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Embracing the Great Vehicle
We are often captivated by mistaken imaginings; our discriminations are merely pure notions, not real. From the foundation of dependent arising—the arising that depends on conditions, with no separate self-nature—all afflictions arise. The process of perception includes the ten realms (the six sense organs, the six sense objects, the six consciousnesses), or the eighteen realms (including form, sound, smell, taste, touch, and dharmas). For example, the eye only sees light within the spectrum from red rays (0.0007 cm) to violet rays (0.00004 cm), while infrared rays (0.00008 cm), ultraviolet rays (0.0003–0.000001 cm), radio signals, cosmic waves… all exist even though they are beyond our perception; only the body sense, touch consciousness, or a receiver can perceive them. Understanding the limitations of the sense organs helps us let go of attachment to self, and live peacefully and mindfully.
A leaf does not exist separately but always in interdependent relationship: the leaf nourishes the tree and the tree nourishes the leaf; the leaf of the past still continues in the leaf of today. Looking deeply in the light of dependent arising, we see no birth and no death, no coming and no going, no being and no non-being. All names—Morning Star, the city of Paris, Sister Dang Nghiem—are conventional designation (giả danh), not absolute entities. Paris in each person’s mind is different, just as love and hate are only notions about another person, not that person themselves. When we transcend false discrimination, we touch the true nature of things as they are, and attain the wisdom of liberation.