Part 12 - Impermanence

Part 12 - Impermanence

Nothing in the world is permanent, and we're foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we're still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it. If change is of the essence of existence one would have thought it only sensible to make it the premise of our philosophy.
-- W. Somerset Maugham

Tashiki and Qindao were pruning in the Flower Garden with The Master. Bento was near by raking leaves and sticks that had collected under some of the trees.

Tashiki looked up from the Azaleas to see Oishii tending vegetables in her plot of the garden.

"Sensei," he asked The Master, "why are there so few women in The School?"

The Master stopped his work and stepped back from his plant. He took a moment, but never really looked up from the flower that was in his hand a moment ago. Qindao noticed genuine sadness in the Master's eyes.

"Of all the things I know I do not understand," he began, "I understand women even less."

He stopped there for a few moments until he realized that neither Qindao nor Tashiki had moved to return to their own work without a better answer than that.

"The come to The School infrequently. I make sure that they are welcomed, treated with honor and respect like all other students here, and given the freedom to find their way. In practice, they rarely come to the Meditations or to the Lessons. They find a place for themselves in one of the Gardens, stay for a while to make it their own, and then they leave."

Tashiki asked the obvious, "Do not they seek guidance and enlightenment?"

Sensei snapped a quick look of rebuke at Tashiki's foolish question. "Of course they do. Often, their path lies elsewhere. Frequently, for whatever reasons they bring in here with them, they do not look for assistance nor companionship from us. They have their own way."

The men considered that and felt the Master's sadness that he could not be as much of himself as he wishes and still be an effective teacher to the women who came into The School.

Qindao saw how The Master had looked as Tashiki and chose to phrase his question more elegantly. "Sensei, is there a difference in enlightenment for men from enlightenment in women?"

The Master noted the irony in that it was Qindao who was able to express the more delicate thought in this case instead of Tashiki.

"My teachers all said 'Yes' when I was learning. I do not think that is the case. I take into account the basic biology of women in that they are the carriers of new life whereas men are not given that kind of gift. The women I have spoken to tell me that is a great sensation that men will never know. It is part of what defines the female and it is part of what gives power to the feminine. Look a the Tao and see that the female creates, but the male destroys. Look at how our customs and cultures have evolved in the East and in the West to see that the women, who are true to their own nature, are by and large creative, and the men are, by and large, destructive."

Bento, full of impetuous Youth interrupted, "Sensei, that is not the case! Men and women are both capable of creation and destruction."

He was prepared to carry on at great length until he saw the look of disapproval in The Master's face.

"You have a lot to learn still, Young Bento. You and your women friends may be on equal footing now. The tidal forces of culture are mostly irresistible. Push against them for all your might for it is important that many things be changed. But do not expect to see progress in your lifetime. That kind of transcendence is rare, hard fought, and costly."

"Sensei." Bento bowed and returned to the rake.

Tashiki asked, "Who is Oishii?"

The Master took a moment to look over at her with some sense of pride. "She came to us a few weeks ago, perhaps two months or so. Her path is complicated, and there is little I can do for her except to listen and make her feel comfortable. She tends her garden here because it satisfied a need in her to tend life. She spends so much of her time outside The School tending lives that will most likely have exceptionally difficult paths of their own, she needs this place to remind her of the more simple pleasures."

"Will she join us?" Qindao wanted to know.

"I do not know."

"How long will she stay with us?" This time Tashiki.

"As long as she would like."

Each turned back to their own flowers as they tended them and thought about the impermanence they just discovered in themselves.

Thus endeth the lesson. Let us meditate upon it.

Ruby Tuesday by The Rolling Stones
Songwriters: JAGGER, MICK / RICHARDS, KEITH

She would never say where she came from

Yesterday don't matter if it's gone

While the sun is bright

Or in the darkest night

No one knows

She comes and goes

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday

Who could hang a name on you?

When you change with every new day

Still I'm gonna miss you...

Don't question why she needs to be so free

She'll tell you it's the only way to be

She just can't be chained

To a life where nothings gained

And nothings lost

At such a cost

There's no time to lose, I heard her say

Catch your dreams before they slip away

Dying all the time

Lose your dreams

And you will lose your mind.

Ain't life unkind?

Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday

Who could hang a name on you?

When you change with every new day

Still I'm gonna miss you...