Nothing is owned by anyone...

you might get shocked to hear that nobody owns anything as the fact that everyone in the world owns something and they are either gratified with what they have or sadden by not having what they wish. But this is not implied when I said, “Nothing is owned by anyone.”  Let me say this point metaphorically.

When you are in the forest, you might see different plants and animals as you live in, besides you probably make some new weapons to protect yourself from external threat and some tools to build a hut. Having some tools made with your creativity and building a small hut to keep yourself protected can never change the nature of forest, nor are something other than the forest itself.  Interpretation of your mind might claim those weapons and hut as your own, but the fact is you have only made some changes in the forest for your own survival and nothing is brought from outside nor you can take along when you leave the forest.

The irony is people mistakenly believe that what is there in the forest and things you can get from the forest are owned by you, including your experience and information. The fact is we are visitors in the forest just for a century, maximally.

In this universe, we all sentient being have created nothing new nor have ever taken anything away from here. We have only known more about the universe as we live on and nothing more than that. 

Moreover, we, human, have learned to adapt ourselves in this universe and given meanings to the sound our body can make, the language. It is not something other than tools you have made with those materials available in the forest. Since we have given meaning only to those sounds that this body can make, our body is just the forest to our mind. If we claimed it as our own then we should have brought it when we step into this universe and also we should be able to take it when we leave.

Metaphorically, People living in the eastern part of the forest make tools differently from the people in the west. But those tools are nothing new to the forest as they are simply modification of what was already there. Similarly the differences in the culture, faith, traditions and language are only because of the suitability in the respective areas and both of them are made for our own existence.  We have named or label countless things and have been claiming them as the best or better than others.

Unfortunately these human labeled aspects are now becoming the root causes of greater problems because the skills and ways of living that eastern people have learned to adapt in their area as western people in the west are now very much compared with each other after globalization. Despite the fact of differences in the ways of living in the different parts of the forest are left far behind and we human are, with our greed and lust, trying to overlap each other, even at the cost of human lives. Besides there are different rules and regulation formulated under so called faith or culture and the saddest thing is every human, including a new born baby, has been so much conditioned by the environment to follow one.

Let’s give thought on some of the main terms that are frequently used by His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, “Universal Responsibility, Human Family and the Earth, our only home. These terms have certain force to make you think about where and who we really are. Just for clarification, I am not really propagating the His Holiness religious ideology. But, since we have already given meaning not only to the sounds that we can make but also used different shapes of drawing to denote those sounds, letter, we have facilitated ourselves to get to the other part of the forest in spite of being physically in own area. So these mentioned terms can be perceived through different angels accordingly to one’s familiarity to the script and sounds. As far as my understanding of these terms is concerned, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is trying to teach the reality of our own nature and the surrounding environment. I believe that no matter how far we have reached in the field of technology and scientific exploration, the truth of being inter-dependent not only between humans but also with nature can never be changed. The easiest example should be the five elements as very little changes in their balance can bring drastic changes in our lives. What if they became unusable one day???

In conclusion, realizing the truth of being a part of the forest and indispensability of the forest for our own existence, we should accordingly bring changes in ourselves step by step. Doing such will not be grateful to others but for self as cleaning and maintaining our own house will never be an altruistic or philanthropic act to be appreciated. That is just as simple as that.