There has been so much ado since Saturday about the plane crashing in a Russian forest with an array of Polish leaders, including the president, on board. There were, the news reports said, no survivors.
We might say none of us are survivors (we all are dying), or we all are survivors (who dies?), including those on the plane heading to Katyn.
And yet there is great sorrow and sense of loss. In Zen we say death is certain, the time of death is uncertain.
And death? What might that be?
The last two lines from a poem by the French poet Pierre Reverdy:
« Il reste peu de chose à prendre
Dans un homme qui va mourir. »
(There is little left to take
From a man who is going to die.)
Since we all are dying, there is nothing much to take…or lose…or lack…or gain from any of us. Because at this moment, we already have it all.
Much ado about
About the Author: zenscribe
Enseignante Zen et poète, Sensei Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell est née et a grandi à Minneapolis, aux Etats-Unis. Arrivée en France en 1981 pour étudier la littérature et l’histoire, elle y est restée, s’installant à Paris, où elle élève ses deux enfants et gagne sa vie en tant que journaliste.
The Zen teacher and poet Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell Sensei was born and raised in Minneapolis, but came to France in 1981 to study literature and history and has lived in Paris ever since, raising her two children and making a living as a journalist.
Being at peace here and now means not sticking to this here and now but standing up and meeting this here and now and this here and now and this here and now and this here and now and this here and now and this here and now and this here and now and this here and now…. Always perfect.
Reminds me of Lionel Messi scoring and Lionel Messi scoring and Lionel Messi scoring and Lionel Messi scoring…until he doesn’t and then he doesn’t and then he doesn’t and then he doesn’t…
“Because at this moment, we already have it all.”
When we fully realize that at this moment, we already have it all, isn’t it strange to live a life of pursuing things? Like a career or a partner or enlightenment.
At the office today I saw a picture on a coffee mug. A cat in meditation position was looking (with appetite) at two birds flying around. That’s an accurate picture of meditation, ha!
But when meditation works, and we fully are at peace right here and now, isn’t it weird to get up and do a job or get exited about politics for instance?