The Path Of Practice - Verse Forty Nine

Nothing is born, nothing dies.
Nothing to hold on to, nothing to release.
Samsara is nirvana.
There is nothing to attain.

Nothing is created or destroyed. Phenomena do not arise from nothing or disappear into nothing. They manifest when conditions are right. When conditions are not right they wait for the right conditions to manifest.

They do not have an existence separate from other phenomena. There is no external object to grasp. The universe is in us and we are in everything. Hence, there are no external objects that we can hold on to or that we need to let go off. So we can relax and live this moment.

We learned in the previous verses that the flower is in the compost and the compost is in the flower. Similarly nirvana is right here in samsara. Everything is in everything else.

An attainment is an acquirement, achievement or procurement, but since we have already determined that the effect is present in the cause in an unmanifested form, we are never attaining anything. If we have a mango tree, then we must have sown a mango seed.

Can we measure the distance between us and our thoughts or our dreams? No, because they do not have an independent existence. They are not separate from us. Similarly, no phenomena is separate from us. Not even nirvana.

If this was not the case, if the effect was not already in the cause in an unmanifested state we would not say that all beings have the bodhichitta in them. The cause and the effect are in each other. The transformation of the cause into effect is an illusory perception. In each mango tree there are infinite mango seeds and in each mango seed there are infinite mango trees. All the mango trees that have ever manifested and will ever manifest have always been there and will always be there.

If you look through the eyes of samsara, a cloud dies. If you look through the eyes of dependent origination you see cloud transform into rain, rain into ice or water vapor and water vapor into cloud. In nirvana, you see H2O. Two atoms of Hydrogen and one atom of Oxygen.

(Based on the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh.)

#विज्ञप्तिमात्र #Vijñaptimātra #VijñaptimatraBuddhism #ThichNhatHanh #Vasubandhu #50Verses #50VersesOnVijñaptimātra #Vimshatika #Trimshika #VimshatikaKarika #TrimshikaKarika #Asanga #Yogacāra #Yogacara #ManifestationOnly #Vigyaptimatra #Xuanzang #India #Linji #Rinzai #Zen #Bodhidharma #Hinduism #Buddhism #Buddha #Mahayana  #Prajñapāramitā #Vijnaptimatra #IndianBuddhism #IndianPhilosophy #UttarPradesh #StoreConsciousness #Alayavijñana #Manas