13 October 2022

Illusory Identity I - Battlecry of Freedom

 

When I am in the saddle, I have the identity of a rider. When I am in the stable grooming the horse, I have the identity of a groom. When I am lying in the dirt watching the horse disappearing down the trail, I have the identity of a pedestrian.


The identity of rider dissolves into emptiness when I dismount. The identity of groom dissolves into emptiness when I leave the stable. The identity of pedestrian dissolves into emptiness when I find my horse grazing, and get back in the saddle. Identity arises, abides, and dissolves – as is the same with all phenomena. Any impression of continuation is illusory.

I am the rider, the groom, or the pedestrian, and each identity has unique qualities and attributes. Any sense of some-thing moving without changing between these identities is illusory. A soul or self cannot be found through analysis. The body may appear to be the same, but it continually changes, and has more in common with the flow of a river than with the static quality of a rock. It is in constant change and flux. No-thing abides unchanging and permanent in the human body.

Battlecry of Freedom by Ngakma Nor’dzin, Aro Books worldwide, 2019, ISBN 978-1-898185-46-8, Part II - the slogans, p. 81


 

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