So yesterday my four-year-old daughter Julianna was seated at the table, picking at a slice of bread, deep in thought. Lately, she’s been pondering a lot about the Buddha’s teaching of impermanence.
“You know what, Daddy?” she said with pride.
“What ‘s that?” I said. My wife turned in the kitchen to hear.
“You used to have hair,” Julianna said.
I nodded. Yep, I sure did.
She went on. “And now you don’t.”
“Right,” I said, unsure of where she was going with this.
“Well that’s impermanence.” She beamed. “You had hair and now it’s gone, that’s impermanence, right?”
My wife and I burst out laughing. Of all the examples she could have chosen, she picked my receding--or receded, I should say--hairline.
“Yes, that’s impermanence,” I said. “But next time concentrate on Mommy’s impermanence, okay?”
Photo borrowed from Creative Commons flickr user: licorice medusa.
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