Easter - Awakening to Life

While browsing the dusty shelves of an antiquarian bookstore, a small book with the unusual title "I Hope You Die Soon" caught my eye. According to the librarian, this title triggered fear and a cold shiver in many people. Some saw it as a bad omen and ran to the other side of the library, hoping to forget they had even seen the book.

But those curious enough to look behind the worn covers might have recognized the true meaning of the title: the deepest desire imaginable—the desire to awaken to Life. In fact, what most people consider life resembles the actions of a sleepwalker, living in an illusion projected onto the canvas of their own mind, moving through space controlled by conditioning and the subconscious without being aware of their own actions.

Yet even for those who go through life in this state, such a dusty book, regardless of its literary merit, can convey a message that can shake them up or at least act as a catalyst for their spiritual liberation.

But liberation is never painless and demands a price: one must be willing to leave behind one's previous reality in order to be born into a new one. This moment of letting go of the old is like leaving the cocoon to complete the transformation and be reborn as a butterfly. Indeed, every moment we experience with complete mindfulness and clarity, with a mind free from the fog of thoughts and feelings, is a moment of transformation and resurrection.

Since the practice of "Zen-in-Every-Moment" suddenly or gradually dissolves the layers of the construct we call "self," thus leading to the simultaneous death of the old and the birth of the new, it can be said that Zen is actually a practice of awakening to Life, and of constant rebirth. Through it, the ghosts of the past and the images of a nonexistent future cease to haunt us, becoming wisps of mist or echoes of stories carried by the wind. All that remains is the realization of the essence of the true Self, which is opening our eyes to the unadulterated Life that flows from moment to moment.

For those blessed with such a transformation, life becomes full of meaning and harmony. Every moment gains significance, and all experiences become richer in color, fragrance, and flavor. The most mundane activities, such as eating and drinking, walking and sitting, working and sleeping, pulsate in harmony with the breath of the universe. Each exhalation becomes death, each inhalation resurrection.

All of this is contained in that dusty little book whose title reads, “I Hope You Die Soon,” but which in truth means, “I Hope You Rise Soon”.

Therefore, today, as the resurrection of Jesus is celebrated, one can also reflect on the death of own illusory self, so that personal awakening to a new reality can be realised and true Life can finally be experienced.