Now, we can visualize a cloud
in the sky.
Maybe one part of the cloud has become the rain.
And we should be aware that only half a cloud remains in the same form,
but half of the cloud has taken another form.
And you cannot say that the rain is less beautiful than the cloud,
or the cloud is less beautiful than the rain.
They can be both beautiful.
When you live with your beloved one
be aware that he or she is a kind of cloud.
You, also, are a kind of cloud,
and you are not entirely here in this body,
because every day you produce
thoughts, speech and action that continue...
continue you.
So it is like a cloud in the sky.
Every day the cloud can produce rain and
snow or
or hail.
And we can see the continuation of the cloud already,
even if the cloud is still there, in the sky.
We, human beings,
We produce thoughts, speech, and action every day,
and that is our continuation.
And we have to meditate in order to see us not only in this body but outside of this body.
Now I can see myself not in this body only.
I can see myself in my friends,
in my disciples,
in my work, in many things,
and if you want to recognize me,
don't look in this direction. This is only a small part of me.
So the person you believe
that is already lost,
he is not lost.
He's still there
in other forms.
And look for him in you,
look for him in your children.
And you are ...
that person is still available in the here and the now.
So when you look at the rain or the tea,
and ...
and if you recognize your cloud in the rain or the tea, and then your
your sorrow will vanish.
You know that your cloud is still there
in new forms, and you can talk to your cloud. You can...
be with your cloud.
So that is what we call...
signlessness.
Signlessness.
You are not caught by a particular form.
You can recognize your beloved one in many other kinds of forms.
I think it's easy enough to see
the father in the children.
and you can talk to the father through the children,
and you can take care of the father by taking care of children.
And not only he is in the children but he is in you.
But the fact is that nothing is born, nothing died.
It's impossible for a cloud to die
so it's impossible for anyone to die and to become nothing.
And that is why meditation on death is so helpful.
Meditation on death help you to see that there is no death.
There is no birth and death.
There's only...
transformation.
Nothing can be lost.
And sometimes
your beloved one can hide himself or herself
and take another form so that you will know
better how to cherish his presence
In the Lotus sutra there is a chapter on
talking about a
a doctor
who has the power to heal,
and his children
relied on his presence.
We have a father that can heal us,
we don't need to take the medicine.
We don't need to do anything.
So the doctor wants to help them,
and he goes away and sends word home that he is already dead.
And the children cry and cry and cry and begin to drink the medicine
and they get healed.
So the father has to hide himself in order to help his students,
his children to take the medicines.
So we, many of us, are like that.
We don't cherish enough the presence of our beloved one
until,
until we no longer see that familiar form.
And we learn.
And we learn and we heal,
and we rediscover our beloved one in other forms.
The meditation on death is a very important meditation.
When you meditate on death
you love life more.
You cherish life more.
And we can learn many lessons.
Mindfulness allows us to recognize and cherish
and treasure what is still available
so that in the future we will not say that
"well, while that person was alive I was not aware of his or her precious presence."
That is why it's so important to go home to the here and the now
and recognize and cherish all the positive elements that are still available.
And then with the practice of mindfulness
we can look deeply
and we can discover the nature of no birth and no death.
And we find out that nothing,
nothing can die.
Nothing can be lost.
When I live, every day I live with my sangha:
monastic and lay sangha
monks, nuns, lay practitioners.
And I find out that my sangha
looks exactly like the sangha of the buddha.
They have very much the same problems:
the same joy, the same happiness, the same suffering.
The same problems.
And I feel that the Buddha and the sangha of the Buddha
is available to me in the here and the now.
I don't miss the buddha. I don't miss the sangha
of the Buddha,
because I am able to see the Buddha and his sangha in my sangha.
Because my sangha is, first of all, the continuation of the Buddha's sangha.
We have the Buddha available.
and we have the sangha of the Buddha available, today.
So there's no way to to be
to be sorrowful.