There's a lovely passage in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, where Shunryu Suzuki notes that the water above a fall is very peaceful and calm, as is the water below a fall, but in the waterfall itself, the water is wild and chaotic. It is as if in the waterfall, individual drops of water become separate from the mass, and become afraid for their lives. "What will happen when I reach the bottom?," they worry. "What will happen when I splatter and die?" In fact, what happens is the drops become reunited with the whole again, just like before the fall, and once more everything is serene and lovely.Our lives are like this. Before we are born into this world, there is no fear, for we are part of the whole. After we die and are reunited with the whole again, we once more return to serenity. It is only in this life when that serenity is lost, and we worry and have great fear. Only when we're not united with the whole. And out of this unwholesome fear and ignorance arises suffering and the suffering we cause to those around us.
That's not to say that life is bad. In fact, it is the most precious gift there is. So we shouldn't squander it in fear of the plunge pool at the bottom of the falls. We should marvel at the opportunity to participate in the thrilling plummet over the edge, and the opportunity to witness the mystery of it all. Appreciate your life!, as Maezumi Roshi would say.
Life and death is the great matter; impermanence is swift. So keep your eyes wide open, have no fear and enjoy the ride.
1 comment:
This particular statement has worked for me today.
I long ago heard the idea expressed as "you are only the wave, an organized bit of energy moving toward a shore or dissapating...you are not the water."
My, how I quickly and unconsciously I return to clinging to "me" and "being alive"!
We sat shiva for the father of a friend last night. 80 something, missing the purpose his recently deceased wife had given his life, wracked with pain and gaunt from a cancer that would have killed him in a few weeks, he had gathered his last bit of strength to go out in his garden and shoot himself. He had been a member of the hemlock society. His neighbors murmured constantly of the "scandal" but this was a man's last willful act and clearly more dignified than the passive default option. Many suicides are tragic mistakes but so are many lives.
Little solice in the inevitability of death. Concentrating only on the boundry between life and death, we miss the beauty of the wholeness of the two.
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