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Suttra for death meditation
shanyin
Novice YoginSault Ontario Veteran
Can anybody point me to a suttra in which the Buddha teaches meditation on death method(s)?
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http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an06/an06.020.than.html
:zombie:
translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
"Furthermore, as if he were to see a corpse cast away in a charnel ground — one day, two days, three days dead — bloated, livid, & festering, he applies it to this very body, 'This body, too: Such is its nature, such is its future, such its unavoidable fate'...
"Or again, as if he were to see a corpse cast away in a charnel ground, picked at by crows, vultures, & hawks, by dogs, hyenas, & various other creatures... a skeleton smeared with flesh & blood, connected with tendons... a fleshless skeleton smeared with blood, connected with tendons... a skeleton without flesh or blood, connected with tendons... bones detached from their tendons, scattered in all directions — here a hand bone, there a foot bone, here a shin bone, there a thigh bone, here a hip bone, there a back bone, here a rib, there a breast bone, here a shoulder bone, there a neck bone, here a jaw bone, there a tooth, here a skull... the bones whitened, somewhat like the color of shells... piled up, more than a year old... decomposed into a powder: He applies it to this very body, 'This body, too: Such is its nature, such is its future, such its unavoidable fate.'
I wonder if telling yourself the same things would work
Oh well I should keep at it.
I found this video too
The natural death of the aged is something definite and sure. When someone reaches old age it's said that they have little time left. What can be achieved in that short remaining time? So as to be in time, those who are old and unlearned, who don't have the time to study very much and whose brains aren't as good as they were, can hold to this very principle of remainderless extinction of the 'I', that I have been speaking of.
Make it natural to yourself to see that being a person is not pleasant, being a deva is not pleasant, being a father is not pleasant, being a mother is not pleasant, being a son, a daughter, a husband, a wife, a servant, a master, a victor, a loser, a good person, a bad person, a fortunate person or an unfortunate person - none of them is pleasant, none of them is any fun. Then the mind will hold no hope of having or being anything at all. The phrase 'absence of hope' may be used in regard to the attainment of arahantship, but it's not the resignation of the foolish and lazy, it's a different matter altogether. It is the absence of hope of one who with true wisdom sees that there is nothing in this or any world that one should wish to have or be. Truly nothing is worth having or being at any time or at any place.
So what path will be taken by the mind of a person without hope? It won't take any path at all because it sees that nothing is worth wishing for. Thus it lays the way for its own death. There being no desire to have or be anything, it dissolves into emptiness. This is the skillful means to cheat nature a little. When the time of death has truly arrived, we give rise to the feeling that nothing anywhere is worth having or being. If that feeling is present in the mind at the moment of death then one will inevitably reach Nibbana through the act of dying itself. It's a really good deal-putting down a tiny amount of capital certain of great results!
Let the great scholars of the land come and test out what it's like for the mind to .meet death with the authentic feeling that nothing anywhere is worth having or being. Death will be a disintegration accompanied by nirodhadhatu. The mind will be transformed into nibbanadhatu through physical death. If a grandma or grand-dad are unlearned and inarticulate but have this single feeling it's enough.
When the time of death arrives let this feeling be present. You should remember that close to death the mind will gradually slip away. As the body runs down nearing its end, consciousness will gradually disappear. You will forget more and more until you forget everything. Yon won't know what time it is, whether it's day or night; you won't be able to tell where you are or whose house you're in, you won't even be able to remember your name or even the most basic daily chants properly. But the way for you to stay as the companion of the mind until the end is to be aware that nothing is worth having or being. Volunteer for the remainderless extinction! Let that feeling of volunteering for the remainderless extinction, that readiness to accept it be a partner of the mind until the very end. With this skilful means the mind will be able to dissolve itself into the emptiness that is Nibbana. This is the practice at the moment of physical death for those of little knowledge. With it an unlearned grandma or granddad can reach the final extinction. We call it the skilful means of turning a fall from a ladder into a measured leap.
The body must inevitably break up, it's old it has reached its end. This is to have fallen from the ladder. As one falls one leaps on, leaps on to the remainderless extinction by establishing in the mind the feeling that nothing is worth having or being. It may be called leaping in the right direction. There is no pain of any sort. There is, on the contrary, the best possible result, attainment of remainderless extinction.
It is to be adept. It is to know how to fall from the ladder. It's not like the foolish people who, when, they fall from a ladder, break their necks and all their limbs. Even those who've studied a lot and travel about, giving articulate talks in monastery halls, can still fall from the ladder and break all their bones. They can't compare with those who have been interested in the right way even if it's only in this one matter.
Now suppose that death occurs in an instant with no feeling at all, well that itself is the remainderless extinction! As I have already explained we have already trained in the normal times to keep, this feeling that nothing is worth having or being constantly in the mind, so that when the body meets death with no opportunity to think or feel anything, that awareness being already present there will be remainderless extinction. But if there is even one thought - moment or half a second then we can think comfortably. So don't be cowardly, don't be afraid! Don't let cowardice and fear sap your strength: "please may I go with you doctor", "take me to the hospital" and so on. If, you go you'll die there just the same, it's a waste of time.
Against unnatural death, dying not wanting to die, dying unexpectedly, the sublime Dhamma can not only provide an infallible protection, but can provide Nibbana right there at the wheels of the car, beneath the collapsing building, at the horns of the bull or in the pile of bodies charred by the atomic blast. There is no violent unnatural death, instead there is Nibbana.
Those who have studied little, know little, right down to grandma and granddad who can't read, are all capable of understanding this teaching and should keep training in this correct understanding.
Now as for the death of those of perfect knowledge and truth - discerning awareness, those who have studied sufficiently and are proficient' both in the theory and practice of Dhamma, for such people it doesn't have to be a matter of leaping as they fall from the ladder. They are deathless from the start, from before any illness. Through having attained a high level of Dhamma since long before, they have no death.
If a person has such abundant knowledge then when the time of death truly arrives, his preparations win be much better than those of people who have to leap as they fall from the ladder. Knowing how to establish mindfulness and self - awareness that is incorruptible he may laugh contemptuously at death., It might be called descending the ladder rung-by-rung and is the way of one with perfect knowledge.
Now I would like to talk about the way that the sick and diseased should prepare themselves for death. When one knows that death is inevitable, such as when suffering from a terminal disease like tuberculosis, one should make the very best of it with mindfulness and self-awareness, without cowardice or fear.
I'd like to relate to you an account I once came across of the way that people in the time of the Buddha prepared for death. For those who kept the Precepts of Virtuous Conduct fasting was not at all difficult because they were used to abstaining from an evening meal on Uposatha [26] days. When their illness reached the point that they felt that they had no more than ten days left to live they would stop eating. Not like us. These days, if someone is close to death we go out and look for the most expensive and delicious foods, so that some people even die prematurely from the food. Their efforts to avoid food were for the purpose of having a mind completely undisturbed. When the body starts to run down it loses its ability to digest food and so anything consumed turns to poison, making the mind restless and confused.
So they prepared themselves for death by abstaining from food and taking only water or medicine. As death got closer, they would stop taking even water or medicine in order to focus their mindfulness and self - awareness, so as to die in the way of remainderless extinction.
People who cling to goodness and virtue prepare themselves for death by clinging to goodness and virtue. The wise prepare themselves to let go and meet the remainderless extinction. There is nothing that they want; injecting drugs to extend their lives would be a great irritation. This is relinquishing the body (sankharas). Relinquishing the body while still alive they prepare to make the best of its disintegration by acquiescing in remainderless extinction.
As for us these days, we mill around the doctor in a tumult, sometimes until the room is packed tight, trying to get the dying person to take medicine or eat or have injections. We try to do so many things that the sick person becomes anxious and flustered, and has no peace of mind. He doesn’t know how he is going to die or whether in fact he will die at all. There is nothing but doubt and anxiety. The sick person does not experience victory over death, he does not realize emptiness or the remainderless extinction that I have been speaking of.
Unlike the people of the Buddha's time, people today usually look for the most comfortable bed, the most comfortable room, the most expensive foods and medicines, and then die with a great fuss. They want to go on living, to put off their death even if it's only for a single minute. They start having all sorts of injections and treatments and die with no mindfulness or self awareness. It is the action of delusion.
To die in the right way we must be brave with Dhamma, and die having victory over death, die realizing emptiness in the last second of life. Please remember well, there is an opportunity right up to the last moment.
http://www.what-buddha-taught.net/Books/Bhikkhu_Buddhadasa_Heart_Wood_from_the_Bo_Tree.htm