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Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Here and There

I think Jack Kerouac wrote that whenever you travel, the first person you meet upon arrival is yourself. In Buddhism, we have a similar observation, and it goes like this: what is the difference between here and there?

Karma is inflexible: there is no place to run, no place to hide. You may think things are changing for the better, when actually, the whirlwind is about to arise. In terms of karma, there is no "here," or "there." There is only cause and effect.

If you spent the past months on causes, how to you expect to escape the result simply by going from here to there? There may be some temporary effect: you might get a nice place to live, you might make a new friend, you might enjoy the change... these things happen. But, sooner or later, the first person you're going to meet is yourself. Indeed, the concept of "sooner" or "later" is similar to the concept of "here" or "there."

Willie Nelson said it best....

Ain't it funny, how time slips away.