4 - The Tibetan Book of the Dead

[markings]

All phenomena are [ultimately] selfless, empty, and free from conceptual elaboration.
In their dynamic they resemble an illusion, mirage, dream, or reflected image,
A celestial city, en echo, a reflection of the moon in water, a bubble,
an optical illusion, or an intangible emanation.
You should know that all things of cyclic existence and nirvana
Accord [in nature] with these ten similes of illusory phenomena.

[clara927]

Hello Markings,

Thank you once again for posting these excerpts. Its interesting to think that everything we see in front of us is a mirage in a sense. I think of how bendable our reality is, how easily it can be shaped or reshaped. It makes sense that nothing in our world is truly solid and everything vibrates.

[markings]

Clara,

as you see from the next section I posted there is no exception to this, not God not the 'I'. They are included in the mirage. It also reiterates where our problems come from, and on realising this we also know the solution, at least in theory.

One should not see the references to illusion as a devaluation of it. As we are all caught up in it we need to live in it and deal with it. A game of monopoly, dealing with illusory property and money can still teach us something and for some even be fun.
In this sense even our life in a dream can teach us how to be a better person and lead a more effective life. Just don't confuse it with it being the [ultimate] reality and take your monopoly money to make a bank deposit.

How much fear and anxiety would disappear from our lives if we could truly come to a point where we would realise this and the next passage of this remarkable book in full?

[mccoist]

Hello Markings
These are great posts
Previously I have noticed them but I did not quiet understand them
so to come back to them now after practicing and studying a little
and be able to understand them is heart warming for me
I will get out my tibethan book and have a read again .
mccoist