The reincarnation of Ping Piang

About four months back ago. One of my most promising puppies Ping Piang was killed by a monitor lizard. Recently Rita gave birth to a litter of puppies and one of them looks and has the same temperament as the deceased Ping Piang.

He even responds to Ping Piang’s favorite toy, a baby rattler and has a mole like Ping Piang on the inside of his left ear.

Apart from the difference in color. Ping Piang was jet black. While Ping Piang 2 is a tanned Doberman. But I am certain they are the same dog.

I wonder do dogs get reincarnated?

How is this possible?

Can it be that love has returned to me?

Can this really be so?
————————————————————————————

‘When we speak about the idea of reincarnation. It is usually associated with the supernatural. At one level of understanding I can well comprehend, why it’s almost obligatory to treat the subject as one belonging to the genre of religion.

But at a personal level – the idea of reincarnation isn’t really so mystical after all. Not to me, at least – as to suggest this is a subject that belongs exclusively to the realm of the spiritual crèche.

Not when you consider even in the single lifetime of a man. There may well be so many other men in this one man. That’s to say, although this man lives only one lifespan, there is a multitude of lives in this one life. Each capable of standing up as the story of the life of a single man. So can we not say this man has experienced multiple reincarnations of the self?

Think about it.

And when one considers the idea of reincarnation further, beyond the ambit of its religious meaning – it could well be when a man losses his limbs. Or for that matter any other thing or person that he is attached too or derives strength, meaning and nourishment form – be it his job, loved one, memory or even a dog.

Then in his new state where he has to do without. That man experiences a sort of reincarnated state. The idea of ‘loss’ in this case gives rise to rebirth.

It’s still the same man, but when one considers how his attitude, perspective and even what he can and cannot do has been so radically transformed by the loss, it could well be, we are really talking about two distinctive individuals the man who was and the man who is.

This strange perspective of life and death could well explain why these days. I tend to be quite philosophical about the whole idea of loss. I am not saying I am sanguine or cavalier about the whole idea of loss. I am not. I am still very much affected by it.

Only my perspective on the whole idea of loss these days doesn’t include the adjunct of finality any longer. It used to be, the whole idea of losing something that I was once attached too filled me with such a profound sense of loss that I was even consumed by grief.

But when I stand back and juxtapose the idea of loss against the larger canvas of how life is really just an endless series of life and death and lost and found cycles. Then it’s far easier for me to come into terms with so many of the things that I once held firmly in my hands only to lose them forever.

The pain is still there. But it’s greatly diminished or palliated at least by understanding of how nothing can ever be fixed or permanent, it’s always changing. And since life and death has to feature in that chastening process of change – loss is really inevitable. With understanding hopefully although one may never be able to be free from the pain of loss, at least suffering remains optional.

A woman for example can love you passionately. But once she discovers motherhood, that love shifts to the children and in a sense, she’s reincarnated as another woman and so are you. You can certainly mourn that loss that you once shared with her, but since she is now reincarnated as a mother who directs her love to her children. You too are reincarnated as a man who understands, why this has to be the case. That to me is maturity and perhaps even intelligence of a sort that may allow one to gainfully lead a purpose driven life.

My point is the whole idea of how I see reincarnation is really just a process (for lack of a better word) to explain why the things and people we cherish will all eventually slip right out of our lives. But it is never the end as it is a new beginning.

I am no saying I no longer feel the blues these days whenever I experience loss. Neither am I implying I have become so jaded of late that I can even manage to regard the whole idea of ‘loss’ and ‘found’ as the same face of the coin. No! Only these days I understand and like I said while pain is inevitable, suffering is always optional….and by this I mean, I have come to terms with an idea which I have always struggled with every since the moment of my youth – every thing that I love, I will eventually lose, but in the end, love will return in a different form….love will find a way to return…to come back thru the ocean of time….reincarnation.’