Arising and Ceasing Is Only Returning to the Origin

📖Master’s Reading

The gatherings and partings of life often bring reluctance and pain. Yet worldly things cannot escape the law of cause and effect. Everything has a start and a landing; "the arising and ceasing of conditions" is in fact only returning to the origin. We grieve at loss, forgetting that before meeting, we were strangers unknown to each other. Having formed a bond we gathered; when the bond is used up and we regard each other as strangers, we naturally return to the original state of not knowing each other.

All in life is the arising and ceasing of conditions. There are in fact only two things in the world: one is "gaining," one is "losing" — from not having to having, then from having to not having. Understanding this truth is not to teach us cold indifference but to learn to view all worldly relationships with a higher wisdom.

Facing life's bonds, we must learn to "take up and set down." When there is a bond, cherish it well; when there is none, bless each other. Treat one another sincerely when the bond arises; when it ceases, do not force or resent. When you can calmly accept gathering and parting, grateful for the growth this bond once brought, and no longer grip clinging, life is freed from the suffering of parting, and the soul regains true freedom.

🌱Reflection for Daily Life

• Cherish when the bond comes; bless when the bond goes.
• Understand that worldly meetings are all arising and ceasing of conditions.
• When the bond arises, cherish it and treat each other sincerely.
• When the bond ceases, bless each other and resent no more.
• Calmly accept gathering and parting and regain the soul's freedom.