Everything Is Just..Imaginings | ARTWORK |Eng.

Everything is just… i m a g i n i n g s 

Today we shall discuss about imaginings.

Let us first imagine, right from the very beginning, from the first imagining in this world. Imagine a tree, a river, a mountain. 

Then imagine the world.. its living creatures, including humans, Brahmins, as well as other celestial beings and fallen angels. In fact, the gods and humans in countless realms and origins are nothing but imaginings. 

Even the four elements namely, earth, water, wind and fire, are just the conditions of this world of diversities. And everything that’s happening on a daily basis is also just imaginings. The earth that quakes and falls eventually goes away. 

The rains inevitably slow down, and the thunders cease. The sun rises, gives out light and later go down. Time is merely a part of the entire imagining. We, the world’s beings, are just imaginings. There’s a time we become a father, and at a time, a mother. At one time we are offspring, an older sibling, and a younger sibling. It’s just an endless world of imaginings. We are in this cycle of life and death again and again. So much so that there is no end to this cycle of birth.. aging.. pain.. and death. 

We’re at the highest, and then we’re at the lowest. It’s merely the condition of your karma or act. The karma existing in this world works the same way as the karma of a millionaire or a pauper, depending on their actions. You could be a janitor or an outcast; a beggar or a rich, successful man. 

You may be handsome or beautiful beyond words, yet nothing is more solid and certain than the fact that these things are only imaginings. No matter how beautiful or handsome you are, you will still fade away one day. And all that beauty will be gone. So will your wealth and riches, they too will be gone. 

When the time comes, the bodily functions cease to exist. 

That is why I’m telling you that all things are imaginings. Imagine this state, and that state, they just come and go, all in this cycle of life and death – all in time. It wouldn’t be wrong to say the same with this world. 

Everything is temporary. After the rain, come the sun; then the fog, and snow. And eventually the snow melts. These are all part of the imaginings because they all come and go. Ice turns to water; water turns to air, and then it evaporates.

 All things in this wheel of life are nothing but imaginings. And for that, how is it that we, as humans, fail to learn that lesson? It’s like pounding at stones – they can’t just turn into powder. 

We become stubborn and we refuse to learn because we are full of false pride. No matter who you are, whether you’re an adult or an infant, you’re bound to face sufferings at one time or another. No matter how far and high up you go – even to Mars – you still have sufferings. And this is all because of imaginings. 

There’s an imagining this, and an imagining that. 

You won’t even need to compare one to another. Take a chef, for example, With one stove, he can make so many different dishes.. As many as he likes, and as many as he can imagine. Just as life, too, has many imaginings. Therefore, examine yourself and contemplate well. All sufferings can stop, as all joys can stop as well. Both joys and sufferings have been imaginings since the moment of birth until death. So if you do not seek mindfulness, ..or seek to do right, ..or should you fail to tell one from the other, ..or to try to reason, ..or if you don’t really look into it, you will never know the origin of that imagining. 

That origin is the inner traits that are bound by your mind since birth, since the process of becoming – the states of existence. Be it hundreds or thousands of lifetimes, we will never be free from these states so as to follow the path of Lord Buddha. That is why we will always be bound in this cycle of life and death.

       

            Like a ferry boat that sails to the other side, it’s bound to sail back. 

           The ferry boat that sails from Don Sak to Koh Samui, 

            Will only sail back to where it started. Therefore, in each lifetime or state of 

           existence, 

this is the only way to address the subject in order that we understand the principles. If we cannot detach ourselves from all those imaginings, we will never be truly free. And those things will only come back into our lives, or each existence. Just as a person who gets on the bus to go to work, at the end of the day, he’ll have to take that same bus home. The same goes with the cycle of life and death.. If we cannot detach ourselves from each process of existence, it’ll only take us back to the very same spot, or condition. That is, to be back through a new birth, followed by the same chain of Aging, pain, and death. It will become an endless imagining that we can never catch or escape. 

That is why Lord Buddha shows us how to “detach” and “let go”, so that we may lessen the traps from all those imaginings. Whether you’re an offspring, a husband, or wife, all these conditions are merely temporary. Just as you’re being married, you are merely in a temporary family. For an imagined period of time, you conceive. After an imagined nine months, you give birth; while the child is also in that womb for that imagined period of time. And then it is born, with the imagining of itself walking, and running. 

All these states or conditions are merely imaginings. And all these things work the same way in the whole universe, in the same states of imaginings. Even the four elements: earth, water, wind and fire, are merely conditional states that are simply imaginings. As we reach the end of our life span, all those imaginings simply disappear from our lives. 

The same goes for all human beings of this world.. No one can escape from these imaginings. It’s therefore fitting to conform to Lord Buddha’s teaching: Just as all things go through the process of Birth, existence, and cessation.. All our imaginings also go through the same process. They come and then they go. You gain, and then you lose. Even the body given to us.. the fame, the honor.. 

They are all imaginings.. For in the end, they are all bygones. No one can be the boss of these conditions, just as no one can claim ownership of these conditions. For this reason, the humans of this world race around with each other in such confusing manners. 

The ‘imagining’ state of wanting a piece of land – to own all of it to oneself. The ‘imagining’ state of killing others for their ranks and positions. The ‘imagining’ state of killing or hurting others for their terrains. In the end, all those things simply rot away and there’s no stopping it. All of you who possess the wisdom should be able to understand. Let us just contemplate how these imaginings came to exist. They are just the result of the cravings and desires in life that one cannot free themselves from. It’s just the ignorance and false pride hiding inside us in one lifetime after another. That is why it never ends. All things come and go – they exist and then cease to exist – for they are nothing but imaginings. On the subject of time.. Be it a day, a month, or a year; or throughout a cycle of 12 years.. Be it 12 years, 12 months, or 12 days.. Be it a week, or a day.. We’re in the same state. It’s just that we tend to meddle with that imagined state. 

We set the rules for that state. We draw the line for students to pass; from kindergarten to primary school, and then high school, university, until the imagined state of being a doctor or PhD, and into the office or working state, and finally retiring. But then those imagined states only wind back to the original state, the state of becoming childlike again at retirement. It’s the state of living at home, just like a child all over again; while the only thing ahead is the waiting state of the imagining death. Upon the state of death, 

if that particular mind or soul never once practiced Dhamma, never seek to learn the teachings or make merit, never regarded or obeyed the preaching of Lord Buddha on the rule of the Three Characteristics (1. pain, 2. perishableness, 3. nonexistence), Those people will simply come back in a new life, a new life consisting of the same imaginings. They’ll be eating the same food, living in the same place, crossing the water to the same island Koh Samui, and returning home in the evenings to the same place at Don Sak, Suratthani. 

This is definitely worth contemplating on. Any other way of demonstrating this would not be quite as clear. These days, people are so much in the dark. People of today are so much in the dark, darker than nighttime, For even nighttime contains some natural light. But the darkness in the mind and soul of a human Is worse than being in a big well or tunnel.. For it is in complete darkness. You no longer can find the way because your soul is completely blinded by darkness. All you’re clinging to is the imagining states. 

You cannot free yourself from it; you cannot bring yourself into the light because you are not willing to believe. Take some time to contemplate this.

Why are you so willing to run into that darkness! And while some people try to pull you out of that darkness in hoping to shed some wisdom on you, you still fail to recognize righteousness, but instead accuse them of purposely bullying you! You can’t see that it’s actually the right thing to do, which is to pull yourself out of the darkness caused by your desires, and come into the light. 

Those desires or cravings are only clinging to you in order to fool you into the trap, the trap of imaginings. This trap only causes you to cling on to the cravings and desires, to want to have and be attached to worldly things, fame and false pride, ranks and positions. All these are just material things that block the inner wisdom. We can see people like these all over this world. 

What do they look like? Where are they in this body given to them by birth through their parents? In fact, all these things are only imaginings. Even all the gold and wealth of this world hanging upon the shoulder and the head are simply imaginings. Most people truly understand the precepts of Dhamma.

They cannot see the true meaning of the Teaching. And though it may seem like I’m just repeating these same words – and that you may not believe that it’s the truth – but I assure you that only the ignorant would allow themselves to drown in that state of greed and desires. They only want to be involved in corruption, and wanting the things that belong to others, fighting and blasting others in order to take others’ possessions as their own. They are in the state of micchaditthi, or false view. 

The people who want to claim others’ possessions as their own are the ones in the darkest state, the state of abundant sins, not perceiving the true value of oneself. That is why they imagine other people’s possessions as their own, and turn into bad guys who kill and corrupt and seize things for their own. We call these people ones who have “no dignity”. They do not observe any code of ethics. 

This only shows that they lack true pride and honor. It’s not meaning to say that they do not work for that pride. But honor stolen from others is not for real. It’s simply stealing others’ imaginings for themselves. 

They are considered rather useless people. If the honor and pride are not obtained through your own achievements, what is there to be proud of anymore? In no time, the fame and honor would be reclaimed by the right owners. We see people like this all over this big world. So now you can see how this world is actually full of imaginings. The earth, water, wind and fire: the trees, the animals, the human beings that share this world together. It’s just that, we humans are known as sentient beings, ones with intellect. 

However, these days, it’s hard to find ones who live up to the sentience. And this is because most people tend to forget themselves. They forget all about being sentient, being real humans, and so the sufferings start. To “forget oneself”, is to forget the deeper meaning of the word human, which consists of the mind and soul. That is why here is how I propose we see the meaning of the word “human”..