Life Is Infinitely Precious ~ 20-Minute Meditation & Spiritual Discussion

Join LGBTQ+Ally friends for 20 minutes of meditation to end your day.
Feel free to stay for a discussion afterwards on the spiritual teaching:
Life is Infinitely Precious
"I cannot leave out the problem of life and
death. Many young people and others have
come out to serve others and to labor for peace,
through their love for all who are suffering.
They are always mindful of the fact that the
most important question is the question of life
and death, but often not realizing that life and
death are but two faces of one reality. Once
we realize that we will have the courage to
encounter both of them.
When I was only 19 years old, I was assigned
by an older monk to meditate on the
image of a corpse in the cemetery. But I found
it very hard to take and resisted the meditation.
Now I no longer feel that way. Then I thought
that such a meditation should be reserved for
older monks. But since then, I have seen many
young soldiers lying motionless beside one
another, some only 13, 14, and 15 years old. They
had no preparation or readiness for death. Now
I see that if one doesn't know how to die, one
can hardly know how to live-because death
is a part of life. Just two days ago Mobi told
me that she thought at 20 one was old enough
to meditate on the corpse. She has only turned
21 herself.
We must look death in the face, recognize
and accept it, just as we look at and accept life.
The Buddhist Sutra on Mindfulness speaks
about the meditation on the corpse: meditate
on the decomposition of the body, how the body
bloats and turns violet, how it is eaten by worms
until only bits of blood and flesh still cling to
the bones, meditate up to the point where only
white bones remain, which in turn are slowly
worn away and turn into dust. Meditate like
that, knowing that your own body will undergo
the same process. Meditate on the corpse until
you are calm and at peace, until your mind and
heart are light and tranquil and a smile appears
on your face. Thus, by overcoming revulsion
and fear, life will be seen as infinitely precious,
every second of it worth living.
And it is not just our own lives that are recognized as precious,
but the lives of every other person, every other being.
We can no longer be deluded by the notion that
the destruction of others' lives is necessary for
our own survival. We see that life and death
are but two faces of Life and that without both,
Life is not possible, just as two sides of a coin
are needed for the coin to exist. Only now is it
possible to rise above birth and death, and to
know how to live and how to die. The Sutra says
that the Bodhisattvas who have seen into the
reality of interdependence have broken through
all narrow views, and have been able to enter
birth and death as a person takes a ride in a
small boat without being submerged or
drowned by the waves of birth and death.
Some people have said that if you look at
reality with the eyes of a Buddhist, you become
pessimistic. But to think in terms of either
pessimism or optimism oversimplifies the truth.
The problem is to see reality as it is. A pessimistic
attitude can never create the calm and
serene smile which blossoms on the lips of the
Bodhisattvas and all others who obtain the Way."
-- Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness

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You are welcome to join us wherever you are on Mother Earth!

Meetup will include:

3 minutes: Deep abdominal breathing while listening to a relaxing chant.
This helps us to let go of our day and prepares us to focus within.

20 minutes: breathing meditation or your own personal meditation
practice.

Remember, you are already THAT - the nameless, formless, ultimate reality, ground of all being, universal consciousness, pure awareness:
"That in Whom reside all beings
And Who resides in all beings,
Who is the giver of grace to all,
the Supreme Soul of the universe,
the limitless being,
THAT!, I AM.”
Amritbindu Upanishad