Hi All,
i was reading an interesting book by Mingyur Rinpoche on the joy of
living. In his book he discussed the the topic on emptiness, in
which he described all phenomenas as arising from our mind in
emptiness. Life as described seems to be like a dream arising from
emptiness. There is seemingly nothing real , for instance, those
events which already happened in our past is like a dream . Is our
whole human existence really an illusion enacted by our past
actions ? I have this
feeling of things being so unreal...see the excerpt below from the
book.
He illustrated this point through a story about a young man who
came to a great master in search of a profound teaching. The master
agreed but suggested the young man first have a cup of tea. After
that, he said, I'll give the profound teaching you've come
looking for.
So the master poured a cup of tea, and as the student brought it to
his mouth, the cup of tea transformed itself into a broad lake
surrounded by mountains. As he stood beside the lake, admiring the
beauty of the scene, a girl steppped from behind him and approached
the lake to gather water in a pail. For the young man, it was love
at first sight, and as the girl looked at the young man standing
beside the lake, she fell in love with him , too. The young man
followed her back to her home, where she lived with her aged
parents. Gradually, the girl's parents grew to be fond of the young
man, and he of them, and it was eventually agreed that the two
young people should marry.
After three years, the couple's first child was born, a son. A few
years later a daughter was born. The children grew up happy and
strong, until one day, at the age of fourteen, the son fell ill.
None of the medicines prescribed for him cured his illness. Within
a year he was dead.
Not long afterward , the couple's young daughter went to gather
wood in the forest , and while she was busy with her task, she was
attacked and killed by a tiger. Unable to overcome her sorrow over
losing both her children, the young man's wife eventually decided
to drown herself in the nearby lake. Distraught over the loss of
their daughter and their grandchildren, the girl's parents stopped
eating , eventually starving themselves to death. Having lost his
wife, his children, and his parents-in-law, the young man began to
think that he might as well die himself. He walked to the edge of
the lake, determined to drown himself.
Just as he was about to jump into the water, however, he suddenly
found himself back in the master's house, holding his cup of tea up
to his lips. Though he had lived an entire lifetime, hardly an
instant had passed;the cup was still warm in his hands and the tea
was still hot.
He looked across the table at the teacher , who nodded , saying,
Now, you see. All phenomena proceed from the mind, which is
emptiness. They do not truly exist except in the mind, but they are
not nothingness. There is your profound teaching.
