Many Pairs of Opposites

Summary

The talk presents a Buddhist teaching on contemplation of the body, mindfulness, and the nature of reality, delivered in the context of a winter retreat at the Upper Hamlet in the Still Water Meditation Hall. It begins with a communal invocation to breathe, chant, and listen as one Sangha, emphasizing collective mindfulness and the transcendence of a delusive separate self. The speaker then turns to the practice of body contemplation, explaining that liberation is possible not by traveling away from the world, but by looking deeply into one’s own body and understanding its true nature. A central theme is that the body is not an isolated entity but a living community. The talk describes the body as composed of the four elements—water, air, earth, and heat—and as a system of six sense bases that give rise to consciousness. It also draws on biology to explain that the body contains both human and non-human cells, reinforcing the Buddhist teaching of no-self. The speaker extends this insight to ancestry, teaching that one’s ancestors continue in every cell and accompany each person in every breath and step. Human, animal, vegetal, and mineral ancestors are all present as continuations, and one’s actions affect the entire lineage. For this reason, walking mindfully, eating mindfully, and living peacefully are presented as acts of nourishment and healing for one’s ancestors as well as oneself. The talk emphasizes acceptance of oneself and one’s ancestors, including their strengths and weaknesses, as a basis for peace in relationships with others. Respect for the body is framed as respect for the ancestors, and mistreating the body is described as mistreating the lineage. The speaker links this to the Buddha’s instruction to Rohitasa: the way out of suffering is not through movement or escape, but through deep looking into the body, where one can touch Nirvana and the kingdom of God within. A major portion of the talk explores the Buddhist distinction between conventional truth and absolute truth. On the conventional level, language divides reality into pairs of opposites: father and son, left and right, birth and death, being and non-being, actor and receiver, conditioned and unconditioned. The speaker explains that these distinctions are useful in ordinary life and in science, but they are not ultimate. Through the lens of interbeing, each term depends on the other for its existence. A flower depends on non-flower elements such as cloud, rain, and soil; a father and son cannot be separated in an ultimate sense; subject and object arise together in perception; and creator and creature, like all paired concepts, inter-are rather than exist independently. The talk connects this Buddhist analysis to modern science, especially classical physics and quantum physics. Classical science, represented by Newton, is said to operate within conventional distinctions, while quantum physics reveals more paradoxical relationships such as wave and particle. The speaker suggests that Buddhist wisdom anticipated these insights through the teaching of dependent co-arising and the “wisdom of adaptation,” a skillful use of concepts that helps practitioners move beyond conceptual fixation. Right view, as part of the Eightfold Path, is described as freedom from attachment to being and non-being. The final section focuses on the last and most subtle pair of opposites: samsara and nirvana, the conditioned and the unconditioned. The speaker insists that Nirvana is not elsewhere, but can be touched within samsara, within the very world of birth and death. The story of Rohitasa is used again to show that the unconditioned is discovered by looking deeply into the conditioned body and world. The conclusion is that Buddhist practice offers a path from conventional truth to absolute truth through mindfulness, interbeing, and the wisdom of adaptation, enabling liberation, healing, and peace for oneself, one’s ancestors, and the wider community.