הענן אינו יכול למות

מתחת לשולחן

תיך נאט האן
קטעים מתוך “השיר של ‘לא מגיע לא מסתלק'” (1996)

כאשר מישהו עומד למות הוא עלול להיות נפחד מאוד. הוא לא יודע להיכן הוא הולך. היא אינה יודעת על המציאות של ‘לא מגיע לא מסתלק’. הוא חושב שלהיוולד משמעו שמשום-דבר אתה הופך לדבר-מה, ושֶלמות משמעו שממישהו, ממשהו, אתה הופך לשום דבר. וכך הרִיק שאתה הופך להיות מפחיד אותך מאוד. כשאתה הולך למות, אתה חושב שאתה הופך לשום-דבר, הולך אל הבלתי נודע. אתה מפוחד ובודד מאוד. אפילו אם מקיפים אותך אנשים רבים, אתה הוא היחיד שהולך למות. לכן הנך בודד ומפוחד – הרגשות הללו באים ביחד.

יש כמה דברים שברצוני לומר כאן בנוגע למיתה. למען האמת, בני אדם אינם מתים. אנשים אינם מתים כשהם מתים, מפני שמוות, עבורנו, בתודעתנו, הוא להפוך ממישהו – לשום-דבר. לא להיות קיים יותר. [אך בכך] אתה נתפס להבחנה בין קיום ואי-קיום.

The Dalai Lama on the Global Economic Meltdown

The Dalai Lama on the Global Economic Meltdown

The Dalai Lama on the Global Economic Meltdownthis global economic crisis was caused by too much greed, speculation, and hypocrisy–not being transparent. These are the moral and ethical issues. So be transparent and honest right from the beginning.

Loopiness, and not Taking Oneself too Seriously

thinkBuddha.org: Loopiness, and not Taking Oneself too Seriously

Loopiness, and not Taking Oneself too Seriously
Tuesday April 21, 2009
Strange LoopI’ve just finished Douglas Hofstadter’s strange and very possibly loopy I am a Strange Loop, which has got me thinking about selfhood. Hofstadter writes in his book that the “I” or the “self” is, in a very real sense, a hallucination. It is not just a hallucination, indeed, but is “a hallucination hallucinated by a hallucination.”

In the book Hofstadter develops an astonishing – but, I think, rather convincing – view of the self (or even of the “soul”): not as some kind of non-material or spiritual entity beamed down from God (remember Him?) knows where; but instead as something that arises out of the world, something that is fluctuating and changing yet nevertheless semi-stable, and something that is impossible to locate in a single place within the cranium, but that is smeared out across the world; in our own heads, certainly, but also in the heads of those who we know, of those whom we have encountered. My self, that is to say, is not so much a thing, as it is a mass of self-reflexive, loopy patternings. I can’t really do justice to Hofstadter’s deep and subtle arguments here, but the book is well worth reading and it has got me thinking about the seriousness with which we take our own existence.

A man running

Wisdom through Mindfulness

A man running from…

“Monks, suppose there were four vipers of utmost heat & horrible venom. Then a man would come along — desiring life, desiring not to die, desiring happiness, & loathing pain — and people would tell him: ‘Good man, these four vipers, of utmost heat & horrible venom, are yours. Time after time they must be lifted up, time after time they must be bathed, time after time they must be fed, time after time put to rest. And if any of these vipers ever gets angered with you, then you will meet with death or death-like suffering. Do what you think should be done.’

Appreciating Things as They Truly Are

The Sakyong Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche – Written Teachings

July 2008
Appreciating Things as They Truly Are

One of Tibet’s great female yogis, Machig Lobdrön, was renowned for crying one minute and laughing the next. When someone asked her why she acted that way, she replied, “I laugh with delight because enlightenment always lies right below the surface of life, right in front of our nose. This is truly a joyous and wondrous discovery. I cry because beings are anxious, in pain, stressed, and depressed. Our enlightened qualities are so nearby, covered by a constant stream of discursive thoughts, one upon another.”