Today’s senryu: 3 Questions at Rainbow Bridge
Together again?
Secure attachment regained?
Trust in the Pure Land?
Today is one of those days when big questions collide for me. I’m trying to sort out a few of them and would appreciate your insights.
This bottle-fed young moose has developed an attachment to its caregiver (at Kostroma Moose Farm). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_theory Might this attachment be mutual?
wshs-dg.org
“The human-animal bond is a mutually beneficial and dynamic relationship between people and animals that is influenced by behaviors essential to the health and wellbeing of both.” https://vetexplainspets.com/human-animal-bond/
“The Rainbow Bridge is a meadow where animals wait for their humans to join them, and the bridge that takes them all to Heaven, together.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Bridge_(pets)
Pinterest.com
“It is only because of our misunderstanding that we think the person we love no longer exists after they ‘pass away.’ This is because we are attached to one of the forms, one of the many manifestations of that person. When that form is gone, we suffer and feel sad. The person we love is still there. He is around us, within us and smiling at us. In our delusion we cannot recognize him, and we say: ‘He no longer is.’ We ask over and over, ‘Where are you? Why did you leave me all alone?’ Our pain is great because of our misunderstanding. But the cloud is not lost. Our beloved is not lost. The cloud is manifesting in a different form. Our beloved is manifesting in a different form. If we can understand this, then we will suffer much less.” Thich Nhat Hanh, No Death, No Fear
Life Matters 
This writing is a pot of gold under the rainbow. Thank you.
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Appreciate those lucky charms, Ari. 🙂
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Attachment is seen as a “negative” in Buddhist philosophy, part of Greed/Craving and so can be argued as something to be avoided. Personally I often meditate on The Three Marks of Existence, namely Suffering, Impermanence, No self, though I have come to believe that there’s a 4th, Interbeing, which can be included in No self to the purists I suppose. This helps me in my emotions regarding No Fear No Death.
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Thank you, Dr B. I appreciate your 4th mark of existence and your comments remind me of this recounting of the Buddha’s last words:
“The Mahāparinibbānasutta is the sutra that recounts the very last days of the Buddha’s life when he was 80 years old and became very sick in the small village of Beluva. This passage from the sutra contains one of the most famous conversations between the Buddha and his disciple Ananda in which Ananda asks his teacher whether he has any final words of advice for his community of students. The Buddha responds that he never taught with a ‘closed hand’, that his teachings were always available for everyone, and that finally, the spiritual wellbeing of each person is their own responsibility, and that the Dharma is their own island, their own place of refuge.”
thedewdrop.org/2021/08/09/buddha-be-your-own-island
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