Question regarding the Teaching #4 of the Doctrine

There is a wonderful story about a great Buddhist teacher who had spent years teaching his students about the impermanent nature of life in form. A fundamental tenet of Buddhist philosophy is the recognition that everything in form changes. The attachment to any form and the resistance to change are the causes of our suffering. The same principle is expressed in the biblical phrase, "Lay not up treasures where moth and rust doth corrupt."

One day, the Buddhist teacher's son died suddenly in a tragic accident. The teacher was devastated. His students found him weeping and wailing, obviously in excruciating emotional pain about the loss of his beloved son.

The students were perplexed and disappointed. They felt compelled to confront their teacher with what they saw as a contradiction in his being.

"Master," they said, "why are you weeping? Haven't you been teaching us for years about the illusory, impermanent nature of all things in form? Haven't you been teaching us that clinging and attachment are the causes of suffering? How here you are carrying on about this death. Aren't you experiencing clinging and attachment? Isn't it all an illusion?"

"Yes," said the master, "it is all an illusion. And the death of a child is the most painful illusion of all."