Quote from The Beginner's Guide to Walking the Buddha's Eightfold Path

The Beginner's Guide to Walking the Buddha's Eightfold Path

by Jean Smith

Bell Tower, New York, New York     © 2002      239 pp.


"The Buddha-to-be's first recognition of impermanence -- and suffering -- occurred when he initially encountered aging, illness, and death. These hallmarks of our impermanence are unavoidable, they are not personal (they happen to everyone), and they seem to generate storytelling at an uncommonly high level.

In one of these unasked-for growth opportunities, I had the chance to learn a lot about these three aspects of impermanence. In 1998 I became ill with a debilitating disease that was life-threatening and overnight turned me into a person whose physical limitations were those of someone quite old. This ferociously enthusiastic mountain-climbing woman suddenly -- and years later -- could not even walk up her driveway without experiencing shortness of breath, fatigue, and pain . . . " (p. 27)

-- submitted by Jennifer Knight

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