This is the true teaching of buddhism. In the avatamsaka sutra (flower wreath sutra) which is the largest and most fundamental buddhist sutra, the buddha puts forward the notion of "Indra's net" or "The Jeweled net of indra"
The idea (is metaphorical and not literal) is that there is some infinite net of perfectly polished jewels in all directions. Each jewel is polished such that it reflects every other jewel in the net. Reflected in each jewel is every other jewel. If one jewel moves, all other jewels reflect this motion. Each jewel is a reflection of the entire universe.
I wear a ring on my finger from the lord of the rings movies (the ring of barahir) prop shop. It's got two snakes (one devouring and one supporting a garden of flowers) and they wrap around a single green jewel.
To me, this ring is not about elves and such stuff. To me, the ring represents the jewel in the net that is me. The two snakes represent the categories of thought that are illusion (i.e. choice of left/right, good/evil, fear desire, being/nonbeing). It's basically a symbol of the garden of eden and indra's net all in one.
It's remarkable to me that hindu/buddhist philosophy has such a fundamental grasp of the world. Their intellectual interpretation of the same fundamental forms of christianity is what really draws me to it. I don't go along with all of the ideas/teachings of buddhism in it's more ascetic forms of rejecting the world and reincarnation and such, but there is much of it that I think is pure truth.
__________________
Vi veri veniversum vivus vici. (By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe)
The self is not a fixed entity but a dynamic process of relationships
You & I, no distinction. - Tat Tvam Asi
Become Who You Are |