You can't get into the same river twice.
Buddhism and the river
What is life like, what constitutes our existence?
The best way to compare life is with a river.
THE GREEK PHILOSOPHER HERACLITUS IS CREDITED WITH THE FOLLOWING SENTENCE:
"YOU CANNOT GET INTO THE SAME RIVER TWICE."
It is our body that gets into the river, yesterday and today, but it is not the same water, it is an entirely different water.
The water of yesterday is already many kilometers away, perhaps someone is bathing in the water that refreshed me yesterday.
The ideas of the historical Buddha and those of Heraclitus show amazing similarities. The Greek philosopher's thoughts revolve around the unity of things and around the whole and the not-whole, around things that come together and things that diverge. In the Buddhist philosophy the statement is found in the Diamond Sutra: "Form is emptiness and emptiness is form".
One can think about that!
The river of life starts tentatively, in the womb of the mother, widens at birth, flows together with other rivers (other people), the water swells, ebbs away, the water evaporates, falls back to earth.
Just as you can't get into the same river twice, you can't do anything else twice, time is over, it's not like it was, it's new, the situation doesn't come back like that.
Even the things I know well, for example my "way home", it is always a little different, it is never exactly the same, the raindrops are not identical, nothing is ever like it was before.
Follow the river of life, enjoy the cool water, the refreshment, the people and incidents that pass by on the shore.
Every day is today, even if you do the same things you did yesterday. Even if you read the words of the Buddha today, and tomorrow again, sitting in the same chair, other thoughts will arise, other paths will open up.
Every moment is continuity. The now is always different, we know NOTHING, everything changes, the river flows.
HUMAN NATURE IS LIKE A WHIRLPOOL OF WATER. IF YOU OPEN A WAY TO THE EAST, THE WATER FLOWS EASTWARD; IF YOU OPEN A WAY TO THE WEST, THE WATER FLOWS WESTWARD.
- MENGZI - MOST IMPORTANT SUCCESSOR OF CONFUCIUS - 370 TO 290 B.C. CHR.
Copyright: https://shaolin-rainer.de
(Please also download my app "Buddha-Blog English" from the Apple and Android stores)
Please rate us on Apple, Google, or Spotify podcast to help us promote the show