THE IMPERMANCE OF LIFE

Everything that is born is bound to die. Nobody has ever seen anyone or heard of anyone in any realm – even in the world of the gods – who was born but never died. In fact, it never even occurs to us to wonder whether a person will die or not. It is a certainty.

Breathing gently, people enjoy their slumber. But between one breath and the nest there is no guarantee that death will not slip in. To wake up in good health is an event which truly deserves to be considered miraculous, yet we take it completely for granted.

Although we know that we are going to die one day, we do not really let our attitudes to life be affected by the ever-present possibility of dying. We still spend all our time hoping and worrying about our future livelihood, as if we were going to live forever. We stay completely involved in our struggle for well-being, happiness and status – until, suddenly, we are confronted by Death wielding his black noose, gnashing ferociously at his lower lip and baring his fangs.

Then nothing can help us. No soldier’s army, no ruler’s decrees, no rich man’s wealth, no scholar’s brilliance, no beauty’s charms, no athlete’s fleetness – none is of any use.

Death cannot be fought off by any warrior, ordered away by the powerful, or paid off by the rich. Death leaves nowhere to run to, no place to hide, no refuge, no defender or guide. Death resists any recourse to skill or compassion. Once our life has run out, even if the Medicine Buddha himself were to appear in person he would be unable to delay our death.

So, reflect sincerely and meditate on how important it is from this very moment onwards never to slip into laziness and procrastination, but to practise the true Dharma, the only thing you can be sure will help at the moment of death.

from The Words of My Perfect Teacher, Patrul Rinpoche

there is a way we can explain the buddhist thought of "karma".

many ppl think that "karma" equals to "sin" in christianity. but it is not.

let's imagine karma is a super computing system of a bank. each of us, from an ant to a human, has our own account in this bank.

each time we do anyting - yes, karma can be analogue as "thing done" to some extend - a mark will be added to our account: good karma, bad karma, and netural karma. eating, drinking, sleeping, having sex, daily life with no other complication, are non-marked karma.

and any other things done can be catergorized and become credit or debit numbers in our account.

on the other hand, we save and spend karma at the same time. when we are having good "luck", we are spending our good karma, and when we have bad "luck", we are indeed repaying our bad karma.

but then we can do good investments to increase our income of good karma, which, to certain extend, can over-write some of our bad debts.

this is the reason why when we have the wind on our side, we should be more humble and act double good by helping oneself and others to strive to be good, so we won't overdraft our bank account but bring more income instead.

when think about THE lee family, i use this analogy. these ppl must have saved tremendous good karma in their past lives, but by doing so many evil deeds, they are indeed overdrafting their account in a terrible speed. although they can save some good karma by donating money to the poor and the needies, that is very tiny investment. what is most important is what our mind initiate, not what we do. all of us do wrong things, not much bad karma will be accumulate if we do not do it intentionally and if we repent and try to save the situation; but if we do bad things intentionally for an evil cause, the bad karma is double plus double.

i really feel sorry for this monstrous family, and all the ppl who help them to do evil when they actually know about it.