How Long Will It Last? - by Kee

Thanks to all of you, BE, Dan, MINH, nitecrew, Pery, Rithirong, and SN, for sharing your thoughts on the poem of the Buddha I posted earlier. There seemed to be a misinterpretation of this four-line saying. It is true that a glass of water sitting on a table can be interpreted in different ways by different observers. Words may also be interpreted in different ways as well. It’s a relative truth.

The poem:
“All composed things are like a dream,
A phantom, a drop of dew, a flash of lightning.
That is how to meditate on them,
That is how to observe them.”

What it is telling us is that nothing lasts in this world. We should keep in mind that all things are impermanent. All things are in constant change, and the rate of change is as fast as a “flash of lightning.” Regardless of who you are, endowed with physical beauty, or mental agility, you will come to a point of great disappointment. Your body now is not the same as it was ten years ago. Ten years from now your beauty will disappear, like “a drop of dew” evaporating into the atmosphere. In due time, your physical form will become a “phantom,” the shadow of death.
It is not a message of hopelessness as our friend Dan said. It is a message of seeing the true nature things.

It is a message of accepting things the way they are. And what is the benefit of seeing the true nature of things? It is fearlessness. We won't fear change. For our friend SN, you are right that we should not meditate on perishable things. That is what the poem is telling you. It is telling you and me to not worry about and grasp things that don’t last. Can we hold on to an ice cube?

When you see a drop of dew, keep in mind that you are not different from it. Eventually, you will disappear. So live life today, not yesterday or tomorrow. Breathe this breath, not the next or the previous one. Be content.

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