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Death
misecmisc1
I am a HinduIndia Veteran
hi all,
the below questions related to death came to my mind, so thought of asking you all.
how do you all literally approach or handle death, or the thing that we will die someday as it is unavoidable - means do you have fear for it, or do you totally accept it? is there something inside you which feels - at death, everything will be removed from us - what do you feel about this thing?
theoretically, i have read we are born and we die every moment - but practically i have not found anything, which i can see is getting born or dying every moment - i cannot see how my cells are working inside my body and i do not feel anything when the cells inside the body change - so practically how do you approach this statement that we are born and we die every moment.
also, this thing is said about 'die before you die' that when we 'die before we die', then after that we can actually live life. so how do you all approach this thing - 'die before you die' - means do you do some practice to understand this thing?
please suggest. thanks in advance.
the below questions related to death came to my mind, so thought of asking you all.
how do you all literally approach or handle death, or the thing that we will die someday as it is unavoidable - means do you have fear for it, or do you totally accept it? is there something inside you which feels - at death, everything will be removed from us - what do you feel about this thing?
theoretically, i have read we are born and we die every moment - but practically i have not found anything, which i can see is getting born or dying every moment - i cannot see how my cells are working inside my body and i do not feel anything when the cells inside the body change - so practically how do you approach this statement that we are born and we die every moment.
also, this thing is said about 'die before you die' that when we 'die before we die', then after that we can actually live life. so how do you all approach this thing - 'die before you die' - means do you do some practice to understand this thing?
please suggest. thanks in advance.
0
Comments
As far as what happens after death...who knows?
.
Death has a very special meaning in Sufism, where it equates with a graduated death of our lower selves and the birth of divine qualities.
In some ways it is similar to the development of enlightened qualities practiced in some Buddhist systems . . .
Death can be seen as the ultimate proof of the first Noble Truth. Existence always leads to death. Good situations die.
However death also is one of the four signs that led the Buddha to seek enlightenment. It is during the death process or in fear, denial or nearness that we start to develop clarity and insight.
We live with death. We can not run from it, intimidate or escape it. Death takes everything from us. Death is enlightenment.
As @how says no self or 'selflessness is the practice and answer' :clap:
may be this is why i like zen approach of being in here and now - and also because it says the knowing cannot be grasped - so in a way, i am getting a loop hole or an escape to justify myself that when finally it is also not known completely by me, so just relax and be with not knowing at present too. may be i am coward, who is just trying to find out reasoning to justify myself that even though i may not awaken, then also somehow it is ok to just be with theoretical knowledge, with no hands on experience from meditation, and with the theoretical knowledge the ego in me saying 'I' know something like anatta, sunyata etc, without me actually knowing these things - so in a way, it seems to me that i am a type of a complete hypocrite.
It's really about discovering that there is no difference between the "me" I think I am and the nature of reality. All of these divisions are illusions, created by our own conditioned thinking. It's worth persevering with meditation so that you begin to see past the chattering thoughts to the true nature of mind which is in fact your true nature.
We fear death because it seems to be our end. But what is there to fear? Non-existence? You did not exist before you were born. Was that a fearful state?
Does any of this make sense. Sorry, I'm not very good at putting this stuff into words. But keep meditating, and don't worry about being a "hypocrite". That's just your ego-mind trying to undermine your practice.
Verse 371: O Bhikkhu, mediate, and do not be unmindful; do not let your mind rejoice in sensual pleasures. Do not be unmindful and swallow the (hot) lump of iron; as you burn (in niraya) do not cry, "This, indeed, is suffering."
Verse 372: There can be no Concentration in one who lacks wisdom; there can be no wisdom in one who lacks Concentration. He who has Concentration as well as wisdom is, indeed, close to Nibbana.
Verse 373: The Bhikkhu, who goes into seclusion (to meditate), whose mind is tranquil, who clearly perceives the Dhamma, experiences the joy, which transcends that of (ordinary) men.
Verse 374: Every time he clearly comprehends the arising and the perishing of the khandhas, he finds joy and rapture. That, to the wise, is the way to Nibbana (the Deathless).
In life we defend this hypocrite, inflated, convoluted, suffering avoiding, thrill seeking karma mish-mash [a technical term]. Really it is nothing, empty, its experiences are dead, future unknown. It is barely in the moment . . .
With practice we start to expose the self. The self starts to die/dissolve. Frightened of death? Better not be born or go through endless cycles of suffering (real or imagined)
Today is a good day to die
Klingon saying.
Looking at it from the physical and even cellular levels, change is what we do. With every interaction comes information and reaction. Reaction signifies either growth or decay but death is just another change. For me it means to put no-self to practical use and practice selflessness... Let go of self before self lets go of you.
In life we defend this hypocrite, inflated, convoluted, suffering avoiding, thrill seeking karma mish-mash [a technical term]. Really it is nothing, empty, its experiences are dead, future unknown. It is barely in the moment . . .
With practice we start to expose the self. The self starts to die/dissolve. Frightened of death? Better not be born or go through endless cycles of suffering (real or imagined)
Today is a good day to die
Klingon saying.
Perhaps, but I had nothing better to do and the view can be spectacular. Don't take that to mean I cling to this life because I can appreciate it all the more knowing it's temporary.
As someone who is dying from a terminal illness, to be perfectly honest, I have days where I can accept it calmly and focus on making the most of what time I do have left.
I have days where I am so incredibly pissed off I cannot even put it into words. I hate the world and sulk, till I have something jolt my memory and I realise that there is a very good reason that Anger is the most dangerous klesha. Do I _REALLY_ want my daughter's last memories of her mother as being an angry b!tch?
I think (well, I hope) that "die before you die" means being able to accept that I'm going to die sooner than I'd hoped, and can let go of the anger and fear and leave the world that little bit better than when I entered it. That I can leave good memories in my daughter's heart about our time together, that my parents won't be too sad because nothing was left unsaid or not done. That I won't die with my last moments filled with dread and fear.
That's just my 0.02 FWIW.
In metta,
Raven
Between quietness and silence,
Between emptiness and nothingness,
Between darkness and void,
Between stillness and stone,
Peace abounds.
Time is a river.
nuff said
Then, when I was 11 or so, I had my first near death experience, in the ocean. Long story short, I was fine, but I had never experienced anything like that feeling in my young life. Total peace, calm, it was as if I was in a void, but there was no "I", just a suspension of everything I thought I knew (very difficult to describe, I'm not doing an adequate job)
But point of the story is, after that, I no longer feared death. Because in "dying" there was no fear for me. That has been my direct experience. I'm sure it has much to do with the body's response to high stress situations, releasing feel-good chemicals and whatnot. Even though I see that as a viable explanation for everything experienced, it still doesn't rouse up a fear of death. Just because death implies the unknown doesn't make it scary for me.
Like @vinlyn, I do fear the process of dying, associated pain and all that.
the above thing is indicating death is not something which happens all together in a single moment - rather a series of activities in which different organs cease their working. so may be trying to live by 'being' more in here and now - shall help so that we may not fear much or feel more pain at the time of dying, provided we remember to be in here and now during the time of death.
if someone hits me with a stick, i feel the pain of it - then when i will die, how much pain will i feel?
My statement really asks.... what dies?
It often points out what each person treasures most (or we are most attached to).
Will what you treasure, end, when all your cells die?
Pain is what everyone wants to avoid. Our survival has depended on our hard wired avoidance of it, just as we often have to be willing to place ourselves in painful situations in order to not become subject to worse pains. (going out into the snow to hunt before we become too hungry to do so...or whatever the modern equivalent of that is).
Pain is electrical signals saying ...THIS NEEDS TO BE PAID ATTENTION TO!
The best we can do in a practice is to simply do that.
That means not adding suffering to the mix through an unwillingness to accept the message.
Do you think that pain's message will be smaller or greater than your ending?
And how do you prepare for that?
Death of me, mine, life, all that I know cherish and hold on to.
Ready for death yet? No? Tsk, tsk - gonna live for ever are we? Good luck with that fantasy.
Here we go round the mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush.
Here we go round the mulberry bush
So early in the morning.
:hair: