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It seems to me that many people leave few traces in the world. A couple may spend a lot of time and money on their house and furnishings, and the next occupant sends everything to the recycling and remodels. An aircraft engineer spends months measuring out vibration loads in an aircraft, only to say, it’s ok. A Zen monk spends hours sitting zazen and then stands up and there is no trace.

Like a dream, a mirage, a wave in the ocean or clouds in the sky.
We leave no traces because we are not that.

Form is like a glob of foam;
feeling, a bubble;
perception, a mirage;
fabrications, a banana tree;
consciousness, a magic trick —
this has been taught
by the Kinsman of the Sun.
However you observe them,
appropriately examine them,
they're empty, void
to whoever sees them
appropriately.

Beginning with the body
as taught by the One
with profound discernment:
when abandoned by three things
— life, warmth, & consciousness —
form is rejected, cast aside.
When bereft of these
it lies thrown away,
senseless,
a meal for others.
That's the way it goes:
it's a magic trick,
an idiot's babbling.
It's said to be
a murderer.[1]
No substance here
is found.

Thus a monk, persistence aroused,
should view the aggregates
by day & by night,
mindful,
alert;
should discard all fetters;
should make himself
his own refuge;
should live as if
his head were on fire —
in hopes of the state
with no falling away.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn22.095.than.html

The traces we leave
So when we have an extraordinary experience, would you not feel that it should be passed on?

In a sense, we are all teachers and students of life's wonders...We are continually learning things from each other's experiences...

Which reminds me...

When the student is ready, the master will appear

When the student isn't ready, will the master still appear?

What separates one person from another.
Is there really anything that one does that isn't a communication of some form or another?

It seems to me that many people leave few traces in the world. A couple may spend a lot of time and money on their house and furnishings, and the next occupant sends everything to the recycling and remodels. An aircraft engineer spends months measuring out vibration loads in an aircraft, only to say, it’s ok. A Zen monk spends hours sitting zazen and then stands up and there is no trace.

On the forums too, there are things that are current, and then a long trail is left that few people look at again. It is all just footsteps in the sand, washed away by the next high tide. You can try as you like - make websites, write books, write blogs - it is all impermanent, and most things even vanish from view within our lifetimes.

So when we have an extraordinary experience, would you not feel that it should be passed on? I think that anyone who has an experience of this sort should become a kind of teacher for a while, passing the wisdom of his experience on to his tribe. Unfortunately in this day and age so few people truly listen.

@person said:
Just started 3 Body Problem on Netflix and I'm instantly hooked, it hits all my buttons. Its a sciency-supernatural-mystery-thriller. A similar sort of genre to Dark if anyone is familiar with that one. On top of that the Chinese Cultural Revolution plays a part in the story, an intense part of history on the sort of scale of the holocaust but scarcely portrayed in popular media.

I’m watching it too… slowly in 20-minute segments…

I always wonder, seeing your pictures, how the air feels, how it smells, in your part of the world - and all the things that the dimension of photography cannot capture.