Mingju Rinpoche: Nothing is eternal!

When I first saw this painting, I asked my grandmother:“What is that?”

“That is death.”She replied.

“What happens when you die?”I asked.

 She said:“Your body will remain, only your heart will continue.”

“Where is the heart going?”

“Ask your grandfather to go.”She said with a slight anger.

My grandfather is still alive and is a great Zen master with a high level of enlightenment. I always like to sit in his room while he was meditating, but at that time I was too timid to ask him about death.

Soon, the impermanence of death happened to me, and a shepherd who lived with my grandparents became ill.In Nuri, we have dozens of cattle, yaks and yaks，There were two people who helped my family take care of the animals and the land. They were also responsible for making milk into cream and cheese, and their families sold them to merchants from Kathmandu.

One of the shepherds was very kind and kind. He often played with me and took me to the grasslands far away for grazing.Our family lives in the middle of three connected houses. The shepherd lives on the second floor next to us. In the evening, grandmother would prepare dinner for everyone, but the shepherd never comes to eat on time. When he finally appears, grandmother would always blame him.In fact, they have a good relationship and they just know how to quarrel.

Later, the shepherd fell ill.I was seven years old at that time, and he should be fifty years old.He couldn't get up to take care of the animals and spent more time in his room.During that time, my grandmother took great care of him and made food he liked and sent it to him.Sometimes I also deliver food to him, and I find him lying on the bed, and I sit next to him, he will comfort me and say, "I'm getting better, but today I'm having a little difficulty walking.”

I told him:You will really get better and will recover soon.”

A few months later, he died.I was sad for several weeks. Although I didn't cry every day, it was also intermittent.I miss him and his love and humor. I never thought that a sickness would take him away from us. Even if the people I knew left one by one, I did not realize that everyone's life was disappearing so quickly.

In autumn, before heavy snow closed the mountain road between Nuri and Kathmandu, my mother and I returned to Naji Temple.One evening, the waiter and I sat outside the house and talked to my father. One of the nuns asked my father to recite a prayer for a newly reborn person.

In the prayer, my father used a Tibetan method to describe death:The death of a man on this mountain is a message of impermanence to the people of that mountain - everyone will die sooner or later.Nothing in reincarnation is eternal.

From then on, I began to have a vague understanding in my heart:If I do not understand the impermanence of death, I will always find a kind of stability in the people and things around me, even my own body and mind.In fact, everything is changing.I started to see:Looking for stability and permanence that does not exist at all will only keep the heart in constant attachment and pain.

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Great virtue teachings | Buddhist Q&A | Right knowledge and right view

- བོད་བརྒྱུད་ནང་བསྟན་ཆོས་ལུགས་ཀྱིས་འཛམ་གླིང་བདེ་ལ་འགོད་པར་སྨོན། -

May all sentient beings be free from suffering and enjoy happiness