There is a time when we will hear the call of heaven. The time will come when we will no longer be drawn to the things of this world, no longer held to this world by desire. We will be free.

 

There are such people around us now. You may not recognize them unless you are one of them. They may be rich or poor, they may be blind or lame, they may be living in another country, under an unfamiliar name, but they are here on earth with us. Ordinary duties no longer hold them to this world. Only a trace of them remains.

 

When you see golden light in a cloudless sky, you see the brilliant clarity of their world, and it is incomprehensibly beyond any concern we may have. It is beyond any concern we may have for houses and cars, food and drink, life and death, status and pleasure, name and form.

 

“No longer held to this world by desire” means looking upon this landscape, this human world, this realm of desire, with equanimity and love, seeing its transience and its suffering and the inevitable end of its suffering.  

 

“No longer held to this world by desire” means leaving this world.  Leaving the body behind in death or walking the earth a while longer. Either way, there is no difference in the quality of mind.

 

Detached from desire, but vigorous in loving action. Benefitting beings without fear or favor.

 

This is attainable by every being who wants this. This is nirvana.

 

Nirvana is sometimes translated as “extinction,” as in the extinction of a flame. This is misunderstood as “going out of existence.” This is an error. What ceases is not “you.” What ceases is your mental disturbance, your error, your ignorance, your suffering.

 

What arises in its place is your Buddha nature. Your wisdom. Your freedom. Your true human life. This is hearing the call of heaven.

 

I hope you hear it.