I am not out there either

Ever since the recent not-really-death of Buddhist monk and author Thich Nhat Hanh I keep encountering his thoughts online which make me feel really good. Here is a selection of them equipped with some of my recent photos.

The first four quotes are from his Ten Love Letters to the Earth. Click and be transported:

To us:

We have never been born and we will never die.

We already are, and we already have, what we are looking for.

To Earth:

You are nothing less than myself.

We are proud of our powerful telescopes and ability to observe distant galaxies. But few of us realize that our consciousness is your own; you are deepening your understanding of the cosmos through us.

On dying:

I Am Not in Here

Excerpted from Thich Nhat Hanh “At Home in the World: Stories & Essential Teachings from a Monk’s Life” (2015):

I have a disciple in Vietnam who wants to build a stupa for my ashes when I die. He and others want to put a plaque with the words, “Here lies my beloved teacher.” I told them not to waste the temple land.

“Do not put me in a small pot and put me in there” I said. “I don’t want to continue like that. It would be better to scatter the ashes outside to help the trees to grow.”

I suggested that, if they still insist on building a stupa, they have the plaque say, “I am not in here.” But in case people don’t get it, they could add a second plaque, “I am not out there either.” If still people don’t understand, then you can write on the third and last plaque, “I may be found in your way of breathing and walking.“

This body of mine will disintegrate, but my actions will continue me. In my daily life I always practice to see my continuation all around me. We don’t need to wait until the total dissolution of this body to continue—we continue in every moment.

If you think that I am only this body, then you have not truly seen me. When you look at my friends, you see my continuation. When you see someone walking with compassion, you know he is my continuation.

I don’t see why we have to say “I will die,” because I can already see myself in you, in other people, and in future generations.

Even when the cloud is not there, it continues as snow or rain. It is impossible for a cloud to die. It can become rain or ice, but it cannot become nothing. The cloud does not need to have a soul in order to continue. There’s no beginning and no end. I will never die. There will be a dissolution of this body, but that does not mean my death.

I will continue, always.

Thich Nhat Hanh: The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation

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This post goes to Liz on her birthday with warmest wishes and hope for a reunion. There are two birthday posts below in my blogging history as well. Happy birthday, dear birdgirl!

Blink and you’ll miss it. Parakeet in Rome.

My daily dove.

Two are better than one.

This day in my blogging history

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  2015: Midva, “two of us”, elected as the most beautiful Slovene word.

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  2015: Intimacy in a relationship is central to the overall human experience and is the key to any relationship. It is a feeling of being in a close personal association and belonging together. It forms as a result of knowledge and experience of the other, and requires dialogue and communication, transparency and honesty, and each making themselves open and vulnerable, with response from both sides.

  —Sierra Parker, “Restart Intimacy”

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  2016: It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. —Jiddu Krishnamurti

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  2017: Stories of repurposing, including this brilliant chandelier, father’s idea

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  2018: This is not Provence

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  2019: Happy birthday, Liz! This was our happy day in Rome.

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  2020: Thursday Doors with and for Liz on her birthday

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  2020: Virtual coffee and tea party