Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Supernatural power

Watch the following Thay's video.


Quote:
There is a view of eternalism. Eternalism, that means you have a soul that is eternal. And after you die, that soul remains intact and go to another body and continue like that. That is the eternalism. And then, the other extreme is that after you die, well there is nothing left. Nihilism. And nirvana is the extinction of these two views, nihilism and eternalism. And even in a life of a person, the lifetime of a person, when you grow a ten-year old, you are no longer the same with when you were five. So, you were five and you are ten. You are neither the same nor different person. So, the notion of the same and different should be transcended also. 

So, if you don't see that kind of light, you don't really understand the rebirth in Buddhism. You may get caught in the view of eternalism. And you are not different from strange man who hold the view that there is an immortal soul. In the light of the teaching, everything is impermanent. Nothing in the five skandhas can remain exactly the same in two consecutive moments. But nothing is lost. And creation in Buddhism means the manifestation. And from nothing you can't become something. So, creation, if we look deeply, it is really a continuation of manifestation. If you don't manifest in this way, and then you manifest in that way like the cloud and the snow. 

So, if you get that, you are no longer afraid. That is your supernatural power already. If you have non-fear, and then you are quite different from other people. Because we are subjected to our fear, fear of dying, fear of being nothing. But with non-fear in you, that deep wisdom in you, you become supernatural. You are no longer mortals. You don't need to be a God because a God is not supposed to be a human being. So, to say that the Buddha has a supernatural power, that is true also. But he doesn't need to be a God in order to have that. He needs only to have freedom. Freedom from wrong view, and freedom from fear. 

It's like the birth and death are like waves. And you are riding on a wave of birth and death and you go without fear. It's a wonderful, that is a supernatural power. And the Buddha did not encourage his disciples to perform miracles. He said that the greatest miracle is the miracle of teaching and transforming people. And that is the miracle that he do every day.
:Unquote

(My commentary)
We can never die but we just stop manifestation at the time of so-called death. Our disintegrated bodies keep existing in different forms such as water, air, earth (minerals), heat (energy). And when conditions are sufficient, they will manifest again in new forms. And each particle enfolds into consciousness (subconscious). Then, consciousness unfolds into new forms. So, our mind or spirit also continues. When we understand this mechanism, we will have non-fear.

(Cf.) http://www.slideshare.net/compassion5151/spiritual-ancestors

Thích Nhất Hạnh