Again, it is better not to say they don’t exist.
- They exist until the (mental) energy that produces them is exhausted. Furthermore, they can only lead to further suffering.
- If things don’t exist, they cannot bring suffering!
It is one extreme to say things exist (which gives a sense of permanence/stability or “nicca nature”), but it is the other extreme to say things do not exist.
- Vinnana is a “magician” because it presents a “nicca nature.”
- That second extreme is nihilism or uccheda ditthi. The first is sassata ditthi.
- “Discarding both extremes, the Tathagata teaches the middle way.”