Death Doesn’t Come For Me
July 30, 2007 – 5:47 pm
Death comes but once for us. With the notable exception of those folks deemed special enough to cheat death (though are they cheating death, really?), death comes for us as surely as we need oxygen to breath.
But I always forget this fact. And those little deaths that Buddhists refer to that are as common as exhalation, I miss. Last Thursday was the last night of practice of the yoga studio I had been practicing at for two and a half years. People change. So do circumstances. A little death occured. I wanted the end to be different. I didn’t want it to be the end. Endings suck.
Yet there it was, as we all bowed and said our last namaste together. “The only constant is change,” said our teacher. “We have few of the cells we were born with.”
And so it is that I spend most of my life energy denying that change is happening. So I miss the gift of gratitude that endings bring and I miss the gift that everything, all of it, can go away in an instant and to therefore take joy in this moment.
2 Responses to “Death Doesn’t Come For Me”
This is a very elegant post; I feel your wistfulness poring between the words. Stasis is death; therefore, while we’re here, we can only embrace change as a constant.
Namaste - I hope you find another studio where your practice continues to enrich your life as it provides new connections for you.
By Jennifer Gee on Aug 2, 2007
Jay, some years back (pre 2000) I spent many years studying Shorinji Kempo, a Japanese martial art. Every session included 20 minutes devoted to the teachings of Buddha. We were taught by our Sensai that the first line of defence was to run. Warriors do their utmost not to engage in battle. I was taught that to avoid confrontation is the first line of defence. Your teacher follows the way of the warrior - change is constant and eternal. Be at peace with yourself then you will be at peace with others. Never instigate confrontation, avoid confrontation and only when it is thrust upon you do you act. Even then act with the minimum of hostility and violence.
Death waits for us - it is ever present, in our minds, in the minds of others. Death is constant and unrelenting and the greatest deceiver for we never ever know when it will strike.
There is only one way to deal with death and that is to accept it as inevitable but fight it till the end.
By sokari on Aug 5, 2007