It has been a difficult several weeks, with the unexpected death of a good friend and close colleague, another unexpected death of the young daughter of a co-worker, and a destructive flood in my office at work. It is one thing to ruminate about imperminence, another to directly experience the suffering from attachment to that which is gone. Attachment to people, all of whom will die one day; attachment to things that water permeates and destroys; and attachment to oneself.I can understand leaving behind attachment to things, but to people? Yes, love, friendship and family ties can all bring suffering, but to renounce these seems to make us less human, less alive, less engaged. After all, the Ox herding series ends with a return to the marketplace; did we ever truly leave it? What does the Buddha's child say of the suffering he experienced when the Buddha abandoned him and his mother?
Only Mu?
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2 comments:
Attachment to our mental construct must be left behind, and indeed it's easy to see how our ideas of other people causes problems. Just the reality of the other person, how can one be attached to that? How can grief with nothing added be a problem?
You surely know the koan about the Zen master weeping at the funeral of his senior (or was it favorite) student. Another student asked how it was that a master would weep, and he was answered, if I do not cry at the funeral of my beloved student, when would I cry?
May your sitting bring you peace,
Chris
Chris -
Thank you for your empathy and beautiful commentary.
Deep bow -
Nikko
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