The body once asked its shadow, saying,
“Listen, dear follower, you are always
In the shade of my stature! How come
That recently you were looking down
And now you are looking up; formerly
You had your hair tied up and now
It is dishevelled; you were sitting and now
You’ve risen up; some time ago
You were walking and now you’ve stopped,
As though struck dumb: How is all this?”
The shadow retorted without delay, saying,
“Venerable Body, how do you ask me
About such trivial things? These matters
All belong to me, but I have no idea
How they are done so. I’m like the cocoon
Of a cicada or the slough of a snake—
I am like them, and yet not like them.
With light and the sun I make my look;
With dark and the night I fade away.
Am not I dependent on your substance
From which I am thrown? Isn’t that
Your substance itself dependent on
Something else? When that thing comes,
We both come with it; when it goes,
We both go with it. Then that something
Is under the influence of another substance,
Also known as “the universal energy,”
We both find ourselves coming out
From the same single source. Since we both
Come out from the same original substance,
What cause is there for you to question me?
You’d better ask yourself to know for certain.”
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