A Meditation On Death - The Wave Is Not The Water
Realizing Ultimate Reality (p.88 Essential Writings)
We come to the practice of meditation seeking relief from our suffering and meditation can teach us how to transform our suffering and obtain basic relief. But the deepest kind of relief is the realization of nirvana. There are two dimensions to life, and we should be able to touch both. One is like a wave, and we call it the historical dimension. The other is like the water, and we call it the ultimate dimension, or nirvana. We usually touch just the wave, but when we discover how to touch the water, we receive the highest fruit that meditation can offer.
In the historical dimension, we have birth certificates and death certificates. The day your mother passes away, you suffer. If someone sits close to you and shows her concern, you feel some relief. You have her friendship, her support, her warm hand to hold. This is the world of waves. It is characterized by birth and death, ups and downs, being and non-being. A wave has its beginning and an end, but we cannot ascribe these characteristics to water. In the world of water, there is no birth and no death, no being or non-being, no beginning or end. When we touch the water, we touch reality in its ultimate dimension and are liberated from all of those concepts.
The second-century philosopher Nagarjuna asked, "Before something was born, did it exist or not?" Before the egg was born from a chicken, was it existent or non-existent? If it were already there, how could it have been born? Since a baby is also already present in the womb of her mother, how can we say she is not yet born? Nagarjuna says that something already present cannot be born. To be born means from nothing you become something; from no one you become someone. But nothing can be born from nothing. A flower is born from soil, minerals, seeds, sunshine, rain and many other things. Meditation reveals to us the no-birth of all things. Life is a continuation. Instead of singing "Happy Birthday," we can sing "Happy Continuation." Even the day of our mother's death is a day of continuation; she continues in many other forms.
One day as I was about to step on a dry leaf, I saw the leaf in the ultimate dimension. I saw that it was not really dead, but it was merging with the moist soil and preparing to appear on the tree the following spring in another form. I smiled at the leaf and said, "You are pretending."
Everything is pretending to be born and pretending to die, including the leaf I almost stepped on. The Buddha said, "when conditions are sufficient, the body reveals itself, and we say the body is. When conditions are not sufficient, the body cannot be perceived by us, and we say the body is not." The day of our so-called death is a day of our continuation in many other forms. If you know how to touch your mother in the ultimate dimension, she will always be there with you. If you touch your hand, your face, or your hair, and look very deeply, you can see that she is there in you, smiling. This is a deep practice, and it is also the deepest kind of relief.
Nirvana means extinction, the extinction of all notions and concepts, including the concepts of birth, death, being, non-being, coming, and going. Nirvana is the ultimate dimension of life, a state of coolness, peace, and joy. It is not a state to be attained after you die. You can touch nirvana right now by breathing, walking, and drinking your tea in mindfulness. You have been "nirvanized" since the very non-beginning. Everything and everyone is dwelling in nirvana.
Nikos Kazantzakis tells the story of St. Francis of Assisi standing in front of an almond tree in mid-winter. St. Francis asked the tree to tell him about God, and suddenly the tree began to blossom. In just a few seconds, the almond tree was covered with beautiful flowers. When I read this story, I was very impressed. I saw that St. Francis stood on the side of the ultimate dimension. It was winter; there were no leaves, flowers or fruits, but he saw the flowers.
We may feel that we are incapable of touching the ultimate dimension, but that is not correct. We have done so already. The problem is how to do it more deeply and more frequently. The phrase, "think globally," for example, is in the direction of touching the ultimate dimension. When we see things globally, we have more wisdom and we feel much better. We are not caught by small situations. When we see globally we avoid many mistakes, and we have a more profound view of happiness and life.
When we dwell in the historical dimension, we are tossed about by many waves. Perhaps we have a difficult time at work. Or we have to wait too long in line at the supermarket. Or we have a bad telephone connection with our friend. We feel tired, a little depressed, or angry. This is because we are caught in the present situation. But if we close our eyes and visualize the world one hundred years from now, we will see that these problems are not important. Embracing just one hundred years, we see things very differently. Imagine how drastic a change is brought about by touching the ultimate dimension!
We are entirely capable of touching the ultimate dimension. As I write this page, I am aware that my feet are on the ground in Plum Village (a monastic community near Bordeaux in France), standing on French soil. I am also aware that France is linked to Germany, Spain, Czechoslovakia, and Russia., and even to India, China, and Vietnam. Thinking globally, I see that I am standing on more than just a spot, because when I touch Plum Village, I touch all of Europe and Asia. China is just an extension of the small piece of land under my feet. Standing on one part of the Eurasian continent, I am standing on the whole continent.
This kind of awareness transforms the spot you are standing on to include the whole Earth. When you practice walking meditation and realize that you are making steps on the beautiful planet Earth, you will be liberated from narrow views or boundaries. Each step you take, you see that you are touching the whole Earth. When you touch with that awareness, you liberate yourself from many afflictions and wrong views.
When you touch one thing with deep awareness, you touch everything. The same is true of time. When you touch one moment with deep awareness, you touch all moments. If you live one moment deeply, that moment contains all the past and all the future in it. "The one contains the all." Touching the present moment does not mean getting rid of the past or the future. As you touch the present moment, you realize that the present is made of the past and is creating the future. Touching the present, you touch the past and the future at the same time. You touch globally the infinity of time, the ultimate dimension of reality. When you drink a cup of tea very deeply, you touch the present moment and you touch the whole of time. It is what St. Francis did when he touched the almond tree so profoundly that he could see it flowering even in the middle of winter. He transcended time.
Meditation is to live each moment of life deeply. Through meditation, we see that waves are made only of water, that the historical and the ultimate dimensions are one. Even while living in the world of waves, we touch the water, knowing that a wave is nothing but water. We suffer if we touch only the waves. But if we learn how to stay in touch with the water, we feel a great relief. Touching nirvana frees us from many worries. Things that upset us in the past are not that important, even one day later - imagine when we are able to touch infinite time and space.
We come to the practice seeking relief in the historical dimension. We calm our body and mind, and establish our stillness, our freshness, and our solidity. We practice loving-kindness, concentration, and transforming our anger, and we feel some relief. But when we touch the ultimate dimension of reality, we get the deepest kind of relief. Each of us has the capacity to touch nirvana and be free from birth and death, one and many, coming and going.
Touching Peace
Mary's notes and thoughts:
Nirvana is what you achieve when you can leave behind expectations. You come to a place where you have no unmet needs or wants you are trying to fulfill. You want for nothing, so therefore have no suffering.
We are all dwelling in nirvana at this very moment, we have only to open (or close) our eyes and recognize or realize it. A state of mind or an attitude is always within your control to choose.
The wave is not the water. The wave has a beginning and an end, but the water just is. The water was there before the wave and the water will be there after the wave.
Death as a continuation. Your loved one lives on in many forms. In the memories of all that knew her, in the legacy of all his influences on others, in the connections she helped to form, in the work he has done that continues to serve others, in the smile on her daughter's face, in his grandson's eyes, in the flowers she planted in the garden, every time you smell his cologne, or see her face your loved one lives on within you. This is a kind of eternal being in the ultimate dimension, a form of reincarnation and also interbeing.
Interbeing - I am the way I am because you are the way you are. Everything relates to and is a part of every other thing. Looking at the rose, I can see the rain and the cloud and the mud and the plants from the previous year that have come together in that rose. Seeing the cloud, I can see the rivers and the oceans and rain and the pea plants that will come to be out of that cloud. They are all there. Looking at an individual, I can work to see their parents and ancestors who are all present in them at this point in time. We can recognize our parents in ourselves and in our own children.
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