Timed Out
How Do You Identify?: Mr. Prickly Porcupine
Preferred Pronoun?: Butch - Hy, Hym, Hys
Relationship Status: She has softened My quills
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Permanently Banned 8/8/2011
Posts: 4,880
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How Do We Prepare To Die? - A Buddhist Perspective.
Live In The Present
From the Buddhist perspective everything in this phenomenal world is impermanent - nothing lasts. The Buddha said, "What has been gathered will be dispersed, what has been accumulated will be exhausted, what has been built up will collapse and what is born will one day die." So, one way of preparing for death is by fully appreciating every moment. Our lives consist of moments, much like the frames of a movie film. Each frame or moment is born and then dies and then there is the next moment. Too many of us miss these moments because we are too caught up into thinking about yesterday or about tomorrow. Instead of experiencing the sacredness of the present, many are living in the past or the future.
The Buddha also said, "This existence of ours is as transient as the autumn clouds. To watch the birth and death of beings is like looking at the movements of a dance. A lifetime is like a flash of lightning in the sky, rushing by, like a torrent down a steep mountain." For this reason alone it is important to live in the present moment and to live our lives in a compassionate way. Living in the present moment takes courage. It means committing ourselves fully to responding moment-to-moment with compassion regardless of the situation.
- Lama Chuck Stanford
Rime Buddhist Center & Monastery
Kansas City, MO.
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