One of the most learned and highly trained American-born lamas in the Tibetan Dzogchen tradition. He is a meditation teacher and author.
I was reflecting upon time, loss and death, the passing of the generations last week as I performed the Jewish unveiling ceremony for my recently deceased mother’s gravestone in our family plot in Long Island, New York, next to my father’s, aunts’ and uncles’, and grandparents’ too. All things pass. The good news is that, in our nuclear family at least, the generations pass in correct order, and parents don’t have to bury children and so forth. The bad news is that life is like a river and time its current, continuously moving on — forward , if you like, although it seems more cyclical to me personally, given the greater ecology of being, life cycles, species evolving — civilizations as well as families rising and falling, coalescing, flourishing, and disintegrating — fauna and flora and the like…
The psalmists of old, from the ancient books of Moses collected in the Old Testament and the Vedas and Upanishads of ancient India and the Taoists of China until the poets, bards, and rappers of today — all echo the same timeless, poignant music, our raw hearts and spoulful inner ears missing the whispering sounds of our deceased loved, the first music we ever heard and learned to love and love through — our parental voices — and the subliminal message ubiquitous within it all: survive, grow, evolve, endure, enjoy and appreciate, give thanks, live truly, spirit prevails.
Dearest Surya…soccer goalie of my youth…AUM…
Sad to hear about your loss; I too went to my dear departed mother’s funeral last December in NYC…I will always laugh as I recall that she called you the “deli lama”…Sorry you didn’t attend the VSCHS 40th last November…go placidly on the earth my old friend, Richard
I just posted a piece on my blog today, “When Now Becomes Then” that was inspired by your book “Letting Go of Who You Used to Be.” Your book and your words have been very uplifting to me in dealing with the loss of my mother and dealing with this joyous thing called life….
Thank you for your work.
May you feel your mother’s spirit strongly around you whenever you need her.
life flows…as a sigh along with the stream-
Kinship
Once I rested, mid-winter, on a forest trail.
Through a hole in the snow, I watched silently flowing water pass out of sight and thought:
–who can hold on to anger and hate
When we let ourselves flow with a stream
When we let ourselves breathe with water, a flower, a tree
When we feel snow on our face
Land beneath our feet
When we are one with a heartbeat
And cannot tell from whence it comes
–who can hold on to anger and hate, then?
When we hear a bird call and feel
That sound rising in our own throats
When we hear laughter and feel
Laughter rising in us
–who can hold on then?
And, if we let ourselves flow and know
Wouldn’t we feel, then
An overwhelming sense of love and oneness
A kinship with every thing—
As I sat in silence
A fine snow began to fall
In a mist so pure and clean
I sat and loved and my body responded
As a sigh along with the stream–
*
M–
Thank you for the post… it came at a most important time in my life – the mid-way point between my mother and father’s deaths (the 12th & 15th respectively). Thank you for reminding me what is important to remember rather than the sadness.
Cycles is what its all about and I liked your homage to memories past heard in the voices of our parents. I have a question related and not related recently a younger relative died from suicide. I want to know what cycle has he become a part of or what journey he has now undertaken.
cheers
Andrew from OZ
I am not well and woke to an ordinary morning but eagerly check my email for my words of wisdom. This weeks is truly beautiful and I thank you for it. So very far away and yet you make such a difference. Thank you.
Your words have become a part of my daily being. I lost my parents and several other loved ones in the last 4 years and have dealt with my feelings of loss by trying to practice the teachings of the Buddha. Your books and other writings have been a tremendous help to me in every aspect of life. I think I can safely say you have been my primary teacher in understanding the practices of Buddhism and in guiding me towards bodhisatva ways….and this has changed my life more than anything has EVER changed my life. I am finding a peaceful soul. Thank you for pointing me. And bless your dear mother. Namaste, Sophia
“The BAD NEWS is that life is like a river and time its current . . .”??
One can never step in the same stream twice, and that’s alright. Impermanence makes all things possible.