When you look at the surface of the ocean, you can see waves coming up and going down. You can describe these waves in terms of high or low, big or small, more vigorous or less vigorous, more beautiful or less beautiful. You can describe a wave in terms of beginning and end, birth and death. That can be compared to the historical dimension. In the historical dimension, we are concerned with birth and death, more powerful, less powerful, more beautiful, less beautiful, beginning and end and so on. Looking deeply, we can also see that the waves are at the same time water. A wave may like to seek its own true nature. The wave might suffer from fear, from complexes. A wave may say, "I am not as big as the other waves," "I am oppressed," "I am not as beautiful as the other waves," "I have been born and I have to die." The wave may suffer from these things, these ideas. Buf if the wave bends down and touches her true nature she will realize that she is water. Then her fear and complexes will disappear. Water is free from birth and death of a wave. Water is free from high and low, more beautiful and less beautiful. You can talk in terms of more beautiful or less beautiful, high or low, only in terms of waves. As far as water is concerned, all these concepts are invalid. Our true nature is the nature of no birth and no death. We do not have to go anywhere in order to touch our true nature. The wave does not have to look for water because she is water. We do not have to look for God, we do not have to look for our ultimate dimension or nirvana, because we are nirvana, we are God. No Death, No Fear by: Thich Nhat Hanh
2. Abstraction When beauty is abstracted Then ugliness has been implied; When good is abstracted Then evil has been implied. So alive and dead are abstracted from nature, Difficult and easy abstracted from progress, Long and short abstracted from contrast, High and low abstracted from depth, Song and speech abstracted from melody, After and before abstracted from sequence. The sage experiences without abstraction, And accomplishes without action; He accepts the ebb and flow of things, Nurtures them, but does not own them, And lives, but does not dwell. Ahh, how I love the Tao. If only bkadoctaj was here...