The cycle of life
The birds eat the worms, after our death the worms eat us, life is a coming and going, it is a cycle.
According to Buddha, the cycle of rebirths is not limited to eating and being eaten, but to the continuation of the ego in its germ cell, which is thrown into incarnations until the bearer has worked off his karma, no longer needs to be reborn.
If one looks at the bustle on this planet, a food chain is unmistakable. The small ones are eaten by the bigger ones, which are then eaten again by even bigger animals, cruel and painful is the nature, a hard fight for survival plays out before our eyes.
The blackbirds on my balcony brought their young so many worms to eat, I had never seen anything like it. The beak full of creepy-crawlies, twisting and turning like little snakes, nothing helped, the blackbird parents stuffed masses of worms into the little birds, without mercy and indulgence the chicks were fed.
Then one day when the blackbirds will be old and fall from the branch, flocks of scavengers will pounce on the carcasses, the cycle of life goes on and on, there is no escape.
So it is with our spiritual being, we get so many opportunities to grow, to grow beyond ourselves. When we think about it like this, what do you think, is there perhaps a reason why we are in the world after all? Or are we just the food for future generations of worms?
Buddha lived a path for us that goes far beyond the usual patterns of thought. No subordination to an elitist class to be worshipped, no, an active thinking, acting, speaking and living, a way of the middle, towards personal enlightenment, that is his philosophy.
If you think about the cycle of life like this, the fate of human beings is hard and painful. Nothing will remain, everything will pass away, yes, heaven, it is waiting according to the monotheistic teachings, but only after death is the entrance to paradise possible. In Buddhism, we can enter Nirvana right now, because the said Nirvana is a state of mind that comes with tranquility and peace.
The teacher of all teachers has exemplified it to us; we can follow his path. What do we have to lose? Some time and effort, we can easily spare, the prospects of spiritual maturity are too tempting. Do you want to give it a chance?
The path is and remains my goal!
It is one and the same being which goes through the cycle of rebirths again and again
- Buddha - honorary name of Siddharta Gautama - 560 to 480 before the year zero
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