With April right around the corner, Ive been reflecting a lot on the past year. This time in 2013, my uncle Don was dying of brain cancer (he left his body April 4), my Gram was readying to leave her body at almost 99 (but she hadnt yet voiced the words Im dying; that came on Monday April 9 when my Uncle Nick called and said Your grandmother asked me to call you to tell you she is dying and she loves you very much), and unbeknown to any of us, my Dads heart was quietly ticking its last beats (it stopped for good on April 18, only six days after Gram took her last breath, three days shy of her 99th birthday). There is a Buddhist saying I have reflected on daily -- often, many times a day! -- for most of my life. It is this: Tomorrow or our last breath, we never know which will come first. Some people have thought I am morbid or strange for paying such close attention to death, for actively cultivating a friendly relationship with it. But the reality is, every single moment -- every single breath! -- is a death. Just as every single moment is new, and is life! All compounded things -- every single living being, everything that arises and takes manifest form -- eventually dissolves and disappears. Impermanence just IS. We only suffer when we resist it, try to deny or avoid it, hate it or rail against it. Acknowledging what IS allows us to be *grateful* for what is! Boundless joy and true freedom in that. To stay present and open, hearts wide, living with joy and surrender, generosity and forgiveness, and with the authentic, untouchable happiness that does not depend on anything that arises or falls away. Changeless, infinite peace -- the core essence of true Heart. This, I wish for every single sentient being: May all beings have happiness, and the causes of happiness. May all beings be free from suffering, and the causes of suffering. May all beings be inseparable from the great happiness, beyond sorrow. May all beings experience boundless equanimity, free from attachment to kin and hatred of foes.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 01:28:57 +0000
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