My thoughts on the fire at the Notre Dame

My dear friends in France, how devastating it must have been to see the Notre Dame on fire.　May the world share your sorrow and work together to rebuild it with you.

But the Notre Dame to be rebuilt will be gone someday.
All visible things, including we, human beings,
and what we create, will be gone someday.

We never know when it is and it could be today.

“Misere nobis.”

It is a miracle to see what we have built still exist today.
It is indeed a miracle that our beloved ones are still with us today.
May we appreciate these miracles.

“Dona nobis pacem.”

Even though we and what we create will be gone someday,
our love for our beloved ones and
the spirit to create Notre Dame will go on.
The image of the Notre Dame will live on in our hearts.

“Lux aeterna luceat nobis.”

May we be gone in peace at the right time.
May what we have built be gone at the right time.
May we not fill the earth with what cannot be gone at the right time.

“They are not mere things that appear or disappear.
Nor are they things impure or pure.
Nor do they merely increase or decrease…..

Gone gone across,
you who have gone across,
across to the other shore,

You who have reached the other shore,
Blessed be wisdom.”

(from the Heart Sutra translated by Hideo Levy)