Knowing the rope from the snake

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Puppetji weighs in on the rope and snake analogy

Knowing the rope from the snake is a traditional Buddhist analogy, to discuss the difference between appearances and the true nature of reality. If one mistakes a rope for a deadly snake, fear arises. At no time while misunderstanding the appearance is there really any danger, since the rope was always a rope. But because it appears as a snake, we have fear. Enlightenment is sometimes described as realizing that the appearances were never really threatening to begin with, therefore we can truly relax.

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