We discussed inherent existence last week. Let’s continue on that topic to make sure we have a good understanding of this topic before we move on to the next subject. Most people take all phenomena as inherently existent. As we discussed last time, there is no inherent existence. All phenomena are imputed existence. During our discussions, we talked about examples of a flower and a car. We tried to find both of those objects within their parts or a combination of parts. To our amazement, we could not find either object. So today, we will try to find something different from scratch to bring this point home.
We all have a good understanding of what a forest is. I think we can say, we will know when we see one. Say one of our friends bought a house on a large tract of land – say 35 acres. They start planting some trees say 5 trees on their property. They call and ask us to come over to see their forest. We go there and see 5 trees and say well, this is not a forest. I have five trees in my backyard. It does not make a forest. So he gets disappointed. He starts planting more trees. Now he has maybe 40 trees. He calls us and says now I really have a forest, check it out. We go take a look and say still not a forest may be a grove but definitely not a forest. So he goes back to work and keeps calling us every few weeks to see. Every time, we see more trees but disappoint him when we tell him it is not a forest. A year or so goes by. He calls us and we go this time. We can’t count the number of trees on these 35 acres of land. We can’t figure out where the trees begin and where they end. We say this is a forest, my friend. You did it! When did this group of trees become a forest? Can we point to one tree that made this a forest? No, of course not. So forest we all agree that it is an imputed existence. It is a forest because we all agreed to call it a forest.
In some schools of thought, they call this a dependent existence because it depends upon the sense perception of the person who experiences the phenomena. Let’s look at things we see for example The images we see are made up of light reflected from the objects we look at. This light enters the eye through the cornea, which acts as a window at the front of the eye. Because the front part of the eye is curved, it bends the light, creating an upside-down image on the retina. The brain eventually turns the image the right way up. In other words, what we see is on our mind and not out there. Without the interpretation, there is no object. Similarly, when hearing music, we are hearing music in our mind and not out there. This is called dependent existence. So there is no inherent existence.
I know it is a profound subject and will take some time to get clarity on the subject but once that clarity comes, life becomes simple. We no longer grasp on anything and take things as they come without any attachment towards these objects. If we look at things that we grasp on a daily basis, it is insane. For example, some of us are attached to our cars, our homes, our computers, our 50 pairs of shoes, our money, and whatnot. But if we start looking at this and realize that there is no inherent existence our attachment towards these objects will gradually reduce. And at some level, we know the fragility of all this but we just are not ready to accept it or do not have the awareness to see it at the moment. Something to think about.