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The Middle Way Treatise Chapter 10. Fire and Wood
The central lesson from the Middle Way Treatise, in the chapter on fire and fuel, emphasizes the non-dual nature between burning and being burned: if burning means being burned, then fire and fuel are not separate, the subject and the action become one; conversely, if they are completely separate, it leads to contradiction, because fire cannot burn endlessly without something to be burned. This view denies the existence of a soul separate from the body, showing that all phenomena are without coming or going, neither one nor different, neither born nor destroyed. The concept of self-nature and the term tác vô nhiên hỏa công highlight that fire is inherently existent, not arising from any condition, naturally abiding.
The definition of fuel only appears at the moment there is fire—like wax only becomes combustible when it has vaporized—in the same way, a person is only a younger Dharma brother when the fire of the ten precepts is kindled. Physically, a candle burns thanks to wax vapor, oxygen, and the coming together of many conditions; oil, wick, hot and cold air operate as a cycle of dependent arising. Observation from ethology shows that animals have perception and intelligence with a cognitive map, for example, bees or dogs know their way and learn in their natural environment. When contemplating the five skandhas, we see that form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness are interwoven, inseparable:
- Form – physical body
- Feeling – sensations
- Perception – recognition
- Mental formations – volitional activities
- Consciousness – the totality of awareness
