Why Are We Here?
Like ice melting to become water, we too are all lumps of disintegration!
It’s currently a struggle to absorb the daily news and stay positive. As serious practitioners, we are advised to avoid the external world as much as possible but can we remain unaffected by external influence, is it possible? How do we find a balance between knowing only as much as we really need to know and avoiding becoming enmeshed in media hype and propaganda? We need to pull ourselves back.
When we spend too much time looking at external things we forget to look at ourselves.
Contemplating the dissolution and disintegration of all conditioned phenomena is sobering. It pulls us back to reality. Maybe it seems like the world, as we have known it, is disintegrating — maybe it is. The four elements are gradually taking back their power — earth, fire, water and wind — through various manifestations both man-made and natural. We can’t do much about things which are beyond our control but we do know that we can trust in the truth of nature.
In this way, the body is also deteriorating in each moment but we don’t like to think too much about it. We find it distressing. Surely looking in the mirror each morning tells us this is true. Look closely at the hair of the head, the skin of the face, the teeth, the nails. These four out of the five khesa (hair of the body being the fifth), we can easily use as objects for daily meditation, as the Buddha instructed, since we carry them with us. We don’t need to look any further to know the truth of reality.
Instead we spend time beautifying these temporary refuges of our face, our body, our house and home. When do we ever stop to think about beautifying our heart and mind? To ask: Who am I? Why am I here? Why was I born?
These are BIG, challenging questions which we avoid contemplating. If we did, we would develop wisdom instead of circling around in endless ignorance and confusion. Maybe we could put that wisdom to use in helping us understand and solve some of the external problems — or maybe we use it to practise deeper reflection by asking:
- Do we really ever attain anything in this life?
- What can I take with me when I leave?
- What happens when this body is done and disappears like melting ice?
When we think on this and really know the truth we can give up worrying so much about the state of the external world and put all our effort into creating and fortifying our own inner and eternal refuge.
May all beings be well and happy. May all beings be free from suffering.
May this practice serve you well and move you forward in Dhamma.
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