mathjax

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Buddhism: The riddle of the chair

Here is my interpretation of Buddhist non-existence:

Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and imagine a simple white piece of paper.

 (Open your eyes.)

Now, imagine a chair.  What is it?

Imagine that chair with one leg missing. What is it?

Imagine that same chair with two legs missing.  What is it?

Imagine that same chair with three legs missing. What is it?

Imagine that same chair with four legs missing. What is it?

Imagine that same chair with four legs and the seat missing. What is it?

Now, to your mind, when did it stop being a chair? Everyone imagined it ends being a chair differently, so how can any one answer be true?

The truth is: it never was a chair. Chairs don't exist, it's the name of convenience for a set of parts we collectively refer to as a chair.

We, like that chair, don't exist.

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