[StarsWorld]

I posted this on another forum.

According to Buddhism. a normal person usually views existence as permanent, satisfactory and having an essence. But reality is some thing quite different and is somewhat counterintuitive.

Our senses tell us that things are substantial and real but is this “reality”.

Let us try a thought experiment the way Einstein did with his theory of relativity.

Imagine that we are viewing things and events happening on Earth from a distant planet. We know that light takes time to travel and scientists have informed us that some stars are only detected long after the original stars have died out. If we are not aware of this fact, we would think that those stars are still there. Suppose the same thing happened to Earth.

So we see all the events taking place on Earth, the wars, famines, births, deaths, marriages, the World Cup, etc. Even the trees, mountains, lakes etc appear real and substantial. But the “reality” is all these things that we know to be true from seeing and hearing are an illusion. The Earth is gone but we remain convinced that this is not so. We see our families and friends doing their things. We have moments of joy, happiness, anger and sadness, getting involved in things. Everyone standing where we are will see exactly the same thing.

But in reality they don’t exist anymore!

If the scientists have not pointed out that we are only seeing the play of light and sounds in our consciousness, we would believe what our senses tell us. For some, even the scientific explanations are not enough to break our illusion.

You see. Our senses deceive us into believing that the world and everything in it truly exist. We grab on to existence as though it is something permanent and substantial whereas in truth everything is slipping away and nothing is substantial. There is nothing we can hold on to as real. All that we can perceive can only come through our senses. There is a time lag between contact of our retina and form, eardrums and vibrations and the actual process of seeing or hearing. Everything that we see or hear no longer exist. There is nothing that we can hold on to as permanent in such a world.

The world of our senses is neither existent or nonexistent but is dependent on the activity of our senses. Therefore is no 'the world' besides these ongoing activities.

In this experiment what is real becomes unreal. What we “know” to be substantial and permanent is in fact a conjuror’s trick.

The actual process of seeing or hearing takes place in microseconds between for example the light travelling from an object to reach the retina and eventually registering in the brain as visual consciousness. But the underlying principle is similar.

The past is over, the future is yet to come. Even the now doesn't truly exist.

For the objects for sights, sounds, smells, taste and sensations are no longer there by the time they register in our consciousness. They have already slipped away.

This is the one meaning of impermanence(anicca). When we are convinced that this is so, we develop dispassion as our reality fades (viraga) and finally disappears(nirodha). We know now that nothing whatsoever is to be clung to. We begin to give up things that we previously thought was important(patinisagga).


" . . . . . . . Suppose, monks, a magician or a magician's apprentice
should hold a magic-show at the four cross-roads; and a keen-sighted
man should see it, ponder over it and reflect on it radically. Even as
he sees it, ponders over it and reflects on it radically, he would find it
empty; he would find it hollow; he would find it void of essence.
What essence, monks, could there be in a magic show?

Even so, monks, whatever consciousness --- be it past, future or
present, in oneself or external, gross or subtle, inferior or superior,
far or near -- a monk sees it, ponders over it and reflects on it
radically. And even as he sees it, ponders over it and reflects on it
radically, he would find it empty; he would find it hollow; he would
find it void of essence. What essence, monks, could there be in a
consciousness ?

"Seeing thus, the well-instructed disciple of the noble ones grows disenchanted with form, disenchanted with feeling, disenchanted with perception, disenchanted with fabrications, disenchanted with consciousness. Disenchanted, he grows dispassionate. Through dispassion, he's released. With release there's the knowledge, 'Released.' He discerns that 'Birth is ended, the holy life fulfilled, the task done. There is nothing further for this world."

Phena Sutta
Foam