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Life is filled with much suffering! Yet, many people still say, “It is really good to be human; I want to be human again in my next life.”
I also feel that it is good to be human, because there flows between people a pure love like a clear stream, expressed through mutual care and concern, and through mutual gratitude, as we give of ourselves to help one another. These various acts of love in our life really warm our hearts.
However, the impermanence of life inevitably leads to human suffering as we lose or part with our loved ones. Most people do not wish for their loved ones to depart, and hope to have the company of each other forever. Yet, when separation happens either due to mishaps or natural aging process, there is, invariably, an almost unbearable pain in the hearts of those left behind. This is an unavoidable affliction of human beings. Thus, the Buddha taught us to expand our “small, limited love” into Great Love, by practising equanimity in love and cultivating a love that does not discriminate; then we will be able to realise the true principles of life in this world.
Death is an unavoidable fact that all of us have to face one day. Yet, the birth of a new life is a joyful matter that is generally celebrated by all. When we encounter a woman entering into labour in the hospital, even though she may be wincing from the pains of labour, we will still said to her: “Congratulations! The baby is soon to be born!”
If we also chance upon the woman’s parents or husband, we may add this greeting: “Congratulations! You are going to be grandparents soon!” or “Congratulations! You’re going to be a father soon!” Even though the process of labour is very painful, yet the mother’s heart is filled with unspeakable joy as she welcomes the new life.
However, if we step into a normal hospital ward or the Heart Lotus Palliative Ward in a Tzu Chi hospital, we will take extra care to bring words of comfort or peace to help allay the distraught emotions of patients and their families. We hope to help the patients calmly accept the truth of their impending death, and also help their families accept this eventuality. Such counselling efforts require much wisdom.
In every human life, there is always an “arrival date” and naturally, there will be a “departure date”, too. “Death” is a gateway that all of us must inevitably pass through one day. Hence, we ought to learn how to face it. If we can grasp the indelible truth of life and death, and regard death as a form of sleep, just like the rest that we need every day, then our hearts will truly be at peace.
Life is transient and fleeting—in the end what does it truly mean?
Does it suffice for us to only come together in life and part ways in tearful sorrow?
Is this all there is to life?
Of course not!
Since we have come to this world, we must live our lives fully by going amongst people to serve. It is only by serving others that we may experience the true meaning of entering and leaving this temporal world at ease and in peace.
Extracted from “Chen Jin Guang Sheng” 《尘尽光生》
Translated by the Tzu Chi Singapore translation team
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