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Right after I was ordained, a friend, who isn’t Buddhist, said, “Wow—does this mean you’ll get to marry people?”
I said, “Maybe! Buddhists don’t have much to say about marriage. We tend to specialize in the other side.”
He said, “What other side?”
I said, “Death.”
Sure enough, I was back in Philadelphia for about a week when a friend texted. We hadn’t spoken in over a year. This friend might have heard the news of my recent ordination. He asked if I’d be willing to pray for him. He had colon cancer.
I agreed, and added my buddy’s name to a Post-it I keep by my shrine. It’s a list, with Name, sickness.
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