..续本文上一页e best orchestras and bands, musicians and singers that our world had to offer. London was a great place to grow up if you liked music.

　　When the concert was to end, I would stand up with the others, clapping and shouting for more. Often, the orchestra or band would play on for a few minutes. But eventually they had to stop and I had to return home. As I remember walking out of the concert halls late in the evening, it always seemed to be raining in London, in that most miserable manner called "drizzle". It was cold, wet and gloomy, and I knew that I probably would never get to see that great orchestra again. Yet even in the miserable damp darkness of the night, I never felt sad. I never dropped into despair. Instead I was elated and inspired by the great music I had just had the privilege to hear. What a stirring crescendo, what a magnificent performance, what a wonderful experience! I was light years away from the gloom surrounding the London night.

　　That is the only way I can describe how I felt when my own father died. It was such a short recital, a mere sixteen years. I was clapping and cheering for more at the end. My dad kept playing a little while longer and, in truth, it was a marvellous crescendo to his life. As I walked out of the crematorium in Mortlake, West London, after his funeral service, I clearly remember that it was drizzling and very cold. Yet I never felt sad at all. I felt inspired, uplifted and deeply moved. "Dad, that was a wonderful performance. That was a tremendous concert that you played in front of your son. I will never forget those fugues and cadenzas and the deep feeling that you gave to your symphony. You were a maestro of life. How lucky I was to have been at your concert". I was inspired, not sad. I felt deep gratitude not grief. I felt I had witnessed one of the great lives of my era.

　　That is how one can die joyfully, and joyfully look at the death of a dear one. In one”s centre one knows that: "Dear loved one, dearest friend, the door of my heart will forever be open to you, no matter what you ever do, even if you die". Even in death, you let them go. Such selfless love is freeing. Liberating the one who must leave you, and freeing one”s self from all sadness.

　　So this is what I mean by living meaningfully and dying joyfully. It is what I have seen for myself climbing beyond the confusion of the world in my monk”s meditation, like ascending the pyramids in the jungles of Central America. It is what is said by the Buddha in the ancient Sutras. And it is written in your heart right now, waiting to guide you.

　　When you live your life meaningfully not only will you die joyfully, but you will also give so much joy to all who meet with you, in your life and in death.

　　Thank you.

　　Ajahn Brahmavamso

　　Bodhinyana Monastery, Western Australia.

《Living Meaningfully Dying Joyfully》全文阅读结束。