[fameintatenly]

One big illusion is that of permanence even if this "permanence" is temporary. If you can stand by a bud continuously until it becomes a flower, you will be amazed to see that the condition of the bud at one moment appears to be no different from its condition at the next moment and so on, until before your very eyes, the change has taken place through you could not discern it at all.

The process is so gradual, one stage merging into the next so imperceptibly. It is a becoming. If you close your eyes to this process, if you see the bud one day and then see it a day later, then only will you see a change. Then only will you speak in the terms of "buds" and "flowers" and not in terms of a process of a becoming.


If you can keep on looking at a new-born babe without a break for ten years you will not perceive any change. The baby born at 10 a.m. appears just the same at 11 a.m. or at 12 noon. Each moment shows no difference from the next. One condition merges into the next so imperceptibly. It is a becoming, a continuous process of becoming. Close your eyes to this process and see the baby once a month. then only will you perceive a change. Then only can you speak in terms of "baby" and "boy" and not in terms of a process or a becoming.

The baby boy becomes an old man. They are different. By giving this "person" a name eg. John there is an illusion of an entity. By convention John was born on such a date, he grew old and died on such a date. In reality John the old man was never born, only the baby John. John the baby never died, only the old man John. In terms of ultimate truth no one was born and no one died.

Everything is becoming. This is a universal process, a constant flux. It is when we miss the continuity of action that we speak in terms of things (atta/self) rather than processes or becomings. Upadana pacaya bhavo [Existence is dependent on clinging to a self/being].