It turns on all the lights in terms of showing you values. I mean, what matters (as far as I can tell) is quality of life and quality of the love in your life. And if you have these two things going, you have all the wind beneath your wings that you probably need to lift you anywhere you have to go.
When I was told I was dying, it was very simple. I was amazed. In fact, this is some good news, I think. Death is not very scary. It’s so huge that you just sort of take it on. My concern became immediately: what is it like to die? Death I think I can handle. But what is it like to die? That sounds pretty unpleasant.
Am I going to make it? I’m not sure. I don’t think it should be called off. It’s too emotionally enriching. It makes you a better person to live in the shadow of this.
Embodiment: it’s somehow the difference between a pile of cells that’s alive and a pile of cells that’s alive but not thinking, is the key Buddhist distinction. I mean, that is what it’s all about, is staying in touch with the thinking flesh while it exists. And not only staying in touch, but somehow glorifying it. Because it is minded.
People said to me stuff like, “Well, everybody’s dying all the time. Everyone’s dying.” Of course they are. But believe it, that’s the trick. Is: carry yourself to the level where you get up and go to bed with it, you know? In a sense, I think that’s all Buddhism is, is: living in the light of transience. Just say, you know: this is transient. It is truly, profoundly transient. If you can do that, the feelings and the values and the places where it will put you will be naturally Mahāyāna in some sense.
