Penetrate the Falseness of Natural Phenomena

All the forms of nature are illusions. Throughout history, all the events that have come and gone are just illusory scenes. This is absolutely true. Two thousand five hundred years ago, Shakyamuni Buddha said, "Actions have no permanent existence, and dharmas have no independent existence." That is to say, whether it is the sun, moon, stars and clouds in space; the mountains, rivers, land and seas on earth; or gold, silver, copper, iron, minerals, tiles, wood and rocks; all the things in the universe, without exception, are illusory and subject to change. At the time, many people opposed this assertion and regarded it as ridiculous and without proof. Few people believed it. In the Vajra Sutra, the Buddha said, "All conditioned dharmas are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows, like dew and like lightning: thus should they be contemplated." In the Heart Sutra, he also said, "Form does not differ from emptiness, and emptiness does not differ from form; form is equivalent to emptiness, and emptiness is equivalent to form." That is to say, emptiness and form are the same. Form is just emptiness, and emptiness is just form. Waves are caused by wind, and form arises from ignorance.

After Gassendi stated in 1658 that the three states of matter-- liquid, solid and gas--are interchangeable, scientists continued to study his theory. In recent times, the international community has thoroughly confirmed this theory through experiments, and can utilize it. If it were not for the interchangeability of the three states of matter, which penetrates the falseness of natural phenomena, people would still refuse to believe that natural phenomena are false. Although what we have said about the falseness of natural phenomena was already spoken over two thousand five hundred years ago, it is worth mentioning again.

Let's consider ice, which is in a solid state. Everyone can see and touch its solid form. However, ice has a melting point (0 degrees Celsius), at which temperature it will turn into water. Water is a liquid which will evaporate into steam if heated up to its boiling point of 100 degrees Celsius. You see, ice changes into water, and water turns into steam. Isn't this an illusion? In fact, all these phenomena are natural processes, and they are also the manifestation of truth. Not only does ice have this property, gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, and all other materials in the universe including loose soil, wood, rock, and so on, also have this property. This is a fact which all mankind recognizes, and it is a great discovery in the universe, as well as an epoch-making event in the world.

To be continued