span of a person is usually about a few decades?" The Buddhist answer is that a human being's life from birth to death is a process consisting of a succession of khaṇas. A human life-span, on the whole, also goes through origination, existence, decay and extinction, i.e. birth, ageing, sickness and death; but each constituent part consists of continuous arising, existence, destruction and cessation, khaṇa by khaṇa. Buddhist scriptures hold that the human body is completely renewed every 12 years. An entity's arising, existing, decay and ceasing or a world's origination, maintenance, destruction and cessation actually consist of instantaneous originations and cessations. Buddhist theory holds that all phenomena, without exception, originate and cease in every Khaṇa, and that any admission of permanent or unchanging entity, which is called the eternity belief (sassata diṭṭhi), is wrong.
宇宙一切现象，都是此生彼生、此灭彼灭的相待的互存关系，其间没有恒常的存在。所以任何现象，它的性质是无常的，表现为刹那（Khaṇa）刹那生灭的。这就是十一义中“性无常义”和“刹那灭义”。佛经中说：“诸行无常，是生灭法”，就是这个意思。“诸行”，就是指一切事物或一切现象。“行”是迁流变动的意思，一切现象都是迁流变动的，所以叫做“行”。这个字的本身就包含了无常的意义。“生灭”二字，实际上包括着“生、异、灭”三字或“生、住、异、灭”四字。这里每个字表示着一种相状：一个现象的生起叫做“生”；当它存在着作用的时候叫做“住”；虽有作用而同时在变异叫做“异”；现象的消灭叫做“灭”。刹那是极短的时间，佛经中说弹一下指头的时间有六十刹那。刹那生灭，就是一刹那中具足生、住、异、灭。有人问，一个人的寿命一般有几十年，怎么是刹那生灭呢？佛教把人的一生从生到死叫做一期，一期是由刹那刹那相续而有的。对一个人的整体来说，他有一期的生住异灭，即生、老、病、死；但从他的组成各部分来说，则是刹那刹那的生住异灭。佛经说人的身体每十二年全部换过一次。一个物体的生住异灭，一个世界的成住坏空，实际都是刹那生灭相续的存在。照佛教的教义，一切现象没有不是刹那生灭的。佛教把主张“有常恒不变的事物”的见解叫做“常见”，认为是错误的。