“Our journey is well underway already, and soon it will be over. The starting point is birth and the end is death, and we are in the middle somewhere, between our birth and our death, faced with the question of how to relate to the whole thing. We find ourselves in the midst of life, and fundamentally, we have no clue how we got here and where we are going. That is the context, it is our path, we cannot change it. And how we walk on that path is now up to us. It is entirely up to us” (Judith Lief).
Below is a 11-minute guided meditation.* Please find a quiet time and place, then sit and listen. Consider repeating the meditation, with a few days in between say, and you’ll find that the experience differs each time. Keep an open mind and put aside the desire for things profound. See and feel what naturally arises.
This reminds me of a line in the chant at the conclusion of each meal at the monastery. “Abiding in this ephemeral world, like a lotus in muddy water, the mind is pure and goes beyond.”
A lotus flower begins life in a murky pond, grows toward the water’s surface, opens into perfect blossoms without a trace of mud. Each day the cycle repeats: closing and sinking during the night and re-emerging into new light. In due time, the petals drop off, the pod dries out, the seeds fall into the water, and another cycle begins. An apt analogy . . .
Credit for the quote at the top and for *inspiring the guided meditation, with a bow of gratitude, to Judith L. Lief. Making friends with death: A Buddhist guide to encountering mortality. 2001, Shambhala.) Image: buddhaweekly.com
This guided meditation is so powerful, elegant and yes, different each time. Thank you!