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I Know, But I Don't Know...
There is a story about a weaver's daughter who once responded to a series of questions from the Buddha, by answering, I know, but I don't know. I suppose the Buddha must have asked questions pertaining to death for when someone asked her afterwards what she meant, she replied that she knew that she would die, but didn't know when she would die. It seems that in Buddhism it is important to contemplate death. Insight into death allows one to rearrange his or her priorities. The question now is perhaps when should one start contemplating on death? Should a school kid for instance meditate on death? There was a case in Malaysia where a mother got extremely angry with his son's religious teacher for showing a video clip which allegedly showed scenes of funeral services and a corpse wrapped in white cloth with dramatic effects of thunder and lightning. The father had reported that the son had said he had seen hell and cried himself to sleep at night. Now, is the boy too young to contemplate death or is it just the video content that causes such anguish? Perhaps, there is a proper way to contemplate death for not just kids but adults too? In a case like this, I think I know, but I don't know...
There is a story about a weaver's daughter who once responded to a series of questions from the Buddha, by answering, I know, but I don't know. I suppose the Buddha must have asked questions pertaining to death for when someone asked her afterwards what she meant, she replied that she knew that she would die, but didn't know when she would die. It seems that in Buddhism it is important to contemplate death. Insight into death allows one to rearrange his or her priorities. The question now is perhaps when should one start contemplating on death? Should a school kid for instance meditate on death? There was a case in Malaysia where a mother got extremely angry with his son's religious teacher for showing a video clip which allegedly showed scenes of funeral services and a corpse wrapped in white cloth with dramatic effects of thunder and lightning. The father had reported that the son had said he had seen hell and cried himself to sleep at night. Now, is the boy too young to contemplate death or is it just the video content that causes such anguish? Perhaps, there is a proper way to contemplate death for not just kids but adults too? In a case like this, I think I know, but I don't know...
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