Our Yodi Bodhi passed last night. And so I wanted to post this as a tribute and Memorial to him. This is a picture of him from maybe a year ago, or less, sleeping in the chair where he just about died last night.
He rallied in the last day or so and we thought maybe he had dodged yet another bullet in his long life – 18 and ½ years. But that was not to be, evidently. Yesterday he deteriorated rather quickly. I knew he was dying. I got to spend 2 hours just sitting with him and holding my hands on him in the living room where he lay. Thanking him for being here, for his life, and the light that he brought. I thought that was going to be it. But he lingered longer and moved himself behind the chair in the picture. We thought he would die there peacefully. We moved the chair and sat with him on the floor – waiting for the end. Sometime after 9pm he began to struggle, so we took him to the 24 hour animal hospital to have him euthanized.
And so he has moved on or dissolved back into the greater Ocean of Being.
Gone, Gone, Gone Beyond.
Gone from suffering to liberation.
Gone all the way to the other shore.
Our grief is beyond words. No matter how one spiritualizes, or philosophizes, or constructs formulas for dying, death is messy. There is nothing particularly “spiritual” about it. It’s a laborious process just like birth… And I am thankful that we got to be present to him through the process, as difficult as it was.
Yodi has returned to the Eternal.
No coming, no going
No after, no before
I hold you close to me
I release you to be free
We will miss you dearly. You were such a presence in our lives…
We love you!
