My Grandmother died yesterday. She told me during our last two visits that she was ready to go. I am glad that she has found peace. Jenn's Grandfather passed earlier in the year. It is remarkable how unromantic the event can be. It simply is...finality, no one on this planet can change it. It has forced me to examine everything. Today I stumbled across these words from a site called Wind Horse Zen (http://windhorsezen.org)

“Great is the Matter of Birth and Death.
Life slips quickly by.
Time waits for no one.
Wake Up! Wake Up!
Don’t waste a moment!”

These words, traditionally inscribed on the han, or
wooden block, go right to the heart of the spirit of Zen train-
ing. To grapple with death-- the inevitable death of those we
most deeply care for and the inevitability of our own death,
of this body-mind—this slices right through all our superfi-
ciality, all our triviality; straight to the core. It cuts right
through to this Black Hole of wonder, of mystery in our
depths-- not just some negation, but a living, unnameable
Nothing-something beyond all words and thoughts. Grap-
pling with This directly, we tap into the force within us to
truly fulfill our vows to liberate all beings. Can we keep this
keen edge in our lives and in our practice? This can be our
greatest ally, this inescapable fact of death.


-Jon