Birth & Death

Beginnings and endings herald in the New Year.  It’s already the 4th of January, as I write this, and summer rolls on into heatwaves, punctuated with relief from evening storms.  How do we meet beginnings and endings – birth and death, renewal and decline, cycles that are never ending?  Transience is stamped and woven into the very cellular fabric of our existence; all things pass quickly away.  This is when a spiritual practice comes to the forefront, as a salve, as a place of refuge, as a place of ongoing inquiry and a perennial koan. 

At this time of year there is a cultural ritual of letting go the old, that which no longer serves you or benefits the world and ringing in the new.  We hope to engender a new habit or re-affirm our strong intention to incline the mind towards that which sustains joy, purpose and clarity.  The art of shedding is an ancient time-honoured ritual, like the angophora trees that shed their rough brown bark and come out singing in salmon pink.  Snakes shed their skin.  When they grow, their skin does not, so they outgrow their previous incarnation and shed it. Cicadas shed their carapaces during the final molt of their life cycle when they transform from nymphs and emerge into winged adults.  Zazen too is about shedding, non-attachment: the art of letting go old patterns of behaviour and beliefs.  We let go of the small-minded self-serving ego.  Let it be, so you can emerge anew, vibrant and whole under a vast empty sky. 

On New Years Day my heart was wrenched open in grief, as dear friend, Joyce Kornblatt beloved Insight Dharma teacher, author and creative writing teacher died.  She graced us with her presence, her gentle kindness and wise courageous spirit right to the end.  She was dearly loved by many.  My heart is heavy with grief and tender with love for her.  Her steady unflinching practice served her, she was an inspiration right to the last breath in how to meet her death. 

Her devoted and caring partner Christopher was by her side, night and day supporting her to use the pain in her path to abide in the ‘Ultimate’….essential nature, however you want to name it.  Christopher asked her, “What’s your favourite mantra?” Without any hesitation she said, “May all beings be happy.” Even in her last days, when she was no longer able to communicate verbally, he used her ‘mantra’ when it seemed her pain was unbearable.  It usually calmed her – the groans dropped away and her breath quietened.  Christopher also chanted the Heart Sutra for hours before her death.  Often, he could see her lips moving ever so lightly as he chanted.   Joyce embodied courage and generosity of heart even in the midst of intense pain as the cancer took hold.   

Our practice will help us meet all manner of things, the 10,000 joys and sorrows of the world with equipoise, acceptance and a radically free awake spirit.   The Buddha’s last instructions just before he died were, “Make of yourself a light.  Be an island unto yourself, a refuge unto yourself, seek no external refuge; with the Dharma as your island, the teachings your refuge, seek no other refuge.”  The clear light nature of mind where the self cannot find a foothold is always with you.  Friends, family, jobs, and precious things come and go in our life, but the light of your true nature is always with you, even in the last breath and beyond.  It is the ultimate refuge, that no-one can ever take away from you.  Rest in that truth, this vast and wide moment, an ocean of equanimity and love, the one light that endures.   

This essay was written by Subhana Barzaghi, roshi for the February/March 2025 Newsletter