We live constantly with the illusion of solidity, of some permanent condition of entrapment in a world of solid form.

An illusion created by our very thirst, not for change... but permanence itself. Change is indeed our reality. Fluid, flux, flowing, indistinct, boundaries that have only an imputed reality. There are no boundaries. No borders. No walls. No doors. No floors. No ceilings. No solid bodies to hinder thought, feeling, distance or closeness. We flow into each other, we co mingle, coalesce, !uiesce, "oin and only delude ourselves with a mista#en notion of separateness. We are not separate for a single instant from... each other$ From another$ From an other$ %ow is this possible$ &et us as# for a moment. %ow is it possible to be... other$ No... we are same, we are water, we are fluid, we are everywhere, at one time, at any moment... inseparable... as water is inseparable from... itself. A self that li#e the very waters, the very ocean of sentient life, is divine, all present, in all, through all, ever flowing, ever loving and... free Ned 'ranchi (Nga#pa &obsang )amyang *or"e+ ,any believe that 'uddhism claims that there is no such thing as forever. When we say this we are referring to the mista#en belief that things are permanently existing which is exactly what this piece is about. -ou see there is a very fine philosophical point here about .things., .beings. and .discreet entities. which means that they are indeed not .forever. not .everlasting. and definitely not .permanent.. 'ut there is another view that is created by this one... That is that the only .constant. is change. 'uddhism sees consciousness as fluid and in a constant state of change. /t doesn0t exist anywhere in solid form, can never be permanent and only exists according to certain conditions. 'ut... this very consciousness and our very nature is not li#e that. /t0s not fixed. /t0s not forever. At the same time it is .eternal.. That doesn0t mean it exists forever. /t means it never did exist except for certain conditions li#e our bodies or our minds. The truth is that it never had any beginning and will have no end. The fact of reincarnation means that we have had a continuity of change from beginningless time and regardless of how we perceive ourselves as real we are only provisionally real because certain conditions have created this illusion. 1ne other point that this piece ma#es is that although we see each other as separate entities, we are not. /n 'uddhism this is the very reason for compassion for all sentient beings because not only are we not separate but we are in fact all interdependent to the point where, if / loo# at another person / can literally see an .other. me. )ust the same, with same pains, the same wish to be happy, the same mar#s of existence. 1ne of the strange mar#s of our existence which is overloo#ed by all of us because we see ourselves this way is that 2345 of our whole existence is actually water and the other very small 2 is carbon. This is the raw physics of reality. 6o you can see why water as an element is important here for describing the lac# of inherent or solid existence in our whole experience of reality. 1ne thing is constant, "ust li#e water and nature itself and that is change. /t is literally what we are 78

There's Nothing There This is how we dream our lives my friend look what it brings you in the end a mound of dust a pile of rocks keeps you dreaming You never did believe that it was true You'd been deceived somehow you knew by this mirage a barrage of deception That binds you like a slave to its machine and though there is no escape you know I finally found my freedom in this prison cell that just dissolves around me every single time I see your face You erase my pain like a gentle summer rain I'm no longer here You're no longer here We just disappear into the air There's nothing there everything's here This is what we dream for my friend from the beginning to the end through broken skies and blinded eyes I tried to see you Love is just another word you use I never did believe it was true It's just a reflection that blinds me like a slave to my dreams and though there is no happiness I finally found my freedom in this prison cell that just dissolves around me every single time I see your face You erase my pain like a gentle summer rain

I'm no longer there you're no longer there we no longer care we just disappear into the air there's nothing there everything's here Ned ranchi ! "##$