"Alas, now as the intermediate state of living arise before me, renouncing laziness, for which there is no time in this life, I must enter the undistracted path of study, reflection, and meditation. Taking perceptual experience and the nature of the mind as the path, I must cultivate actualization of the three Buddha bodies. Having obtaine this precious human body this one time, I do not have the luxury of remaining on a distracted path."
So said Padmasabhava when he wrote what we westerners commonly refer to as the Tibetan Book Of The Dead. It's real title is The Great Liberation Upon Hearing. My point here is what Guru Rinpoche calls laziness, and why it's important to practice. It refers to my last post, as to why we might consider a life sentence for ourselves. Here again we see reference to our precious human birth, which in all of existence, is indeed rare. The laziness that Rinpoche refers to though isn't what us westerners refer to. We think of the couch potatoe that doesn't do the dishes, or laundry, or vacuum. Rinpoche is referring to the person as well that get's up early, and reads the paper before heading into the office for a 10 hour day, and then stops at the gym, gets dinner, comes home and spends a little time with spouse and or kids, throws in a Rotary meeting in the week, and then coaches on the weekends between doing house chores. That's also a lazy person because they are frittering away their human existence, and take no time for their own mind. Damned repsonsible, but still lazy when it comes to the one important thing.
Will that mom or dad take their spouse with them when they die? How about the money and things they have accumulated. The "stuff" George Carlin referred to. Trophies? Friends? Even the body so well cared for at the gym? The children or pets?
At death one is alone. And yet how do we prepare for that moment?
Tashi Deleg!
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