UNBORN Again and Again – VIDEO TALK

Here is the link to David’s talk on Being Unborn with Bankei, Community Night – July 18th

 There is a website named:  Fake Buddha quotes, which I bumped into as I was googling around. One of the quotes that they identify as fake is:

“Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” While I had never heard that quote before, and it was identified as a fake Buddha quote, it did remind me of a quote that I found when I was struggling with the teachings about rebirth in the Tibetan tradition.

I found a conversation recorded in the Pali Canon, in which someone asked the Buddha how long a human life was and his reply was that the length of a human life was one thought moment. The footnote in Lama Govinda’s book explained that according to Buddhist psychology, there are 64 thought moments in the time it takes for the snap of a finger. 

When I brought that understanding of rebirth to Lama Yeshe, he told me that it was good enough for now and to keep my mind open. I am still practicing at keeping my mind open. It is that perspective of moment to moment rebirth, moment to moment being reborn, that I find helpful in being intimate with Bankei’s “Unborn”.

It helps me appreciate how being Unborn is not a static state, it is an ongoing practice. Letting go of being born moment after moment while coming forth into the world.    David