English Dharma Seminar from Fo Guang Shan Deputy Abbot Venerable Huikai – “Confronting Death – A Modern Buddhist Reflection on Life and Death”

On 15th January, BLIA North Island had the fortune of hosting a public lecture by Fo Guang Shan Deputy Abbot and Nan Hua University Deputy Principal Venerable Huikai. The topic of this 2 hour English speaking lecture is titled “Confronting Death – A Modern Buddhist Reflection on Life and Death”. On the evening, more than 450 audiences gathered within the Main Shrine, including Venerable Abbess Manshin, BLIA North Island President Dolly Tsai, BLIA members and other guests of honour.

Venerable Huikai expounded the theories of life and death in an academic format, with easy to understand terms. The first point raised by the Venerable was “You don’t have to die to go to heaven; you can live well to be there.” In life we should always remember to know when to stop, so we can be clear headed during our final moments. People’s world view tends to change, which can be compared to the major differences between our time in adolescence and adulthood. There are also differences in our views and priorities regarding our physical health and the period approaching death. However, when we can view life through the concepts of past, present and future, we should yearn for the future and face death with positivity.

Being a university math lecture in the past, Venerable explained life and death through the process of solving mathematical equations, which are explained as “Whenever a formula or a problem appears to be unsolvable, it is often not the solvability of the problem at hand is in question, but rather that the domain given is too narrow. The human life is very similar, and problems that appear to have no answer at a lower level of reasoning could very well be readily solved if a higher level or a broader domain of thought is taken into account.” From the view of life as operating through the cycle of rebirth through the 3 time periods, death is point of rest and link between past life to future life. Not only is death the restarting point between the previous life to the next, it is also a point of connection and intermission. So we should understand and reflect upon the positive meanings behind death. Accept and prepare for its future occurrence. Cultivate good physical and mental health in order to live a meaningful and valuable life.

Venerable Huikai emphasised that human’s destination for the next life will be influenced by one’s personality, way of thinking, mental state, temperament and behaviour. So we must take responsibility for our future life. Only after we truly understand the meaning of life and death, then we can live out our lives with positive attitude, joyfulness and ease. Not only will we have contentment and happiness for this life, ample preparations can be made for a good ending. So life can be infinite and sustainable.

The Audiences was grateful toward Venerable Huikai for presenting these heavy topics in a relaxed format. All were immensely benefitted through the encouragement of facing life with positivity and accept life’s natural law without resistance.