seeing clouds

Paraphrased from a talk by Thich Nhat Hanh:

“When you look at a cloud you think of the cloud as a being; and later on when the cloud becomes the rain, you don’t see the cloud anymore and you say the cloud is not there. You describe the cloud as non-being. But if you look deeply, you can see the cloud in the rain; and that is why it’s impossible for a cloud to die. A cloud can become rain, snow, or ice; but it cannot become nothing. And that is why the notion of death cannot be applied to reality. There is a transformation – there is a continuation – but you cannot say that there is death; because in your mind, to die means from something, you suddenly become nothing. From someone, you suddenly become no one. and so the notion of death cannot apply to reality – whether to a cloud or to a human being. The Buddha did not die; the Buddha only continued by his sangha and by his dharma, and you can touch the Buddha in the here and the now. And that is why ideas like being born, dying, coming and going, being and non-being should be removed by the practice of looking deeply; and when you can remove these notions you are free and you have non-fear. Non-fear is the true foundation of great happiness.

When you hold your glass and you drink your tea you can see that you are drinking clouds. And if you look into a river, you see nothing but clouds. And if you eat your ice cream in mindfulness and wisdom, you see that you are eating clouds also.”

Leela is the name of the game

Hindu scholars thought of it as a game of form perpetrated on the world by the gods. They felt there had to be an explanation for the multiplicity of very, very similar forms throughout the world, both in human and animal form. Thinking this way lowers the importance of the individual lifeform by necessity, I guess. It causes me to pause when seeing a dead animal in the road while driving to work; watching the dogs get older and trying to push thoughts of their possible mortality further from my mind; or making the mistake of watching the world news for five minutes and seeing how many people died today, either by their own hand or someone else’s. It makes me feel unusual – am I supposed to care more about some lifeforms than others? Why do I get so defensive of mammals when I drive to work and kill dozens of insects every morning through the sheer impact of my vehicle moving down the road? Is there a difference? Is my conflict over this matter part of the game itself?

It’s strange.