LIFE WILL SEEM LIKE A DREAM

This is a newly edited piece that I originally posted last year - I hope you enjoy reading it 

I was reading a number of quotes from a book by Khandro Rinpoche "Buddha's Daughters - Teachings from Women who are shaping Buddhism in the West" and I was struck by this particular quote:

"When we look back, at the time of death, the experience of this life will seem like a dream. And—just as with our nighttime dreams—it will seem useless to have put so much effort into it. The fear we experience in a dream is gone when we wake up; feeling afraid was just an unnecessary exertion of effort causing us to lose sleep! When we look back on our lives at death, the amount of time we spent in hesitation, aggression, ignorance, selfishness, jealousy, hatred, self-preservation, and arrogance will seem like an equally useless exertion of energy. So be able to regard all of these illusory thoughts and concepts as dreams. Within this illusory existence, what, if anything, is the logic behind any stubbornness, distraction, hesitation, or habitual emotions of aggression, desire, selfishness, and jealousy? What is the use of holding on to these useless emotions within impermanence? Impermanence is the nature of everything".

We all need to survive in this life and for most of us fortunate to be born in a thriving society work hard to keep a standard of living, have careers, style of life and yet when we quietly reflect on this - how much time have we wasted on all of this. As the quote says "everything is impermanent" and we must learn to keep this thought firmly in our mind as we go through life.

When we die we can't take any of this with us - our savings, the house, furniture, jewelry, cars, antiques, works of art, the CD collection, the iPhone/iPad, the family, friends, business associates and the pets we love - none of it - we leave it all behind and whilst of course, it is important to love our family and the people in our lives there is no point in being jealously attached to any of this because at the end of our lives you can't take anything with you. In a sense our lives are like a dream because it is impermanent - everything changes minute by minute - there is only "now" because none of us know what will happen in the next minute or hour or day - do we?

How many times do we read or hear of someone who is wonderfully fit, works out, runs marathon's - in the peak of so called fitness and the next minute they are dead? We read of disasters every day in the newspapers or see it on television news - the recent terrible tragedy of the Malaysian Airlines flight that went missing and this week another flight has crashed - when those people got on that plane they didn't expect to die - the point I am making is none of us know what will happen in our lives - out of the blue death can strike at any moment - but how many of us are ready for this?

Buddhism talks about the eightfold path to be free from suffering and to achieve happiness in this life:

Right view - Right Intentions - Right Speech - Right Action - Right Livelihood - Right Effort - Right Concentration - Right Mindfulness 

What does all this mean? In previous blogs I have written about our MIND - and ultimately how this affects everything we do: our actions, our speech, our plans and aspirations, our beliefs, our ambitions, our loves, hatreds, passions, desires  and so forth all begin in our mind!

We are what we think - we do what we think - which is why the meditative, gentle, loving and compassionate Buddhist path is so important to all of us - it doesn't matter if you are a Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Agnostic, Atheist or whatever - you can all follow the spiritual Buddhist path of "how to achieve happiness in this life" and how to live your life fully with love and caring. Buddhism is NOT a belief religion - it is a spiritual path that anyone can take no matter what your beliefs are.

We meditate to bring peace to our absurdly busy minds - how often do you hear someone saying "my mind is too busy, I can't sleep" or something similar? In this busy, busy society, where ambition, success, the need to produce better and better results there is little time to reflect on the insanity of it all. Naturally, we cannot completely change society and the way things work BUT if we don't make a start will there still be a human race left on this wonderful planet of ours?

Think about it - although the medical profession will keep us amazingly alive for longer and longer - we humans continue to destroy everything around us - millions of animals are killed every day to feed us - huge quantities of forests are bulldozed for commercial reasons - hundreds of species of animals killed to extinction - pollution is rife - whether the world is getting warmer or colder I don't know - the debate thunders on and on - but what I do know is that the ice caps at the poles are melting and sea levels are rising - climate is undoubtedly changing and water will become much more important than oil or any other commodity in the years to come.

It all begins with YOU. If everyone of us makes just a small start to change the way we think and react then everything can change - as they say - if you want to take a long walk you have to make the first steps!

Don't you want to be at peace within yourself? Isn't this the true foundation of happiness? Therefore this all brings us back to your MIND…

If you wake in the morning and say to yourself "I pray that all living creatures will be safe and free from suffering today" and then take just a few moments to quietly meditate or pray for all those who are suffering and in distress you will find that this becomes a welcome daily occurrence - it will begin to slowly but surely change your way of thinking. If you can spend a few minutes a day sitting quietly with your back straight and in a comfortable chair or (if you can) sit on a cushion in a lotus or semi lotus position - or even lying down - close your eyes or keep them a little open and breathe slowly and peacefully keeping your mind quiet and at peace. Yes, thoughts will continue to crash into your mind but ignore them and don't follow them - just concentrate on breathing gently - without breathing you'll be dead!

If we think gentle loving thoughts and develop this into a true compassionate mind set - it will change your life dramatically - you won't get so angry, you won't get so wound up and frustrated - you won't be so jealous - you won't be so tired and exhausted mentally - you will begin to see that everything is impermanent and that every minute is so precious and not to be wasted. You will begin to realise how silly it is to get so angry over things that truly aren't important and to understand the neighbour or person at work who is always miserable and uptight.

It doesn't take a lot of time each day to give your mind a rest - and to realise that things like hatred, jealousy, avarice, violence, attitudes like "I'm better than you", "my beliefs are the only one's that count", "I am right you are wrong", ruthless ambition, overt desire and all the things that harm people and animals - simply cause SUFFERING.

It is a small step to understand the mantra that I write in nearly every Blog - that kindness, love, caring, compassion, healing all bring HAPPINESS

Its quite simple really - its not nuclear science - its as basic as you can get - BUT how many of you think like this - you are locked into your interminable round of get up early, go to the gym, get to work, slave at the office for hours, back home, quick dinner, play with the kids for half and hour, watch a film back to sleep and the next thing you know is your life has passed by… Of course, I am being too simplistic but you get the point. We must spend time on ourselves - on our minds so that we can give so much more to our families, friends but also to everyone you meet - bringing happiness into people's lives - is that so WRONG? Begin to enjoy each minute instead of being swept away by the rush of daily life that can have such little true meaning.

Its not easy - we are all of us doing our best to live and survive - but a little time each day to meditate or pray for everyone suffering in this world and to begin the process of bringing compassion and love into our lives - is this too much to ask?

I began this Blog by quoting a paragraph from a book by Khandro Rinpoche - "Life will seem like a Dream" - many of you won't believe in a life after death - many of you will believe in this because of your religious beliefs - many may say "I don't know" - whatever you believe or think, surely it is worth following a good and compassionate path just in case there is a life after death and we are called to account for our actions!

To think about these things as you lie on your deathbed will be too late - as I have written previously there is one thing we will all do very successfully and that is to die. It’s a pretty serious thought and why not think about it now. There is a marvelous book by Sogyal Rinpoche "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" - no matter what culture or religion you come from this is a book that you have to read. It is fascinating and explores living and dying in the most loving and compassionate way - quite fascinating and essential reading.

Why wait until you are desperately ill before thinking about these issues? Why not start now and begin the process of considering this important matter - surely the most important you will ever have to consider - the interesting thing about the book Tibetan Book of Living and Dying is that it is a joyous book about life as well as about the dying process and what we all go through. If you think about it every thought dies - it has a beginning, a middle and an end - as does everything we do - every action we take has a beginning, a middle and an end - our careers have a beginning, a middle and an end - everything does and your meditation will help you understand and cope with all of this.

If we begin the process of considering our actions then we begin to see what we are doing to our planet and its environment - the attitude that "we only live once so what the hell - I won't be around so its not my problem" becomes horrifically redundant if we know we are coming back again!  What if this is true - reincarnation, rebirth its in all the great religions in some shape or form - can you afford to take the chance that its not true?

If we end our lives and there is a judgment or assessment of what we have done in your life - its a bit late to say "Oh I'm sorry" - If we kill, or hurt people or animals or for that matter ourselves - how will we feel when confronted by our life actions? All these people who kill for religious beliefs or for greed, power, ambition, desire or whatever reason - don't they understand that they are doing the most terrible thing you can do - to kill, maim, wound a person or living creature - to cause suffering and misery - is that going to be your epitaph - and at what price to your future life after death or rebirth?

Most religions believe there is a God - if this is your belief - think about it seriously - do you really think your God will say to you -"well done for killing people or slaughtering animals"? Its impossible - God will surely want you to have lived a good compassionate life - a life of kindness and love - think about these things and begin to live the life you will be proud of and when you finally reach the end of your life you can die knowing you have brought happiness and love to people not only those around you - but to as many people and animals you met. There is a saying that you die as you have lived - its a salutary thought isn't it?

Buddhism does not have a god in its spiritual path simply because it is not a faith or belief religion - it is a spiritual path that anyone of any belief or religion can follow. It does not stop you being a Muslim or Christian or whatever your faith. Buddhism is a spiritual path of the mind and it helps you to develop your compassion and love - this will have a dramatic effect on your life and the way you think and live it.

This path is helping in so many ways the way we deal with mental health matters - depression and mental health related illnesses are rampant in modern society - meditation and the Buddhist path will help you incredibly as it has helped psychiatrists and all kinds of mental health doctors and workers deal with their patients.

Sit peacefully, breathe in and out gently - keep your mind at peace and don't follow your thoughts - give your mind a rest and begin to heal yourself and everyone around you.

Remember LOVE and COMPASSIONATE THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS BRING HAPPINESS - its the greatest gift any of us can give

Thanks for reading

Peter