Do Not Chase Shadows and Call Them Real
The guest departs, but the host remains; the dust dances, but the space stays still.
Do I not confuse what abides within me with what merely passes through?
📝Reflection
The innkeeper stays put, while guests lodge and leave. Thus the one who departs is the guest, the one who remains the host. Again, when sunlight slants in, dust is seen dancing wildly; yet however it dances, the space itself does not stir. Thus what moves is dust, what is still is space. With these two similes the teacher discerns what is truly the self. Emotions are guests — anger, joy, sorrow all lodge and leave. Thoughts are dust — endlessly rising and scattering. Then the host who greets and sees off every guest, the space that stays still though all the dust flies — that is the true self. I have often lived mistaking guests for the host, dust for the space, tossed about by a single passing emotion as though "this is the eternal me." To tell the abiding from the passing makes the mind far steadier.
🌱Apply It Today
When a strong emotion sweeps you today, ask: "Is this guest or host?" If it is a guest who lodges and leaves, greet it politely but do not mistake it for all of you.
This verse is read as universal humanistic wisdom, not religion — no faith is promoted, and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.
