Hi Danny,

There is actually a meditation designed to remind us of our mortality. I believe the assumption is that realizing this will set us free. Those who teach it say that it is critical that one be guided by a teacher, presumably one who has gone though the process, since it, in part, focuses on the bodies deterioration in very graphic practices. It sounds pretty extreme, and I wouldn’t suggest trying it. Yes, we could, anyone of us, not be here tomorrow.

I suppose there are other universal truths, but the one I primarily focus on is annica, which is change. To my way of thinking, coming to grips with the many many repercussions of constant change helps us to see deeply into the nature of reality, including our own mortality. It’s a slow process, examining the ways that change affects our lives, and very far reaching wrt to how we see ourselves, others, and the world around us; but, requires little more than looking at the everything from an impartial perspective. It is one of the three marks of existence, in Buddhism; and again, to my way of thinking explains the other two, anatta – no self, and dukkha – suffering;. Anatta, because, if change is constant, how can we have a non changing self (identity); and suffering because, as I see it, much of the worlds suffering is the result of our refusal to accept change as natural and unavoidable. Oops, I didn’t intend to go this far.

… john

Hi Helcat,

It’s not really a character in my book, just me musing. I suspect that I fear the fear, more than I fear death itself. As the old expression goes, we have nothing to fear but fear itself. I firmly believe this.  I also think that knowing that you’re not afraid of dying is a great great thing, a very very freeing thing. I’ve read that the fear of death is the fear the ego has of disappearing, and that the animals, other than us, do not have this fear. It sounds reasonable; but, obviously, I have no idea if it’s true. I think you’re a very mature lady. And you now have a friend in their 80’s.

….. john

Hi Helcat,

I’ll quote a passage from a book I’ve been working on, well, for a couple of years now. I would like to leave it to my daughter and granddaughter.

“All in all – I am the ephemeral seeking the eternal.

He chases after enlightenment like a man dying of thirst chases a mirage. After 30 years the fire still burns brightly. Not every day brought a new promise, but he knew that the next one was just around the corner, and for a short time he would have hope; hope that this time he would discover the path to the great Satori, the all encompassing understanding that would allow him to carry on in his remaining days, no longer afraid of suffering and death, sure that when death came he would face it with acceptance and peace; regardless of whether Macbeth’s declaration about life is true or not. But, not today; today, yesterday’s hopes had faded to disappointment.  Sure, he had had many satoris; but the great one still eluded him.”

When I look back on my life, it seems like a steady stream of obsessions, all sharing the same end, of becoming eternal, as crazy as it sounds. I sometimes do things for a long time, before realizing why I’m REALLY doing them; but this one was a shocker.

… john

[quote quote=432217]Thanks Anita, I still lurk but don’t usually have anything to add, I noticed that I tend to repeat myself 🙂 “we have many things, don’t we, but we don’t get to keep any” The Sravka path beings with a realization that everything is impermanent, the final realization and acceptance that nothing arises in the first place; hence nothing ceases. Impermanence is a fiction. 🙂 Nothing gained nothing lost, nothing to keep, we have it all. (Fun with paradox) Nicely said Helcat[/quote]

Well said!

.. john

Hi Anita,

Yes, I too have read that shinnen can have several interpretations. At the time of my affirmation, I was told that shinnen means ‘true mind’. According to him ‘shin’ means true or faithful and ‘nen’ refers to state of mind. The full name is actually

Shakushinnen, (the Shaku referring to the ‘orginal’ Buddha Shakyamuni) but I was told not to use the full name, only shinnen, because using the full name would be pretentious/presumptuous, something of that sort, I’m not really clear on that.

Yes, of course, Jodu Shinshu is a Japanese Buddhist sect, but that’s whole other story.

….. john

Hi,

Yes, it’s quite true, isn’t it. We may be unique as a species in that regard. But in order to feel self pity, one

must feel that they’re a victim, that someone, or something, is responsible for their misfortune;

whereas most of the time we cause our own suffering.  This is not a condemnation, just my observation

that, for the most part, I suffer because of my reaction to events, and people,  and my general misinterpretation

of reality. The bird doesn’t think about what’s causing it’s pain, but we do, there-in lies the problem.

My wife has a plaque in the kitchen which says, “Pain is inevitable, suffering … optional” It’s hard to swallow, and

not easy to live by, but there’s more than a grain of truth in it.

….. john

Can I quote the last line from Matthew Arnold’s Dover Beach.

The first sentence “Ah, love let us be true to one another!” is really the conclusion.

“Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.”