If I am anywhere,

Today we will take a rest from the 8 stages of dying internal visions, and return to them on Monday. I wanted to share something beautiful with you. When a master gets old or sick and students request the Lama’s permission to build a stupa (a conical structure with blessed items inside often relics from the deceased teacher; it represents the complete purity of mind that we call enlightenment), and put the Lama’s cremated ashes in an urn, some Lamas out of humility, say “nothing special for me.” These are the precious words of the great master and teacher, Thich Nhat Hahn: “Please do not build a stupa for me. Please do not put my ashes in a vase, lock me inside, and limit who I am. I know this will be difficult for some of you. If you must build a stupa though, please make sure that you put a sign on it that says, ‘I am not in here.’ In addition, you can also put another sign that says, ‘I am not out there either,’ and a third sign that says, ‘If I am anywhere, it is in your mindful breathing and in your peaceful steps.’”