Remembering The Five Remembrances
- Insights Into Practices
- A Video of Shunryu Suzuki
- My Favorite Quote This Week
- Half-day Retreat, October 13th
- Weekend Retreat, November 1 – 3
Sometimes I resist change on many levels. Yet as an old saw goes, the only constant is change. We can’t avoid it.
I recently met with one of my executive coaching clients, Robert, who was describing how well everything in his life was going. He has a tenured teaching position at a major US university doing work that has great value and that he enjoys immensely. His wife is the CEO of a significant and influential nonprofit. And his children, after going through some difficult growing pains, are all doing really well at school and at home.
As Robert happily reported how positive everything was, I celebrated with him. It is important to acknowledge the good times and appreciate life whenever we’re happy, healthy, and satisfied. Then again, ideally, we might appreciate each moment of our lives, even when things are not going so well, or even falling apart.
I didn’t want to say what I was thinking, which was that Robert’s rosy situation wouldn’t last. Children grow up and leave home. Bosses and colleagues quit or get fired. Companies go out of business. Markets change, societies change, priorities change.
If we are lucky, we will get old, surviving every sickness and injury, even as everything and everyone we know and love changes, becomes lost, or ends.
I overcame my resistance and asked Robert if he was familiar with what are called the Five Remembrances of Buddhism. He wasn’t, so I described them, along with the statement we can say to embody them:
1. The inevitability of aging: “I am of the nature to grow old; there is no way to escape growing old.”
2. The certainty of illness: “I am of the nature to have ill-health; there is no way to escape having ill-health.”
3. The reality of death: “I am of the nature to die; there is no way to escape death.”
4. The impermanence of possessions and relationships: “All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change; there is no way to escape being separated from them.”
5. The law of the consequences of actions: “My actions are my only true belongings; I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. My actions are the ground on which I stand.”
(On the trail above Pirates Cove, Marin Headlands)
Like most people, I feel resistance to each of these statements. I avoid them. For instance, when I turned sixty, I changed my pretend age from thirty-seven to forty-seven. My pretend age (perhaps) serves me well.
Nevertheless, despite my personal resistance, I’m drawn to incorporate and bring forward the Five Remembrances in my coaching and teaching. I ask people and groups to say them out loud. Sometimes I even say them to myself, when I’m alone. When I’m meditating.
And what I’ve noticed is that the more I accept and integrate that we are really only here for a short time, the more I appreciate everything: my breath, the clouds, the trees. My family and friends. My life. Even the ants.
Practice:
Explore giving voice to or writing the Five Remembrances, with an attitude of warmhearted curiosity.
Video
Here is an old video of Richard Baker driving Suzuki Roshi to Tassajara.
My Favorite Quote This Week
“The more you practice zazen, the more you will be interested in your everyday life.
You will discover what is necessary and what is not; what part to correct and what part to emphasize more.
So by practice you will know how to organize your life.”
– Shunryu Suzuki
Half Day Sitting, In-Person and Online – Sunday October 13th
9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. in Mill Valley.
I really like half day retreats, where there is time for some extended meditation periods, some walking, and time to process with a small community. Then, time to enjoy a Sunday afternoon.
Weekend Retreat In-person, Green Gulch Farm
November 1 – 3
Come spend the weekend at Green Gulch Farm, located on the coast, just north of San Francisco. Wake up hearing the sound of the ocean, enjoy the simple but amazing vegetarian food, and explore the garden, farm, and coastal trails.
In our world of busyness, of more, faster, better, this retreat offers time to stop, reflect, and renew – a time to step fully into the richness of your life. Together we’ll follow a gentle schedule of sitting and walking meditation, interspersed with talks and discussions from the wisdom of Zen teaching as we explore how these stories and dialogues may be utilized in our relationships, our work, and our lives
This retreat is open to all people interested in stopping, exploring, and bringing more awareness and mindfulness to daily life.
Warmest wishes,
Marc