Life and death
Everything existing in this universe,
regardless of whether it is an animate or inanimate being, is present and active
owing to the fundamental force of the universe, “life.”
In short, the appearance and disappearance of all
things merely puts the act of life into
motion.
It follows that the mechanism of life’s activities also includes physical
human life and death.
Such activities of the universe are performed
because of physical life and death, leaving aside the way each of us reacts emotionally.
To say it in a different way, life is here
because of death and death is here because of life.
In that sense, if birth is a congratulatory
occasion, then we may as well rejoice over death.
The bottom line is that both the phenomenon of
life and the phenomenon of death are essentially just occurring to make life apparent.
I never think of the many people afraid of death
or those who feel sad about someone’s death as being funny.
But if you feel fear and sorrow over death, I
think it would be all the more better to treasure every moment spent with
people joined by fate to you, to get along with everyone the whole time, and to
live your life to the fullest, without regret.
What I’d really like to say here, however, is
that you’ll neither die nor suffer.
It’s certainly safe to say that we humans have
life and death, both physically and spiritually.
Having said that, our body and mind are the means
for our essence to live.
Our essence, or what we really are, is life itself.
Life is using this body and mind to live.
Life was never originally born and will never die.
Life never suffers and cannot be contaminated.
This is why I’d like to say that we should live
fully, contribute to all even in some small way, and get along with everyone,
in every respect, sincerely and free from fear, without being narrow-minded.
By the way, life
itself has no difference in its nature or size.
This means that the life that uses the body and mind to live, or your true self, is
completely the same in quality as the life, or the fundamental force of the universe, that
creates the universe and acts on everything thereof.
This is the same as the fact that the water in
the ocean does not have the slightest difference from a dewdrop on a leaf.
If you think about it with your brain, it may
not seem to make sense because our brains can only process things based on
relative concepts; the fact is that there’s only one life, which is not different in its nature or size.
Here’s a question: where were you five years
before you were “born” into this world with your body and mind?
Thinking about it won’t lead you to the true
answer.
Practicing meditation will enable the answer,
in good time, to suddenly occur to you.
