Saturday, February 09, 2008

Seeing My Death in Zazen

Sitting the other day, I suddenly felt the clear reality of my own death. Breathe in, breath out, and one day this too will cease. As a child, I distinctly remember when I first became aware of the inevitability of own death. I must have been about 5 years old. I was eating lunch and my parents, as was their habit, had the radio on with the news. I listened to a short piece about how "scientists" estimated that Earth would cease to exist in several billion years. I suddenly felt my vision was bright and crisp, accompanied by that awful feeling of being punched in the stomach. Since then, I have this experience every so often, but this is the first time while sitting zazen.