The Five Remembrances

I am of the nature to grow old;

there is no way to escape growing old.

I am of the nature to have ill health;

there is no way to escape having ill health.

I am of the nature to die;

there is no way to escape death.

All that is dear to me and everyone I love

are of the nature of change;

there is no way to escape

being separated from them.

My deeds are my closest companions;

I am the beneficiary of my deeds.

my deeds are the ground

on which I stand...

I recently posted this on to my facebook page because I really do like the passage and what it says, but I wasn't going to post these up here on this blog. I know this blog sounds very Buddhist, but I had hoped to not talk about Zen that much for fear of boring people. Not that anyone is really interested anyway.

However, these remembrances do deserve some attention. They are part of the reason that Buddhism in general and Zen in particular are considered nihilistic and depressing. I consider it neither of these. I have a tough time really explaining how Zen makes me feel emotionally but it does make my legs and butt very sore (take that as you will).

Back to Buddhism being nihilistic. I hugely disagree with this. Accepting the fact that you are at the mercy of natural forces need not be depressing and certainly not nihilistic. It simply states what is. These words make me closer to what I am and what I will be in the future. It prepares one for the inevitable; Death, Old Age, Change. No matter how many crazy deities you worship, these facts always remain the same. We are born, we age and we die. Loved ones will disappear as you will leave loved ones behind.

I would like to add here that Zen *in my humblest opinion* does not advocate for a creator god to make everything all better either. Even the more esoteric Buddhist sects don't go for the "in the beginning there was Buddha and he was happy...and then he created the marmoset, blahblahblah....". They do tend to go for celestrial beings of some sort, saints or representations of the better human qualities but this is hugely different from creator gods. But this is a whole different topic.

The traditional Buddhist literature never states that there is not a creator god either (the Buddha was NOT supernatural nor was he fat. He was a skinny Indian agnostic). However, it does state that whether there is one or not DOES NOT MATTER. It doesn't change a damned thing. Pain, suffering and change still exist and still effect you. Arguing for or against one is also equally meaningless. There is a great passage about this but I can't remember exactly where I saw it but basically the Buddha never even bothered arguing against theists. If it makes you happy and to understand the Noble Truths better then FINE believe in what you will (Devas, gods, jebus, whatever). Personally, I believe the acceptance of a creator god tends to lead to elitism and the *my god is better than your god crap* but it really depends on the person.

Incidentally the first Noble Truth *Life is Pain or Suffering* would best be translated or understood as *Life is Change*. That is what we fear the most and causes us the most pain and confusion.

OK. I'm done.