and the pain and insecurities and questions that come in its wake, what does one do? what can one do?
I reached out to Zen.
Stephen Fry refers to Dogen, the founder of the school of Zen that he was ordained in. Dogen says – again and again and again: “Focus on this life. Live this actual day. Pay attention to just this very moment. This is where it’s all happening, not in some future lifetime, not in your next birth or your ‘middle existence’ between incarnations. Just here. Just now.”
Osho says that the Zen approach to death is utterly different and immensely profound. While other religions say death is not to be worried about, not to be feared because the soul is eternal, the Zen attitude about death is the same as the Zen attitude to life - that of laughter, joy, celebration.
Zen does not seek to answer subjective questions related to God, the afterlife, reincarnation, and spiritualism. Zen cannot confirm nor deny them, therefore, it is better to remain silent and to live simply in the moment.