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Q1-19980617-Larry_Rosenberg-UNK-shining_the_light_of_death_on_life_part_2-43034 Leandra Tejedor
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Talk: 19980617-Larry_Rosenberg-UNK-shining_the_light_of_death_on_life_part_2-43034 Leandra Tejedor.json Start_time: 01:00:47 Display_question: Can you talk about rebirth? Keyword_search: rebirth, Buddha, conditions, karma, process, cockroach, husband, Burmese, reincarnation, mediums, metta, lovingkindness, enduring mind stream, death, retirement, aging, happiness, suffering, fear, Social Security, Harvard Square, Buddhists, CIMC, conscious, Bardo State, wakefulness, Awakened One, harmonious death Question_content: Questioner: Can you talk about rebirth? Larry: It's like you shed one body, and then this, and take on another, and another. And all the while that fixed entity is learning lessons, and refining themselves. The Buddha said there is no such thing. That all there is, is this process. So, the process generates conditions. Now trying to discern all the implications of karma, like the question you asked. The Buddha warned against not doing that because it will drive you crazy. He listed a number of things that will drive you to distraction. One was that because you can't possibly know, or figure it out, but at least theoretically, the answer is, that this process unfolds. Break_line: And see, you're imagining a cockroach, from your human brain, and you can't understand how it could learn anything. Now, personally, I don't know that process the way I know some other things, and so that's why I can honestly say, I don't know, and I don't know that information would be of much help. Why would you want to know the answer to that? What prompted the question? Questioner: Well, for one thing, my husband was killed a couple of years ago, and so it's impossible not to wonder what kind of rebirth he had. Larry: Yes. Questioner: And I also have wondered whether… I guess I'm asking this question not to Larry Rosenberg, but to the Larry Rosenberg who studied all these old Burmese guys, and all these old Tibetan guys, et cetera. And I also wondered if, according to our karma, if we've lived... and by the way, I also understand the element of delayed karma, if it makes any sense, according to those theories, that somebody who's lived a pretty good life, but not perfect, might have a brief reincarnation, as a cockroach, before he goes on. Larry: I wouldn't dream of trying to answer that question. What I'll repeat again, what the Buddha is saying, is there's no way to understand, let's say, the urge to understand what might have happened to your husband. That's fine. But can you get any real answer? You can go to mediums, and mediums can tell people, and they will tell you they're in direct contact with your husband. They might say that, and maybe they are, but we know that's notoriously unreliable. Okay, so that what is more practical is, for you to send love to him, and wherever he is, for that to be, to help him along, wherever that journey is. Break_line: Now, according to the theory of karma, yes. In other words, although his body got killed, his journey is not over, hardly. So that process keeps going. Now you're asking for a technical, minute details on that, particular whether what a cockroach would be, or what would happen, what might happen. The other question you have. There's no way I could answer that. I know you don't mean it. Questioner: I’ve giving up speculating about my husband. Larry: Good. A good thing to do for the departed is to send metta, send lovingkindness. Now, for those of you who don't believe you feel like, let's say you feel it's all nonsense, that you just go into the ground, and that's it. So, you're sending metta, it's good for you. Don't you feel better when you send metta? Maybe it's helping the other person, but if there is no other person to help, at least it's helping you. So, you can't lose. It's helping you in this life, because it's making you a more loving person. It's helping to do that. Break_line: Seriously, what is in back of your question? See, this is what I mean by, I want the ouch kind of dimension. I want to relate on the level of ouch. What's underlying your curiosity? This can be found in books probably better than I can deliver. You may not know, but if you do know about, you see it's about you. Questioner: My next karma. You know, I wonder, I mean, you know I’m just interested in… Larry: Okay, what… so you wonder. Questioner: It’s not just me. You just piqued my curiosity discussing this thing about the enduring mind stream. Larry: Okay, but let's say you wonder about it. I'm sorry, I'm going to be unrelenting. I'm concerned about you, and I'm concerned about your karma. And your karma is happening right at this moment. That is, we're planting seeds all the time. Everything that we… whatever is happening is a residue, is having an impact. So that what would be according to what we just went through. The important thing is, let's say, to understand that you don't have forever, or if you believe in rebirth, and the possibility of who knows what, then practice with your life as it is now, so that you create causes that produce happiness, rather than suffering. For example. And I'm taking a liberty here, but you gave me the right to do it. Maybe. You say your friend talks about retirement. Who talks about retirement? Questioner: My friend talks about retirement. Larry: And what do you talk about? Questioner: Death Larry: Okay Questioner: She’s planning for her retirement, and I am planning for my death Larry: Right now, again. So, depending on how you use that, that could be useful. But only you know, but very often that kind of… let me give you… this is a growing kind of apprehension that people have. It actually comes up in interviews. Social Security is going to go bust, and I will reach the age when I'm entitled to it, and then there'll be no money for me, and I'll be destitute, and I'll be in Harvard Square, can you spare some change? And this kind of thing. Break_line: So, practice of this sort can stimulate you, not that that's stupid, because that may happen, but it can stimulate you to examine that carefully, to see that if you keep going over that, like if your mind is spending a lot of time in the future, because that's what it sounds like. Then my question would be is, what is that doing to the quality of now? So, you're not dead yet, and your friend isn't retired yet. Now to make some sensible plans about how to retire in a creative way. It's not that there's anything off in that. But if the person is, it's as if you're already gone. So, you have to see what that's doing for you. Break_line: So that, for example, should you have fear about Social Security, and being…and dying or getting… aging without any financial support, which can be terrifying. Then rather than cycling through that day in, and day out, you might as well be in Harvard Square, with a sign, I used to practice insight meditation. I'm sober. Not that it's a joke. Some of the people there are suffering tremendously, and I don't mean to be flippant about that. But the point is, if the mind is doing that, while you're here, where you still have your breathing, and alive, and have resources, and can meditate, and so forth, then this is a wakeup call, to learn from it. Start a savings account just in case it does go brook. Questioner: No, I'm concerned with my Buddhist death, actually. I am concerned about practice, and I'm also concerned, since none of my relatives are Buddhists, and I'm concerned about what happens. Larry: Do you think Buddhists have a different death? Questioner: No, because I want to have a Buddhist Larry:You mean a Buddhist pre death? Okay. Questioner: And 49 days. Larry: How do you know that there is such a thing? Questioner: I do happen to believe it. Larry: Okay, you're entitled to believe it. But do you think that there are, like, Buddhist hells, and Catholic hells, and I don't think so. Questioner: No. I'm just trying to educate my non-Buddhist cousins, in what I believe, so that they won't do stuff around my death. Larry: Okay, you like to arrange, let's say, your situation so that it's congenial, and appropriate for you, and you want to prepare. Questioner: I am also concerned about practice. Larry: I would put it the other way around. I would put it the other way around. Take care of practice, and the rest will take care of itself. For example, the best thing you can do for, let's say, to have an easy death, or a peaceful death, or a death that's not full of bewilderment, and torment and, so forth, is to practice now. Because, see, at the time of death, what are the instructions here, and wherever else, some of you practice, over, and over, and over again. We're learning how to steady the mind, how to make it strong, and clear, and calm, so that it can examine the present moment, not be overwhelmed by the present moment. So that it can look deeply into your experience, what's most alive for you, in a certain moment. Break_line: And when the time comes to die, the instructions don't change. They don't change. It's just that the stage set changes. There’s you, only you're not sitting at CIMC, waiting for the bell to ring, because your knee hurts. You're in a bed somewhere, waiting for the Grim Reaper to come in. But in the meantime, in the meantime, it's the same principle. The best death you can have, is if you can stay conscious. And in terms of how to best prepare yourself, let's say, for those 49 days, and for the Bardo State, is always the same, wakefulness, wakefulness. The Buddha is an Awakened One. So that if you put your priority in that, then not only will that take care of what you would like. Break_line: So that if you put your priority in that, then not only will that take care of what you would like as, let's say, a harmonious death, that's meaningful. For you to have that confidence now, and for it to happen when the time does happen. But also, it will make your present time much more important, and alive. The fact that we age, you know, one of the things that, when we get into aging, it's as if we're finished, when we reach a certain point. I don't know about you, but I found that certain things improve with age, dramatically. And although the body becomes less able to do certain things, if you train the mind, the mind more than compensates for that. So that your present can be enriched. And in the process of enriching your present, by using the opportunity to practice, you're also taking care of the time, when the time does come to die. Do you see what I'm getting at? End_time: 01:12:55
