Impermanence

    We've all had that moment in life where we loose someone very close to us. Whether it was expected or unexpected we feel pain and suffering, this pain cant be fought because we have lost something so close to us that we don't know what it feels like to go on with life with out that person. In the book "The Buddhas Teachings" its said that "everyone we cherish will, someday get sick and die. If we do not practice the meditation of emptiness, when it happens, we will be overwhelmed". (pg. 148 ) The quote opened my eyes and made me realize that most people don't practice this at all. It's as if people think they are invincible and will live forever on this earth. However, the practice of impermanence thinks otherwise. The buddhist concept of impermanence states that nothing on this earth is meant to last forever. Impermanence is a helpful way for people to look at death and come to a recollection that at some point in life, we will move on and if we have to loose loved ones before we pass, we much learn to cope with it. I believe that if people practiced impermanence I think the human race would be able to cope better with death.

    Death is one of the hardest things for people to deal with. Loosing someone is beyond difficult and can take a tole on your life. I've lost a lot of people over the past six years and till this day I still can't except their passing. I've never practiced what it would be like to feel emptiness or the lack of that person in my life. It's not like I never thought it would happen, at a young age you don't think your going to start loosing people left and right. An accidental death is one of the hardest deaths for me to deal with. I've lost 4 people to accidental deaths and its not so much coping with the loss, but wondering if there was a way I could have prevented it from happening. After reading about the impermanence I've realized that maybe it was their time to move on that they were ready to move on. Maybe they had too much suffering in life where a greater force granted them a new sanctuary.

 

 Some people look at impermanence and think that its sort of a slap in the face. People feel like its a practice that wants you to move on with life and not care so much about what you loose because you were going to loose it at some point. However, this practice isn't saying that at all. Impermanence is simply looking out for you. It's telling you that nothing is permanent and no matter how much to wish that person didn't pass away, they aren't coming back. They are no longer suffering and if that person could say one last thing to you, they would tell you that they wouldn't want you to be suffering either. It ok to miss someone but instead of suffering, you should take all the experiences you had with them and apply them to your life. It's as if they are still with you and respecting them by applying what they taught you to your every day life. It's hard for us to adapt to a loss, but what you end up loosing, you'll end up gaining. You loose a person but you gain memories, intelligence and a whole new outlook on life. You just need to be willing to look at it that way.