They are all trees, just different kinds of trees.

What is transformation like?

Here’s one way of looking at it.

You walk down the street and you see an object on the road. You glance at it as you walk by but you’re not sure what it is. The next day you see it again on the road as you pass by. The next day, the next day, and the next day after that, and many other days after that, you walk down the street and see that thing on the road that you don’t know what it is.

But then one day as you’re walking down the street you notice a man on the road bent over that thing. He’s doing something with it, and you call out to him from the sidewalk, “Hey, what is that thing?” That man shouts back what it is.

Ahhhhhh! Okay! Now you know what that thing is! So now, every day after that you will never see that thing the same way ever again. It’s like something has turned inside of you so that now you know clearly what that thing is. Your seeing and perception of it has changed forever. You can never go back. You will never see that thing the same way again.

One might think of transformation in this way. You come to see or perceive things in a way you’ve never seen them before, and you never see them the same again.

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Now, think of this example. A man is walking down the street and sees this thing sticking out of the ground. Pointing to it he asks, “What is that?” He says, “It’s a tree… a maple tree.” The man walks a little further and sees this other thing sticking out of the ground and asks another person, “What is that?” They say, “It’s a tree.” The man responds by saying, “No that can’t be a tree because I just saw this other thing, and I was told that was a tree… a maple tree.” To which the person replies, “Yes, but this is a tree too… a Weeping Willow tree.” The man has to be further convinced because he had previously seen this other thing and was told that it was a tree.

The man continues his walk and comes upon something else sticking out of the ground and asks, “What is this thing?” The passerby says, “It’s a tree… a Sequoia tree.” The man replies, “Nope, I know that’s NOT a tree. You cannot convince me otherwise. I’ve already had two other people tell me that something was a tree.” The person replies, “Of course, they are all trees, just different kinds of trees.” Surely you can notice that despite the differences that they all share the same essence of a tree. There is no reason for you to have to be convinced in each case. All trees share the same nature.

Likewise, for example, you will find that all things in the phenomenal world share the same nature of impermanence. Our suffering is often a result of our failure to recognize this… as if each time we have to be convinced over and over again that a tree is a tree. Or take the incomprehensibility of God. Every day we try once again to “figure out” or comprehend God, and have to be convinced over and over and over again in each case that God is beyond comprehension. We have to be convinced each time that a tree is a tree. There are so many different ways this inability to know the true nature of things reaps havoc in our lives.

However, like the first story. Perhaps it will be the case that you will see the true nature of things, and never see them the same way again. Now, will you have to be convinced in each case because you will truly know the underlying, unchanging and fundamental reality, nature of all things… Truth.