This Body Is Not Me

This body is not me, I am not caught in this body.

I am life without boundaries. I have never been born,

and I shall never die.

Look at the ocean and the sky filled with stars,

manifestations of my wondrous true mind.

Since before time, I have been free.

Birth and death are only doors through which we pass,

sacred thresholds on our journey.

Birth and death are just a game of hide and seek.

So laugh with me,

hold my hand,

let us say goodbye,

say goodbye, to meet again soon.

We meet today.

We will meet again tomorrow.

We will meet at the source at every moment.

We meet each other in all forms of life.

-from "a verse that is drawn directly from a sutra written by the Buddha," cited in the article "Becoming Truly Alive" by Thich Nhat Hanh in Buddhadharma magazine, Winter 2009, p. 46.