https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlEqlqzkpT4
Quote:
One day, I was in a retreat in Vancouver. And there was a very charming child, about 7 or 8. I took her hand, practicing walking meditation and she asked me, "Thay, have you decided what to be in your next life?" She must have heard her parents talk about rebirth and so on. I was caught in surprise and I said, "Well, it seems that I am paying too much attention to the present moment, that I have not decided yet. But, a thing you asked, I try to answer." Then I looked and saw that I would be many things. I could be a cloud, I will be a bird, I will be a butterfly. And look! I will be a little yellow flower like this one in front of us. And you know something? Tomorrow, if you are not attentive, you will not recognize me and you may step on me. And I think that day I have planted a seed in that very young store consciousness.
:Unquote
Do you understand Thay's profound answer? He answered that in his next life, he would be many things like a cloud, a bird, a butterfly, a flower...etc. I understand that he meant that his body and consciousness would continue in new forms as follows:
http://www.slideshare.net/compassion5151/spiritual-ancestors
Hummingbird and an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly
