The Delusional Series: Part 10 –21 Inner Journey 6

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The Delusional Series

Compiled according to the teachings of the Master

Author: Fafu

The Delusional Series: Part 1021 Inner Journey 6

Sacred Verses from the Second Chapter of the Surangama Sutra :

The Buddha said to the king, “You perceive change and impermanence. Do you realize that you too are subject to death? And even at the moment of death, do you know if there is something within you that is imperishable?”

The king, with joined palms, replied, “I do not know.”

The Buddha said, “Let me show you the nature that is unborn and undying. Your Majesty, at what age did you first see the Ganges River?”

The king replied, “When I was three years old, my mother took me to offer sacrifices to the deity Varuna, and we crossed the river. That was when I first saw the Ganges.”

The Buddha said, “As you have said, when you were twenty, you were already aging compared to when you were ten, and so on until now, at sixty. Your perception changes from moment to moment. But how was your perception of the Ganges River when you were three compared to when you were thirteen?”

The king replied, “It was exactly the same as when I was three. And it remains the same until now, at sixty-two.”

The Buddha said, “You lament the aging of your body, with its wrinkled face and white hair. Your face is certainly more wrinkled now than when you were a child. So, is your perception of the Ganges River now different from when you were a child?”

The king replied, “No, Your Holiness.”

The Buddha said, “Although your face is wrinkled, your perceiving faculty is not. What changes is the physical form, not the perceiving faculty. What changes is subject to decay, but what does not change is unborn and undying. How can that which is unborn and undying be subject to your birth and death?”

And so the Buddha refuted the views of those like Makkhali Gosala, who claimed that the body is annihilated at death.

Upon hearing this, the king believed with certainty that after death, the rebirth of a being is merely a phenomenon, while the true self remains unchanged. He and the assembly were overjoyed, having gained an understanding that they had never had before.

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