Sunday, August 22, 2010

Buddhas and Beer, College and Karma: II - Parting is such sweet sorrow

Less than a week until I leave for school again and it's a strange amalgam of feelings. I'm elated and excited to see people I haven't seen for months, enjoy new classes and experiences etc... but I'm also sad to leave the comfort and ease of home during summer, seeing my girlfriend, and laying outside all day. But everything changes eventually!

The Buddha taught extensively on the impermanent nature of phenomena, everything is subject to change, no matter what. Relationships, people, attitudes, ideas, illness, health, failure - a mixed bag it would seem. The good doesn't always stay "good" and the bad doesn't always stay "bad", so we're left in a state of transition. But certainly that means we could never be bored right? Well... no. People are still people, Buddhas and still people, Zen Masters are CERTAINLY still people. So often Buddhas and Zen Masters, even meditators in general are supposed to be those who never fall down or give in to human tendencies. I will give you $50 if you can find a Zen Master who doesn't prefer one food over the other given a choice. Sure, maybe they will care a bit less about what's for dinner, taking everything "as it is", but maybe not. Eastern Idealism has led to one too many brainwashing cults centered around a "guru" figure. I don't intend to perpetuate that.

But I digress. People come and go, relationships start and end, life moves on (but not necessarily forward!) one moment at a time. When things suck and we are caught up in doomsday thoughts, well that'll change. Maybe only for a few minutes before we jump on the hamster wheel again, but certainly we can't be one thing forever, can we? Not young, not old, not conservative, not liberal, all these things are fluid rather than concrete. So time passes and passes again, and as of right now, time passes ever faster as Summer days slide by and the breeze starts to get cooler:

Hot sun drips from the skin,
Heat waves of love and lust,
Must too give way,
To the calm breeze of autumn.

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