Scrolling as Samsara

You don’t need to believe in rebirth to understand samsara. You just need to spend five minutes on your phone. Samsara is the cycle. Of craving. Of distraction. Of reaching for something, getting nothing, reaching again. Swipe. Like. React. Repeat. It doesn’t end because it was never meant to. That’s samsara. Endless motion without arrival. Movement without presence. Stimulation without satisfaction. We scroll not because we’re weak, But because we’re hungry. For connection. For escape. For something real. But the screen doesn’t offer reality. It offers performance. It offers illusion. It offers the next thing. And the next thing. And the next. We say we’re resting, But we’re actually running. We say we’re catching up, But we’re falling out of ourselves. Scrolling mimics meditation: Still body, focused eyes, silence. But it’s the opposite. It’s a trance. A trance of becoming. Becoming informed. Becoming outraged. Becoming admired. Becoming more than what we are. But Zen doesn’t ask you to become. Zen asks you to return. Return to the breath. Return to the body. Return to the hum beneath the hum. The scroll isn’t evil. But it is endless. And the Dharma lives in the pause. So next time your thumb moves on its own, Catch it. Breathe. Feel your body again. Notice the tension behind your eyes. Say silently: I have left myself. I am returning now. That’s the practice. Not punishment. Not shame. Return. You don’t need to throw your phone away. You just need to stop letting it carry you off the path. One ding at a time. One scroll at a time. One unconscious click at a time. This is not judgment. This is invitation. To wake up. To look up. To come back. Samsara isn’t out there. It’s in your hand. And Nirvana isn’t far away. It’s in the breath you just forgot. The world is still here. Your life is still yours.