End of the Pier
Azul en Azul
As above, so below.
That perfected, perfectly so,
Its parts and it whole.
Tiano y Flor
[Buddy] Free[s] Guy
From Free Guy (film, 2021)
GUY: Buddy, what would you do if you found out that you weren’t real? … BUDDY: I say, okay, so what if I’m not real? GUY: I’m sorry. “So what?” BUDDY: Yeah. So what? Guy: (SCOFFING) But if you’re not real, doesn’t that mean that nothing you do matters? BUDDY: What does that mean? Look, brother, I am sitting here with my best friend, trying to help him get through a tough time. Right? And even if I’m not real, this moment is. Right here, right now. This moment is real. I mean, what’s more real than a person tryin’ to help someone they love? Now, if that’s not real, I don’t know what is.
Uncertainly Certain
“Teacher, you say, “What is to one may not be to another, and what is not to one may be to another.” Could you elaborate on the meaning of this?”
“All things are inherently empty, dependent on conditioning, and interdependently conceptualized. Thus there is subjective variance in conceptual existence of a thing, as all things are of parts. If you were to add water one drop at a time to an empty glass, when would it be considered full? When an observer recognizes it as full.”
The student sat in reflection, after some time he replies,
“In sea of thoughts
my mind swims.
Not any one of them,
Nor any me.
But what you see.”
“Good. Good. Very good.”
Ryuichi Sakamoto
Adagio from Sakamoto’s album “Beauty”
Ensō
“Teacher, you say, “Only that without beginning has no end, and only that without end has no beginning.” What, if anything, is without beginning? What, if anything, is without end?”
“If the continuum of space had an initial instant, it would have arisen from no cause or from cause not substantially commensurate with its nature. Both possibilities are contrary to and thereby negated by the law of cause and effect, thus the continuum must have no beginning.”
“Similarly, if the mind continuum had an initial instant, it would have arisen from no cause or from cause not substantially commensurate with its nature. Both possibilities are contrary to and thereby negated by the law of cause and effect, thus the continuum must have no beginning.”
Upon reflection the student then replies, “Space gives rise to space as mind gives rise to mind, without beginning, without end.”
“Good. Good. Very good.
Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta
Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, SN 56:11, V 420-424
Herein abridge and wherein the Blessed One, after his enlightenment, gives his first discourse…
Thus was heard [on the occasion when]
The Blessed One dwelling at Bārānasī in the Deer Park at Isipatana addressed the five monks present at his first discourse.
“ … These two extremes should not be followed… the pursuit of sensual happiness in sensual pleasures… and the pursuit of self-mortification… Without veering toward either of these extremes, the Tathāgta awakened to the middle way, which gives rise to knowledge, leads to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbāna.”
The Noble Eightfold Path
“That middle way… is this Noble Eightfold Path that is; right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration… That middle way… gives rise to knowledge, leads to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbāna.”
The Four Noble Truths
“This then is the noble truth…
- …Of suffering: birth is suffering, as are illness, death, union with what is displeasing, separation from what is pleasing, not getting what one wants… in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering
- …Of the origin of suffering… [in brief] craving… craving for sensual pleasure, for existence, for extermination
- …To the cessation of suffering… the cessation of that craving… freedom from it, nonattachment
- …Of the way leading to the cessation of suffering: it is the Noble Eightfold Path”
Three Phases, Twelve Modes
“[This is the noble truth of suffering]: thus, in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, penetration, and light.”
[This noble truth of suffering is to be fully understood ]
[This noble truth of suffering has been fully understood ]
[This is the noble truth of the origin of suffering]
[This noble truth of the origin of suffering is to be fully abandoned]
[This noble truth of the origin of suffering has been fully abandoned]
[This is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering]
[This noble truth of the cessation of suffering is to be fully realized]
[This noble truth of the cessation of suffering has been fully realized]
[This is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering]
[This noble truth of the the way leading to the cessation of suffering is to be fully developed ]
[This noble truth of the the way leading to the cessation of suffering has been fully developed]
“…[Only] when my knowledge and vision of the Four Noble Truths as they really are in their three phases and twelve aspects was thoroughly purified in this way, then I claimed to have awakened to the unsurpassed perfect enlightenment… ‘Unshakable is the liberation of my mind. This is my last birth. Now there is no more renewed existence.’”
The Wheel of the Dhamma
…There arose in the Venerable Kondañña the dust-free, stainless vision of the Dhamma: “Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation.”
[The many devas] raised a cry, “At Bārānasī in the Deer Park at Isipatana, this unsurpassed wheel of the Dhamma has been set in motion by the Blessed One, which cannot be stopped.”
Then the Blessed One said, “Kondañña has indeed understood! Kondañña has indeed understood!”
Anātman
“Teacher, you have said, ‘Truly happy is the one who desires happiness for others and not self.’ How can one find happiness if one doesn’t desire happiness for themself?”
“‘Whatever suffering there is comes from desiring happiness for oneself.’ All phenomena that one seeks to find happiness in will eventually be source of misery, this very realization is itself cause for renunciation, the cessation of suffering. The life span of an ant is insignificant when compared to that of man. The lifespan of a man insignificant when compared to that of Earth. The span of the Earth insignificant compared to the cosmos, and further there are infinite universes, impossible to comprehend. So what is there to be attached to but the path that leads to transcendental awareness? Why waste this precious existence on anything other than peaceful realization? One with diligent awareness is not attached to what is temporal. Freed from miseries, that one desires only this same realization of the path to happiness for all unaware beings. Only one self-liberated and devoted to liberating others of their miseries is steadfastly happy.”
Upon reflecting on his master’s lesson, the student replies, “One must realize causality to be freed from causality.”
“Good. Good. Very good.”
Due onto others
The basis of consciousness
is awareness of sentience,
Equanimous recognition
is ground of compassion,
This seed of compassion
bears fruit of existence.