(Bell)
Now you can visualize a cloud
in the sky.
Maybe one part of the cloud has become the rain.
We should be aware
that only half of the 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 are also a kind of cloud
and you are not entirely here in this body,
because everyday you produce
thoughts, speech and action
that continue you.
So it´s like a cloud in the sky,
every day the cloud can produce rain
and snow
or hail.
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.
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 is still there
in other forms.
Look for him in you, look for him in your children.
That person is still available in the here and the now.
So when you look at the rain or the tea,
if you recognize your cloud in the rain or the tea,
then,
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.
That is what we call
signlessness.
You are not caught by a particular form.
You can recognize your beloved one in many other kind of forms.
I think it is easy enough to see the father in the children.
You can talk to the father through the children,
and you can take care of the father by taking care of the children.
Not only he is in the children but he is in you.
But the fact is that nothing is born, nothing dies.
It is impossible for a cloud to die,
so it's impossible for anything to die, to become nothing.
That is why meditation on death is so helpful.
Meditation on death helps you to see that there is no death.
There is no birth and death, there is only transformation.
Nothing can be lost.
Sometimes your beloved one can hide himself or herself
and take another form, so that you 'll know better
how to cherish his presence.
In the Lotus Sutra, there is a a chapter
talking about
a doctor
who has the power to heal.
And his children
rely on his presence.
"We have a father that can heal us,
so 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 words home
that he is already dead.
And the children cry ,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 children
to take the medicines.
Many of us are like that.
We don´t cherish enough the presence of our beloved one
until we no longer see
that familiar form.
And we learn.
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.
We can learn many lessons.
Mindfulness allows us to recognize and cherish
and treasure what is still available,
so that in the future we'll not say,
"While the person was alive, I was not aware of his, her precious presence".
That is why it is so important to go home to the here and the now
and recognize and cherish all the positive elements
that are still available.
With the practice of mindfulness you can look deeply
and you can discover the nature of no birth and no death
and find out that nothing can die,
nothing can be lost.
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.
We have the sangha of the Buddha available today.
So there is no way to be
sorrowful.
(Bell)
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