A word of a girl who looked at her face in a mirror.
What does the above sentence indicate?
If the mirror shows her face at this moment, she cannot make such a statement.
Why ?
The mirror actually shows her face at this moment and that is Physics. No one has any argument about that. But to say “I’m ugly now” there must be a comparison. That is, she is saying this by comparing her previous beauty with this moment. For that, she must have a picture somewhere showing her previous beauty. You know very well that there is no past picture in the mirror that shows her previous beauty. If so, with whom does she compare the current picture with her previous picture ? At first glance, she feels ugly because this comparison is instant\immediate.
Where are the past pictures stored to match the present with the past?
Good ! Let’s assume that she sees her face for the first time. If she then feels that her face is ugly, it is because of the other women’s faces she has seen in society. That is, such face pictures are in her store. Example ! Suppose her face is deformed. Then she suddenly feels ugly compared to the undisfigured faces in her store. Well, let’s assume that all the face pictures in her store (that is, all the faces in society) are the same as the distorted picture she is having now. Then she cannot recognize any difference in her face by comparing those pictures. Therefore, she does not say that her face is deformed. Really, it Can’t say. Then she looks at her face and is extremely happy.
Not only seeing the pictures but recognizing the pictures and their interpretation is relative to previously stored data.
An example; The first day you saw your mother, you could not say this is your mother. Someone or your mother must have interpreted the picture of your mother that you see as “mother”. Then every time you see your mother, your current visual image is compared with the stored image of hers. When a woman other than mother comes before you, your visual image belongs to her does not match your inner image, that’s why you don’t call her mother. On the other hand, let’s say someone introduced that strange lady to you as your mother. It is then because of her visual image being stored in you, whenever she sees you, even if she is not your mother that gave birth to you, you will start calling her mother. On the day your real mother comes to you, she will be rejected by you.
See ! There really is a picture game here. We all have only the card pack game.
Man identifies all goals and gives expression to them only after comparison with the past. Sound, smell, taste, touch are all thus compared. If you are blank within yourself, no matter how many pictures you see through your eyes, no matter how many sounds you hear through your ears, no matter how many smells you feel, no matter how many tastes you feel, no matter how many touches you sense, you are also blank. Life goes depending on the stored information.
That is Abhidharma,
Images, sounds, smells, tastes and touches that are imprinted on your Mind since birth through education and then when you meet them again, you will be given all the descriptions related to them.
Dr. Dammika Wijerathna