Cattāri Brahmavihārā

I don’t want to be alarmist but I’m dying. No, I haven’t been diagnosed with a disease and there is nothing more wrong with me than that I have a human body subject to sickness, aging and death. But, I, like all of you reading this am dying and whether it is a private death in a hospital bed or accident or I die with a million others in a catastrophe man-made or otherwise, I am one day closer to death.

Thinking like this briefly pulls me out of the gauzy delusions that cover my eyes and make my greedy plans seem so important but, as I have seen time and again, the shock wears off and soon enough I am calculating my gains and trying to protect myself from losses.

But, right now, while I can yet see clearly, I want to make a resolve. I want to live my life imbued with as much love, patience, kindness and compassion as I can. I want to live my life as if I knew I had only five days left to live.  Knowing that I had so little time, I would focus on those things I could do to grow in the Dhamma, pleasantly abide in what life I had left and be a comfort to those around me.

This being so, I now resolve to live my life as if I knew for certain it would come to an end in five days. May I put the paramis and the brahmaviharas to the fore of my life and not squander the days I have left.