By Tâm Hoa - 06/09/2018

A fire, an unexpected accident, a terminal illness... we hear and read about these things frequently in the news, but no one can be sure that it will not happen to them.

Unpredictable Events 

The fast-paced modern life seems to sweep everyone, from cities to rural areas, into the whirlpool of work, worries, and hectic weekends.

We seldom have the quiet time to reflect on ourselves and realize the truth that one day, these daily habits will disappear, including our own ways of living and those of our family members.

Even though the news reports on tragic fires, devastating traffic accidents, plane crashes that take hundreds of lives, or hospitals overcrowded with cancer patients... There is still a part of us that believes and hopes these events will not happen to us.

But this "belief" seems to become more fragile, and the "sense of peace" within us seems inversely proportional to the increasing amount of negative information in the news and on social media.

On a certain forum, a young wife shared the story of her husband being in a traffic accident; he unexpectedly left her and their child on that very night. Her social media profile still displays a cover photo of their joyful family trip to Beijing, just a week before the accident occurred.

Every day in this country, people go to work in the morning, but hundreds cannot return home due to traffic accidents. When it happens to someone, that person will fall into a state of extreme sorrow, collapse, and loss of direction…

The Impermanence of Life 

Just spend 1-2 minutes each day to reflect (To be enlightened or to enlighten as a result of insight (intelligence) or contemplation. ) and deeply understand that one day, these unfortunate events may happen to us… Then, a new kind of wisdom will come to you. It is the wisdom of understanding and accepting impermanence, as the Buddha taught.

All of us will eventually lose our loved ones, the difference is in the timing – the fortunate ones, as the saying goes, stay together until “old and gray” before parting, while the unfortunate ones experience loss “halfway through the journey.” We truly never know when misfortune will strike.

2500 years ago, a mother came to ask the Buddha to resurrect her deceased child. The Buddha told her to seek a special mustard seed from families that had no deaths among their loved ones.

The mother went around the region, knocking on doors, and found her answer: every household had experienced death. The death of her child was an inevitable truth, unavoidable and certain.

Venerable Gendun Rinpoche

Speaking of the wisdom of impermanence, Venerable Gendun Rinpoche once taught: “Everything changes every second, even when we achieve what we desire, we cannot hold onto it for long.

Due to not understanding the changing nature of things, we suffer immensely and strive desperately to preserve and protect things that are always changing.”

By doing this, we can say that we have not lived in vain.

Do not regret the past as you have done the best you could, and stop longing for the future because everything always changes uncontrollably. All you have is the present – live fully with it!

What you have is only the present, live fully with it!

Understanding and accepting Impermanence does not make us become negative and dry in life; on the contrary, it makes us appreciate the present, cherish the people we love, and do the best we can for our families and loved ones, and use this life in a more meaningful way.

                                                                                                      Compiled from various sources