246-You can't get into the same river twice.- Buddhism in daily life

You can't get into the same river twice.


Buddhism and the river


What is life like, what constitutes our existence?


The best way to compare life is with a river.


THE GREEK PHILOSOPHER HERACLITUS IS CREDITED WITH THE FOLLOWING
SENTENCE:


"YOU CANNOT GET INTO THE SAME RIVER TWICE."


It is our body that gets into the river, yesterday and today, but
it is not the same water, it is an entirely different water.


The water of yesterday is already many kilometers away, perhaps
someone is bathing in the water that refreshed me yesterday.


The ideas of the historical Buddha and those of Heraclitus show
amazing similarities. The Greek philosopher's thoughts revolve
around the unity of things and around the whole and the
not-whole, around things that come together and things that
diverge. In the Buddhist philosophy the statement is found in the
Diamond Sutra: "Form is emptiness and emptiness is form".


One can think about that!


The river of life starts tentatively, in the womb of the mother,
widens at birth, flows together with other rivers (other people),
the water swells, ebbs away, the water evaporates, falls back to
earth.


Just as you can't get into the same river twice, you can't do
anything else twice, time is over, it's not like it was, it's
new, the situation doesn't come back like that.


Even the things I know well, for example my "way home", it is
always a little different, it is never exactly the same, the
raindrops are not identical, nothing is ever like it was before.


Follow the river of life, enjoy the cool water, the refreshment,
the people and incidents that pass by on the shore.


Every day is today, even if you do the same things you did
yesterday. Even if you read the words of the Buddha today, and
tomorrow again, sitting in the same chair, other thoughts will
arise, other paths will open up.


Every moment is continuity. The now is always different, we know
NOTHING, everything changes, the river flows.


HUMAN NATURE IS LIKE A WHIRLPOOL OF WATER. IF YOU OPEN A WAY TO
THE EAST, THE WATER FLOWS EASTWARD; IF YOU OPEN A WAY TO THE
WEST, THE WATER FLOWS WESTWARD.


- MENGZI - MOST IMPORTANT SUCCESSOR OF CONFUCIUS - 370 TO 290
B.C. CHR.


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