Life... so frail

The following is an excerption from mysinchew.com which I would like to share with you:

In the face of the vast open sea, life could be such a vulnerable thing.

No one can smell disasters!

Several brisk and vibrant students from Chung Ling High School, just about to give off their brightest sparks in life, were stealthily swept into the sea all of a sudden.

Their parents were wailing in utter desperation.

They were young and bright, and their future totally promising. But why did they have to make such a hasty passage through this impermanent world?

- - -

Powerful quake jolted the Caribbean state of Haiti.

In only 45 seconds, the earth cracked, and hundreds of thousands of impoverished islanders were buried in the rubble.

The disaster zone was turned into an instant hell on earth.

Pictures of victims lying in the rubble, feebly moaning or loudly yelling for help, were blasted across the globe.

We are rendered completely helpless in the face of the gruesome natural calamity.

- - -

Friends around me asked for the contacts of the families of Penang's dragon boat victims. They were prepared to offer a word of comfort and encouragement, or perhaps some advice or assistance.

In shopping malls, we saw volunteers from Tzu Chi Foundation setting up booths and putting up banners to call for public donations for Haitian quake victims.

While their offerings are small, their loves are immense. Be it just a word of solace or some financial offerings, each caring gesture is an act of great benevolence.

While the Nature is merciless, love abounds in this world. The Buddhist Scripture says we should share the grief of others, and help deliver others from their afflictions.

Master Hsing Yun has said, while life is such profound and unfathomable, it is nothing more than just two very simple issues: life and death. And the value of "life" is nothing more than just "love" and "appreciation."

Life does not begin only at birth; neither does it end with death.

Life has no beginning nor ending, and we don't need to sweat over petty stuffs in life at times.

Because of love, life is thriving and we have our existence. This is what we should appreciate in particular.

- - -

When life departs, we must be able to part with it, and learn to let go so that the deceased could be emancipated and rest in peace.

Master Yin Shun spent almost his entire life in all kinds of ailments. And ailments had become some sort of a norm in his life.

Such experience had moulded the Master's own perception of Death:

"Death, is like a not so well acquainted friend. His arrival is most definitely unwelcome, but we need not treat it in disdain either."

Those who have seen the Japanese movie The Departure will perhaps come to the realisation that Death could actually be such a tender experience.

The lead role in the movie was a musician who was compelled to become an undertaker after his band was dissolved.

Many people may think that life is a joyful thing while death a deplorable encounter. However, the undertaker's duty is to make provisions for the deceased to depart in peace, and the living to send off their loved ones in calmness.

Face it, accept it, manage it, and let it go.

This is how we can hold life in esteem in its concluding moments.

(By TAY TIAN YAN/Translated by DOMINIC LOH/Sin Chew Daily)