Death Begins at 30 (reflections)

Is Jenny McCarthy enough to field TV offers and another Playboy cover at 39? (mix969.com)

 

But Life Soon Resumes

Cartman to Maury: "I do what I want!"

REFLECTIONS ON TURNING 30 -  I grew up on the lyrics, "Live fast, die young" and the idea "Never trust anyone over 30." I was an "adult" at 15 -- when I became active, as free as Cartman on Maury Povich to do what I want, and I thought I knew it all (or all I was ever going to need to know).

   

Childhood in the United States now extends until at least 26, when insurance companies force us off our parents' plan. And school takes so long, racking up lifelong debt. There I was 27 and finished in one sense but going nowhere fast in another. Maybe I should have compared myself to Jenny McCarthy rather than the ever rotating crop of girls on the beach.
  

  
Meditation had gone well, while most everyone much older was still struggling. I finished college, but the possibility of grad school loomed. It is an option if I am willing to re-interpret "debt" to mean "investment."

 

 

Comparing to every batch of un-aging bathers

What was I to do? I burned a bridge. I pulled out all the stops. I hit the Improbability Drive button and landed somewhere nice, still standing, perfectly safe in my attainment. The Heart Sutra says the Perfection of Wisdom "is the great spell (mantra), the spell of great knowledge, the utmost spell, the unequalled spell, allayer of all suffering, in truth -- for what could go wrong?" It's true. What could go wrong?

  

Morning came. My 30th birthday. I took the day off. Midweek. I eat right, having taken all the hidden sugar and stimulants out. Evening came. And in the cave of the mind/heart everything was still all right. But outside, "I disconnect." How Scandinavian of me. Communication:

  

For those who have seen the goal and applied themselves,

For those diligent and mindful rooted in virtue,

For those led by worthy guides...

I owe my life to the Dharma, the Buddha, and the Noble Sangha. And others say I look as beautiful as I ever did. The whole board is moving. I had imagined that everyone would stay young and I alone would walk the Trail of Tears under a ravaging sun. But we were all marching. The board along with the other pieces I was comparing myself to were moving. All of us were moving to dissolution, hurtling towards destruction, the impermanence inherent in all things.
 

Am I over the hill yet?

We were all marching. Sakka, the Deva King, was throwing another party. The Immaterial Sphere was quiet. And ghosts among us were going hungry. I could see them if I wanted.
   
I'll get 364 more sunrises to wake up three-decades-old on the planet, having died young and left a pretty corpse as useless as a log the last time I was here.

     

I have my baby. I have this diamond. I have my perfect hubby. I have these business cards. And from here to the End, I'll always have the Dharma. Maybe 30 is pretty good with 69 more years to go if Bhumi (Gaia) is kept healthy enough to have an operating ecosystem. Now there are no more excuses. I'm all grown up, codependent no more. I'll be a "Hunter."

"Hunter"
Bjork
If travel is searching
And home what's been found
I'm not stopping

I'm going hunting, I'm the hunter
I'll bring back the goods
But i don't know when

I thought I could organize freedom
How Scandinavian of me
You sussed it out, didn't you?

You could smell it
So you left me on my own
To complete the mission
Now, I'm leaving it all behind...
   

"Do You Know Where You're Going To?" (Diana Ross "Mahogany" theme)  

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The Buddha's return from Space

Tipitaka.net, Dhammapada 181, edited by Wisdom Quarterly

Higher Buddhist heavens (akasha deva lokas) 20th anniversary Hubble (NASA)

  

SANKASSANAGARA, ancient India - On returning from space, the Realm of the Thirty-Three, the Buddha uttered this verse (181) in reply to Sariputra's welcome. 

  

On one occasion, while at Savatthi, the Buddha performed the "miracle of the pairs" in answer to the challenge of the ascetics of various sects. After this, he went to Tavatimsa. His mother -- who had been reborn in another space realm, Tusita, as the deva Santusita -- also went to Tavatimsa. 

  

There the Buddha met her and expounded the Higher Teachings (Abhidharma) to the devas and the brahmas throughout the three-month Rains Retreat. As a result, Santusita attained the fruition of stream entry along with numerous devas and brahmas. 

  

Sariputra -- the Buddha's chief male disciple foremost in wisdom -- spent the Rains Retreat at Sankassanagara, 30 yojanas [estimated 210 miles] from Savatthi. While there, regularly instructed by the Buddha, he taught the Abhidharma to the large number of ascetics staying with him. He covered the entire course by the end of the retreat.

   

Towards the end Great Moggallana -- the Buddha's other chief male disciple foremost in psychic powers -- went to Tavatimsa to see the Buddha. He was told the Buddha would return to the human world at Sankassanagara on the full moon day at the end of the retreat. As promised, the Buddha came with his aura's six colored rays shining forth from his body to the city gate during the month of Assayuja as the Moon shone brightly.

   

Butterfly Nebula (NASA/Hubble)

He was accompanied by a large following of devas on one side and a large following of brahmas on the other. A large gathering led by Sariputra welcomed the Buddha as the whole town was lit up.

  

Sariputra was awed by the grandeur and glory of the scene. He reverently approached the Buddha and said, "Venerable sir! We have never seen or even heard of such magnificent and resplendent glory. Indeed, venerable sir, you are loved, respected, and revered by devas, brahmas, and humans alike!"

  

The Buddha replied, "Sariputra, buddhas endowed as they are with unique qualities are truly loved by humans and devas alike." Then the Buddha uttered this verse:

The wise who practice absorbed concentration

and insight meditation [jhana and vipassana]

take delight in the peace of liberation from

sensual pleasures and mental defilements. 

Such wise and mindful ones truly comprehend 

the Four Noble Truths

and are also held dear by the devas.

  

At the end of the discourse the large number of ascetics who were Sariputra's pupils attained full enlightenment (arhatship) and a great many from the congregation attained steam entry (the first stage of enlightenment).

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