Koshin Paley presented a talk for the Daily Dharma Gathering on 5/13/2015. His subject: “One Moment, One Chance: A Zen Approach to Living and Dying.” His sparkling eyes, boyish grin, and mischievous manner captivated me immediately.
Koshin, according to his website, co-founded the New York Center for Contemplative Care and is a Senior Zen Priest.
His first question to the Gathering: “Are you doing what you really want to be doing?”
His question roused the spirit of judgmentalness in me. Oh no, I thought, not another rehash of Joseph Campbell’s famous line, follow your bliss.
Luckily my fears were unfounded. He continued:
“The more intimate we get with old age, sickness, and death, the more joyful we become.”
Now I don’t presume to fully explain this. My hope is that our consultant will give us some guidance.
The best I can do is to speculate that the more we feel all of life, the more empathy and compassion will arise within us. If we feel our uncomfortable feelings as well as our comfortable ones, we have a chance of understanding what it means to be intimate with things we normally fear.
I know – it sounds mysterious but remember – we are here to explore mysteries.
What would it mean to you to be intimate with old age, sickness, and death?
Which of these is the most repulsive to you?
Let us know in the Comments or reply to this email.
Thanks for exploring the mystery – Nicky Mendenhall
7 comments
I think that when we are intimate with death, old age, and sickness we come to appreciate the joy of living more. It’s like how do you know joy if you haven’t experienced sadness? How do you know light if there isn’t darkness? I don’t fear death and I’m learning to live with getting older. My fear is getting sick.
Thanks Nina for your wise comment. When we go through darkness, the light is even more precious. Interestingly enough – when I started writing this, it was cloudy and dark. Suddenly the sun began to shine and my mood changed instantly! Wishing you health and happiness!
I do not think the word repulsive fits, it should be replaced with scariest. I think the scariest thing would be sickness. Eventually everyone is going to die, I just do not want to be sick.
I agree with you – scariest definitely fits – thank you.
Buddhists say that fearlessness is when we look and examine our fear
I wish for you good health and the gift of fearlessness.
Sickness is the most repulsive to me. When I am ill, it is difficult to think of anything else. It is so easy to just think, me, me, me. Old age does make physical things more difficult, so that is somewhat like illness.
The above comment was from Anonymous! And I agree with it wholeheartedly and will try and remember next time I con'g feel well.
Both of the above comments prove that to hurry and try and get things done before you leave the house is not a good idea. "con'g" is supposed to be don't – but I imagine you figured that out!
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