A little story I wrote on the notion of origination and cessation
“When this is, that is; This originating, that originates; When this is not, that is not; This ceasing, that ceases.”
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The story
Three people who had been chatting on an online food forum decided to meet up for real one day. The meet-up was great, and so they continued to meet whenever they were free to do so for the next few weeks. Soon more and more from the food forum joined them. Regular gatherings were thus formed, and they jokingly called themselves – the Foodie Group.
Eventually a committee was set up to facilitate the running of this Group. Six people were appointed to do so. These were their titles – President, Vice-President, Information Secretary, Operations Secretary, Manpower Secretary and Finance Secretary.
The members in Foodie Group enjoyed food. They enjoyed sharing reviews of dishes of cafes and restaurants. They used to meet up at different food places to try out different food. Eventually, a small apartment was rented instead to host weekly food party. Members got to try out at the party various dishes from different restaurants all at once. The small apartment thus became the Foodie Group’s clubhouse. Eventually, the committee of six registered Foodie Group with the relevant government agencies, thus getting Foodie Group officially recognised.
As years went by, membership grew. The Group also got richer. The apartments they rented became bigger and posher. But eventually, they decided not to spend money renting apartments anymore. Instead they bought over a café to be their so-called clubhouse. They also registered themselves as a company and got themselves into the food and beverages business.
As years went by, more members came. Many members also left. Eventually, none of the founding members were present and involved in Foodie Group anymore. The six new people working in the committee had different interests. They were not as enthusiastic about food as the pioneers. The new committee was more enthusiastic about earning money. The Vice-President, son of a hotel tycoon, eventually got Foodie Group to close down all cafes and restaurants under their charge, and re-invested all money into real estate and hotels. Thus began Foodie Group’s foray into the hospitality business. It became an organization with six board members and many many paid workers.
Things went well for a few decades. The board members kept changing. The workers also kept changing. Until financial crisis struck. Foodie Group went almost bankrupt. The hotels they owned were closed down. The estates they owned were sold. The money remaining were used to pay back debts.
The Chairman of the board had to make a choice. He sat in the board room thinking back on the history of Foodie Group, contemplating the birth and death of its various ‘incarnations’. He would have liked to convene a meeting with all the workers, to discuss about the future of the Group, but all had quit to join other organizations already. All other board members had also tended their resignations. “Ah, I am now the board,” he laughed, “I am now the six, and the six is me.”
He thus donated whatever money he could scrape from Foodie Group to the nearest Buddhist monastery. He spent the next few weeks clearing Foodie Group of all its possessions. The name Foodie Group was also deregistered from all governmental agencies. The name Foodie Group was thus no longer a legal entity. “It’s gone,” the former Chairman thought, smiling to himself.
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Here are some questions perhaps some of you might find interesting:
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What is Foodie Group? Is it an interest group of like-minded individuals? A committee of six? A clubhouse? A café? A business organization dealing with real estate and hotels? A legal entity almost bankrupt? The Chairman of the board?”
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Is Foodie Group a thing? Does it exist? Does it have consciousness? Is it a function? Is it subjected to causes? Does it produce effects?
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Is the almost bankrupt Foodie Group the same as the Foodie Group conceived initially by the people from the online food forum? Are they two separate phenomena? Are they connected? Are they two or are they one?
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Birth is the 11th link in the twelve nidanas of dependent origination. Death can be found in the 12th link. Yet is there any birth of Foodie Group? Can we trace the origins of all causes that led to any of such birth? Is there death to Foodie Group? Do effects resulting from Foodie Group cease with any of its death? What is birth? What is death?
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Some interesting quotes from Bikkhu Nanananda’s Nibbana Sermons:
Now at this point let us take up for discussion a certain significant passage in the MahāNidānasutta of the Dīgha Nikāya. In the course of an exposition of the law of paṭicca samuppāda, addressed to Venerable Ānanda, the Buddha makes the following statement:
Ettāvatā kho, Ānanda, jāyetha vā jīyetha vā mīyetha vā cavetha vā upapajjetha vā. Ettāvatā adhivacanapatho, ettāvatā niruttipatho, ettāvatā paññattipatho, ettāvatā paññāvacaraṃ, ettāvatā vaṭṭaṃ vattati itthattaṃ paññāpanāya yadidaṃ nāmarūpaṃ saha viññāṇena. "In so far only, Ānanda, can one be born, or grow old, or die, or pass away, or reappear, in so far only is there any pathway for verbal expression, in so far only is there any pathway for terminology, in so far only is there any pathway for designation, in so far only is the range of wisdom, in so far only is the round kept going for there to be a designation as the this-ness, that is to say: name-and-form together with consciousness."
What is meant by the Buddha's statement is that name-and-form together with consciousness is the rallying point for all concepts of birth, decay, death and rebirth. All pathways for verbal expression, terminology and designation converge on name-and-form together with consciousness. The range of wisdom extends only up to the relationship between these two. And it is between these two that there is a whirling round so that one may point out a this-ness. In short, the secret of the entire saṃsāric existence is to be found in this whirlpool.
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from Buddhism https://ift.tt/2OTe0K4
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