In ‘Chickens with Plums’ by Marjane Satrapi is this recounted story where Azrael, the angel of death was commanded by God to take the life of a man in India. But the day before, he bumps into him in Jerusalem. Terrified, the man runs to King Solomon to ask that he be sent far away quickly to escape death – by going to India. But the next day, he still bumps into Azrael in India. Puzzled, he told Azrael that he thought he was in Jerusalem. Before he was willing to leave with Azrael, he asked why he looked angry when he saw him yesterday in Jerusalem. Azrael replied that he wasn’t angry; just surprised at how the man could be in India the next day, in such a short time!
The moral of the story is supposed to about the inevitability of death; how it is predestined, inescapable. It’s quite pessimistic I think. Buddhism does not subscribe to belief in God or a fixed harbinger of death (as it is karma that brings death – via many means), while it has many stories of how spiritual practitioners ‘cheat’ death and even hell by changing the course of their karma in time with repentance, realisation of wisdom and/or mindfulness of Buddha.
Certain events in life are only inevitable when we do not change our karma in the nick of time, which would lead the long arms of karma to reach us, in one way or another, when the conditions are ripe… somewhat like how the man’s bid to physically escape death was hopeless, when he should had mustered his spirituality to avert death or seek a better rebirth instead. Because karma is malleable by intentional actions, there is always hope for a better life with the creation of fresh positive karma – even in the hells, challenging as it might be!
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