"Dew evaporates and all our world is dew... so dear; so refreshing, so fleeting." ~ Issa

The Japanese Zen Buddhist Issa wrote these words after the death of his beloved child. They express the Buddhist, metaphysical principle of impermanence, sunyata, or emptiness. Despite the terrible ache we all feel as those we love leave us, we can take comfort in the beauty and inevitability of the cycle, as Issa touched on with his poetry: that rebirth comes from death. Our lives are bounded by impermanence. It measures our days in this passing world.
The brevity of life should alert us to the purpose of our existence: to grow in compassion, kindness, love, and sensitivity. Time is short and there is so much to learn, to be, and to do. Impermanence frames the field of our growth. Focus on what is necessary and leave all else behind. And, while our lives are bounded by impermanence, our hearts are bonded by it. I wrote about sunyata in @Bounded By Impermanence (newsletter); my reflections of the energy transition of my romantic relationship* with @The Birthday Girl.

References

1. #195, @Morning Pages

Tags

• #buddhism