By now we have explored, at least in part, each aspect of the first of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness - Mindfulness of the Body. We have reviewed the better known practices of mindfulness of the breath in the body, body scans, mindfulness of the body in different postures, and mindfulness of the body in daily activities, daily movement.
And we have touched on the less well-known, perhaps more esoteric practices of Mindfulness of the 32 body parts, Mindfulness of the 4 Elements and Mindfulness of our own mortality in the form of reflections around dying, and the last breath practice.
The practices around mindfulness of death are offered as a means to help us learn how to live, to learn how to make the most of each moment of our precious lives, and to learn to know more completely how the present moment is a refuge from our endless regretful wanderings through the past and fearful imagining about our future.
These practices also help us realize the essential truths of our lives that the Buddha taught over and over again and in as many different ways as he could, the truths about what leads to happiness and what leads to suffering, the Four Noble Truths of suffering, the causes for suffering, the end of suffering and the path out of suffering, and the essential truths of impermanence and non-self. Learning to view the body as impermanent, as made of matter just like all material objects, and as subject to aging, sickness, and death, separation from all whom we love, and heir to the consequences of our actions can help us to live our lives knowing that the choices we make for each moment matter.
We often put off making certain choices into the future, thinking there will be time. These teachings encourage us to know that time is finite and that each action we take in each moment is a choice to be a certain way, to live a certain way.
Koun Franz, a Soto Zen priest, in Thousand Harbours Zen in Halifax, Nova Scotia, writes about the Five Remembrances in The Lion’s Roar. I attempted to send you all the article last week but wasn’t successful. Just to review, they are as follows: 1) I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old; 2) I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape having ill health; 3) I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death; 4) All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them; and 5) My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.
This is what he had to say about Remembrance #5.
Remembrance #5 is maybe the most interesting. “My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground upon which I stand.” This is about karma. I’ve heard it said, and maybe you have as well, this phrase, that we own our actions “but not the fruits of our actions.” We experience the consequences, but we don’t get to have the rewards. Within my tradition, Zen, we can understand this to a certain degree as practice–verification, Dogen’s central teaching that the meaning of what we do is expressed, complete, in what we do. What we do is the thing.
My life is being expressed 100% right now. This is what my life looks like right now. There’s no backstory. There’s no other thing that you don’t see. And it’s equally true for you wherever you are, whichever part of the world you’re in. However you’re sitting, however you’re breathing, that’s you—not just a version of you but the complete you, the culmination of your life.
What you choose to do in this moment matters. There will be consequences. And while you get to choose which actions you take, you don’t get to choose what those consequences will be. It’s like aiming a bow and arrow while you’re running: you know what you want to hit. Maybe you’ll get it. Maybe you won’t. You just do your best, but you have to accept the consequences for what happens because what other option is there? So Remembrance #5 is saying that what you do matters—so live like it does.
These are important and simple words. “...the meaning of what we do is expressed, complete, in what we do. What we do is the thing.” What we choose to do in this moment matters. There will be consequences which are outside of our control. And also "However you’re sitting, however you’re breathing, that’s you—not just a version of you but the complete you, the culmination of your life.”
Each moment is the culmination of our lives so far. Amazing. So simple. But also monumental.
This reflection on our actions and on our impermanence can bring greater importance to some of the tasks we may see for ourselves towards the end of our lives. One of those tasks may be to make sure our priorities are in alignment with our understanding. Some of you are now prioritizing family and friends over previous professional engagements. Some of you may have begun to think about the disposition of your belongings - to family, friends, organizations that want or need them, but also the important task of disposing of belongings that have value to no one but ourselves. Some of us have updated our wills; some have yet to begin that task. An important consideration is to leave final wishes for our bodies, our memorial remembrances, and even how we would like our last moments to be.
Many Buddhists believe that how we are in our final moments will condition our lives after that. Many who may not believe in reincarnation may nevertheless feel that the final moment of transition is important. Will we die by the same tenets and beliefs by which we have so passionately lived? Will our last moments be in anger and resentment as one of my step-daughter’s was? Or in confusion and shock? Or perhaps in love and peaceful letting go? How would we like these final moments to be? Our own final moments are also conditioned by how we live in this moment, what choices we make for this moment of life.
As Franz says, “What we do is the thing."
And as Thich Naht Hanh said and you have often heard me quote, "This moment is the mother of the next. Take care of the mother and she will take care of the rest.”