The disaster in Nepal, India, and Tibet is enormous. Whole villages have been wiped out. Now over 4000 lives have been lost. Millions of people have been affected. Homes lost, businesses lost, families lost. The suffering is unimaginable.
Yet unexpected difficulties are part of life. We cannot escape that. Natural disasters, illness, loss, are all part of life. So what can we do? How we cope with difficulties is crucial. We can hide, withdraw, become depressed and drift into mendokusai, or we can mutually support our brothers and sisters in need as if they were actually our brothers and sisters.
Since we are all part of the same human family, indeed we are all brothers and sisters. We share this planet, so we must pay more attention to keeping it well. Then of course death is part of life. We must accept that. We never know when death will come. But it is certain that it come for all of us. Thus we need to prepare. How can we do this? By doing the important things in our life now and not procrastinating, at the time of our death we will have no, or not many, regrets. This will make the process of dying easier. If we meditate regularly, at the time of our death our minds will be more aware, and possess more clarity. We may even experience joy.
For those interested in helping the survivors of this most terrible tragedy in Nepal, there is NPO called SEVA. For many years they have been working in Nepal providing free health care and education. I have donated some of my money to SEVA the day after the massive earthquake and years ago. They have set up a fund to help survivors. The money will go to where it is needed, on the ground, and quickly –
http://www.seva.org/nepal_earthquake_fund
Prayers are continuing daily for all those who lost their lives, their surviving family members, and their communities.
Warmly,
Barry Kerzin
Founder and Chairman
Human Values Institute