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Being and Dying
The Rains Retreat is the three months of happiness at Plum Village, where monks and nuns have the opportunity to live and practice continuously to nourish brotherhood and avoid falling into mere formality. The image of a candle burning and then going out is used as a metaphor for human life: the flame is consciousness, the wick and wax are the body, harmoniously interdependent and inseparable. Mindful contemplation helps us look deeply into reality, to see clearly the nature of impermanence and non-self, and to transcend the two extreme views:
- annihilationism: after death, form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness all cease completely
-
eternalism: the soul is immortal, life continues forever
The Buddha invited us to reflect on the four propositions concerning existence after a reality—such as Himself or a candle—has gone out, called the tetralemma: - still exists
- no longer exists
- both exists and does not exist
- neither exists nor does not exist
Mindfulness in each present moment—being aware of our breath, our steps, our smile—is the path of liberation from the ghosts of the past and the ghosts of the future, helping us to live peacefully and happily. Through the teachings of impermanence, non-self, and interdependent co-arising, we are not caught in appearances but see the true nature of no birth and no death in all phenomena. From there, we can sow wholesome seeds in every breath and step, bringing benefit to ourselves, our ancestors, and the entire cosmos.
