Without knowing,
without knowing when it will happen,
When it appears, when
death manifests,
no body, no stability, no world,
tumultuous events have unfolded
in our mind, chaos
embodied in violent turbulence,
without mercy, beyond time and space,
where our skin would be torn apart,
if only we had skin,
if only our physical existence
had remained;
But here it is,
exploding in triumphant
nonexistence, here we are not,
not here not knowing how we move,
how we fly uncontrollably
through this chaos;
Here we are!
Here we are, are not, not are not!
This uncertainty
has manifested rather brilliantly
in this place that does not truly exist,
in this place we call the death bardo;
and; yet,
here we had wasted our lives,
thinking that matter was something real,
thinking our lives would last forever,
thinking that we could even keep ourselves,
this self, though uncertain from
moment to moment,
here we see that delusion ripped away,
torn from us as well;
Death is this realm of uncertainty,
Death of every moment,
Death of every particle,
Death of this self, which never existed,
And so, thus, die all of our delusions.
A poem by Robert Aho © 2025
This idea of uncertainty or impermanence, which really should be conflated in this case, due to the very close relationship of such principles, should be examined very carefully. You do not need to be a famous Quantum Physicist nor a great Tibetan Buddhist Master in order to begin your investigation, you only need your raw unaltered mind to pay attention. Sit and watch waves, or watch the seasons change, observe the air moving leaves or sense the wind in general as the sun and stars pass through the sky. Watch bread turn moldy or watch ice melt. Look, observe and learn from all phenomena—observe mind. You do not need to be a genius. Even the village idiot can pay attention and learn all that can be learned, opening their heart and mind completely, remaining in that awareness.
In contrast to the awakening of the village idiot, people who fanatically adhere to the materialistic paradigm and philosophy, thinking that the world is solid and unchanging, closing their heart and mind off from reality, will not be really able to understand even a single word in this teaching. Materialists will reject reality in the same way that Eternalists create fantasies about an unchanging cosmology and afterlife.
People who cling to the materialist philosophy reject a spiritual view that explains that nothing ever stays the same for even a moment, even though it is backed up by science and other methods of applying thought that they might accept, such as reason and logic. Impermanence, as explained in Buddhism, as well as uncertainty, as explained by Quantum Physics, is not understood completely because it is immediately dismissed as fantasy, even though there is nothing fantastical about it. When we observe the world around us, we change it, we create uncertainty by the simple act of perceiving with mind. We can see for ourselves that this thing we think is real, this physical existence, is just an illusion.
A person can try to make things predictable and certain; however, that never happens. Our own subjectivity changes the objectivity. Our thoughts have gravity. Our actions propel us uncontrollably into new dimensions of reality. The quantum rather quickly degenerates into confusion and chaos. We have, by our own unenlightened state of being, uncertainty from one moment to the next, uncertainty with each breath, within every moment of our lives. It is also quite obvious that there is uncertainty in death.
Although this idea of uncertainty, as presented by Heisenberg, Schrödinger and others has to do with the location and momentum of particles, it is really the same as what Buddhism refers to as anicca, anitya or impermanence. Everything, everywhere, beyond time and space, beyond even our own universe, changes from moment to moment, and none of it is real. It is all impermanent, in a constant state of change or flux. This may sound like a conflation, when we pair this idea found in Western Science with the same idea that has been a part of Buddhism for thousands of years; however, it is really all part of the same observation, the same investigation or inquiry into what manifests in our mind, as well as our senses.
Once we are able to see that it is all just an illusion, that we can’t actually locate anything, we should then be able to start understanding this idea of emptiness. When that is realized, it does not disappear from our knowledge, it becomes crisp and clear in our awareness. It becomes a sort of first awakening, not full and complete enlightenment, but it becomes a very powerful first step. In this regard, we can discover the seeds of enlightenment itself with Western science. Awakening is, after all, all about discovering reality for yourself, for the first time ever in your eternal transmigration.
Perhaps this is why the aspiration to awaken is so powerful. It changes everything. We begin to look at things realistically, and we do so with a light touch, not clinging too tightly to any idea, concept or philosophy. If we remain present, we awaken.
Blessings in Light,
Robert Aho