Charles and Celine, the couple who run and are continuing to build the Amitabha Buddhist Retreat Centre here in Nanango, Australia, are away today attending a funeral.
I have heard them speak of the gentleman who died—a gentle, caring man—over the past, several years. Celine was the one who answered the phone call from the daughter. The father had been living in a care facility a good two hours from here. There might not be many people at the funeral since no one lived nearby.
When she heard of their old friend's death, Celine immediately responded that she and Charles would be there. The daughter was very grateful that her friends would travel so far to pay their respects to her father, and to be with her.
Change. Impermanence. Nothing lasts forever. A dream, a flash of lightning, a drop of dew. We know these, and yet we push thoughts of loved ones dying out of our minds. It hurts too much to think of it. We’re attached, and we cannot let go. We love, and we cannot bear the thought that one day we will lose those we love.
And so, on that most terrible day, that day the world drops away from below us, we find ourselves in shock and no longer with an option to push reality away. We are face-to-face with impermanence. We are alone. We are in pain. We suffer.
Lifetime, after lifetime, after lifetime, we cling and are attached. We know the reality, but we refuse to accept it. We prefer to live in ignorance, ensnared by our emotions and mired in our habits. This will continue into an endless future unless we change.
We need to awaken.
Now.