A Continuous Stream

I vividly remember the weekend my father died. He passed peacefully at home, in his favorite space. I worked hard to make this happen for him. 

He had lost both his legs and weighed maybe 90 lbs? I helped carry his shrouded body to the black car in the driveway with the help of the funeral service workers. I remember how light it felt. Like it was an empty shroud and we all were just acting like it was heavy out of social grace and awkwardness.  

I ran more miles that weekend than any other weekend in my life and my legs never felt any fatigue…

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“Each aspect and moment of our lives is an illusion. According to the Buddha, it’s like seeing a black spot in the sky that you are unable to make sense of, then concentrating on it intensely until finally you are able to make out a flock of birds; or hearing a perfect echo that sounds exactly like a real person shouting back at you. Life is nothing more than a continuous stream of sensory illusions—from the obvious ones, like fame and power, to those less easy to discern, like death, nosebleeds and headaches. Tragically, though, most human beings believe in what they see, and so the truth Buddha exposed about the illusory nature of life can be a little hard to swallow.”
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Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche