無常(むじょう)

むじょう
noun
impermanence, transience
academic
See also: 無情(むじょう) (heartless, merciless)
1. impermanence, transience
The Buddhist concept that all things are transient and nothing remains unchanged. A fundamental idea in Japanese aesthetics and philosophy, closely tied to the appreciation of fleeting beauty.
人生(じんせい)の無常(むじょう)を感(かん)じる。
I feel the impermanence of life.
散(ち)りゆく桜(さくら)に無常(むじょう)を感(かん)じるのは日本人(にほんじん)ならではの感性(かんせい)だ。
Feeling impermanence in falling cherry blossoms is a sensibility unique to the Japanese.
「祇園精舎(ぎおんしょうじゃ)の鐘(かね)の声(こえ)、諸行無常(しょぎょうむじょう)の響(ひび)きあり」は、『平家物語(へいけものがたり)』の冒頭(ぼうとう)として有名(ゆうめい)だ。
"The sound of the bells of Gion Shoja echoes the impermanence of all things" is famous as the opening of The Tale of the Heike.

Cultural note

無常(むじょう) is one of the most important concepts in Japanese culture, originating from Buddhist philosophy. The idea that all phenomena are transient pervades Japanese literature, art, and aesthetics — from the opening of the 平家物語(へいけものがたり) (The Tale of the Heike) to the appreciation of 桜(さくら) (cherry blossoms) precisely because they fall.

Key expression

諸行無常(しょぎょうむじょう) (all things are impermanent) is a core Buddhist teaching and one of the most widely known four-character idioms in Japanese.

Related words

  • 無常(むじょう)観(かん): a worldview based on impermanence
  • 無常(むじょう)の風(かぜ): the "wind of impermanence" (poetic expression for death)
  • 儚(はかな)い: fleeting, ephemeral (an aesthetic concept closely related to 無常(むじょう))

Common collocations

Related Words

Related: 儚(はかな)い (fleeting, ephemeral)
Compare: 流転(るてん) (constant change)
Compare: はかなさ (transience)
Compare: 常住(じょうじゅう) (permanent residence)
Compare: 物の哀れ (the pathos of things)
general
Added 2026.2.24 20:43 · Revised 2026.9.2 13:01
13000/13422_mujou