“Are you physically the same person today as you were yesterday?”
We see what we see. We think what we can think. That is how we perceive the world. Conversely, we struggle to recognize what is invisible or unimaginable. Yet, it seems this world is actually made of things we cannot see or imagine.
Take the “ego,” for example. I often discuss it here, but you won’t find it no matter where you look within yourself. It just happens to arise in a particular moment and then immediately changes. The force producing this ego is invisible. Its true nature remains unknown. Some even say the ego doesn’t exist at all.
What about our physical bodies? They seem to have a solid reality. But there is a clever trap here. It looks like a single mass called “my body,” but through a microscopic lens, the view changes entirely. It is simply a collection of particles. And those particles are constantly being replaced.
Our bodies are not fixed entities. They are in a state of continuous flux. This body is merely a manifestation of a ceaseless chain of “actions”—much like a river. It appears to stay in one place, yet the water is never the same from one moment to the next.
Some say, “Mind and body are one.” Others say, “Mind and body are separate.” Ultimately, both views are the same: they treat the mind and body as “entities” with a fixed substance.
In reality, both are constantly changing. They are nothing more than momentary events. However, when we try to perceive something, we feel the need to imagine a solid reality. We want a fixed entity just so we can comprehend it.
This craving for “easy understanding” is exactly what creates the ego. And from there, attachment begins.