Before I was born, who am I?
After birth, who am I?
We come into this world with happiness and depart with sorrow,
who is the one on the deathbed with his eyes closed?
This verse comes from the Qing Emperor Shunzhi's poem in praise of the monastic order. His questions are aptly put. Do we know where we come from? Who were we before we were born?
The human body is made up of the four elements of earth, fire, water and wind. When we die, these four elements scatter and are regrouped as we take on another physical form with rebirth in one of the six realms of existence. We are lost as we move from one realm to another. We do not know who we are. Most people rejoice at births and lament upon deaths. What is true joy? What is true sorrow?
Once, a Chan master was going door to door to seek alms. It happened that one of the families he visited just had a new baby and everyone was congratulating the new father. The Chan master, however, started crying out loud. The new father was very surprised and asked him why he was crying. He replied that he was crying because there would be one more death in the future.
Birth comes from death. If we do not want to die, then we must make sure that we break the cycle of rebirth within the six realms of existence. Once there was a famous poet by the name of Tang Bohu. He wrote this poem to illustrate the brevity of life:
It is rare that we live to be seventy,
and my seventy years come as even a surprise to me.
The first ten years of life
we are too young to know anything.
The last ten years of life
we are too old to do anything.
This leaves only fifty good years,
half of which we spend in sleep.
This leaves us only twenty-five years to truly live.
But do you realize how many obstacles
we have to endure in these twenty-five years?
Nowadays people can live to be a hundred and twenty. In the boundless life of the universe a hundred and twenty years go by in a flash. Not to mention many of us will not live to be even a hundred. Many will pass away in their sleep, and we are never sure if we will continue living from one moment to the next.
The joys of birth and sorrow of death are normal emotions for most people. But someone with wisdom will not allow this precious life to go by meaninglessly. They will not allow themselves to wallow in ignorance. We must beware of delusion and open ourselves up to understanding life and death.
Text: Venerable Master Hsing Yun
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This morning, all I could think of were these 2 fateful words: Center and Separate... Tomorrow is 9-11, I wish peace to those who have lost... Peace to every one. Peace to all.
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Currently listening:
Imee Ooi - Namo Amitabha
Comments (9)
very enlightening & beautiful.
Posted by patty | September 26, 2008 7:35 AM
Posted on September 26, 2008 07:35
I agree. Peace to every one. Yet I know that ultimately peace begins with me...
I find the two words you speak of very profound. Separate and Center.
In some ways there is no real separation, and most of the pulling apart we do is in our own minds. To try to understand how things work we tend to analyse, categorise and dissect things.
Yet to have a sense of how things are, there is nothing we really need to do. Everything has some relationship with everything else.
Like drop of water falling into a pond, the effects begin at the center and spread as ripples outwards. What looks separate may not be as separate as we think.
So Peace begins with me. Peace to every one. Peace to all.
Thank you, Robert.
Posted by Alkam | September 15, 2008 3:36 PM
Posted on September 15, 2008 15:36
The room is filled with joy when we are born, though the one being born cries – sadness or panic at the thought of being back here again in the brick and mortar world of wear, and tear, and pain.
The room is filled with tears and anguish when we die, though the one passing away leaps with joy – happiness at returning back to whence we came – back home – our return to forever.
I do not subscribe to the modern so-called “Christian” view of the here-after – a “whites only” dinner club, where you dress for dinner – last chance to wear white is labour day, where the condo covenant association decrees what you can plant in your garden and what color the trim on your house must be maintained in, and so forth. That vision rings utterly false to my soul, and is nothing more that the fantasy projection of one’s mortal life of privilege into the unknown. And don’t get me starte din Islam’s ‘seventy nine virgins”. I neither want, nor need seventy nine virgins.
I think it is more as you stated in your very pleasing essay – we return back to the state from whence we came – dissolving back into the background substance – the cosmic soup if you will – from which all things are made. As such, we again become a part of everything and of everyone.
“The wind is low the birds will sing / That you are part of everything”.
Posted by will | September 14, 2008 11:31 AM
Posted on September 14, 2008 11:31
Thanks for this Robert, beautiful!
Posted by Derek | September 13, 2008 1:12 PM
Posted on September 13, 2008 13:12
thoughtful words, indeed
But too lofty for Friday night! hohoho
Posted by Urspo | September 12, 2008 9:18 PM
Posted on September 12, 2008 21:18
Beautiful, that. And Peace certainly is a sentiment that we want people to start embracing....
Posted by dantallion | September 12, 2008 9:55 AM
Posted on September 12, 2008 09:55
This post is beautiful, it gives a person a lot to think about. I kind of see life this way, by the time we realize we are living, it is going by too fast and then we think of what we missed. I am always surprised when someone is shocked by an older person passing, did they really think the person will live for ever just because it was 'their' parent or grandparent? We are all on the 'clock' whether we accept it or not. I find it sad also when a young person is dying and they realized they spent all their time at the office instead of living and being with people who love them, they realize too late they wasted their life.
Posted by Steven | September 12, 2008 9:32 AM
Posted on September 12, 2008 09:32
Thank you for that Robert. Very fitting words for the day!
Posted by lola | September 11, 2008 3:08 PM
Posted on September 11, 2008 15:08
I need to listen more. I've lost touch. I've lost the knowledge. Ugh.
Posted by Lewis | September 10, 2008 5:51 PM
Posted on September 10, 2008 17:51