Is this fake Buddha quote, 'Everything that has a beginning has an end', synonymous with Dhammapada verse, ‘All conditioned things are impermanent', the Buddha quote from the Dhammapada, verse 277?
If it's not synonymous, can somebody explain to me, how it's semantically different?
It is somewhat synonymous, just a bit simplified.
The original quote is:
yaṃ kiñci samudayadhammaṃ, sabbaṃ taṃ nirodhadhamman'ti
SN 35.74
or
"whatever is samudaya-able -- all that is nirodha-able".
Samudaya means "to come together", "to arise from coincidence of multiple conditions". Nirodha means "to stop" or "to arrest".
So the detailed meaning of the phrase is "Whatever phenomenon emerges from the coincidence of multiple conditions, it will be no more when one of those necessary conditions is removed so it no longer contributes to the arising of the phenomenon."
Compare that with "everything that has a beginning has an end". If you really think about it, the meaning is the same, but while the detailed analysis is very obvious in the original quote it's rather hidden in the simplified one.
Brahmāyu said this:
MN91:36.7: in that very seat the stainless, immaculate vision of the Dhamma arose in the brahmin Brahmāyu:
MN91:36.8: “yaṁ kiñci samudayadhammaṁ sabbaṁ taṁ nirodhadhamman”ti.
MN91:36.8: “Everything that has a beginning has an end.”
And then the Buddha said this:
MN91:39.6: “Mendicants, the brahmin Brahmāyu was astute. He practiced in line with the teachings, and did not trouble me about the teachings.
MN91:39.7: With the ending of the five lower fetters, he’s been reborn spontaneously and will become extinguished there, not liable to return from that world.”
So the Buddha would find no issue with that phrase.
Now the second question about whether beginning/end is the same as "All conditioned things are impermanent", is similar but requires another insight that points to a deeper wisdom:
SN22.81:5.5: And what’s the source, origin, birthplace, and inception of that conditioned phenomenon?
SN22.81:5.6: When an uneducated ordinary person is struck by feelings born of contact with ignorance, craving arises.
And even deeper:
MN1:172-194.26: Because he has understood that relishing is the root of suffering,
Understanding the impermanence of beginnings and endings provides a crucial basis for setting foot firmly on the Noble Eightfold Path to the end of suffering. And if a fake Buddha quote inspires one to read the actual teachings of the Buddha, isn't that beautiful?
I think that "All conditioned things are impermanent" implies a mechanism or reason -- they're impermanent because they're conditioned.
Whereas to say "they end because they began* seems less reasonable, less obvious, less logical.
Also "begin and end" might imply "creation from nothing" and "specific moment of ceasing to exist".
Whereas "impermanent" implies "continuing in an altered state" as well as ceasing -- cars are taken apart and the parts are recycled, etc. -- they're also subject to change (impermanent) even while they still exist.
And "everything" implies every "thing", every physical object.
Whereas "conditioned things" implies also (or even, implies especially) "mental fabrications".
According to SN 15.3, samsara has no discernible "beginning", no evident "first point" -- so a statement about "everything that has a beginning" maybe isn't optimal in that context.
