Funeral Address, delivered by Prof. Schrom, Farewell Ceremony, Hall Cemetery, 2 October 2001

Dear family members,
dear friends and acquaintances of LEONORA!

Sometimes, when someone has died, we hear or read the words: “LET US NOT MOURN BECAUSE WE HAVE LOST YOU, BUT REJOICE BECAUSE WE WERE PRIVILEGED TO SHARE OUR LIVES WITH YOU!”
Of course, this seems much easier said than done! The death of our dear Leonora has affected us far too deeply, and we have been profoundly shaken by the suffering she endured throughout the illness she learned of just over a year ago.

There were, of course, moments of joy in between. For example, the time when it seemed that an inexplicable spontaneous recovery had taken place. This was why a celebration of her recovery was held at Ambras Castle in June.

Or the time when LEONORA – after sadly learning that her illness had returned – was nevertheless able to spend seven beautiful summer days in Portugal, surrounded by beloved relatives, still full of optimism and plans for the future.

Yet perhaps these moments of joy and hope make what has now happened seem all the more tragic by contrast.
And so, at first, there is simply an indescribable feeling of grief… And many of us may be asking ourselves: Why was it you, dear LEONORA, who had to walk this difficult path?

Can there ever be a truly satisfying answer to such a question? Perhaps, however, a little story may offer us a glimpse of the deeper meaning hidden within it. I told this story three years ago, when LEONORA attended my Buddhist religious education classes.
An old monk asked the Zen master Yün-men: “WHAT KIND OF TIME IS IT WHEN THE TREES CHANGE COLOUR AND THEIR LEAVES FALL TO THE EARTH?”
The master replied: “THEN THE GOLDEN WIND REVEALS ITS ENTIRE BEING!”

What a wonderful answer!!

It reaches far beyond what the questioner originally wished to know. For the underlying question was: WHY IS EVERYTHING IMPERMANENT?! Why must we GROW OLD or BECOME ILL and eventually DIE? Is there not, beyond the world of appearances, which constantly presents us with this cosmic dance of arising and passing away, something reliable and unchanging that survives what we call death?
Now, let us consider how the leaves fall to the ground in autumn. Every year, the leaves turn golden. Then, with the first autumn storms, they leave the trees and dance upon the wind. It is these swirling leaves, illuminated by the autumn sun, that colour the WIND GOLD. Yet this is not the only way in which THE GOLDEN WIND REVEALS ITS ENTIRE BEING. The GOLDEN WIND is at work in every single moment of existence!
Sometimes we rejoice at the sight of a tree in blossom, while at other times a tree shedding its leaves fills us with sadness.
Yet whether we experience joy or sorrow, there is ALWAYS only ONE thing expressing itself – as it does IN EVERYTHING: the true nature of the ONE AND ONLY REALITY. Different religions have given this reality different names.
Often, this ULTIMATE REALITY is imagined as something distant and beyond our reach. Yet it reveals itself to us in every moment as the IMMEDIATE REALITY.
We must, however, learn not to remain attached merely to outward appearances.
For when we sincerely practise looking more deeply into the nature of things, something wonderful happens: WE BECOME ONE WITH ALL THAT EXISTS. We recognise that, in truth, THERE IS NO SEPARATION WHATSOEVER, because everything is CONNECTED with everything else.

“Outside – Inside”, “Above – Below”… in short, all opposites are experienced as merely two sides of the same “coin”, or two aspects of one and the same reality. Then WE OURSELVES BECOME EVERYTHING that exists. We ourselves become THE GOLDEN WIND REVEALING ITS ENTIRE BEING.

And whoever becomes aware of their deepest nature discovers that, ultimately, THERE IS NEITHER BIRTH NOR DEATH. This is the ESSENTIAL REALISATION AT THE HEART OF EVERY GENUINE SPIRITUAL PATH.

DYING, therefore, means NOTHING MORE than a CHANGE OF FORM.
When someone changes their clothes, they remain the same person.
And when we change this form, that which WE TRULY ARE, in the deepest sense, continues to exist,
namely: ETERNAL LIFE!

From this broader perspective, a spiritual master was able to say shortly before his death, as he prepared to enter the Great Transformation:
“I COME FROM THE RADIANCE AND TO THE RADIANCE I RETURN.”

Seen within this greater context, your own journey of growth and transformation, dear Leonora, may also appear in a different light. The great joys you experienced and brought to others, but also the pain you endured with unimaginable courage – all these were stages along a very special and extraordinary journey. And that journey, it seems, now continues in another form…

In the outward, visible world of appearances, you have left an immense emptiness in our lives. Yet in the world of true and complete reality, from which nothing and no one can ever be lost, we know that you are safe and sheltered, and that your journey continues…

In this sense, our farewell is only an apparent one. For whenever we reach out to you in memory with a loving thought, we feel a profound sense of togetherness. And so, dear LEONORA, on behalf of everyone who has accompanied you this far, and all those who will continue to accompany you, I say: “FAREWELL AND THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!”

(I would now like to invite everyone gathered here to say a silent prayer
or simply to spend a few moments in quiet remembrance.)