How to turn into a tree

[Myosha]

Hello,

WHY WAIT?


Gassho,
Myosha

[Mp]

Hello,

WHY WAIT?


Gassho,
Myosha

No no not yet! Future plans ... So make sure you get the calendar for the year 2075 because Jundo is going to live forever! =)

Gassho
Shingen

[Daitetsu]

I thought Zen Masters are immortal - this practice must have at least one purpose, right?

OK, seriously, I don't want to think about that day right now (or other people's day X). Although death is an illusion, it still makes me sad.

Gassho,

Daitetsu

[Joyo]

Then, have a party, eat something, maybe have a drink (if one drinks, and only in moderation) ... and get on with life. Hang a photo of me someplace, but let the memory fade away with time.

Gassho, Jundo

Jundo, I don't think it will be that easy to just get on with life. You would be missed very much!!! But, hopefully, that will be years away from now.

Gassho,
Treena

[Seiryu]

When I die, I wish my ashes be brewed in tea for all to drink....lol..
But I agree with Jundo there.
A funeral, in my opinion, should celebrate the Life, not mourn the passing.

[Joyo]

When I die, I wish my ashes be brewed in tea for all to drink....lol..
But I agree with Jundo there.
A funeral, in my opinion, should celebrate the Life, not mourn the passing.

Ahh, that's....hilarious, but creepy

I have a fear of fire, the thought of being cremated is quite disturbing to me. I wish to be buried as I lived, with simplicity. No fancy funeral, nothing religious, no huge flower arrangements, just the people that I was honoured to share my life with, gathered together to celebrate my life, comfort each other.

Gassho,
Joyo

[Seiryu]

Ahh, that's....hilarious, but creepy

I have a fear of fire, the thought of being cremated is quite disturbing to me. I wish to be buried as I lived, with simplicity. No fancy funeral, nothing religious, no huge flower arrangements, just the people that I was honoured to share my life with, gathered together to celebrate my life, comfort each other.

Gassho,
Joyo

Simply Life. Simple Death.
Circle completed.
Never having ended at all.

One thing I appreciated greatly and learn a lot from the time I was with Tibetan Buddhism is there meditations on Death.
And one thing they practice in their death meditations is visualizations of your own death. From sickness all the way to either being buried or cremated. Although it sound grim, it gave me the chance to see exactly how much fear and resistance I still had regarding death. Sometimes it helps to look right into that which disturbs us greatly.

Just some of my irrelevant ramblings....

[Jundo]

Simply Life. Simple Death.
Circle completed.
Never having ended at all.

One thing I appreciated greatly and learn a lot from the time I was with Tibetan Buddhism is there meditations on Death.
And one thing they practice in their death meditations is visualizations of your own death. From sickness all the way to either being buried or cremated. Although it sound grim, it gave me the chance to see exactly how much fear and resistance I still had regarding death. Sometimes it helps to look right into that which disturbs us greatly.

Just some of my irrelevant ramblings....

I like to sit Shikantaza sometimes in cemeteries, and that mind of Shikantaza is always with me when among the mourners at a funeral or while waiting for grandpa to burn up at the crematorium. We just sit in/with/as what is.

Case 55 from the Blue Cliff Record

Dogo and Zen-gen went to a house to show sympathy at a funeral. Zen-gen hit the coffin and asked, "Alive or dead?" Dogen replied, "I won't say alive, I won't say dead." Zen-gen demanded, " Why won't you say?" Dogo repeated, "I won't say." On their way home, Zen-gen cried, "Tell me right now teacher, alive or dead; if you don't tell me, I will hit you." Dogo said, "You may hit me, but I won't say." Zen-gen hit him.

Later after Dogo died, Zen-gen went to Seki-so and told him the foregoing story. Seki-so said, "I won't say alive, and I won't say dead." Zen-gen said, " Why won't you say?" Seki-so repeated, "I won't say, I won't say." At these words Zen-gen came to awakening.

One day, Zen-gen took a hoe into the Buddha hall and crossed back and forth, from east to west and west to east. Seki-so asked, "What are you doing?" Zen-gen said," I am looking for my teacher's relics." Seki-so said, "Vast waves spread far and wide, foaming billows flood the skies - what relics of our late master are you looking for?"

Zen-gen said, "It is a way of repaying the kindness of my old teacher." Fu of T'ai Yuan said, "The late masters relics are still present. "

Gassho, J

[Oheso]

http://www.eternalreefs.com

[Troy]

If I am turn in to a tree, that means someday after I am forgotten I could end up being a piece of furniture or a box pencils. Hmmm, I am not sure how I feel about that, lol.

[Jundo]

If I am turn in to a tree, that means someday after I am forgotten I could end up being a piece of furniture or a box pencils. Hmmm, I am not sure how I feel about that, lol.

You are already all the furniture and a box a pencils. Paper too.

Thich Nhat Hanh has this lovely description of what he calls "interbeing" ...

“If you are a poet, you will see clearly that there is a cloud floating in this sheet of paper. Without a cloud, there will be no rain; without rain, the trees cannot grow; and without trees, we cannot make paper. The cloud is essential for the paper to exist. If the cloud is not here, the sheet of paper cannot be here either. So we can say that the cloud and the paper inter-are. “Interbeing” is a word that is not in the dictionary yet, but if we combine the prefix “inter-“ with the verb “to be,” we have a new verb, inter-be.

If we look into this sheet of paper even more deeply, we can see the sunshine in it. Without sunshine, the forest cannot grow. In fact, nothing can grow without sunshine. And so, we know that the sunshine is also in this sheet of paper. The paper and the sunshine inter-are. And if we continue to look, we can see the logger who cut the tree and brought it to the mill to be transformed into paper. And we see wheat. We know the logger cannot exist without his daily bread, and therefore the wheat that became his bread is also in this sheet of paper. The logger’s father and mother are in it too. When we look in this way, we see that without all of these things, this sheet of paper cannot exist.

Looking even more deeply, we can see ourselves in this sheet of paper too. This is not difficult to see, because when we look at a sheet of paper, it is part of our perception. Your mind is in here and mine is also. So we can say that everything is in here with this sheet of paper. We cannot point out one thing that is not here – time, space, the earth, the rain, the minerals in the soil, the sunshine, the cloud, the river, the heat. Everything co-exists with this sheet of paper. That is why I think the word inter-be should be in the dictionary. “To be” is to inter-be. We cannot just be by ourselves alone. We have to inter-be with every other thing. This sheet of paper is, because everything else is.

Suppose we try to return one of the elements to its source. Suppose we return the sunshine to the sun. Do you think that this sheet of paper will be possible? No, without sunshine nothing can be. And if we return the logger to his mother, then we have no sheet of paper either. The fact is that this sheet of paper is made up only of “non-paper” elements. And if we return these non-paper elements to their sources, then there can be no paper at all. Without non-paper elements, like mind, logger, sunshine and so on, there will be no paper. As thin as this sheet of paper is, it contains everything in the universe in it.”

Gassho, J

[Troy]

Thanks Jundo, I like that quote :-)

[Shokai]

Thank you all for your interest in this thread.

To supplement my initial reaction to this thread which was brought on by memories of late night sessions as a funeral services student twenty-five years ago. I'd like to also share some further thoughts. We would debate eco/bio methods of handling/treating dead human remains. And, we studied the governing regulations regarding the interface between cemeteries and funeral homes. Conflicts of interest abound and to understand them better we need to separate the funeralization process from the disposal means.
Regardless of whether paper, trees or sunshine exist. The fact remains that we have biodegradable bodies that need a place to decompose. So, for eons there have been burial rites. The wooden coffin (no metal handles or hinges) sufficed for the longest time and everyone went along with it to the point where it is thought of as traditional behavior. Until of course, we began to appreciate ramifications to land usage as a resource. So, confronted with the alternative of cremation, slowly the tradition begins to change. The use of tree memorials seems to placate the supporters of the Traditional Funeral. Trees are important, They convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. Without there would be no life on our planet. Finally, we have a solution that utilizes the cremation left overs (ashes) as direct food for the tree and funeral director and cemetery operator can perhaps share in the profits. It should be pointed out that the psychological trauma of "picking up the ashes" left Funeral homes with the huge problem of storage; racks and racks of 'cremains' in plastic urns line the basement halls of many a funeral home, waiting for some family member (who has likely passed on themselves) to pick them up..

Creatively packaged with a reasonable price point, it should sell well. I wish Ward's every success. Owing to their being long standing members of the established funeral industry in the Greater Toronto Area, I am quite sure this strategy has be well thought out. (and I'm also willing to wager that Bates Caskets also have an investment in this venture.)

gassho, Shokai

[Victor Chu]

Rebirth. Though I imagine whether or not one go through this Bio Urn, we will all be reborn in that way, become the air, the water, the earth, the fire. part of many living things, maybe one day return back to the ancient universe and be part of a star. I dont know...

Thank you for sharing.

Gassho
Victor.

[kidbuda]

Ufff!! I love the idea.

Thanks for sharing.

Gassho.

kb