And the number of these particles [that make up our bodies] is so
high that every time we breathe we take in a few particles of
Socrates, of his clothes, of the onions he ate. And not just of
Socrates and Julius Caesar, but of all the millions and millions
of anonymous men and women who have walked this earth, made up of
the same elementary matter
that is indefatigably passed on from one
to another. Thus, each time he breathes in, the Dalai Lama inhales
some particles that formed, temporarily, the Buddha Sakyamuni
himself. I too breathe in some of them, and so do all the
inhabitants of the earth.
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