Since things neither exist nor do not exist, are neither real nor unreal, are utterly beyond adopting and rejecting - one might as well burst out laughing.
LongchenpaRead
Since everything is but an apparition, having nothing to do with good or bad, acceptance or rejection, one may well burst out in laughter.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the illusory nature of reality and encourages a lighthearted acceptance of life.
Longchenpa suggests that reality is simply an illusion or 'apparition', and as such, it doesn't inherently possess qualities of good or bad. This perception allows one to embrace life with humor and laughter, freeing oneself from the burdens of judgment and attachment.
Themes
IllusionHumorAcceptanceLaughterLife
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophy class discussing perception and reality, this quote can illustrate how our understanding can influence our emotional responses.
More from Longchenpa
All quotes βIn the experience of yogins who do not perceive things dualistically, the fact that things manifest without truly existing is so amazing they burst into laughter
LongchenpaRead
We should cast aside all childish games that fetter and exhaust body, speech and mind._x000D_ _x000D_ Stretching out in inconceivable nonaction, in the unstructured matrix, the actuality of emptiness, _x000D_ _x000D_ where the natural perfection of reality lies, we should gaze at the uncontrived sameness of every experience, _x000D_ _x000D_ all conditioning and ambition resolved with finality.
LongchenpaRead
Similar quotes
There is a much more exact correspondence between the natural and moral world than we are apt to take notice of.
Joseph ButlerRead
Symbolic violence is violence wielded with tacit complicity between its victims and its agents, insofar as both remain unconscious of submitting to or wielding it.
Pierre BourdieuRead
But life isn't hard to manage when you've nothing to lose.
Ernest HemingwayRead
We must kill the false woman who is preventing the live one from breathing.
Helene CixousRead
Everyone has a story; everyone hides his past as a means of self-preservation. Some just do it better, and more thoroughly, than others.
Jodi PicoultRead
The incarnate Word is with us, is still speaking, is present always, yet leaves no sign but everything that is.
Wendell BerryRead