Recently a friend pointed out that we only have one birth day, although we celebrate its anniversary every year. As a Tibetan Buddhist, I would say that I have had multiple birth days, but only one for each rebirth. However, I also have memories of lifetimes that I know I did not reach the age to celebrate a sixtieth Birth Day anniversary, but rather died much younger.
As I have written previously, there are numerous reasons that I should not have reached my present age whether it was the congenital defect that caused me to collapse as an infant or the multiple traumatic injuries of my motor vehicle accident in 1983. Nevertheless, I have survived them all and have grown into someone who is of benefit to others. However, I don't believe that it is the result of the decision of some distant deity that I “still have work to do,” but rather that it is merely my karma that I continue to have the time in which I may do good or bad. Furthermore, it is my choice how to spend whatever time I may live. I could devote it to getting and spending, totally absorbed in my own wants and desires. Or I could devote it to study of the Dharma, finding ways to put it into practice daily in service to others. I much prefer the latter, because it is truly the path to genuine happiness.
I had hoped that I would have been ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist novice monk or getsul before this date. However, that was not to happen. Nevertheless, I reasonably expect that I might be ordained before I celebrate another Birth Day Anniversary although nothing is certain in this life. Thereafter, I wonder whether I would celebrate any more such anniversaries or might I celebrate the anniversaries of my ordination as I did when I was Christian clergy. As I was taught then, the ordination was more significant than my birth. At least it is significant enough that a new name is given, seemingly denoting a new life.
I have received a lot of birthday greetings, a few by mail such as the one from the law firm that handled probate for my mother's estate, but most by email or on social networking sites. Some of the people sending the greetings a strictly cyber-friends with whom I have had discussions online or who regularly read my blogs. Nevertheless, it is good to be thought well thought of and valued.
While I have received few gifts, my sister took me out to eat at “Golden Corral.” They have a birthday deal, but we found out that it is only for the dinner buffet and not the lunch buffet. Although they are really a steakhouse, there is still a lot on the buffet for me as a vegetarian. My sister and I did have a little GI discomfort, probably from their deviled eggs, since she and I had them but our friend Alice didn't. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant meal topped off with coconut cream pie and coffee.
My body sort of gave me a birthday present in that I had no bleeding that entire day. Furthermore, the bleeding has been negligible since then. Perhaps I am now getting the relief that I had sought from the work done during the colonoscopy. In any case, I shall be grateful for the relief and watch out for any further bleeding that may occur.
This is a time to reflect on the impermanence of all things, because we cannot stop ourselves getting older. Furthermore, our bodies are subject to breaking down from wear and tear no matter how hard we may try to live a healthy lifestyle. The healthier we may live may reduce the severity of the losses due to aging or slow the rate at which such changes develop. However, most still develop like gray hair and wrinkles. As a culture we spend a great deal of time and vast resources to uselessly fight the effects of aging, while we seem to give little attention to preparing for our own death. Indeed many go to great effort to avoid facing their own mortality despite its certainty.
I recently got the practice text for Phowa practice. Since I have received the transmission for it, I shall begin to add it to my personal practice. Furthermore, I shall continue to look for an opportunity to receive teachings and related empowerments for it. This is something that I can do to benefit not only myself in preparing for my own death whenever that may come, but also others by helping them with their transitions at the time of their deaths. Since death is inevitable for all of us, this is preparation that we all need. Furthermore, it can turn that difficult time into the greatest opportunity for enlightenment that an individual may have.
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