In the Buddhist approach, life and death are seen as one whole, where death is the beginning of another chapter of life. Death is the mirror in which the entire meaning of life is reflected.
Interpretation
Life and death are interconnected aspects of existence, with death reflecting the deeper meanings of life.
This quote by Sogyal Rinpoche emphasizes the Buddhist perspective that life and death are not opposing forces, but rather integral components of a continuous cycle. It suggests that death should not be viewed as an end, but rather as a transition to another phase of existence, allowing us to reflect on the significance and purpose of our lives through the lens of mortality.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about the value of life lessons learned through facing mortality.
Sit, then, as if you were a mountain, with all the unshakeable, steadfast majesty of a mountain. A mountain is completely natural and at ease with itself, however strong the winds that try to bother it, however thick the dark clouds that swirl around its peak. Sitting like a mountain, let your mind rise and fly and soar
Real devotion is an unbroken receptivity to the truth. Real devotion is rooted in an awed and reverent gratitude, but one that is lucid, grounded, and intelligent.
There would be no chance at all of getting to know death if it happened only once. But fortunately, life is nothing but a continuing dance of birth and death, a dance of change. Every time I hear the rush of a mountain stream, or the waves crashing on the shore, or my own heartbeat, I hear the sound of impermanence. These changes, these small deaths, are our living links with death. They are death's pulses, death's heartbeat, prompting us to let go of all the things we cling to.
{While meditating} I sit quietly and rest in the nature of mind; I don't question or doubt whether I am in the "correct" state or not. There is no effort, only rich understanding, wakefulness, and unshakable certainty. When I am in the nature of mind, the ordinary mind is no longer there. There is no need to sustain or confirm a sense of being: I simply am.
We may idealize freedom, but when it comes to our habits, we are completely enslaved.
Death is a vast mystery, but there are two things we can say about it: It is absolutely certain that we will die, and it is uncertain when or how we will die. The only surety we have, then, is this uncertainty about the hour of our death, which we seize on as the excuse to postpone facing death directly. We are like children who cover their eyes in a game of hide and seek and think that no one can see them.
The destructive character lives from the feeling, not that life is worth living, but that suicide is not worth the trouble.
Diseases of the soul are more dangerous and more numerous than those of the body.
Those who wish to seek out the cause of miracles and to understand the things of nature as philosophers, and not to stare at them in astonishment like fools, are soon considered heretical and impious, and proclaimed as such by those whom the mob adores as the interpreters of nature and the gods.
Our society is dependent on some precarious mechanisms, and they are very dicey. They can easily collapse.
I feel like I could be likened to an old hound circling on a rug for the last five years.
and even a tea party means apprehension, breakage
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