Buddhism Is My Grandmother
For me, when it comes to bearing the suffering caused by dying and
death, Buddhism has been like my grandmother, who was the only person I
trusted to ask when I was a child, “Why did my father die?” With tears
in her eyes, her big arms wrapped around my little body, she held me,
and answered with empathy, wisdom, and nurturance.
Buddhist teachings on being with dying, when practiced, are like being
held in an empathetic, wise, and comforting embrace by a council of
unknown and known elders who have already seen the countless joys and
sorrows in life, and therefore are prepared to help us be with the
reality of profound loss, with equanimity.
Lion’s Roar’s free online summit beginning October 12,
Death, Love, and Wisdom,
explores these teachings through the lens of esteemed Buddhist
teachers, chaplains, educators, and pioneers in Buddhist-informed
end-of-life care.
Buddhism, when we are immersed in its ancient teachings and practices on
being with death and dying, positions us to be beneficiaries of the
legacies of teachers throughout the centuries and in various lands,
including contemporary forms in the West, and as such puts us in the
streams of being held in the wise and compassionate embrace of a council
of great-grandparents. No matter how old you are now, can you accept
your inescapable vulnerability, like a small grandchild dealing with a
painful mysterious loss, and allow yourself to soften into and be held
in wisdom’s embrace?
Siddhartha Gautama, before he became known as the Buddha, was said to
have experienced the reality of illness and death long after his
contemporaries had already faced these facts many times. As such,
Siddhartha, like many of us, was a late bloomer. He had been protected
from knowing about humanity’s existential threats. This part of the
Buddha’s story is so relatable and explains why Buddhism is the
progenitor of many of the world’s leading experts on the compassionate
and wise care of dying people.
In this Weekend Reader, we offer you a few teachings from a contemporary council of Buddhist elders featured in
Death, Love, and Wisdom
who, through their decades of life, teaching, and leadership, are
living members of the council of grandparent compassion and wisdom.
You’re never too old, or young, to benefit from their teachings and if
you think now is not the right time to confront your true impermanent
nature, I’ll end here by recalling the "Evening Chant," with which Zen
practitioners end their day of temple practice:
Let me respectfully remind you,
life and death are of supreme importance.
Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost.
Each of us should strive to awaken. |
—Pamela Ayo Yetunde, Associate Editor,
Lion’s Roar
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