I'm going to take a quick detour from the skandhas today to celebrate Mother's Day Middle Way style. We often solidify our world by defining our relationships to other people. But, the teachings suggest that we take a closer look and see whether we think those definitions have any more substance than a dream. Take a look at the mother to child relationship and apply the causality argument. There are three possibilities: the mother came first, the child came first, or they arose at the same time. If the mother came first, then there was a moment in time when they were a childless mother, which cannot occur since mothers have to have children by definition. If the child came first, there would be a motherless child which is really strange to think about. If they came into existence at the same time, then there would be no causal relationship which is not the case. Does this mean I don't need or want to call Mom today? Not really. It does open up opportunities for our relationship to grow and change though. Happy Mother's Day!
Sunlit peony
To all mothers and children
This rich, fleeting gift
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