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Why is There Change?
MindGate
United States Veteran
In Buddhism, we know everything is constantly changing and in flux...
But why? Or is this another imponderable...
But why? Or is this another imponderable...
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The way to understand reality is to see processes which are made up of processes and which are part of larger processes; without anything ultimately existing producing them or coming from them.
In a universe of interdependent empty phenomena there is no permanence.
Imho of course, and maybe it doesn’t explain much but it’s just different ways of saying the same thing.
"Not everything is constantly changing"
seems far less obvious.
I'm not getting something.
The alternative is crystalline nothingness.
Because they don't stay the same.
All the best,
todd
I like the metaphor of the present forces looking like the contents of a stomach. Its always changing because there are forces of digestion at work on components that are unique in content and being pulled apart. Its not a matter of "letting" things stay the same, but recognizing that they are not static.
But trying to imply that we have some control isn't particularly helpful in my opinion. For instance, light is not still, it is an expression of energy. Why isn't it still? Because it has energy. "Why not let light be still" is erroneous, because we are not the impetus of every wave's journey, and if it were still, it wouldn't be light.
"Why not let things stay the same" is erroneous because its in the muddied observation of transitions that we apply the false notion of the static "things". In the absence of projected static qualities, there are no things.
with warmth,
Matt
do you want the same questions, and the same answers all the time?
Do you want to always be subject to your parents' responsibility and control?
Do you always want it to rain?
Would you prefer ALL things to stay the same?
What's the actual point of your question?
And really, I am curious.....
But then we will need to get very scientific & answer an infinite amount of questions such as:
(1) how did bacteria form?
(2) why do things rot & dissolve?
(3) what is heat?
(4) what is water?
(5) why does water evaporate with heat?
(6) why does water erode earth?
(7) what is earth?
(8) what is mind?
(9) why does mind change?
(10) is mind dependent on the body?
the list of questions becomes endless
:hrm:
"How do things come into existence? They are the effect of a cause. How did the pen come into existence? Could the pen come from itself? Do pens multiply by itself? Is it not from something else. Things no not happen for no reason!
Is the pen an effect of its cause? No.
But But if something happens then it has to have a cause.
Are effects the same as causes? How can an effect be the same as a cause? If they were the same, how could you distinguish between a cause and an effect. So are causes and effect the same or are they different. Well they have to be different.
If the result was the same as the cause, why would you need a cause? It would already be there.
The cause and effect of a pen. Various materials (cause) are made into an effect (pen).
How can one thing bring about another?
How can an orange bring about an apple?
If they are different (inherently), how can one thing turn into another? How can plastic turn into a pen? Plastic is always plastic.
If cause and effect is different, then which came first the cause or the effect? Well obviously the cause comes before the effect.
Is a cause a cause before the effect comes about? No. The cause is not a cause until the effect of the cause occurs. So which comes first the cause or effect?
Does the effect come about as the same time as the cause? No. We went over this. We couldn't tell them apart then.
When you have an effect, where is it's cause? The cause is gone.
In what sense does the cause bring about the effect, when the cause isn’t there when the effect comes along? Cause and effect is impossible"
-Lama Marut talk
Imagine everything as a singular thing. then imagine things coming out of that singular thing. we label those things and forget that it was once a singular thing. we attach meaning to those labels and create narratives from those labels. we forget that the actual thing originally had no name. we just decided to call it something. but originally everything is like a blank slate and is one.
Absolutely: there is emptiness (the ground to existence).
Relatively: there is the form that changes. we overlay an idea on top of it.
Now idk why change happens but I do know that existence itself is creative.
It is creative for the sake of being creative.
None of this has any Buddhist basis though and is just speculation from my head.
As a good and wise friend of mine said to me once, our children are a great lesson in change and impermanence.
neatly done, though!
For "things to stay the same", we are talking about being frozen in place like statues. Doesn't sound like much fun.
For a better idea of what I'm talking about, check out this video series: