Posts
I wrote on a discussion:
The so called "Absolute" is really just another label for "relative manifestation" just like "Weather" is just a label for clouds forming and parting, wind blowing, the blue sky. All of these are just appearances and then a label "Weather" is applied. There is no Weather entity existing in and of itself that could either be separate from, nor encompass, all these phenomena.
Just as airplane is just a label applied in the same way to the activity of flying, and so forth, wind is also a label applied in the same way to blowing, 'Awareness' is applied in the same way to momentary manifestation. And just as it's not the case that winter 'becomes' spring, there is no 'airplane' that existed before that later 'does the flying', or a 'weather' that later 'becomes clouds and wind blowing' or 'a blue sky' that 'becomes clouds'. All these are just appearances abiding in their dharma positions.
Stationary airplane is stationary airplane, moving airplane is moving airplane, but then view of inherency and duality makes it appear as if there is a prior entity, a 'background agent', causing the airplane to move, as if there is an airplane that exists behind that movement causing the movement, or a wind existing behind blowing causing the blowing, or a consciousness existing behind manifestation causing them. It's just a snapshot of a previous state of 'airplane' or 'consciousness' being reified into an agent but there is no such thing.
Hence Alan Watts said, "Thus what we call the agent behind the action is simply the prior or relatively more constant state of the same action: when a man runs we have a "manning-running" over and above a simple "manning." Furthermore, it is only a somewhat clumsy convenience to say that present events are moved or caused by past events, for we are actually talking about earlier and later stages of the same event. "
The so called "Absolute" is really just another label for "relative manifestation" just like "Weather" is just a label for clouds forming and parting, wind blowing, the blue sky. All of these are just appearances and then a label "Weather" is applied. There is no Weather entity existing in and of itself that could either be separate from, nor encompass, all these phenomena.
Just as airplane is just a label applied in the same way to the activity of flying, and so forth, wind is also a label applied in the same way to blowing, 'Awareness' is applied in the same way to momentary manifestation. And just as it's not the case that winter 'becomes' spring, there is no 'airplane' that existed before that later 'does the flying', or a 'weather' that later 'becomes clouds and wind blowing' or 'a blue sky' that 'becomes clouds'. All these are just appearances abiding in their dharma positions.
Stationary airplane is stationary airplane, moving airplane is moving airplane, but then view of inherency and duality makes it appear as if there is a prior entity, a 'background agent', causing the airplane to move, as if there is an airplane that exists behind that movement causing the movement, or a wind existing behind blowing causing the blowing, or a consciousness existing behind manifestation causing them. It's just a snapshot of a previous state of 'airplane' or 'consciousness' being reified into an agent but there is no such thing.
Hence Alan Watts said, "Thus what we call the agent behind the action is simply the prior or relatively more constant state of the same action: when a man runs we have a "manning-running" over and above a simple "manning." Furthermore, it is only a somewhat clumsy convenience to say that present events are moved or caused by past events, for we are actually talking about earlier and later stages of the same event. "
