I was at Art Wynnewood this past weekend over
President’s Day. Miami always offers a lot to see
in the way of art. There was an array of works
from street artists and muralists, emerging young
talents, and a few renowned contemporary and
modern artists. This is the first year I visited
this show. They have a unique approach
characterized by an exhibition on the sixties
focusing on Miami’s institutions. I noticed there
was a lot of Chinese art which focused on the
three stages of life: Birth, Middle Age, and
Death.
Most of us have no idea how rare it is to take
birth in human form and waste this precious and
extremely rare opportunity for self-realization.
There is a story entitled “A Blind Turtle in
Search of a Floating Wood.” In the Mahaparinirvana
Sutra, the Buddha used the metaphor of a blind
turtle in a vast ocean to explain how difficult it
is to be reborn as a human. Suppose there is a
small piece of wood floating on a vast ocean. The
wood has a small hole the size of which is just
enough for the head of a turtle to pop into. There
is a long-lived sea turtle in the ocean. Once
every one hundred years, this turtle comes out
from the bottom of the ocean and pops his head
into the hole of the wood. It is just as hard as
for the blind turtle to encounter the small piece
of wood on a vast ocean and let its head go
through the hole in the wood piece as it is to be
born as a human.
We don’t realize what an opportunity we have been
gifted and, unfortunately, most people send the
gift back unopened. Yet, despite this fact, most
waste this extremely rare and precious
opportunity. A human life that is spent merely
sleeping, eating, and procreating is no better
than the life of an animal. To really use the gift
of life, one must be open and be able to free
oneself from the three poisons of Worry, Struggle,
and Blame. There is a famous teaching and mantra
that does just that – frees one of the entrapments
of life and our ego fixations. This teaching is a
must to have a spiritual life.
http://www.on2url.com/lnk?
I wish you the best in your Health, Wealth, and
Happiness.
Dr. Wu Dhi
