Saturday, April 25, 2015

The 3 Marks of Life

I got 3 tattoos yesterday. On my right breast. At the radiation department at the hospital. The tattoos are simply little black dots used to line up the radiation equipment when i start my daily radiation treatments 10 days from now.

Now i am "marked for life." These tiny tattoos remind me that cancer is a deadly serious opponent. They remind me that the cause of death is birth. The cause of death is life.

1 of 3 tattoos (plus freckles)
According to the Buddha, this very unsatisfactoriness is one of the 3 "marks" of existence, one of the 3 characteristics of life. This unsatisfactoriness causes us stress as we look away, resist, resist, and try, vainly, to find some other escape out of our predicament.

As much as we try to avert our eyes, our bodies are headed in one direction, and one direction only: Death.

Notice the unpleasant feeling of that word: Death.
Notice the unsatisfactoriness that arises from that unpleasantness.

I have 3 tattooed marks to remind me of the Buddha's wisdom.

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