Not the Same or Different

All things in the world come from being. And being comes from non-being.
Lao Tzu https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/lao-tzu-quotes

There were two very important messages that stuck with me this morning after listening to another dharma talk from Plum Village ( Okay...I am getting a wee bit addicted to these dharma talks  which kind of goes against all the teachings :)) These two lessons offered by Br. Phap Dung   to a group of neuroscientists on retreat were:

Not the same or different

Don't be too sure!!

Hmm!  Let's examine these little Buddhist gems of wisdom so we can apply them to our lives.

Not the Same or Different

The topic of this particular talk was intended to be on duality versus non duality in understanding birth and death.  It was an examination of this idea many of us cling to of birth and death, of being and nonbeing, of coming and going, and of same or different.  It doesn't matter what contrasting opposites we bring up  so we can examine them we will  realize...they are neither the same or different.  In fact, we cannot have one without the other.

Take a piece of paper and attempt to rip the left side off because all you want is right.  What happens? You have a more narrow piece of paper, but do you still have a left side to that paper? You cannot have one without the other...they make up the wholeness of what is.

Celebrating Birth; Avoiding Death

We can take this understanding of duality into our understanding of birth and death .  We anticipate, celebrate  rejoice when a baby is about to be born but we avoid, push away and refuse to deal with (until we absolutely have to) this idea of death? We are so afraid of that ending. It seems to be such a contrast to birth...one is "good", one is "bad".

We see our lives having a beginning and end.  We see ourselves as having a being and a non being.  When we are born we believe we are coming  into being and when we die  and  cease to be....we are going somewhere or nowhere. When we are born and alive we are here.  When we die we are nowhere. When we are alive we are something because we and others can see, hear, touch us...but when we die  we are  nothing. Or so our belief goes.  These are the things we tell ourselves.

Are they the truth?

Don't be Too Sure

And this is where the other teachings come into play. Are you sure that is the case?  Do you know any something in this universe that becomes a nothing?  Think bout that, as Br Phap Dung encourages these scientists to do.

You might say "Ice is a something that becomes a nothing in the spring."  Think about that. 

Yes ice melts in the spring, just like our bodies die when the time comes under certain conditions.  Ice melts when the conditions are right for it to melt...a rise in temperature... but does ice cease to be?  No... it takes the form of water. And what about the water? It eventually evaporates taking the form of  humidity, mist.  Then it becomes a cloud and then it becomes rain again and then when the right conditions present themselves again ( cold temperature) that water will once again appear as ice.


 Ice didn't disappear...it just changed! Your perceptions did not pick up "ice" after it became water but the ice was still there. Ice is still ice. We just give it different names, labels, meaning and limitations with every form it takes....We name it ice, water, humidity, mist, cloud, rain etc etc.  seeing each as separate and "different" from each other. The essence of all those things is, however, does not change ...just the form changes...the energy of that thing moves from one form to another.

Where does ice start and where does it end? Is it coming or going?

So don't be so sure your being will be no being when you die.  Death is just a label we have given the final transformation of the form the being is in.  The being is still there when the body ceases to breathe...just in a different form. Call it what you will...death, passing, croaking or Fred...it is just a concept.  We, however, have not ceased to be.

We will probably never understand where being begins and where it ends and we do not have to. Maybe we can find a little peace in knowing that it is neither coming or going.  It just is!

In Looking At Suffering and Peace

So we can take this understanding, then, back to our notion of suffering.  If we watch our habits we will see that we are constantly trying to avoid the painful and the unpleasant.  We see pain  as so different than peace, pleasure, joy.  We try to rip that piece of the paper away so all we have is the pleasant but all we end up doing is making our life more and more narrow.  We cannot have peace without suffering...they go together.

And no they are not the same, but they are not different either.  They just are.

Hmmm!  That was a lot of learning for one day.

All is well!

Plum Village ( June 2019) The Nature of No Birth and No Death/ Dharma Talk by Br. Phap Dung
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVLvJFrmH_8