If there is a single "minuest thing",
    Appearances would be impossible.
    If there is not even a single "minuest thing",
    Then how is attachment possible?
    Since appearances unfailingly appear,
    Why are there still so many attachments?

    53 Comments


    Yin Ling
    Black magic spell lol


    John Tan
    Yin Ling indeed, very powerful and stubborn spell.


  • May be an image of text that says 'SAMSARA The Amazing HYPNOTIST'


  • Yin Ling
    William Lim lol it actually is true lol







  • Sumit Kumar
    Can I say that attachment happens because of "ignoring" the truth of Impermanence and non arising of an independent entity?
    Because with the conviction in impermanance, all appearances eventually change, so with this understanding attachment can't happen.
    And with understanding of non arising, nothing is arising in the first place to attach to.
    So by just not ignoring the truth of Impermanence and non arising all the time, attachment won't happen.


    John Tan
    Sumit Kumar non-arisen meaning?
    What orignates dependently, do not originate (non-arisen).
    Is it referring to independent existence or conventional existence?


  • Sumit Kumar
    John Tan I don't know. Unfortunately my dharma vocabulary is very limited. So I don't know the difference between the two.
    By contemplating on basic understanding of DO, Impermanence and non arising, it seems to me that, other than seeing impermanance and non arising, whatever understanding there can be is conceptual proliferation. Because this proliferation again is seen as impermanant and empty appearance.

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  • John Tan
    Sumit Kumar yes, the jargons can be very confusing in fact and many times different schools used it differently and different teachers in the same school also differ. 🤦







  • Anurag Jain
    Because appearances are perceived as things in ignorance, giving rise to samsara

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  • Anurag Jain
    But I have a question too.
    Is not attachment too an appearance?


  • John Tan
    Anurag Jain yes deluded appearance.


  • Anurag Jain
    John Tan are not deluded appearances also empty?


  • John Tan
    Anurag Jain yes it is. Is pure appearances empty?


  • Anurag Jain
    John Tan pure appearances are also empty 🙂


  • Anurag Jain
    John Tan though I have given some liberty to you to conventionally classify appearances as pure and impure 😉


  • John Tan
    Anurag Jain then u r having different view from non-gelug as well as gelug. Although both don't agree either. 😁

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  • Anurag Jain
    John Tan my view, to whichever school it belongs, is that samsara and nirvana are both appearances.
    And whichever school does not agree to this view is an "inferior" one 😁

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  • John Tan
    Anurag Jain well for this point, both seems to agree. 😝


  • Anurag Jain
    John Tan then I was saying the same. Impure appearance for me is samsara, pure appearance for me is Nirvana.


  • John Tan
    Anurag Jain now u sounded like non-gelug.


  • Anurag Jain
    John Tan ok. So my view is Non-Gelug.


  • Anurag Jain
    John Tan this being the case, I would consider the Non-Gelug view as "higher" or purer appearance 🙂









  • Ushnisha Ng
    Bec of our wrong view 😭


    John Tan
    Ushnisha Ng ha...right view being?


  • Ushnisha Ng
    John Tan pls enlighten me!


  • John Tan
    Ushnisha Ng dharma seals.









  • Jachym Jerie
    Isn't attachment happening because we are so hopelessly deluded? 😅


    John Tan
    Jachym Jerie yes and very true.


  • William Lim
    Can explain what does "non-arising" or "non-arisen" mean?

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    John Tan
    William Lim can't coz I dunno 😁.


  • John Tan
    Go watch 凡人修仙传. Nice 👍 and what do u think is the production cost for 1 min of animation for that sort of quality.

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  • William Lim
    The graphics quite good sia. Story looks interesting too. Sim Pern Chong, I think you may like this animation.


  • John Tan
    William Lim u have to watch till the end then u see the power.


  • Sim Pern Chong
    William Lim Ok, I go watch. Thanks.


  • John Tan
    Sim Pern Chong yes go watch. 😁









  • Jayson Byrne
    If there is a single "minuest thing",
    Appearances would be impossible. (There isn't a single minutest thing)
    If there is not even a single "minuest thing",
    Then how is attachment possible? (It is only an appearance)
    Since appearances unfailingly appear,
    Why are there still so many attachments? (Attachments are an appearance)


  • Tony Taylor
    Hello sir. I’m trying to deep dive into dependent origination to try to break apart attachment to thoughts and emotions as well as contemplating your stanzas and the dividing line contemplation. Do you have a suggestion for a book, audio or video that explains DO the best. I’ve watched several videos on it and people often comment that isn’t a good explanation of DO. I trust your advice so was wondering if you could comment on it


    John Tan
    Tony Taylor frankly I m really not qualified to give any advices. But if u ask me, imo it is gelugpa's teaching that place the most emphasis on dependent origination. It may take some time to understand. Just be patience.
    The most critical insight imo is to understand deeply y "things" r names/designations only. Once there is deep insight into this, then causes/conditions/things and their dependencies between them become dependent designations since "things" r just names.
    Then the idea of liberations (emotions, thoughts) as liberating one's mind from reified constructs/conceptualities becomes very meaningful. However reading some of the books explanations can b a nightmare.

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  • Tony Taylor
    John Tan Ok thank you for your time and reply. I will look into it.


  • André A. Pais
    Have you been reading me or what? 👀😋
    May be an image of text that says '55% André A. Pais 31 de março às 04:56 15:50 … If there was the slightest thing There couldn't be any appearance Since there is appearance There can't be the slightest thing'




  • John Tan
    André A. Pais I think I came out first..hehe 😁🤪
    Geovani Geo , if mind rest on even a single minutest "something", whichever direction u move is samsara. Thinking or not thinking are both karma. If all fixations and constructs are abolished, there is no hindrance or contrivance in every encounter. There is not a "here" or a "now", there is not even a locality. Such a mind is free in all directions. Poetically expressed.

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  • André A. Pais
    How is not thinking karma?


  • John Tan
    André A. Pais because even "not thinking" may not eliminate the "minuest something" (depending on what conceptualities mean) and whether "not thinking" is imbued with prajna as it maybe just a suspension of thoughts.
    Therefore imo freedom from self-nature and freedom from all elaborations ultimately meet if we follow their respective view and praxis.

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  • Geovani Geo
    André, if "not thinking" involves any volition then its karma, dependent co-arising. That does not mean that "not thinking" may not happen.









  • Arthur Deller
    John Tan. Thank you for breaking and fixing the unbroken and unfixable internet simultaneously and separately together. 🙇🏻
    Appearances seemingly appear to be an minutest thing, they appear as imagined separate objects of their own and never actually anything at all, yet always indivisibly everything.
    So even the attachment to formed-formlessness is just imaginative absolutism of disparate separation from indivisible wholeness.
    Again, both being neither and the same.
    Attachment is real and unreal, the same and different, while being nothing and everything. Being nothing less and nothing more than the same as the nonexistent minutest thing.
    Have a good day.


    John Tan
    Arthur Deller have a good day! long time no see, still enjoying ur tour? Missed those beautiful sceneries pictures.


  • Arthur Deller
    John Tan The current spot. Living in the woods.
    Good to see you as well.
    May be an image of nature, cloud, twilight and tree


  • Christine Walsh
    Why are there still so many attachments? Because even those who supposedly see this clearly still cling to ideas and act upon them as if they have not. Are there logical/practical conclusions about behavior that come from right view and cause a certain trajectory? Would seeing this drive a lack of all but the most basic action in line with nature? Would a Buddha be apparent?

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