RETURN TO EMPTINESS

Tao cultivators describe death as a return to emptiness. We originally arose from the emptiness of the Tao, and must return to it sooner or later.

There was a point in time when you did not exist as anything other than the pure potential to manifest. Being born allows this potential to be distilled into a specific human form, and dying is the mirror image of the process.

After the return to emptiness, the human being who was walking around and joking with others not so long ago lives on only as a memory. Decades later, when those who still remember have also returned to emptiness, their memories will pass away with them. The fading to emptiness in memories will be even more complete.

The Tao Today

The return to emptiness awaits everyone. Even the most famous among us will fade from memory in time. The more clearly you understand this, the more obvious it will be to you that there is no reason to be attached to anything. Instead, there is every reason to live a fulfilling life in the here and now. Carry that fulfillment with you when it is your time to make the return trip. it is something that can never be taken away from you.

The Tao of Joy Every Day

~ Derek Lin