The Buddha recommended that every person should remember every single
day that we are not here forever. It is a guest performance, which can
be finished any time. We don't know when; we have no idea. We always
think that we may have seventy-five or eighty years, but who knows? If
we remember our vulnerability every single day, our lives will be imbued
with the understanding that each moment counts and we will not be so
concerned with the future. Now is the time to grow on the spiritual
path. If we remember that, we will also have a different relationship to
the people around us. They too can die at any moment, and we certainly
wouldn't like that to happen at a time when we are not loving towards
them. When we remember that, our practice connects to this moment and
meditation improves because there is urgency behind it. We need to act
now. We can only watch this one breath, not the next one.
-- Ayya Khema, /When the Iron Eagle Flies/
from /Everyday Mind,/ a /Tricycle/ book edited by Jean Smith
