Cheng Qing × dy: How Do We Face a Young Friend’s Death—and Account for Our Own Lives? Finding Peace: 40 Introductory Lessons on Buddhism

Finding Peace: 40 Introductory Lessons on Buddhism

Cheng Qing

Editor’s note: This bonus episode comes fromVistopia Moments, Episode 5. Questions and production: dy

Introduction

In this episode, I ask Professor Cheng Qing, host of Vistopia’s Relief for Life: Forty Introductory Lectures on Buddhism, about my recent confusion over the meaning of life.

Last weekend, I learned that a former colleague, editor Su Ben, had died after an illness. A few days later, I saw Professor Cheng share news that five young and middle-aged scholars had died of illness within one month.

Recently I have kept wondering:if I were told that little time remained, what would I do?

And a chain of other questions:

If I did not know what to do, would that be terribly sad?

Why do people define someone by a profession, or remember and judge them through achievements and output?

Is the meaning we pursue merely self-consolation?

Buddhism often speaks of emptiness and reflections of flowers or the moon in water. At moments like this, those ideas can make everything feel unnecessary and easily lead to nihilism.

Do human beings come into this world to suffer?

Joy and sorrow make me feel alive. Why does Buddhism seem always to seek a state beyond both? What pleasure would remain in living?

How can we accept impermanence while preserving passion for life?

Does Buddhism seek calm by guarding against every excessive emotion, or does it ask us to find the right measure?

So I called Professor Cheng Qing.