DEATH: Cloris Leachman, RIP (video)

The Oscars; Phyllis; Sheldon S., Dhr. Seven, Crystal Q., Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Why, why must people die? Okay, we know why. They're mortals. But why, why must the stars die? They're devas (divas), "shining ones," "celestials," "divinities," the Hollywood immortals! In the USA we have no royalty, no monied legacies, no business dynasties, no scions only stars, the famous elite, our closest friends and idols. But even they have not outstripped Mara, the Buddhist personification of Death. Living beings, heavenly and human, get ill, get old, and fall away -- to fare according to their just deserts (karma). The year 2021 has seen a spate of famous deaths that made it through the panic-pandemic. Now Cloris Leachman is gone, gone the way of Larry King and Kobe Bryant.

(George Hunt) Pilot of "Phyllis" (S1E1) starring Cloris Leachman

There must be other worlds the Buddha talked about, other destinations, the endless "continued wandering on" (samsara) of beings pursuing fulfillment through sensual pleasures, deeds and their many results, futile attempts at annihilation, as if death were the end of things, and rarely awakening to the Truth through hearing the Dharma, practicing accordingly, and realizing the awe-inspiring "fruits of recluseship" or samanaphala.

(A.O. Scott/New York Times) Cloris Leachman in "The Last Picture Show"

Why did Cloris Leachman have to leave us? Well, how long was she expected to stay? Why was I ever born? Well, you didn't want to stay where you were, did you? Why must living beings become dead ones? Well, what's the alternative? All that comes to be is passing away. All life and experience is one of flashing forth and fading. It is dynamic, not static, no matter how much we would have it otherwise. As Alan Watts points out, it is only by contrast that we have any life or experience at all. So let us celebrate the life now ended rather than wishing it otherwise. Let death awaken us to what this life is really about. May it bring about a sense of spiritual urgency in us. Thank you, Cloris, for a life well lived!