"'Buddha speaks through every moment of pain. Listen to his words. Your destiny lies elsewhere. Forget me."
Farewell monastery! Time will devour you, and you will be turned to dust. Farewell, Pure Intelligence! You will soon die, and we shall see each other again in another life. Farewell, my friends the monkeys, the tigers, the pandas. You will become carrion, and only the mountains will remain.
They will watch over the Buddha's enigmatic smile." (11)
In life, people should not be too attached things, because nothing lasts forever, and it will one day turn to "dust". This leads to the age old question: '"What is the meaning of life?" If everything eventually turns to dust, why must we live in the first place? Heaven light (Empress Wu), like many other Buddhists believed in the idea of reincarnation, where, once a person dies, they are reborn again into another being with no memory of their last life. What is your view on this idea? Would you rather live one life or be reincarnated several times?
In this excerpt from the book, readers are exposed to the teaching of Buddha and how his teachings are a way of life for some people. Everyone experiences pain and sorrow at least once in a life time, and these experiences holds a purpose. The purposes of these experiences are to lead people to their destinies. Can people have a destiny, if everyone is fated to be reincarnated?
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To address your question about reincarnation, there are many religions and cultures that consider death to be a part of a cycle. Reincarnation has been a controversial belief, because in our century, there have been citizens of the U.S and others nations, who claim to have conflicts as they did in their past lives. Many have taken the initiative to survey people from a certain area, such as the “2005 Gallup poll.” This survey proved that “20 percent of U.S. adults believe in reincarnation.” As it is also an interesting belief to me, I feel that reincarnation should not stop a person from following his\her destiny today; and that’s why I feel that one life would be more meaningful than knowing reincarnation will happen. Even thought the quotation you chose tells the reader not to be “too attached to things,” there can is no assurance that life can be lived that way. In order for a human to have a meaningful life, he/she needs to take care of himself/herself, but not before others. If these “things” he talks about refer to objects and not people, than the quotation might be right since attachment to materials is worthless. One the other hand, if “things” can be interpreted as people, than the quotation is erroneous. No one could live for a long time if there he/she has no relationships with others. Even though each person has a mission in life, it cannot be achieved without the help of others. This can also be seen in the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer; because Chris chose to live a lonely life, and thought he could achieve his dreams without the help of others, it cost him his life. Still, Chris lived his life to what he considered the “fullest” and another life would simply seem as another mission to achieve without determination or passion.
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