26.03.2020
Thaye Dorje, His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, shares the following meditation:
As we breathe, if we say that inhaling is life, then as we inhale we are doing just that.
As we breathe, if we say that exhaling is death, then as we exhale we are doing just that.
But just because exhaling is death, it doesn’t mean that we should stop exhaling.
That act of panic itself would be unnatural.
As we breathe out and let go of life, it comes back.
Death might seem final, but just as there are long inhalations, there are long exhalations, and there is nothing else.
Both the aspects of breathing are interdependent.
They always were.
So there is nothing permanent.
Our natural body and mind knows this without any external input.
That’s how our heroes, the doctors and nurses, and the whole medical establishment, are able to care for all the patients.
Sure, they have fear and panic: they are sane.
But when they find a way to accept reality – which is change – their courage and their love take over their panic and fear, and with only one focus they go with the flow of what’s happening to the patients and do what they can.
So kindly breathe, my dear ones.
Breathe.
Breathe without fear.
You are breathing with me and I am breathing with you.
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