Day 6 – No Death, No Fear

What we had started talking in the morning -and I don’t know how it started- was nothing less than about death. I said I was concerned with my dear and close friend and the imminent death of his mom, how he keeps avoiding the subject (“I don’t want to talk about that”) and then when he is facing death of a loved one, he does not know how to cope with it (as with his friends’ daughter’s death). I warned her that he is difficult to convince of anything because he is very bright first, and second because he only believes in what can be demonstrated, in science. I was worried, wanted to help, but at the same time, felt helpless. So she said that in the afternoon she would tell me some ideas, and in the meantime she would also let me come up with something.
So we met and started our walk through the famous loop, into the woods, along the stream. Sister opened up:

- We are like leaves of a tree. They fall, but it’s not that they die and become nothing. Nothingness does not exist. They become nutrition for the soil. They continue to exist but they manifest in a different way. The same happens with people: they continue to exist through their sons and daughters.

- What if they don’t have any?

- Even if they have no physical kids, everybody in their lives has left some mark in some people’s lives, and that mark (whether it is a teaching, a piece of advice, a role model, etc.) is how they stay alive.

- What if the story of the leaf is not sellable?

- It is not a story, it is science: if in a family there is a history of diabetes, then there are high chances that future generations get diabetes. So the education, the genes -physical and of character or personality- the way he was brought up, all of that has a piece of his mom. So his mom is not dead or will not die, she will live through him.

- What if I can still not move him to go and explore that other path?

- Tell him to read “No Death No Fear”. However, the strongest eye-opener for him, will be your practice, to see you practice.



Quote of the day:
“Whether we believe in a next life or in heaven is not as important as how we treat others now.”


[From “IF NOT NOW, WHEN?” by Tsem Tulku Rinpoche, www.kechara.com. Kechara is a non-profit Buddhist organization.]