The Picture of Life

“Worlds on worlds are rolling ever

From creation to decay

Like the bubbles on a river

Sparkling, bursting borne away.”

-Shelly-

If you are seeking Truth, you have to accept the fact that even our pleasure is the beginning of unsatisfactoriness. At first glance, this may be unpleasant, but whether you like it or not, you will be blinded by, illusions if you will not give it up. Obviously, we experience disappointments, miseries, and frustrations in our lives. There is one thing that you should understand. That is, the only certainty in everything is the uncertainty. This will help you to console your mind. 

The following is a comprehensive picture of human life given  y Milarepa, who was a Tibetan Buddhist yogi and a poet. 

'Youth is like a summer flower-

Suddenly it fades away.

Old age is like a fire spreading

Through the fields- suddenly, it’s at your heels.

The Buddha once said, ‘Birth and death

Are like sunrise and sunset

Now come, now go.’

Sickness is like a little bird

Wounded by a sling.

Know you not, health and strength

Will in time desert you?

Death is like a dry oil lamp

(After its last flicker)

This world is impermanent;

Nothing, I assure you

Can remain unchanging.

Evil karma is like a waterfall

Which I have never seen flow upward,

A sinful man is like a poisonous tree –

If you can learn on it, you will injured be.

Transgressors are like frost-bitten peas –

Like spoilt fat, they ruin everything.

Dharma practisers are like peasants cultivating in the fields.

The Law of Karma is like Samsara’s wheel –

Whoever breaks it will suffer a great loss.

Samsara is like a poisonous thron 

In the flesh –if not pulled out,

The poison will increase and spead.

The coming of death is like the shadow

Of a tree at sunset –

It runs fast and none can halt it.

When that time comes,

What else can help but the Holy Dharma?

Thought Dharma is the fount of Victory,

Those who aspire to it are rare.

Scores of men are tangled in 

The miseries of Samsara

Into this misfortune born,

They strive by plunder and theft for gain.

When you are strong and healthy 

You ne’er think of sickness coming, 

But it descends with sudden force

Like a stroke of lightning.

When involved in worldly things

You ne’er think of death’s approach

Quick it comes like thunder

Crashing round your head.

Sickness, old age and death

Ever meet each other 

As do hands and mouth

Do you not fear the miseries

You experienced in the past?

Surely you will feel much pain 

It misfortunes attack you?

The woes of life succeed one another

Like the sea’s incessant waves –

One has barely passed, before

The next one takes its place.

Until you are liberated, pain

And pleasure come and go at random

Like passers-by encountered in the street.

Pleasures are precarious,

Like bathing in the sun;

Transient, too, as the snow storms

Which come without warning.

Remembering these things,

Why not practice the Dharma?’

-Songs of Milarepa-