Do we live to die, or die to live?
The fact is that both life and death are human constructs, that is, they are just different concepts from mental consciousness. By convention, we live and die at the same time and at every moment. It means that there is no particular period of life or time for the dead after a period of life per se. All existences would rise and fall at the same time and infinitely under the influences of kamma-vipaka.
The principle of yin-yang dictates: when a quality reaches its zenith, it naturally begins to transform into an opposing quality. Uniting the two brings something. In other words, the elements of yin and yang are shifting, as a current in the ocean, each progression is completed by a retreat, and each ascension is transformed into a fall. Ultimately, it is all about balancing the dichotomy between yin (decay) and yang (flourish) – the competing and complementary forces, that is, the victor claims the throne.
When it comes to rebirth, is it truly a reality for everybody or do we only live once?
All you have to do is observe this: there are endless iterations from Monday to Sunday, there have been Christmas celebrations for 2,023 years, etc. However, no day or celebration is going to be the same. Within Buddhism, there is no room for reincarnation a.k.a. transmigration. In dependent nature, the same soul does not move or transmit through the temporal flow: past, present, and future. In this context, Buddhism supports the term renaissance or rebirth. The Buddha does not see in any transmigration of all things or matters, but rather the constant and continuous transformation of all things or materials through permeation or dissemination process.
As an orientation of energy in the cosmos, it would be continually and constantly transformed. Transforming is changing, changing is becoming, and becoming is rebirth. In this way, energy is constantly born again in dependent nature. In other words, you don’t have two identical minds, namely your past mind is different from your current mind and your current mind is different from your future mind. The flow of your mind continues beyond the grave, but there is no transmigration of your mind occurring at any point. The root cause of this continually reborn individualistic mind or personality is the maintenance of consciousness in ignorance; when ignorance is uprooted, rebirth ceases.
Why samsāra exists? Why we are imperfect and imprisoned in samsāra? Is it some kind of punishment? I know that we are in samsāra because of our kamma, but why the system of samsāra generally exists?
In Buddhism, samsāra means a continuous stream, namely the iterations of birth, life, death, and rebirth. Meanwhile, the inherent quality of samsāra is emptiness, with the mind being the precursor for all states. This means that emptiness is a necessary prerequisite to the existence of an object; without it, the object would be impossible.
By the same token, energy is a quality that cannot be created or destroyed and the sum of all energies within a system is constant or never changes according to the Energy Conservation Law. In a way, if we provoke a scene, the natural law that governs the balance would apply throughout time and the planes of existence. Without this, it is absolutely impossible to reach a constant factor.
Hence, we might conclude that emptiness and energy are fundamental qualities in samsāra (the system of dependent nature) because each thing or event would imply it, without exception.
The following principle applies: -
1. Why do we have duality or multiple circumstances? It’s because of an emerging mind,
2. Why do we have an emerging mind? That’s because of the energy,
3. Why is there energy? It’s all due to the emptiness,
4. Then why the emptiness? That’s because of the emptiness in the emptiness.
In other words, the emptiness of phenomena is both the cause and the consequence of the dependent nature of phenomena. The emptiness of phenomena is how it appears in direct perception and without the need for reference to another entity. It is fully defined by its own nature, namely an inherent existence which is without cause, indestructible, and eternal. Moreover, it is unchangeable when seen from the outside and cannot undergo internal state changes. This means that there is no constituent part and nothing can be discarded or removed. Also, nothing can be added to it and no change in outside conditions can affect it.
I know that we are in samsāra from the beginning-less time. Maybe the better question should be: what happened, that we appeared in samsāra?
In samsāra, the mental consciousness is known as perceiver, whilst the object or matter is known as perception. This means that it is the perceptive mind, as a non-physical faculty integrating into the five physical faculties, namely, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body, which provides observation and interpretation, thus generating conditional phenomena. As a result, phenomena do not exist in their own quality, but only have an existence dependent on many factors, including a consciousness that conceptualises them.
In the end, our mind is the chief architect of discrimination of all existence. Just like the famous citation by Brian G. Dyson (former CEO of Coca-Cola), “Value has a value only if its value is valued”. In other words, all classifications relating to life and death are human constructs, that is, notions of mental consciousness per se. Without it, all things would appear according to the deepest facts per se, namely no label, no limit, no name, no activity, no form, no description, etc.
I have been reading more into the concept of Buddha-nature and I was under the impression that in Buddhism all things are subject to change and are impermanent, yet here is a concept of something eternal that is present in all beings... I don’t understand how this is different from Atman.
Buddha-nature is a phenomenon resulting from observation by the conventional mind. It refers to an innate feature (behaviour) of our light-filled mind. In other words, when we look at our usual mind, its illusion is negated, what remains is a nature of clarity of the innate mind. And Buddhism expresses the potential for exploration of the basic level of mind. It would mean a chance to make breakthroughs in the realisation of the innate mind which is pure, limitless, powerful, and luminous.
Moreover, the systemic migration from the identification of thoughts to observation is known as the gradual transformation of the state of mind into Buddha’s nature. In other words, the innate mind has higher vibrational frequencies than the conventional mind and has a broad potential or capacity to project the future destiny of individuals. As time went by, your ego softened and evaporated into the void. Ultimately, transcending the mind through meditation would erode one’s personal ego and it will result in the original source connection: the void of all things, namely the Buddha-nature.
If something is absolute how can it be relative? How come absolute be relative?
All we see is perspective, either absolute or relative. For example, there are two aspects to everything (yin and yang) according to Chinese philosophy. Yin and Yang are actually complementary but opposite forces that interact to form a whole that is greater than either separate part to produce a harmonised dynamic system. The visual representation of this concept is well represented in the Taijitu symbol or vaguely known as yin-yang symbol.
Literally, Tai-ji stands for ultimate supreme, namely highlighting the many natural dualities such as female and male, dark and light, low and high, cold and hot, water and fire, life and death, etc. In general, Taijitu would represent the essential characteristic of absoluteness, whereas yin and yang would represent the essential characteristic of relativity. The following principle applies: -
From an absolute perspective, one could see the essential characteristic of relativity. And from a relative point of view, one might witness the essential characteristic of absoluteness. In the end, any conclusions made are merely two sides of the same coin.
The fact is that both life and death are human constructs, that is, they are just different concepts from mental consciousness. By convention, we live and die at the same time and at every moment. It means that there is no particular period of life or time for the dead after a period of life per se. All existences would rise and fall at the same time and infinitely under the influences of kamma-vipaka.
The principle of yin-yang dictates: when a quality reaches its zenith, it naturally begins to transform into an opposing quality. Uniting the two brings something. In other words, the elements of yin and yang are shifting, as a current in the ocean, each progression is completed by a retreat, and each ascension is transformed into a fall. Ultimately, it is all about balancing the dichotomy between yin (decay) and yang (flourish) – the competing and complementary forces, that is, the victor claims the throne.
When it comes to rebirth, is it truly a reality for everybody or do we only live once?
All you have to do is observe this: there are endless iterations from Monday to Sunday, there have been Christmas celebrations for 2,023 years, etc. However, no day or celebration is going to be the same. Within Buddhism, there is no room for reincarnation a.k.a. transmigration. In dependent nature, the same soul does not move or transmit through the temporal flow: past, present, and future. In this context, Buddhism supports the term renaissance or rebirth. The Buddha does not see in any transmigration of all things or matters, but rather the constant and continuous transformation of all things or materials through permeation or dissemination process.
As an orientation of energy in the cosmos, it would be continually and constantly transformed. Transforming is changing, changing is becoming, and becoming is rebirth. In this way, energy is constantly born again in dependent nature. In other words, you don’t have two identical minds, namely your past mind is different from your current mind and your current mind is different from your future mind. The flow of your mind continues beyond the grave, but there is no transmigration of your mind occurring at any point. The root cause of this continually reborn individualistic mind or personality is the maintenance of consciousness in ignorance; when ignorance is uprooted, rebirth ceases.
Why samsāra exists? Why we are imperfect and imprisoned in samsāra? Is it some kind of punishment? I know that we are in samsāra because of our kamma, but why the system of samsāra generally exists?
In Buddhism, samsāra means a continuous stream, namely the iterations of birth, life, death, and rebirth. Meanwhile, the inherent quality of samsāra is emptiness, with the mind being the precursor for all states. This means that emptiness is a necessary prerequisite to the existence of an object; without it, the object would be impossible.
By the same token, energy is a quality that cannot be created or destroyed and the sum of all energies within a system is constant or never changes according to the Energy Conservation Law. In a way, if we provoke a scene, the natural law that governs the balance would apply throughout time and the planes of existence. Without this, it is absolutely impossible to reach a constant factor.
Hence, we might conclude that emptiness and energy are fundamental qualities in samsāra (the system of dependent nature) because each thing or event would imply it, without exception.
The following principle applies: -
1. Why do we have duality or multiple circumstances? It’s because of an emerging mind,
2. Why do we have an emerging mind? That’s because of the energy,
3. Why is there energy? It’s all due to the emptiness,
4. Then why the emptiness? That’s because of the emptiness in the emptiness.
In other words, the emptiness of phenomena is both the cause and the consequence of the dependent nature of phenomena. The emptiness of phenomena is how it appears in direct perception and without the need for reference to another entity. It is fully defined by its own nature, namely an inherent existence which is without cause, indestructible, and eternal. Moreover, it is unchangeable when seen from the outside and cannot undergo internal state changes. This means that there is no constituent part and nothing can be discarded or removed. Also, nothing can be added to it and no change in outside conditions can affect it.
I know that we are in samsāra from the beginning-less time. Maybe the better question should be: what happened, that we appeared in samsāra?
In samsāra, the mental consciousness is known as perceiver, whilst the object or matter is known as perception. This means that it is the perceptive mind, as a non-physical faculty integrating into the five physical faculties, namely, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body, which provides observation and interpretation, thus generating conditional phenomena. As a result, phenomena do not exist in their own quality, but only have an existence dependent on many factors, including a consciousness that conceptualises them.
In the end, our mind is the chief architect of discrimination of all existence. Just like the famous citation by Brian G. Dyson (former CEO of Coca-Cola), “Value has a value only if its value is valued”. In other words, all classifications relating to life and death are human constructs, that is, notions of mental consciousness per se. Without it, all things would appear according to the deepest facts per se, namely no label, no limit, no name, no activity, no form, no description, etc.
I have been reading more into the concept of Buddha-nature and I was under the impression that in Buddhism all things are subject to change and are impermanent, yet here is a concept of something eternal that is present in all beings... I don’t understand how this is different from Atman.
Buddha-nature is a phenomenon resulting from observation by the conventional mind. It refers to an innate feature (behaviour) of our light-filled mind. In other words, when we look at our usual mind, its illusion is negated, what remains is a nature of clarity of the innate mind. And Buddhism expresses the potential for exploration of the basic level of mind. It would mean a chance to make breakthroughs in the realisation of the innate mind which is pure, limitless, powerful, and luminous.
Moreover, the systemic migration from the identification of thoughts to observation is known as the gradual transformation of the state of mind into Buddha’s nature. In other words, the innate mind has higher vibrational frequencies than the conventional mind and has a broad potential or capacity to project the future destiny of individuals. As time went by, your ego softened and evaporated into the void. Ultimately, transcending the mind through meditation would erode one’s personal ego and it will result in the original source connection: the void of all things, namely the Buddha-nature.
If something is absolute how can it be relative? How come absolute be relative?
All we see is perspective, either absolute or relative. For example, there are two aspects to everything (yin and yang) according to Chinese philosophy. Yin and Yang are actually complementary but opposite forces that interact to form a whole that is greater than either separate part to produce a harmonised dynamic system. The visual representation of this concept is well represented in the Taijitu symbol or vaguely known as yin-yang symbol.
Literally, Tai-ji stands for ultimate supreme, namely highlighting the many natural dualities such as female and male, dark and light, low and high, cold and hot, water and fire, life and death, etc. In general, Taijitu would represent the essential characteristic of absoluteness, whereas yin and yang would represent the essential characteristic of relativity. The following principle applies: -
From an absolute perspective, one could see the essential characteristic of relativity. And from a relative point of view, one might witness the essential characteristic of absoluteness. In the end, any conclusions made are merely two sides of the same coin.