Todayand#8217;s FBA Dharmabyte is from the talk and#8220;The Transitoriness of Life and the Certainty of Deathand#8221; by Vajradarshini titled Sadness and Awakening.and#8221; This is a beautiful piece on the hardest of subjects. Using zen poetry and a happily wide-ranging series of quotations (from Tibetan lamas to Ezra Pound), Vajradarshini explores her own fatherand#8217;s death as a way to approach attitudes to death and dying.
Dharmabytes from free buddhist audio
Sadness and Awakening
[music] Dharma Bites is brought to you by Free Buddhist Audio, the Dharma for your life. Our work is funded entirely by donations from our generous listeners. If you would like to help us keep this free, make a contribution at freebuddhistaudio.com/donate. Thank you, and happy listening. [music] So then you also see in this kind of poetry, like if you're familiar with the poetry, raking, is that there's quite a strong connection between sadness and awakening. So sadness is a definite kind of flavor to a lot of this poetry. And actually that feeling, that sad feeling, is sabbi. So those of you that know that I talk about, wabi-sabbi. The sabbi part of wabi-sabbi is that sort of sadness. And it's not an unpleasant, it's not a tall unpleasant. It's just a kind of sadness at the kind of fleetingness of life. But there's a connection between that and insight. So in terms of Zen poetry, there's quite a strong connection between that feeling of sadness and insight. [silence] So I was struck by Dom within a talking about this thing, Keith Diamond, whoever he is, saying this thing about nothing beats real experience. So it's all very well to reflect on things, or even to sit in bed, read in this lovely sad Zen poetry. But it's quite different to actually experiencing death or loss and sadness that comes with that. And there's quite a strong connection, I think, between real experience and reflection. Because what we reflect on affects then how we experience the world. And how we experience the world will be sort of reflected in our reflecting, if you see what I mean. They kind of feed into each other. So if it was the case that we were never to fade away, that we were never to die, things would lose their power to move us. So it is only that we're moved by the dew or the morning glories. Because they fade away and because we too are going to fade away, that's why we're moved by it. And because we reflect on those things, because we take those things in, we also have to take in more that we will fade away. That's what I mean. So they kind of feed into each other our reflections and our experience. And I was thinking that it's a bit like death seems to be the koan, in a sense, the kind of ultimate koan. And I think what particularly moves me about this isa poem about the, the election is cut like blade sometimes. So it's like the painfulness of existence. And yeah, he talks about it being this dew drop world. So this world of dew, this world of illusion, that is also very really painful. Well in a way for me that's a koan. You know, how is it that this world is just an illusion and yet it's so real in terms of the painfulness of it? And there's a little story which I've told a few times about Marpa. So Marpa, his son dies and he's absolutely filled with grief at the loss of his son. And his disciples are quite shocked that he's grieving so much. And they say, you know, how come you're grieving so much? Because you've taught us that everything is an illusion. How come you're grieving so much at the death of your son? And he says, yes, everything is an illusion. And the most painful illusion of all is the death of one's child. So it's this kind of this koan that Sanxara I suppose is a painful illusion. And because it is a koan, it keeps us reflecting on it. It's very hard if you have some experience of death to not reflect on it. It's a really big, it provokes really big questions, doesn't it? It's the time when you ask yourself really big questions. And for that reason, it does sort of take us deeper, I think. And the Buddha says, of all footprints, those of the elephant are the broadest and deepest. Of all meditations, that on impermanence is the strongest and most beneficial. We hope you enjoyed today's Dharma Bite. Please help us keep this free. Make a contribution at freebuddhistaudio.com/donate. And thank you. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [BLANK_AUDIO]