Impermanence Nature

左邻的兰花好似娇艳；
右舍的玫瑰却枯萎了。
我们很清楚，不久的将来兰花也和玫瑰一样会枯萎的。

这只不过是一种自然现象，本来就不出奇。
然而，不也道尽人生的一种真谛 —— 『无常』。

Lately, I have been making quite a few trips to hospitals, visiting people I know.

SGH : (Rather familiar. Remember I visited it quite a few times last year.)
He is so young and yet has to go through such pain. He may look quite cheerful while I was there. But he could still feel blood dripping out (literally) from his body while I was talking to him.

NUH : (Rather familiar too. Remember I visited it once last year as well.)
He is so old and is lying in the ICU unit for further observation now. He is strong, at least mentally so, I must say. We were talking almost throughout while I was there. Mentally he was still very alert. I think he must be asserting. While he was making an effort to talk, his blood pressure meter shot up noticeably high, but he went on. The long neat deep reddish fresh less-than-a-day-old scar over his chest reminded me what he had just when through.

We may not like to visit hospitals, yet we can't deny how important hospitals / doctors / nurses are to us. At one point or another, they must have helped our family / relatives and friends for varying reasons. I am also thinking, one day, I would be the one lying there, dearly needing the assistance of the doctors and nurses. Heh.. Just that I don't know when. I can't even negotiate. What will be, will be.

I am not being negative here. I am just more drawn to understand the impermanence nature of life. Such understanding, when truly applied, can actually project a very positive energy. If one really appreciates the impermanence nature, he/she will genuinely cherish whatever he/she has now, to the fullest.

Have you wonder why it is a practice to offer fresh flowers to Buddha?
The freshness and the flagrance of flowers are widely acknowledged. But do they last? We may have one point or another offer (or at least seen others offering) fresh flowers to Buddha. We saw those fresh flowers turning stale and withered. So do we miss the message the Buddha is trying to disseminate?

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有一位圣者这么说：

每个人都想得到温暖，得到他人的关爱，却不知如何去关爱他人；
只求福报，却不知如何积福；
只希望得到安乐，却不知实修身、口、意。
如此，能得到他人的关爱吗？
你们当要把温暖带给他人，不要奢求一时的安乐。