In love with the world - 4. Impermanence and Death

Contributors

Carmela, Christophe

Reminder of chapter 3 key points

Break through our conditioning and confront old habits.

Content of the session

Key points

• Impermanence & emptiness (Chiwa mitakpa!)
• Interpretive mind & grasping
• Small deaths & fluidity

Impermanence: everything is constantly changing. Chiwa mitakpa! Apply the certainty of impermanence to ourselves.

Emptiness: things are not as solid and real as they seem. Keep the view as vast as space. Keep your actions as fine as flour.

Interpretive mind & grasping

• Getting hooked by a story means that we have lost touch with awareness.
• Holding misconceptions in place with a rigid mind is the same as grasping.

The body is home of the grasping mind

Small deaths & fluidity

• For transformation to occur at the deepest levels, we do not just acknowledge the continuity of change; we recognize that the process of dying and regeneration underlies the truth of impermanence.
• The death of the small self cannot be accomplished in a lasting or effective way if we deny or circumvent the fear of physical death.

Nothing endures but change, and accepting this has the potential to transform the dread of dying into joyful living.

Questions

1. Can you recollect a situation where you clearly saw that your interpretive mind/your grasping mind was shaping your reality?
2. Can you identify some small deaths in your own life? How did you or how can you use these to become a more open and compassionate person?

Meditation

Five aspects of impermanence