Theos-Talk Archives (May 1996 Message tl00418)

Hi Eldon,

Towards the back of this book I'm reading by the Dalai Lama & a French
filmwriter, called "Violence & Compassion", there's a perfect statement of
what's meant:
"Nothing exists separately....things appear, exist, and disappear.
Unceasingly. But they never exist by themselves
"Look at my hand, for example. It gives the impression of solidity, of
coherence. It offers a precise form to those looking at it. It has all the
appearances of an entity.
but if I aks myself seriously, if I wonder, what is my hand? Is it this
finger? Is it this part of the finger? No, I can only answer, My fingetr is
my finger, it's not my hand. But in turn is it just an ensemble of fingers?
No, since I can break those down into digits and study, look at, name these
digits, one at a time.
"Why stop there anyway?
"Of course! I can go down deeper and deeper into the matter that's here
without ever realy encocuntering my hand.
"Yet you use your hand.
"That's what it's there for. And I'm very satisfied with it. This
combination of different elements, each one of which breaks down and all of
which fit together is what we call 'hand'. It's ver simple. We designate it
that way by a simple labor of the mind. That's what we call 'relative reality'
"Which depends on other elements than itself?
"Exactly. Because nothing exists without a cause. The profound nature of
this hand is to belong to a whole network of influences, none of which is
lasting.
"That's why this hand will some day cease to be your hand."