The Year is ending, The Year is beginning

As I sat down to write this morning's posting, I found that my mouse will not work. The arrow on my screen seems to have a life of its own. Opening up the mouse, I found it wet from the leaking battery. My efforts to dry it with tissues led to no improvement, and I had to change to an older mouse to use my computer. The mouse is dead.

Ajahn Chah taught... "How can you find right understanding? I can answer you simply by using this glass of water I am holding. It appears to us as clean and useful, something to drink from and keep for a long time. Right understanding is to see this as broken glass, as if it has already been shattered. Sooner or later, it will be shattered. If you keep this understanding while you are using it - that all it is is a combination of elements which come together in this form and then break apart - then no matter what happens to the glass, you will have no problem. The body is like the glass. It is also going to break apart and die. You have to understand that. Yet when you do, it doesn't mean you should go and kill yourself, just as you shouldn't take the glass and break it or throw it away. The glass is something to use until it falls apart in its own natural way. In the same way, the body is a vehicle to use until goes its own way. Your task is to see what the natural way of things is. This understanding can make you free in all the changing circumstances of the entire world."

Once, a young monk accidentally broke his master's cup. Just before his master's return, he managed to sweep the pieces aside, blocking them with his body. Upon his entrance, he asked, "Master, why must people die?"
His master replied, "It's totally natural - everything in this world experiences life and death."

"So it isn't something to be upset with?"

"Definitely not!"

He then stepped aside, revealing the shards on the floor, "Master, your cup just met its death!"

The master almost flared up in anger, before realising the reality of what he uttered just a moment ago.

While the disciple was using his wit, we shouldn't use the Dhamma to excuse our mistakes, but to recognise and eradicate them instead. From the master, we are reminded of how easy it is to forget to practise what we preach, especially in the most unprepared yet crucial moments. When the master saw the broken cup, he probably lost sight of the truth of impermanence momentarily.. In that moment of emotional turmoil, we are not looking at the situation with WISDOM but with our EGO. This is especially true in moments of anger. On the other hand, when the disciple saw his master allowing him to get away with breaking the cup, he lost sight of his own mistake! This itself is a mistake too!