This path I'm on is a hard one. It doesn't tell me to go out and enjoy life, like most new-age spiritual sayings do. It's not telling me to make the most of my short time here, so as to avoid leaving this place with any regrets. It's not telling me that love and family are the most important things. Instead, it's stripping me of all of this, back down to the place within where there is no me, and the world is nothing but an illusion. As the clock ticks closer to an inevitable death, my time here in this life can either be spent pretending that's not true, or facing reality and preparing to die.
You might be tempted to dismiss this path based on some idea you have, and I don't blame you. If I would have known it was going to be this hard, I probably would have passed on it. But now that I'm here, now that I've walked this far (which isn't very far, considering), I feel like there is no turning back. Actually, there is, there could be, and I think about doing it all the time, but like any other investment, I want to protect my interests.
Before you dismiss it, you might want to know that along with the pain, there is this joy, and it is unbounded by the conditions of this world. What that means is that it is always there, but my access to it is often clouded over. When I can get past my own delusions, there it is, waiting for me. In those moments, I am free.
It's the rest of the moments that are difficult.
The truth is, we all have to die. Regardless of what we believe will happen to us after death, our life as we know it will cease to be. But there are certain things that might change based on the way we see death. If we see it as final, then yeah, go for it, live it up while you can. If we see it as going on a trip, on the other hand, then we might want to start preparing now, for we can never be too sure when our ride is coming to pick us up.
What do we need to do before we leave? Are you ready, or have you hung on so tightly to everything that leaving will be like tearing a baby away from her mother? I don't know about you, but I don't want to leave this world kicking and screaming. There are many stories of Buddhist monks here in Thailand that have honorably passed with smiles on their faces and complete awareness right up until their last breath, even to the extent that they know exactly which one will be their last. For some, they are sitting upright, in a meditation posture, and their body remains in that form for a long time after death.
But what happens to our body is not important. The question is, in what state will our minds be in at the time of our departure? Many believe that this is the crucial factor in determining our next destination. If this is true, if our mental state projects us into the next life, be it earthly, celestial, or otherwise, we can see that our time here on earth would be better spent in preparing the mind for this ultimate transition. In this moment, all the memories in the world won't matter, you can't take any bags with on this trip. You can only take the state of your mind and the extent that it has been liberated from the defilements that generally cause minds to be self-serving and delusional.
What I mean by this is that it is only through wisdom that we can develop our minds by seeing the true nature of reality and acting accordingly. If we can become aware of what is happening, of the cyclical tendencies of the mind to seek out more and more in search of a false sense of happiness, we can back out of this petty game and fall back into the great abyss that is waiting for us. When we do so, we can connect with our true purpose, and bring new meaning into our lives. I don't think that the whole point of life is to prepare to die, we of course need to honor the world and the life we all share. And the way to do this is to open our hearts and offer up our services, whatever they may be, as a gesture of love and appreciation for all that is.
Where we once thought that life was about accumulating riches and surrounding ourselves with loved-ones until that dreadful day comes, we can now rest assured that when death comes to pick us up, we will be ready for our next journey.
No expectations, no regrets, no resistance.
When your day finally comes, may you go in peace.
You might be tempted to dismiss this path based on some idea you have, and I don't blame you. If I would have known it was going to be this hard, I probably would have passed on it. But now that I'm here, now that I've walked this far (which isn't very far, considering), I feel like there is no turning back. Actually, there is, there could be, and I think about doing it all the time, but like any other investment, I want to protect my interests.
Before you dismiss it, you might want to know that along with the pain, there is this joy, and it is unbounded by the conditions of this world. What that means is that it is always there, but my access to it is often clouded over. When I can get past my own delusions, there it is, waiting for me. In those moments, I am free.
It's the rest of the moments that are difficult.
The truth is, we all have to die. Regardless of what we believe will happen to us after death, our life as we know it will cease to be. But there are certain things that might change based on the way we see death. If we see it as final, then yeah, go for it, live it up while you can. If we see it as going on a trip, on the other hand, then we might want to start preparing now, for we can never be too sure when our ride is coming to pick us up.
What do we need to do before we leave? Are you ready, or have you hung on so tightly to everything that leaving will be like tearing a baby away from her mother? I don't know about you, but I don't want to leave this world kicking and screaming. There are many stories of Buddhist monks here in Thailand that have honorably passed with smiles on their faces and complete awareness right up until their last breath, even to the extent that they know exactly which one will be their last. For some, they are sitting upright, in a meditation posture, and their body remains in that form for a long time after death.
But what happens to our body is not important. The question is, in what state will our minds be in at the time of our departure? Many believe that this is the crucial factor in determining our next destination. If this is true, if our mental state projects us into the next life, be it earthly, celestial, or otherwise, we can see that our time here on earth would be better spent in preparing the mind for this ultimate transition. In this moment, all the memories in the world won't matter, you can't take any bags with on this trip. You can only take the state of your mind and the extent that it has been liberated from the defilements that generally cause minds to be self-serving and delusional.
What I mean by this is that it is only through wisdom that we can develop our minds by seeing the true nature of reality and acting accordingly. If we can become aware of what is happening, of the cyclical tendencies of the mind to seek out more and more in search of a false sense of happiness, we can back out of this petty game and fall back into the great abyss that is waiting for us. When we do so, we can connect with our true purpose, and bring new meaning into our lives. I don't think that the whole point of life is to prepare to die, we of course need to honor the world and the life we all share. And the way to do this is to open our hearts and offer up our services, whatever they may be, as a gesture of love and appreciation for all that is.
Where we once thought that life was about accumulating riches and surrounding ourselves with loved-ones until that dreadful day comes, we can now rest assured that when death comes to pick us up, we will be ready for our next journey.
No expectations, no regrets, no resistance.
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| by tongdang @ freedigitalphotos.net |
When your day finally comes, may you go in peace.
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