When we stand barefoot with our feet in the water at the beach, we can notice how the waves are washing away the sand from under our feet. We don't stand on firm ground, the sand we stand on is constantly eroding, making our posture unstable, unreliable and impermanet.

Ajahn Dhammasiha uses this experience as a simile for sankhārā ('conditioned phenomena'). Everything that is conditioned, that arises due to causes and conditions, will inevitably change and vanish when the conditions are exhausted.

Just like standing on eroding sand, our illusion of Self is resting on sankhārā (form, feelings, perceptions, intentions, consciousness...). But this illusion is unstable, as the sankhārā it stands on are unstable themselves.

If we see that clearly, we won't be able to by into the illusion anymore, and it collpses, feeing us to experience what is Not-Self, Not-Impermanent, Unconditioned, Nibbāna!

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