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I left them there together to get some rest. They no
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me. As Bodhisattvas, those of you who practice and practice the life of compassion to reduce suffering for yourself and for all those around you, that's you, you
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Bodhisattvas, you we
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are always at the bedside of birth and
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death, of beginnings and
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endings, of impermanence.
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role to be with all things that change with an open heart. I think of
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my friend Houston Smith, who
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a great philosopher and teacher and religious figure. He was the professor of religion at MIT
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and wrote this book on the religions of the world, one of the great best sellers. I remember Houston telling this tragic story. His granddaughter, she was only 20 years old, was killed in some adventure she'd taken with someone else. She was killed
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in some terrible way. People tried to comfort him and send him messages and talk to him and so
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forth. He was heartbroken. The grief was just so big,
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stupendous for him to carry, even as a wise old sage. This was his beloved granddaughter. Later, he said, the person that helped me most in that time of despair in grief was a
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young man who lived
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two doors down the street from us.
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He was a Native American man. When I would sit
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out, he would come over onto the porch and sit next to me and hold my hand and say
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said, was the deepest and greatest comfort. Mindful loving presence and
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the birth and death,
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the arising passing, the beginning and ending of things,
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they will begin and end.
