An Awakening While Stopped at a Red Light
Sometimes, what suddenly wakes us up and brings clarity to our minds is not the sound of a temple bell. It can be something as ordinary as watching the countdown on a traffic light at an intersection.
That day, I was riding my scooter and stopped at a red light. I found myself staring at the numbers as they counted down, one second at a time…
Normally, those numbers simply tell us how many seconds we have to wait before moving on. But for some reason, at that moment, something gently struck me deep inside.
I suddenly realized: It wasn’t just the traffic light that was counting down. Our lives are counting down too.
Every time another second disappears from the display, one second of our own lives is gone as well.
We often talk about the Buddhist teaching of “impermanence.” We have heard countless times how swiftly life passes and how quickly circumstances can change. In His Dharma discourses, Namo H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III has also compassionately reminded us time and again of how frightening impermanence can be and how it is constantly unfolding right before our eyes.
Yet this is simply how we human beings are. We may understand these teachings intellectually, but somehow they never seem to truly frighten us deep down.
We continue drifting through our days in a haze. We still lose our temper. We still tightly hold on to attachments, grudges, and conflicts that we cannot seem to let go of. We always think there is still plenty of time. We simply assume that when the sun rises tomorrow, we will still be here.
It often takes an ordinary, seemingly insignificant moment to suddenly wake us up:
From the day we were born, our lives have already been counting down.
Older generations often say that the frightening thing is not that we are slowly growing old, but that we do not even realize we are growing older day by day.
When today passes, one more day of our life is gone. When this second slips away, we will never be able to get it back again.
The Verse of Admonition by Samantabhadra Bodhisattva says:
“This day has already passed, and our lives have likewise diminished. Like fish in a shrinking pool of water, what joy can there be? We should diligently and vigorously cultivate ourselves, as urgently as if extinguishing a fire upon our heads. Be ever mindful of impermanence, and never give way to negligence.”
Every time I read this verse, it strikes me deeply.
Aren’t we just like fish in a pond whose water is slowly drying up? The water decreases day by day, yet we are still fighting fiercely with one another over a few pieces of fish food, completely forgetting that before long, when the water dries up, none of us can escape what follows.
When we look back carefully at all the noise and turmoil of this world—the pursuit of fame and personal gain, who wins and who loses—the things that once seemed unbearable, the things we thought we could never let go of, what do they amount to when we look back several years later?
They were little more than a dream from which we eventually awakened.
What truly matters in life has never been whether everything goes our way at this particular moment. What really matters is whether, during this lifetime, we have sincerely followed the Buddha’s teachings, whether we have earnestly cultivated ourselves, and whether we have worked toward freeing ourselves from the suffering of reincarnation.
If we can show others a little more compassion, then let us do so.
If we can lessen our attachments even a little, then let us loosen our grip.
If there is a good deed we can do today or a kind thought we can give rise to today, we should not put it off until tomorrow.
Because none of us knows what awaits us after the light turns green and we pass through this intersection.
At the next crossroads, will we simply continue along the familiar road we have traveled so many times before—or will we have reached the end of our journey in this life?
While we still have the strength, and while we still possess this precious human body, let us remind ourselves of this at every moment.
Do not wait until the light has gone out to regret having let this precious life pass by in vain.
—Buddhist disciple Gao Qiyuan
August 6, 2026
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A beautiful awakening at a busy intersection, reminding us that true wisdom begins with recognizing impermanence.