“No Death, No Fear”

Thich Nhat Hahn is hospitalized. WHAaaa
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After the passing of two Suzukis who transmitted Buddhism in the West, and having studied their publications, I had not encountered anyone as lucid as Thich Nhat Hahn since the Suzukis (I am sure there are many but I just don’t know them – suggest if you know anyone who has touched your heart with his/her teachings … love to read up) … His teachings on mindfulness, compassion and courage has touched us all.

I tend to cry easily these days but this is too much – to lose another great man – NOOOOoooooo ~ tears, tears, tears… we can’t lose this wise teacher; he needs to come out of it (apparently brain hemorrhage} as I cling to the idea of him living, never passing away, living forever or … at least as long as I live.

Then I came upon this…

“The day my mother died I wrote in my journal, “A serious misfortune of my life has arrived.” I suffered for more than one year after the passing away of my mother. But one night, in the highlands of Vietnam, I was sleeping in the hut in my hermitage. I dreamed of my mother. I saw myself sitting with her, and we were having a wonderful talk. She looked young and beautiful, her hair flowing down. It was so pleasant to sit there and talk to her as if she had never died. When I woke up it was about two in the morning, and I felt very strongly that I had never lost my mother. The impression that my mother was still with me was very clear. I understood then that the idea of having lost my mother was just an idea. It was obvious in that moment that my mother is always alive in me.

I opened the door and went outside. The entire hillside was bathed in moonlight.
It was a hill covered with tea plants, and my hut was set behind the temple halfway up.
Walking slowly in the moonlight through the rows of tea plants, I noticed my mother was still with me.

She was the moonlight caressing me as she had done so often, very tender, very sweet… wonderful!

Each time my feet touched the earth I knew my mother was there with me.
I knew this body was not mine but a living continuation of my mother and my father and my grandparents and great-grandparents. Of all my ancestors. Those feet that I saw as “my” feet were actually “our” feet. Together my mother and I were leaving footprints in the damp soil.

From that moment on, the idea that I had lost my mother no longer existed. All I had to do was look at the palm of my hand, feel the breeze on my face or the earth under my feet to remember that my mother is always with me, available at any time.”

― Thích Nhất Hạnh, No Death, No Fear

“This body is not me; I am not caught in this body, I am life without boundaries, I have never been born and I have never died. Over there the wide ocean and the sky with many galaxies All manifests from the basis of consciousness. Since beginningless time I have always been free. Birth and death are only a door through which we go in and out. Birth and death are only a game of hide-and-seek. So smile to me and take my hand and wave good-bye. Tomorrow we shall meet again or even before. We shall always be meeting again at the true source, Always meeting again on the myriad paths of life.”

― Thích Nhất Hạnh, No Death, No Fear

It’s true… I confess. as much as I love kids and peers, I love being around older people … I notice that some people, especially Westerners shun seniors or avoid older people and seem to think that you have to be wrinkle free and young to be beautiful but I think …as with children, they are the truly beautiful people, wrinkled and grey haired and all …I find them to be very precious and dear. Each line, each wrinkle like a fold in origami or a crevice in rocks that weathered the winds … adds character and a multi-faceted story. The fact that they lived to be old in itself needs to be cherished and celebrated – they are survivors – they are the long distance marathoners, plodding along – they are the steady turtles in a race with rabbits – they are the link to our past, the tribal elders to be respected and honored. So whenever I am in contact with anyone older, I really treat that time to be special because I always worry if our meeting will be the last.

And that feeling of the NOW is probably the way we should approach everything – everyday, every single encounter… out of 7 billion world population, in our lifetime, maybe we meet (just in passing) 10,000; much much fewer if measured on a more meaningful scale, probably 500 or so (forget teens’ FB friends in the thousands – might as well have been a person met in passing). Each single encounter is rather amazing when reviewed in such relative terms. It’s that saying – God brought us here, at this moment – here and now. The fact that we’ve even met, given the probability of unlikeliness … amazing. We may never meet again or we may again and again. It’s 500 out of 7,000,000,000+ chance, we’ve met. Put into perspectives, it’s amazing that we even met.

Not in a funny romantic way – whenever I see an older gentleman I find them endearing. Older ladies, I want to learn from and find something in common. I just think of all the people who were older than me, who had been kind to me and feel this tenderness. I could never repay them but … I will always honor and respect the older generation. They are the ones to show you the light when you are in darkness. They are the ones with wisdom only time and experience can give you. I still remember the time when I was turning 30 ( I know )and feeling depressed for getting so OLD and not achieving my goals and successes and my grandmother and her friends all laughed and said, You are just a baby! A whole life is ahead of you ! ha ha ha. So…yes, looking back, I hadn’t even began to “really” live. Someday it will be my turn to be that older one (hope so!) to be of service to the younger generation – hope I will live to be able to be that – not a burden but to be of service to others even in a very small modest way.