Mexico is a very large country with tons of traditions. Some of them are new and some are ancient and come from before the Spanish came. That is the case of Day of the Dead or Día de los Muertos.
There is a lot of it already written. We know it’s a festivity that honors the departed and that is held not only here, but in a lot of places all over South America. UNESCO has declared Día de los Muertos as part of the Cultural Heritage of Humanity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Dead
We lay out altars full of colors, meals for the dead who come to dine with us for one night, pictures, flowers and candy skulls.
We joke a lot giving each other skulls with our names on them. The skulls are made of candy, chocolate or amaranth/molasses.
For 1 day, November 2nd, the dead come to feast and dance and we celebrate and joke because we are terribly scared of the fact that everything dies. Like many cultures in this planet, Mexicans try desperately to hold on to whatever they love and won’t let go easily.
As a Buddhist, Día de los Muertos is a celebration of 2 sides of the same coin. I shut my endless chatter and watch the eternal dance of Life that morphs into Dead and back again. They live in the same spacetime and manifest in front of my eyes. Sometimes it’s the light of the day fading away, sometimes it’s my reflection in the mirror that shows some white hairs starting to show in my head and beard. Sometimes is a dead bug... or a mosquito I have to kill.
Día de los Muertos becomes Día de la Vida (Day of Life) right before my eyes and the result is perfect, even if my little human ego doesn’t like the idea. But it just is. It happens. It’s all there is. Millions of beings are being born and millions depart from life, but never from the Universe.
Día de los Muertos becomes Día de la Impermanencia (Day of Impermanence) because it’s a reminder that everything changes and is constantly moving, adapting, destroying and creating. It’s faster than we may perceive and we can just play catch.
I use it to remind me that nothing is permanent and that everything decays and dies… me being in the waiting list.
Día de los Muertos becomes Día de la Totalidad (Day of Wholeness) when it teaches me that the road ahead is never straight. It has nice grasslands paths, but also rocky roads with lava. But it’s all part of the same journey no matter how much I resist.
When we sit zazen we can see and feel it all happening. We know everything changes and dies. And that’s exactly each action counts and have consequences. That’s why each moment regardless of how short it is, we need to be aware and present. Always thinking in the benefit of all sentient beings.
We are impermanence. We are life and death at the same time. And that’s a perfect reason to celebrate.
¡Feliz Día de los Muertos!
Happy Day of the Dead!
Gassho,
Kyonin
#SatWithTheDead
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