..續本文上一頁mpermanence. This is particularly the case in Tibetan Buddhism, such as in the Kadampa and Nyingmapa lineages. Of course, the purpose of meditating on impermanence is not to make you a world-weary person, it is to help you understand your life objectively so as not to attach too much to success and failure, sadness and happiness, and coming together and separation in our life.

　　I once read a book called Mentality Curriculum of Harvard. This book mentions Professor Jay, who had been teaching at Harvard Business School for nine years. When Jay was about to leave the school, his students felt very sad and felt it was hard to part from him. Then, Professor Jay told them this story:

　　“The President of IBM, Thomas Watson, initially suffered a serious heart disease. At one time, he had a recurrence of the illness and his doctor requested him to immediately go to hospital. The moment Watson heard about this, he firmly rejected it and told the doctor: “How do I have time for this

　　 IBM is not a small company! Every day, there are so many things waiting for me to decide. If I am not in the office….”

　　“The doctor replied, “Let”s go for a ride,” and took Watson for a ride in his car. Soon, they arrived at a cemetery located on the outskirts of the town.

　　“The doctor pointed at the graves and then said: “Sooner or later, both of us have to lie down here forever. Without you, there will be someone else to take over your work, and the world will continue to turn. After your death, IBM will continue to operate. It will not close down just because of this.”

　　“Watson was speechless after hearing what the doctor said. The next day, this powerful US business president handed his resignation to the Board of Directors and went to the hospital. After he was discharged, he traveled around the world. IBM didn”t close down because of this; it continued to be a world-famous enterprise.”

　　After Professor Jay finished the story, all the students felt more at ease.

　　In fact, no one can escape the law that what has been gathered will be dispersed, be it an organization or a family. In the end, impermanence is inevitable. Furthermore, at the time of death, to our utter dismay, we have to leave behind even our most cherished body and depart alone to our next life, following our karma. The reason why people holding a materialist view reject this is because they are hiding from facing the truth. They are not willing to accept it or think about it.

　　These kinds of people think that studying Buddhism is about hiding from reality, but I disagree with them. In contrast, I think denying the existence of future lives and not having any preparation for the next life is definitely a pessimistic way of hiding from reality. This single lifetime only has a short life span of several decades, but the happiness or suffering of many millions of years to come and of lives after your death is based upon karma that you create in this life. Should you easily overlook such an important matter

　　 Therefore, in Buddhism, the most important thing is caring about and being prepared for the next life.

　　Nowadays, many people do not have any idea about this concept, including some Buddhists. They see Buddhism as a shortcut, to bring happiness in this life, or as a way to bring peace and joy for our mind. As for the most important thing, liberation, or the happiness of many future lifetimes, they have never considered it before. Sometimes, when I look at this world, I feel it is just like what Chandrakirti said in Commentary of Four Hundred Verses: “When all the people in the whole country are already crazy, even though the King is sane, when other people see him as different from them, they will accuse him of being crazy. Finally, the king has no choice but to drink poison and become truly cr…

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