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The Middle Way Discourse 08
Thanks to being burned, there is burning, and thanks to burning, there is being burned. But it is necessary to determine which comes first as the foundation for the other to arise; we cannot simply say that all things arise by relying on each other, because before they can rely on each other, something must already be present. For example, in a candle, only when it is burning can we say it is being burned, and only when there is fire can we say there is burning. The object being burned does not inherently contain fire, so it cannot burn by itself. This leads to the insight of dependent origination, which consists of two simultaneous and interconnected factors, but they are not identical.
- Because of the object being burned, there is fire, and not because of the object being burned, there is also no fire
- Not because of the object being burned, there is fire, and because of the object being burned, there is also no fire
The mutual waiting between dharmas is illogical, because if something does not yet exist, it cannot wait; if it already exists, there is no need to wait. At the same time, all dharmas do not exist by themselves, there is no fixed subject or object, but only the ever-changing flow, like a drop of water in the Seine or Mekong rivers, in which name and form, body and mind, wave and particle are one, in order to transcend all habitual notions of self and fixed causality.