Death and attachment

The age old question has always been, what happens when we die? There is no need for me to go into the huge variety of answers as you probably already know many of the ideas yourself, but it's interesting to consider the idea of attachment to yourself and others as it relates to death,

Many people take comfort that their present self and/or their loved ones will exist forever. It's not uncommon. I have been there and can still go there at times. It's the common belief in Christianity and even more 'secular' ideas of 'God' and 'Heaven' that we will all meet in 'Paradise' one day and live in peace and bliss for eternity. The idea that Grandma and Granpa are up in heaven smiling down on us and waiting to see us again.

However what we are attached to (ourselves and loved ones) ceases to exist after death. Now I don't mean annihilation or atheistic nothingness, but it's the whole that makes us who we are right now. Our impermanent current self. I am a combination of my body and my mind. That's very basic as we can go deeper. I am a certain amount of cells and organs and....blah blah. You get the picture. One of my favourite blogs is Amida-Ji Retreat Temple (http://amida-ji-retreat-temple-romania.blogspot.ca/) and Rev. Josho, the priest, broke it down nicely. Basically using the analogy of a car. If you take apart the car into individual pieces and sell some and throw some out, the car doesn't really exist anymore in that state and neither will we after death.

We are right now, what we are made up of. Even our current self is a bit different then ourself many years ago as our mind and body change. You don't think the same way. I can read old emails I wrote to relatives and it sounds like a different person writing them, and in a sense it was. We are so very impermanent.

What is the constant then? Is there something permanent? Sure, the 'mindstream' as some call it. The part of us that continues to be reborn in endless rebirths in the karmic samsara. When it enters a new body it is no longer who it was in the past rebirth. It's housed by new parts that make a new being. Your loved ones that you hope to see again one day have already moved on to new lives. Or maybe if they said the Nembutsu and trusted in Amida's vow they are in the Pureland now, Buddhas!

What is the cure for this obsession with impermanence? Say the Nembutsu. Why? Will it make my mind super peaceful and accepting of impermanence? Hardly. But it will give you peace that your impermanence may be coming to an end. For if you say the Nembutsu and have faith in Amida's vow, you will be reborn in the Pureland as a Buddha and it's only a Buddha who can recall all his many, many rebirths. Then impermanence will seem quite trivial when you see the endless lives that your mindstream participated it. How silly were we all to be attached to just one. But it's understandable, as we are all unenlightened in this age of Dharma decline. Attachment is the root of our suffering. And that's ok, so just say the Nembutsu and become a Buddha!

Namo Amida Bu.