Queen Lolo
April 26, 2005
After being asked once or twice if a comment I made regarding “awakening through eating an orange”” was in reference to a chapter in Brad Warner’s “Hardcore Zen,” I went out and got the book. I hadn’t read it yet, and figured if folks thought I was quoting it, it must be damn good. (Ha ha.)
It is. I especially like Brad’s take on reincarnation, which is a subject that recently came up in the comments on Rev. Ryuei’s blog. In Brad’s chapter “In My Next Life I Want To Come Back As A Pair Of Lucy Lui’s Panties,” he shares the following:
“A guy walks up to a Zen Master and asks, “Is there life after death?” The Zen Master says, “How should I know?” The guy replies indignantly, “Because you’re a Zen Master!” “Yes,” says the Zen Master, “But not a dead one.”
This sums up everything any of us know about death. We can speculate, hope, and theorize, but we just can’t know. Not that I like that. I can’t stand it. But when it really gets to me, I remind myself of all the wonders of life. The fact that our eyes can see. The fact that oranges exist. The fact that we’re born in the first place. The fact that when I click “send” the email somehow gets to your computer. It’s all so awesome and miraculous and unexplainable that I have to believe – or at least I want to believe -- that death is the same. Awesome and miraculous and unexplainable. It's just so bizarre that we're even born in the first place -- how can we begin to think we know what death may bring?
And then, if that doesn’t work, I remind myself of something a friend said to me a long time ago: “All that is real is right NOW. Everything else is just a thought.” Yes, even “death” is just a thought. The fear of death is just a thought, or maybe a feeling. Sometimes a pretty gripping one, too. But when I can boil it down to “it’s just a thought-or-feeling" and then remember the fleeting nature of such, it’s oh-so-much easier to handle.
But ultimately, the one and only true answer to life and death and reincarnation and everything in between is always one and the same for me. As Ram Dass said, “Be Here Now.”
And as Brad Warner writes, “Right now is what counts. If you want to believe in reincarnation, you have to believe that this life, what you’re living through right now, is the afterlife. You’re missing out on the afterlife you looked forward to in your last existence by worrying about your next life. This is what happens after you die. Take a look.”
Now there’s a concept. What business do we have worrying about eternity when we can’t even get through a single day without whining? I think I'll work on appreciating this life -- day by day, moment by moment -- as if it's all I've got. Just in case it is.
Posted by at August 12, 2007 04:44 AM