Some texts seem to never cease to amaze, and every page you turn unveils a new treasure.
This is the case with “The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching”, a masterpiece written by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and a true Master of contemporary Buddhism who has devoted his life to teaching mindfulness and compassion as tools for personal transformation and social peace.

I should mention that I’m not a Buddhist, but I maintain an eclectic approach and am more interested in spirituality than in religions, although I understand how it was necessary to formalize certain teachings to preserve them and to reach a greater number of people.

Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s book, with its modern, clear, and direct language, has helped me understand the main aspects of Buddhist philosophy, and I’ll return to discuss it in more detail in a future review. In this post, I want to share one of the discoveries that has made its way into my (secular) daily practice, namely the reflection on the 5 Remembrances of Buddhism.

1. I am subject to aging; there is no escape from aging. It’s useless to live in denial, pretending I won’t age, or getting annoyed when someone jokingly points out that I’m older than someone else. We are all subject to aging, and to be happy, we must learn to live well at whatever age we are.
2. I am subject to illness; there is no escape from illness. Our body is fragile, and all the more reason to take care of it, accepting the times when it falls sick.
3. I am subject to death; there is no escape from death. Death is an inescapable reality of life. This pushes me to appreciate and be grateful for every moment of life and to accept that sooner or later I will have to leave it to face a new cycle.
4. I will be separated from everyone and everything that is dear and beloved to me. This is the hardest thing for me to accept, but when I think about it, it’s what has been happening in small and large dimensions since we were born: friends, relatives, pets…
5. I am the heir to my actions, inheriting the actions of my body, speech, and mind. The only thing we truly own is our actions.

I reread these every morning, after meditation, and they reconnect me with what I consider the important things in life.

And just like my morning coffee, sometimes they’re a bit hard to swallow, but always a necessary jolt to start the day.