Buddha
A 112-year-old nun who is one of the two oldest currently living in Taiwan, proclaimed that her secret to a long life was simply to practice Buddhism. She is from the central area of Taiwan’s Nantou County.
Liu Ching-huan was brought to Taiwan from China’s Sichuan Province, where she was born, when the late President Chiang Kai-shek’s forces pushed her along with many others out of the province. In 1965 at a young age, she was ordained at a Buddhist temple in the county’s Puli Township. She is currently taken care of by a nurse at a government-funded nursing home since August of 2010 and is in overall good health although she is in a wheelchair.
Liu’s caregiver said that just last month, Liu travelled on the Taiwan High Speed Railway to attend the Face of Changing Phase which is a photo exhibition that highlights Taiwan’s centenarians and the Republic of China centennial. Liu who has devoted her life to the teachings of Buddhism still enjoys reading the religious classics related to the religion.
Liu told the Nantou Magistrate Lee Chao-ching that chanting “Nam Amitofo” is the secret to a long life. Chao-ching presented her with the centenarian cash gift plus a gold pendant with a peach-shaped “Shoutao.” This is a symbol commonly used to celebrate the birthdays of elders in the community.
Director general of the county’s government department of social affairs, Lin Jung-sen said that the other oldest living women is coincidentally also the same age as Liu and lives in Hulaien County in eastern Taiwan.
Currently in the Nantou County, there are 13 men and 29 women equalling a total of 42 centenarians. Majority of the living individual practice Buddhism and 14 of them will be celebrating their 100th birthday this year, Jung-sen said.
While I have the utmost conviction that practicing meditation in conjunction with Buddhist suttas can certainly improve the quality of one’s life, I doubt very much that it will lead to a longer life than anyone is meant to live. Actually, one of the points that Buddha makes over and over again is the fact of old age, illness and death, that no one can escape. To claim that Buddhist meditation can lead to a longer life span has the taint of ‘more, more, more’, of accumulatory spititual materialism. What’s next in the selling off of Buddhism, Buddhist meditation leads to ‘age reversal?’ Perhaps Ponce de Leon would have utilised his time better if he had spent less time searching for the fountain of youth and rather, starting sitting in meditation? Youth culture is a marketing target and the promise of youthfulness regained is an old snake oil marketing ploy that a lot of people waste their time on. It’s not important. The most important thing is how we create our daily karma in regard to our intentions, how we navigate through this life with care and concern for helping to alleviate the suffering of ourselves and others. Whether we live to 45, 60, or 112 is in the hands of nature.
It is not how long one can live that matters. It is what one does during the time one is alive that counts. The Bhavachakra (Wheel of Life) portrays such existence and the outcomes of our daily karma. A recent discovery on the Moon attempts to make this fact better understood, although it may be a long time before anyone fully understands the extent of what this discovery really means. Please visit the blog posting: http://sun-faced-buddha-moon-faced-buddha.blogspot.com.