Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this teaching session, Christele guides a group of practitioners through the six disadvantages of not remembering death and the six corresponding advantages, laying the groundwork for the nine-point meditation on death that forms the core of the evening’s practice. After presenting these twelve contemplations in detail, Christele addresses a question from the previous week regarding euthanasia, drawing on Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s perspective that compassion without wisdom risks causing greater harm across future lives. She then introduces the nine-point meditation structure, organized into three roots: the certainty of death (with three supporting reasons), the uncertainty of when death will occur (also with three reasons), and the understanding that only spiritual practice can help at the time of death. Throughout, she weaves practical examples—the falling plane, the draining water container, deathclock.com—to deepen contemplation, and emphasizes that this meditation, when done thoroughly at home, should be expanded from the quick overview given tonight into daily practice that trains the mind to remain ready and transforms all activities into spiritual work.
File metadata (for organising)
File: Christele – Track 12.mp3
UUID: fd2f64cf-f31c-40da-9e84-a67628908254
Teacher: Christele
Collection: Death & Rebirth (Christele)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Words: ~12,624
So the problem is that I need to use a board tonight, so that’s going to be all. Can you pop it in your pocket? It’s more for the stand. Yeah, like last week. Okay, so last week we talked about the six disadvantages of not remembering death death, and the six advantages of remembering death and impermanence.
And as we went out of time last week, we’re going to do the meditation I planned to do at the end of the teaching last week. So the meditation on the six points of the disadvantages and the six advantages. And after we’re going to talk on how to cultivate mindfulness of death and how we can come to the actual way of remembering death, which is basically in two parts. But tonight we’re only going to do one part. The next part will be for next week.
So tonight we’re going to talk about the nine-point meditation on death, and next week the meditation on the aspects of death. So the plan for tonight, we’re going to start again with the breathing exercises, followed by the motivation and refuge prayers. And then, as I said, the meditation on the six disadvantages and six advantages. And then I’m going to I’ve got an answer from a question from last week about you talked about suicide and Yeah, the explanation. Yeah, so I went on the internet and I found an answer from Lama Zopa, so that might help.
And then we’re going to talk about the nine-point meditation on death and all the points. And then we’re going to do this meditation session, and then dedication. Okay? Good. So this meditation is from Dr Nicolai Ribordy from FPMT. So as I said, we’re going to start with a meditation on the breath. So just sit comfortably in the seven point posture. I can guide you quickly through the seven points if you want. So if you’re sitting on the floor, you can cross your legs in the Vajra or full lotus position, but that might be a bit hard for most of us.
So we can do the half lotus position, the left foot on the floor under the right leg and the right foot on top of the left top thigh. Otherwise, just simply cross your leg with both feet on the floor. If you’re sitting on a chair, sure that your feet are flat on the floor and your buttocks to the back of the chair. Your hands loosely on your lap, the right hand on top of the left hand, palms upward and the hand slightly cupped. Your back is the most important.
Make sure your back is straight. Your eyes slightly open, allowing some light to get in, but not too much. Your jaw and your mouth must be relaxed. Your lips touching. The teeth slightly apart.
The tip of the tongue should touch the palate behind the upper teeth, and your neck is bent forward a little. So now, just focus for a few minutes on your breath. Remember, you don’t need to change your usual pattern of breathing. Simply pay full attention to your breath as it enters and exits your nostrils, generating a strong determination to concentrate on your breath without allowing yourself to become distracted by anything whatsoever, internal or external. So we’re going to do that for a few minutes.
Generate bodhicitta motivation for doing the following meditation also for here tonight listening to the teaching. I think the purpose of my life is to lead all sentient beings from suffering into enlightenment. In order to be able to do this, I must first reach enlightenment myself. Reaching enlightenment depends on completing the correct path to enlightenment. Among many other things, doing so includes realising impermanence and death.
Therefore, I am going to meditate and listen to the teachings on impermanence and death. I go for refuge till I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the supreme assembly. For my practice of giving and other perfections, may I become a Buddha to benefit all sentient beings. I go for refuge till I’m enlightened. To the Buddha, the Dharma, and the supreme assembly.
For my practice of giving and other perfections, may I become a Buddha to benefit all sentient beings. I go for refuge till I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the supreme assembly. From my practice of giving and other perfections, may I become a Buddha to benefit all sentient beings. May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness. May all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
May all sentient beings be inseparable from the happiness that is free from suffering. May all sentient beings abide in equanimity, free from attachment for friends and hatred from enemies. Now come back to your breath. Spend a few more moments just watching your breath, the air going in and out of your body. Make sure that your position is still correct, that your back is straight.
Your arm and shoulder are relaxed. We are going to start by thinking of the six disadvantages of not remembering impermanence and death. The purpose of this meditation is to get it through our skulls how important it is to have constant awareness of not only the fact that we are going to die, but more importantly, the imminence of death. The fact that the time of death is uncertain and that it can come at any moment. This being so, we should always be prepared for death and should lead our lives accordingly, that is, in such a way, that when death does inevitably come, we will feel neither sorrow nor regret, but will actually look forward to it.
The first disadvantage disadvantage of not remembering death is the disadvantage of not remembering Dharma. Now think, if I don’t remember death, I won’t be afraid of death. And if I’m not afraid of death, I won’t remember to practice Dharma. Instead, I will waste my precious life in worldly pursuits, following attachment to the comfort of this life and working for money, sense pleasures, clothing, shelter, reputation and all the other useless things that benefit only this life. By failing to practice Dharma, I will completely waste my precious human rebirth.
Contemplate for a few moments on this. The second disadvantage of not remembering death is that even though you remember to practice Dharma, you keep putting it off. Think if I don’t maintain constant awareness of death. Even though I remember to practice Dharma, instead of doing it, I will keep procrastinating, postponing my practice. If I don’t remember death, I will always have the thought I am not going to die today in my mind.
And that will make me think, oh, I will practice tomorrow, next week, next month, next year or the year after that. First I have to finish my studies and get a degree. First I have to get a job and save more money. First I should get married and have a family. First I should buy a house.
First I should buy a car. If I don’t remember death, everything else will become more important than practising Dharma. And in this way, I will spend my life in worldly pursuit and run the risk of dying before I have been able to practice any Dharma whatsoever. Contemplate this. The third disadvantage of not remembering impermanence and death is that of remembering to practise and not putting it off.
But the Dharma practice that you becomes impure, polluted, tainted by attachment, defiled by the eight worldly dharmas. Now think. If I allow myself to fall under the control of attachment, of the desire to receive material things, comfort, fame and praise, an aversion to not receiving material things, being uncomfortable, and being badly thought of and criticised. Even when I do try to practice Dharma, my motivation would be more concerned with the comfort of this life, and this would poison whatever Dharma practice I undertake. Whether it’s practicing charity, keeping precepts, studying, meditating, whatever it is, it will be poisoned by attachment and aversion.
So whatever Dharma I try to practice will be impure and therefore non-Dharma. The fourth disadvantage of not remembering death is that even though you remember to practice Dharma, you don’t practice seriously or continuously. Think, if I don’t constantly remember death, I will be unable to persevere in practice and will easily get distracted. Even though I remember to practice Dharma, don’t put it off, and even practice purely, after a short time, because I have forgotten that my death is imminent and my time to practice Dharma is rapidly running out, I will get bored and want to do something new. If I don’t get immediate results from my practice, don’t have clear visualization, don’t experience any peace of mind, fail to achieve any realizations or deep understanding, I will get discouraged and give up my practice.
All this is a thought of attachment to the comfort of this life, and that comes from not remembering impermanence and death. The fifth disadvantage of not remembering impermanence and death is that of making no effort to control the negative mind and easily creating negative karma. Think. If I don’t remember that death can come at any moment, I will very easily allow myself to fall under the influence of attachment to pleasure, to being with someone or to possessing something. Instead of thinking, I shouldn’t follow attachment because I could die at any moment.
And if I die with strong attachment in my mind, I will definitely be reborn in the three lower realms. I will allow myself to fall under the control of attachment. And when I get angry, because I have forgotten death, instead of thinking anger is the most dangerous of negative minds. It destroys all my merits and causes me to be reborn in hell. Since I can die at any moment, if I die with strong anger in my mind, there is no way I will be reborn in the upper realms.
I will allow myself to fall under the control of anger. Not remembering death, I would think, I’m not going to die soon. I’m not going to die today. It doesn’t matter. I can always purify later.
This too is a shortcoming of not remembering impermanence and death. The sixth disadvantage of not remembering death is that when you die, you die with much worry and regret. Think, if I don’t remember death, I will be unprepared when the time to die arrives. I will not be able to die with a positive, virtuous mind. I will be afraid.
My mind will be full of regret. All I will be able to think of is how much time I have wasted, the thing I didn’t do. If it is so hard to remember dharma even now, why I am healthy and all my faculties are intact, what chance will I have to generate positive attitude at the time of death, when my mind is out of control, and all the negative karma that I have created in this and previous lives are bursting to manifest. Instead of dying in a positive frame of mind, I will die in a negative frame of mind and will be reborn in that way. Now turn your mind to the six advantages of remembering impermanence and death.
The first advantage of remembering death is that it is most beneficial. Remembering death makes my whole life meaningful and it gives it great purpose. By maintaining constant awareness of death, I will always be mindful to practice Dharma and to transform all my actions, even what would normally be considered worldly ones into Dharma. Understanding that life is short and constantly running out, I will be aware that I have to make every moment a step closer to enlightenment. Because each moment that passes without being transformed into dharma is a moment, an opportunity, lost forever.
The advantage of remembering death is that it is most powerful. Think. Remembering death is one of the most powerful and effective ways in which I can destroy my delusions and negative minds. At the moment, it’s very difficult for me to meditate on emptiness when strong anger arises, especially in the heat of the moment. But remembering that I could die at any moment is well within my capabilities and is therefore a very effective way of bringing me to my senses.
When anger arises, I should think, I could die right now. How ridiculous it is to be angry, to leave yet another imprint of anger in my mind. What a waste of my perfect human rebirth. I must never allow myself to get angry. Remembering impermanence and death is equally powerful in subduing any other delusions arising strongly in my mind.
It’s like pouring cold water into boiling water. The boiling water is immediately subdued. The third advantage of remembering death is that it’s important at the beginning of the practice. Think the purpose of my life is to practice Dharma. The reason I was born human is that many of my life I worked hard create merit, to practice morality, charity and other perfections, and made countless prayers to again be reborn human, to continue to practice the Dharma.
That is why I have found a perfect human rebirth this time. Therefore, if I don’t practice Dharma, I will waste all the incredible effort I have made in my previous life. It would be worse than squandering a fabulous inheritance. And since I can die anytime, I must start practicing Dharma immediately. The fourth advantage of remembering death is that it’s important once we have set out on the Dharma path.
Think. Now that I’m on the path to enlightenment, no matter what difficulties arise when I try to study or practice meditation, by remembering impermanence and death, I will be able to overcome them, no matter how hard it is to understand the teachings on emptiness or other difficult subjects. No matter how hard it is to get up early, to keep precepts, to do long retreats, to battle delusions, to develop single point concentration. Remembering impermanence and death will allow me eventually to accomplish all these virtuous activities. The fifth advantage of remembering death is that it allows us to complete our Dharma practice and attain enlightenment.
Milarepa said, through fear of death, I fled to the mountains, where I realized the nature of the mind. Now, death holds no fears for me. Just as mindfulness of death allows him to remain in extremely harsh conditions and complete all the difficult austere practices and attain enlightenment, in the same way, it can help me when I approach the end of the path. May become like that. The sixth advantage of remembering death is that it allows us to die happily without regret.
Think, as long as I remember impermanence and death, I will always remember Dharma. As long as I remember dharma, I will keep practising. And may even become like those great practitioners for whom death is a picnic. Even if I don’t become like that and look forward to death, can still die with the confidence that I won’t be reborn in the three lower realms. And if not that, at least I would be able to die without a feeling of regret that I have wasted life.
These are the six disadvantages of not remembering impermanence and death, and the six advantages of doing so. I went through very quickly so these twelve points but when you do this meditation at home, you should spend five, ten, fifteen minutes on each point and bring your own wisdom, your own feeling and your own experience into the meditation. Also, you will need to be able to do informal meditation. In other words, meditate for the other twenty three point five hours of the day. Since we can’t spend much of our time on our cushion, we need to be able to make everything we do a meditation.
Therefore, we should keep awareness of impermanence and death with us constantly as we go about our daily life and use it to transform all our actions into Dharma and protect us from creating any negative karma whatsoever. Any questions so far before I get to answering the question from last week? Do you need a bit of time after this meditation? Regarding the question on euthanasia last week, there’s Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s online advice book on the internet, and it’s basically answering questions to students. There was this one, it was following an article in one of the Sydney papers.
There was this Chinese guy who called Lama Zopa to support euthanasia because Lama Zopa was basically describing an arhat, or a very realised being, who was in great pain and asked a student to kill him. But it was quoted like that in this article, so Lama Zopa put another article in the paper to explain why. Basically he said that he gives the example of a monk of a high spiritual attainment, who, because he was in great pain, asked his disciple to kill him. And he said because the disciple motivation was good, Buddha said that he had created no negative karma, only virtue. However, performing euthanasia with a good motivation is not sufficient because we need to help others with wisdom as well as compassion.
And I think for a normal being, as ourselves, it’s pretty hard to really use our wisdom to do it. So if a person will have more peace and happiness in the next life, our action is good. On the other hand, even though our action may stop the person’s present suffering, it could result in their being reborn in a realm where their suffering would be a million times worse. So the concern is more the outcome of the person in the next life, what the person is suffering right now. Basically Lama Zopa said that if you don’t have clairvoyance it’s very hard to know what’s going to happen after the person dies.
In case someone is in a coma, so in the case of someone who is going to stay in a coma for many years, rather than spending thousands of dollars keeping them alive, it would be good to use the money to purify the negative karma which would cause them to suffer in their future lives. It would be better to spend the money benefiting many people and then dedicate the positive energy created not only to the temporary happiness of that person, but to the liberation from all suffering and achievement of enlightenment. Giving the money to a good cause is the best thing to do. It can be done on behalf of a family member, a friend or even an enemy and can help to relieve feeling of guilt? So basically it’s a very difficult question.
So unless you’re a very realised being and you know what to do, it’s pretty hard. But there’s more article on that. He’s talking about euthanasia for animals also. So if you want you can go online and type that. Does it answer a little bit your question?
Or was it more not seeking medical treatment? Was it more what you were talking about? It does answer the question kind of. I always find hard is that you subliminal a lot of these answers. I feel I’m hearing out that, oh, the reason why you are in pain or someone is in pain is because their karma brought it upon them to be in that pain, and they need to go to the suffering to make them you know, prepare them for maybe a better phase or stage in the next life for whatever reason.
That that and and that kind of it really deeply rebels in me. And I don’t know if that rebelling is because I’ve got such a Western view of life and my own upbringing and the way I feel Mhmm. Brainwashing condition or if it’s really a deep spiritual rebellion that’s saying that it’s just not right. I actually don’t know the answer to that. Yeah.
I I don’t know. I mean, you can ask Geshe-la, he would be able to help you. But on here actually, in the next article he’s talking about the suffering of the animals. I think he does give something. Let me go through it quickly.
Yeah. I don’t know. Mean It’s very hard because especially when it’s a person you you’re attached to and seeing them suffering is very difficult. But Maybe there is no answer. Well, not from me, but yeah.
He said here, so talking about euthanasia of animals, so the suffering of the animal would be much better so basically not to kill the animal straight away, it might be much better off for him to suffer for two more minutes and get rid of this negative karma instead of being reborn in a lower realm. I’m not a clairvoyant, so ask Geshe-la or somebody else. It’s probably made more complicated in the modern world because now those work technologies which the other issue then, isn’t it? How much should a medical practitioner relieve the pain because that sort of goes into the same vein of the argument about maybe to some degree people were meant to suffer. No.
Yeah. But also, when you’re about to die, don’t want to have a lot of medications that makes your mind dull and you’re not able to, I mean if you’re a very good practitioner, to actually concentrate and you just slip into this fogginess and then you lose you can’t meditate anymore at the time of death, so you need to be a very advanced practitioner, I guess. Heard about from very experienced practitioners who can The other thing is, if you’re afraid of death, and then you learn through many practices no longer to be afraid of death, to in a way then commit suicide because you’re no longer afraid of death. We almost follow in a less than logical way. Yeah, but no, because this life is so precious, it’s so rare to find that they’d be wasting it and you really need to use it to practice and attain enlightenment.
So you’d be wasting it if you cut your life short. So that won’t be Dharma to do that. I mean that’s my I mean from other teaching what I read. Are afraid of wasting your life? Are you afraid of death because you don’t able to live to the end of your life that you’re meant to live?
Sorry. Can you repeat that? Well, if you’re not if you’re arguing about that’s very best in me, I was thinking, but if you’re arguing that you’ve got to be worried about wasting your life, then you also have to be worried about death cutting that life short. Yeah, that’s why you need to do everything you can to stay healthy. Not because of this life, for the pleasure of this life and the worldly concern, but because you want to be healthy to practice the Dharma so you can attain a higher rebirth or enlightenment.
And that’s why they said you need to do everything you can to maintain this body healthy. To benefit all sentient beings, if that’s your motivation. That’s your motivation. In a way this is all a bit academic though because if you believed in the dharma then you wouldn’t believe in euthanasia. Well unless you’re very clairvoyant and you see that I The person that’s asking to have their life ended may not accept any of what we’re talking about.
No. And that’s right. They may reject the whole And they might. So I mean, actually Venerable Germaine had the case of one of her friends who wanted to commit, she was very sick and she wanted to commit euthanasia, and she did, she was living in Holland and I think it’s legal over there. So Venerable Germaine tried to explain to her that it might not be a good idea, but she was so, so convinced that the only thing that she could do is actually help her at the time of the death and make sure she did all the prayers and all the practices.
That’s what Robina says in that I should have brought that DVD, I will bring it. She talks about that. And because this guy in the audience asked the same thing. And she says she gives pretty much what we’re saying, the answer. He goes she said, you know, is there anything about that you don’t understand?
And he goes, yeah, all of it. And she goes, well, what’s the problem? And he go, you know, what what is it that you find difficult? And he said, you’re talking about it from the point of view of the person who’s being asked. I’m talking about it from the point of view of the person who’s doing the asking.
Oh, okay. But so anyway, she said it doesn’t matter. Like, so there’s so whether it’s you or me who’s doing the asking Mhmm. The only reason and she was saying a bit that same thing of it’s not the motivation is about compassion. The motivation isn’t that we’re meant to suffer, you know, and that it’s meant to be horrible.
The motivation is compassion and since we don’t know where that person’s consciousness is going to go, it’s a bit like trying to be a surgeon for people with cataracts. If you’re not a surgeon, honey, don’t help them. No, please. And also you’ve got to think of asking somebody to kill you, mean what kind of negative karma this person is going to create by doing the act of killing you. One final point.
The whole thing about suffering is part of karma. I mean, if if we take that to the extreme, then as an individual I would never do anything for anyone because if they’re suffering then that’s their karma. No. You need to have compassion. You see, that’s where bodhicitta comes, you need to have compassion.
So you just sit there and go, oh, why is suffering? You know? What is for? Yeah. That’s exactly what I believe.
Yeah. So to say that the suffering is reducing their karma or purifying them to a point is negating their whole idea of compassion. Yeah. Okay. Maybe we should start subject from tonight.
So where am I now? Give me two minutes. Oh yeah, I just wanted to read you that. So the purpose of meditating on death is not to create the fear from object of attachment. You should worry about where you’re going to go in your next life and all your future life.
You should worry about whether your next life will have better condition than this one, or instead you’re going to go down to a lower realms. And if you go down to lower realms, it’s very hard to come up again. It’s like rolling a big rock uphill. So what we should be afraid of is that death will come before we have created any causes for higher rebirth. We should be worrying about stopping the causes of lower rebirth.
And this is the way should be afraid of death. This is the kind of fear that’s going to become your friend. Now how to cultivate mindfulness of death and the nine part meditation on death. This made us a very clear outline that provides you with a reason and insight that can make your meditation stronger and more effective. This is a nine part.
It’s going to be fun with the board again. Got everything ready. So the nine-point meditation on death? I love it, dear. Oh, I’ve I put that on I did print that, so you don’t have to copy it.
It’s outside waiting for you because one of the homework is actually to meditate on that. So you can write it down if you want, but it will be over there outside. It has three main sections, or three roots, our primary topic. Each of these roots has three reasons and a conclusion. So the first root is that death is certain.
So we know it’s going to happen. Sorry. Okay. And so there’s three reasons. The first reason is that death will come.
Certainty of death and that death will definitely come and there is nothing that we can do to prevent it. Also, we all know that we cannot escape death. Deep down, we still have the feeling that we’re going to live for a long time. Maybe we’re going to live forever. So these feelings obstruct our ability to practice pure and proper Dharma.
So there is no force or power that can prevent death from happening. No matter what type of body we take at birth, death will come. And we should think in a way that ever since human beings were on earth, there’s not one person who didn’t die. And you can go through all the famous person that you know, the powerful people, the rich people, anybody you want to take, I mean, death did come. Mean, they If you look in a hundred years, there’d be nobody else on earth, maybe a few, the ones who were born.
Even the Buddha, when he attained nirvana and he did pass away, it was actually a teaching on impermanence and death. So even very high spiritual persons who attain high realization, they still die. So why do we think that we’re so special that we’re not gonna die? So yeah, we don’t have any special qualities that make us superior to Buddhas or other realized beings. So there is no way we can run to escape death.
Death is inevitable. Once you are born in the world, you have to die. When that time will come, it’s determined by your karma. There is no method of being that can prevent this from happening, no medicine that can cure us, no mantra or magic substance that can turn death away. The first reason death will come.
We’ll go through that in the meditation later. The second reason is that death is definite and there is nothing that you can do to extend your lifespan and it is always decreasing. Lifespan cannot be extended. From the moment you enter your mother’s womb, moment represents a shortening of your lifespan. Your lifespan is decreasing from this time onward.
Every minute, every hour, every day, the rest of your life is getting shorter and shorter. You’re moving closer and closer to death. Can take the example of jumping off a plane without a parachute. That’s what’s happening to us. So we keep falling and falling and falling, and eventually we’re going to hit the ground, and there’s nothing we can do.
So in the same way with that parachute, our life rushes headfirst towards its inevitable conclusion death. There’s no way we can extend our lifespan. Our life is leaking away moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day. You can take the example of a very large container of water with a hole at the bottom and it’s dripping. It will get empty.
The remainder of our life just gets shorter and every breath we take, every heartbeat, is bringing us closer and closer to death. Same thing, the length of our life depends on our previous karma. So even if we have everything we need food, shelter, clothes, access to very good health care, good doctors the most we can expect is maybe to live two hundred years old. And even if we are able to live that long, the time will pass very quickly. It’s like lightning in the sky.
That’s the examples to show that life is so quick when you look in the big picture. Life is always moving towards death. human life is very short. There are many potential causes of death. Also, type of life is very difficult to obtain.
It is trenchant, temporary. It is like drawing on water. It goes away pretty when you do it. So we have no choice. Sickness and old age drive us towards this.
And it’s like a river flowing. So when you look at it from a distance, it looks like it’s not moving, but when you get closer, it’s actually moving. And this is the same as us. We think, you know, we’re not moving towards death, but we are actually. So also we experience aging and sickness, which take us towards death.
We are still happy to be alive and believe that we are going to stay here without heading on to our next life. And we shouldn’t get caught in this false sense sense of secure happiness. While you are falling from a very high cliff, it is not really a proper time to rejoice simply because you haven’t hit the ground yet. I don’t think we’d be rejoicing at all. Death is sudden and we will die soon.
It is not far away, it is right in front of us, and it will come very quickly. So being young, healthy, rich, or anything, it’s not meant to protect you from dying. It might be uncomfortable and sometimes painful to actually think of that, but it can really help us to eliminate a great amount of negative karma. It can help us to create merit and to prepare for the time of death. And death can eventually be an experience to look forward to.
Trying to forget death will bring disaster, and you won’t be able to help yourself when it is there. Nor can you do anything to prepare for your life, even if you want to. Doctor. Rebusch gave a website. I didn’t go and log in on it, but it’s called deathclock.com.
Actually counts this again, till you’re going to die. You enter a different information apparently. I didn’t go on it. Mean you can go to www.deathclock.com. So it’s an internet friendly reminder that life is slipping away second by second.
It’s pretty good. I was thinking to log in at work today and I thought, Oh, they’ll be listening. So anyway You could just feel your own heartbeat. Yes. So anyway, so yeah, you can type in the basic detail of your life, like your date of birth, your sex, psychological disposition, and it would bring up a window that shows you how many more seconds you have to live.
As you watch, you can see the seconds ticking away. Anyway, I should have put that in the homework, know, make sure you get your desk clock. You might get an extension of your life. Okay. I’m sure they have a disclaimer or something.
Don’t forget daylight savings. So anyways, the third reason, and it is actually not a very logical reason, but we’re going to go through that, is that we would definitely die before we get around to practice Dharma. There is little time to practice Dharma. It is not really a theoretical reason but it is given to emphasize just how short our life is and how little time within this short life have to practice Dharma. So according to Buddhism, when you do certain practices, you’re going to achieve certain kind of result.
So those goals can be reached only if you spend the time and if you practice properly. But usually we do not have the time or we do not take the time to practice Dharma. In this third point, we contemplate that even while we are alive, there is not much opportunity to practice Dharma. It looks like we’ve got plenty of time. Really, if you look at how much time you spend sleeping, eating, going to work, and all the other worldly activities, you’re going to see that actually you don’t spend that much time practicing Dharma.
It looks like we have plenty of time. We are supposed to live to seventy or eighty years old and that seems a long time. It seems like there is a lot of time to do what has to be done, but this is deceptive. Even if you live to be one hundred years old, a great deal of your time has already passed away. And most of us, we only meet the dharma when we’re well into adulthood.
I mean, in the We don’t really meet dharma when we’re kids, so already all this time it’s gone. During this time we’ve been getting closer to death without having heard the word Dharma. And even when we met the Dharma, we do not spend much time practicing it. When we are sick, we are unable to practice. Then later on we get old, we lose energy, our mind becomes less sharp, we get more easily tired, and again, it’s difficult for us to practice Dharma.
During our lives, are many things we do that are not practising Dharma. We usually don’t pay much attention to how much time we have, but as I say, if you think seriously, you would begin to worry. We haven’t done much up to now, and what time is left will be taken up with by various concerns. It’s like when we wake up from a sweet dream, the pleasures of that dream are mere memories. In the same way, all the joys of this life will become memories at the time of death.
They will appear like memories to you. When we go to our future life alone, our relatives, friends, wealth, and reputation will not come with us to our next life. Death will definitely come. It is certain. But we have the choice about how we’re going to utilize the opportunity we have in this precious life.
When death comes, the only thing that can possibly help you is the Dharma practice that we have done. So the first conclusion is that since death is definite, I must practice Dharma. And that’s why you should. When you go through all this reasoning, that’s the conclusion that you should eventually come to. And the purpose of this sitting will lead you to think, if I’m going to die tomorrow, what should I do today?
There is nothing wrong with satisfying your needs for food and clothes and shelter. But don’t take them for enjoyment, but to protect this precious body that you can continue to seek a higher goal. And I need to get some water. I’ve got some here. Any questions for this board?
The second one is that the time of death is uncertain. We don’t know when we’re going to die. So let’s forget about the death clock. The second root is actually thinking about the uncertainty of the time of death and that the time of death is is uncertain. We cannot say for sure when we’re going to die.
It can come at any time. If you think, why won’t I die today? You cannot come up with any valid reason why you’re not going to die today. When you decide to live in a particular place for a long time, you make arrangements to be completely comfortable there. If on the other hand you think, I won’t be here for very long, I will leave soon and go somewhere else, you won’t bother much with your current living situation.
Instead, you will put your energy into preparing for the place you are going to. Where was a retreat for Robina? She actually gave a good example of a hotel room in the Bahamas or something. No, nobody was there? Okay, right.
Without the attitude that you die at any any moment, without thinking that you’re not going to die at any moment, all your activities become worldly activities. If you don’t think of death, it’s worldly activities. Again, there are three reasons for fact that death is uncertain. The first reason is that the lifespan is uncertain in this world. We’re going to talk about Buddhist cosmology very, very briefly.
Lifespan is uncertain. That’s in Buddhism cosmology calls we live in the southern continent. In our continent the lifespan is short and uncertain. It’s said that there are other continents like the northern continents where people live to a thousand years old and it’s a fixed lifespan. But I don’t know much about Buddhist cosmology so I’m not going to get too much into that.
Anyway, it’s not fixed and it’s the most uncertain. At the moment we can see that the average lifespan on this planet, depending on where you live in our planet, it might be seventy, eighty, ninety years old, maybe shorter. Even if we the average lifespan, there’s no guarantee we’re going to reach this average lifespan. We don’t know when we’re going to die. You can easily look, if you look around you, some die when they’re still in the womb, some die when they’re at birth, some die when they’re still a kid, even when they are a two-weeks-old baby, and some in early childhood, some as teenagers, young adults, and so on.
And it’s easy just by looking around you or reading the paper. So whatever your age, you can find many people exactly the same age as you around the world who died today. Being young is not a valid reason to believe that you’re not going to die. Even when we’re four tenetsrs, really believe we’re not going to die. Being healthy is also not a valid reason.
You can have a heart attack or a stroke. It can happen to very healthy people, or even a car accident or a plane crash. If you’re an important people, it’s not a valid reason. Important people die before they can complete the work of their life. Could be an outer condition that causes death, fire, drowning or car accident, or inner a condition such as disease.
They die long before they wish to die. We believe that a sudden unexpected death could only happen to somebody somewhere else. But what about you? You don’t have any special assurance that you won’t die, especially in the midst of an important unfinished work. You are in the same situation as everybody.
You have no special qualities that make you different. So if we think, I’m going to die today, or even I will probably die today. We’ll be more likely to make preparations for our next life and we won’t be so concerned about what we’re doing in this life. And if we don’t die today, well we will have accomplished many things that will benefit our future life. So there’s a plus in both situations.
And of course if it happens that we would die today, we would have done the best by ourselves. We should be expecting death to come at any time, always ready to leave, and not putting too much effort into fixing our present circumstances. Like living in a hotel room, you’re not going to unpack your suitcase if you know you’re going to leave the next day. The first reason that we can be sure the time of death is uncertain is that our lifespan is not fixed and we can die at any time. That’s the first reason.
The second reason is that, there are many causes of death and there are actually very few causes that sustain life. As I said, the second reason that the time of death is uncertain is because there are many factors contributing death but few towards life. Our body and life are so delicate that even a small thing can endure and destroy us. The conditions necessary to continue living are far fewer and much weaker than the many internal and external causes for the destruction of life. And there are both inanimate and animate causes.
And there are sources of harm that can end up our life at any time. Living beings, including humans and animals, might harm us. There might be people you know or you don’t know who want to harm you. There might be people who will attempt to help you, kill you. Like, you know, if you follow a certain medical treatment, there’s complication.
And think also about the little sentient bees that can kill you. Some people are allergic to bees. Mosquito bite could also kill you if you’re infected by a disease. And you can take many examples. And also any of the inanimate objects and substances you use to keep living can become a cause of your destruction.
And think about food, you can have food poisoning, drinks, houses, they can collapse, car, you can have a car accident, etc. So every condition for life can become a cause of death. And there is really nothing, not even our body, that we can trust. Many small beings reside in our bodies and can become the cause of death. And there are hundreds of different kinds of diseases.
And also if our bodily elements become unbalanced, they can also cause death. There’s also a mental disorder that can kill you. People commit suicide and lead themselves into a dangerous life, life threatening situation. Again, the bigger factors like earthquake, war, famine, cyclones, tornadoes, building. I mean, just open the newspaper and you will find all kinds of causes of death.
So there are many forces that can destroy our life, but not one condition will increase it. None of the things that are supposed to support life can increase our lifespan. Our life is no more stable than a delicate bubble dancing on the water. It might appear stable, but the slightest thing can burst it. Between life and death is nothing more than breathing in and breathing out.
So basically, there is no solid reason that we will wake up the next day. So if we do wake up, we should think how fantastic it is. We’ve got another day to practice the Dharma, or a few hours. Therefore the time of death is uncertain. The third reason to support that is that our body is very fragile.
As I said, like a water bubble. So it’s nice and strong, it is nice and stable. It is very easy to destroy. I already gave a few examples. A small cause such as being stuck by a little thorn can be enough to cause our death.
A tiny virus, a tiny cell can turn malignant and destroy the rest of our body. So we never know when something like that is going to happen. The time of death is uncertain. So basically, we’ve got to think over and over again and again over these three reasons, to deeply realise that you can die at any moment and stop deceiving ourselves by thinking, well, first I got to finish my study, first I got to have a family, etcetera, whatever you want to achieve. So basically, we’ve got to practice Dharma right now.
And there’s a Rinpoche quote here, Gungtang Rinpoche, who said that the great danger is that the death of today might well become before the Dharma practice of tomorrow. So the danger is that you can die before practicing Dharma and then fall into the lower realms of rebirth. But it doesn’t mean that you rush off and become a monk or a nun, or go and live up in a cave to practice the Dharma. You can really start practicing now.
And actually, there’s a book of Lama Zopa called Making Life Meaningful. And As you do your daily activities, they actually give you some tools to transform everything into Dharma activity. So when you eat, change your thinking, you offer the food to the Buddha and you do it for everybody to be sustained by the food of meditation. There’s plenty of techniques that it gives, so every activity, going to work, walking, even going to the toilet, becomes a Dharma practice. So the second conclusion is: The time of death is uncertain, as we know.
Therefore I will practice the Dharma right away. So I will practice Dharma now. I will not leave it to tomorrow or I will do it immediately starting right now. Any question on this point here? You’re not feeling too depressed, no?
If you Do you think we could elaborate a bit on dharma itself? My impression initially is sort of selflessness and kindness and mindfulness and compassion, those sorts of things. I’m just wondering. Well, it’s a Lamrim basically. It takes you through all the stages to reach enlightenment, and there’s different practices and meditation you need to do, but I don’t have time to go through that.
But you can, you could ask Geshe lah. But yeah, it’s big. The essence of Dharma. I’ve got a definition for you if you want so I don’t say anything wrong. That’s a good book, by by the way.
It’s Buddhism for Beginners by Thubten Chodron. It gives a very short explanation on all the main questions about Buddhism in a very plain English language. It’s one of the first book I bought. Anyway, Dharma is a wisdom realizing emptiness and the absence of suffering and its causes that this wisdom brings. In a more general sense, Dharma refers to the teachings and doctrine of the Buddha.
Very short definition. Nothing on that. If you get depressed, don’t think of this life, think of your future rebirth. That’s the aim. The third point is that at a time of death, nothing can help us except our spiritual practice.
And same thing, those three reasons. The first reason is that resources or wealth or your possessions cannot help you. Where do we go with time? What time is it? It’s eight-twenty.
Okay, good. So yeah, the first reason that only Dharma helps at the time of death, not your wealth and your possessions. They can’t help you. So what no matter what you own, if you want beautiful house or a beautiful car, a nice plasma TV or a boat or whatever you’ve got, and no matter also what your power is and your reputation, You cannot take a single atom of that with you when you die. At death, as we saw earlier, the mind will leave the body and the Tibetan people have got a nice expression.
It’s like a hair pulled out of butter. They used to drink a lot of yakka butter or whatever. Yeah. Yakka butter too. Yeah.
Anyway, when you pull the hair out of the butter, it comes out without any butter attached to it. So it’s like a mind leaving your body. So you’re absolutely alone. Without an atom of physical matter, your mind will go from this life to your next life. So we’ve got to leave everything behind.
So not only we cannot take our worth and possession with us, but it will also cause us lots of distress and problem at the time of death. The first reason is that we might have accumulated negative karma just by getting this possession, and we might have a great attachment to them. So at the time of death, this attachment is going to arise very strongly, and we’re going to feel sad, very sad and torn at having to leave them behind. We might also develop sorrow, knowing that everything we have worked so hard for and fought to protect will go to others. We might not want to share our possessions.
And actually a story I read long time ago, I don’t know where, it’s a story of a man who died and he had all this great house with lots of possessions and he was so upset at the time of death, you know, to leave everything behind that all the people would get it. And it actually caused him to because he was so attached, he got reborn as a snake in the house. It’s not very nice rebirth. I don’t know why I read it. Also, our family might also be fighting for our worth and possession when we’re lying on our deathbed.
They might already be thinking, I want this! This could happen. Of course, that’s going to make us sad and upset and we need to cling more and more. But it’s like trying to hold water in your fist, it can’t be held. So the movie’s over the Greek?
Have you seen the movie’s over the No. It’s about a woman dying in a village, a Greek village, the scene where she’s dying and the other village women turning up. Oh, Shit. They just stripped the room bare. She’s not dead yet, and they just it’s like anyone who ever idolized village life Thank you, that’s a good example.
So this can happen. So anyway, with a mind born with grief, we’re going to pass into our next life. And we’re going to die with an unhappy mind. Dying with an unhappy mind, we’re going to be more likely reborn to the lower realms of existence most likely as a hungry ghost actually they say in the lamrim. Thinking about that is actually going to lessen our attachment to our possessions by knowing that and deeply realizing that we cannot take them with us.
We’re not going to be so attached to them. The second point is that our friends and our families cannot help us at a time of death. Does that mean that they can’t prevent death because they can help us? They can help us but they can’t prevent our death. Is that what that means?
Well, yes, they can help you but at the end of the day you’re going to be alone when all your elements just resolve. You’re going to be by yourself. They won’t be able to help you. They might be able Yes, they can support you up to a point, but at one point they will not be able to do anything. So no matter how close they are to you and how good they have been to you, you cannot take one of them with you.
Not even your name can go with you. And family and friends are more likely to hinder a smooth passage into a better life than to help. Because same thing, we have generated very strong attachment to them, to our family, our friends, our husband, our wife, our parents, our kids. So as we die and, these people gather around us weeping and crying, begging us, please don’t go, it’s going to create a huge disturbance to our mind. And that’s why we’re going to talk about how we can help people dying and not begging them to stay, basically.
Our attachment is going to arise very, very strongly in our mind if this thing happen. And we not be able to we can’t bear to leave them. And also, same thing with as with your possession, we might have created much negative karma in relation to our family and our friends, attachment, jealousy, hatred, anger and so forth. So these imprints will arise at the time of death. And again, we could be reborn bad circumstances.
The third point is that our body cannot help us. So our flesh and bone cannot come with us at the time of death. Throughout our life, wherever we were, we were not separated from our body. It was a constant companion. We worried about it, nourished it, dressed it well, tried to make it strong and beautiful.
We have tried to protect it. However, this body will become our worst enemy. It will deteriorate, get sick and die. So at the time of death, we realize that we are leaving our most cherished body behind and can’t bear it. So it has to be left alone.
Not even a single drop of blood can come with us. And that might create some unbearable suffering again. It is going to cause our mind to leave this life in a bad way and take rebirth in the lower realms of existence. So as we die, because we are so strongly identified with our body, it has been part of our ego identity, and losing it we feel that we are it’s like becoming non existent and that can be very terrifying? How do you say that?
So basically we crave and we grasp at our body. And this craving and this grasping, we’re going to see that earlier when we take rebirth, is going to keep us in cyclic existence. We cannot bear the thought of not having a body. So basically, these are the three reasons why only the dharma can help us at the time of death. As I said, we shouldn’t get depressed or unhappy that our possessions, our family, friends and even our body can help us at the time of death.
The reason is that we have the Dharma. The Dharma can really help us at the time of death. At the time of death nothing except the Dharma will be of benefit and we should come to the conclusion: yes, not only must I practice Dharma and practice it right now, I must also practice only Dharma. And not follow a worldly concern. Okay.
Any questions for this part or this whole part? Maybe another one is how we die. I mean, I suppose some of us die very Well, depends how you die. If you die in a car accident or a stroke, you’re not going to have as much time to prepare. Same thing, it is also the result of your negative that you die in these circumstances.
But if you’re a good practitioner, even if you die in a car accident or from a stroke, if you’re very good and used to the different stages of death, you might be able to do something beneficial at the time of death. But it is better to die peacefully on a bed, yeah. So basically, I mean, if you do this meditation properly, you will very firmly set yourself on the Dharma path. And this path will lead you from happiness to happiness. With worldly work, the happiness you experience always finishes, but the work goes on forever.
Dharma work is a complete opposite. With Dharma, the work has an end, but the happiness it brings is everlasting. I’ve got more information, but I think we should just swing quickly. Yeah, so basically also So just as the shadow always follow the body, two things always follow you. Your virtuous and non virtuous karma or actions.
So actions make an impression in your mental continuum and will determine what will happen to you from now on. So ahead of you are the result of the karma that you have accumulated in this life but also the previous life. So if you have created good karma, another good life will follow. If you have created negative karma, the result is going to be negative. And you alone will experience the suffering.
Shall we do are there any more questions or do we have time to do the meditation? In regards Purification How much of that would go towards wiping out your negative karma? In regards to, like, say for instance, you do your practice, you purify yourself and you drop dead. That will help you but I don’t know how I guess it depends on what your motivation was for doing it, how strongly you practice it, and so for you might know more because you do it here, the practice, but it depends on a lot of conditions. Sure.
I mean it depends on the amount of negative karma you’ve got to purify to. It’s a variable. And it says it’s better to do it at the end of every day just in case you die during the night, you know? But in his book, Lama Zopa gives some idea of how to do it during the day on a continuous basis. Robina said when she was out here and that was the thing that made me sit up and take notice.
She said that, I think it was Lama Zopa said, you’re insane not to do bodhisattva practice daily. She was that strong about it, went, oh, okay. In his book, he gave, okay, how many times do you go to the toilets every day? And basically, every time you go to the toilets you can do a very quick brush outside purification and it tells you how to do it. If you think of doing that, can purify your negative karma.
I don’t know how many times a day, it depends how many times you go. It’s one of the free books here actually, Making Life Meaningful. I think we’ve got it there. We should have a look if we’ve got a box because that’s an excellent book. It’s really good.
It’s like Buddhism practice for Westerners got no time. But it’s good. It’s good because during all the day you remember to practice Dharma. We’re not monks or nuns, we can’t. Anyway, any more questions?
And next week we should go through the other part of the meditation on death, it’s more going through the stages. And I’m going to be very honest with you, I’m not familiar with it, so I’m going to have to do some study with that. But I’m not going to invent anything, so don’t don’t worry. But yeah. Do we have time to do meditation?
I’m going to go very quickly, but it would be good if you could do that every day. This meditation. So there’s different ways you can do it. As you see, there’s three main roots. So you can decide that, okay, over a period of one week I’m going to do one day I’m going to concentrate on the first route, the second day I’m going to concentrate on the second one, and the third day on the last one.
So you will spend lots of time on the first one and go quickly through the other point. Second day you will go quickly through the first one, spend time on the second one and go quickly through the second one. Or you can spend a week on the first one or a month on the first one. So it depends how you want to do it. Tonight I’m going to choose you one from How to Meditate from Sangye Khadro.
I don’t know if you’ve got this book. I always advertise for this book. It’s like my bible. It’s got all the main meditation from the Lamrim. Okay, so let’s adopt the seven point posture.
Make sure that your back is straight. And just concentrate for a few moments on your breathing. You can concentrate on the sensation of the cold air coming in and the hot air coming out on your nostril. And again think about your motivation for doing this meditation When you do this meditation it’s good to enrich this meditation with your own experiences and insight in an effort to feel it deeply. And remember, if at any time during the session you reach a strong intuitive experience, stay with the feeling you are examining all the feeling with your attention as long as possible.
So tonight might be a bit hard to do it as I’m going to go quickly through the point where when you do it at home, try to do that. Everyone has to die. We plan many projects and activities for the coming days, months and years. Although death is the only event that is certain to occur, we don’t count on it among our plans. To generate an experience that death is certain, first bring to mind people from the past, famous writers, or rulers, musicians, philosophers, saints, criminals, and just ordinary people.
These people were once alive. They walked, thought and wrote. They loved and fought, enjoyed life and suffered. And finally, they died. Is there anyone who ever lived who did not have to die?
No matter how wise, wealthy, powerful or popular a person may be, his or her life must come to an end. The same is true for all other living creatures. For all the advances in science and medicine, there is still no cure for death, and no one expects to be able to eradicate it. Now bring to mind all the people you know. Go through them one by one, reflecting that each of them will one day die.
Think of all the human beings on earth at the moment. One hundred years from now, only a handful of these billions of people will still be alive. You yourself would be dead. Experience this fight with your entire being. Now think that your lifespan is decreasing continuously.
Even as you sit here at Buddha house, meditating, time is passing. Seconds become minutes. Minutes become hours. Hours become days. Days become years.
And you travel closer and closer toward death. Hold your awareness for a while on the experience of this uninterrupted flow of time, carrying you to the end of your life. If you were to fall from a narrow ledge without a parachute, you will be fully aware of death approaching. Imagine this is actually happening to you. Check what thoughts and feelings pass through your mind.
The reality of your situation in life is not so different. You are constantly moving towards death and can do nothing to avoid or postpone it. Now think about the amount amount of time you spend during your life to develop your mind. Think how small it is. Given that the mind alone continues after death, the only thing that will be of any value when you die is the positive and constructive energy you have created during your life.
But how much time do you actually devote to understanding your mind, being kind to others, developing wisdom and compassion? In an average day, how many hours do you sleep? How many hours do you walk? How many hours do you spend eating, socializing? How much time do you spend feeling depressed, frustrated, bored, angry, resentful, And finally, how much time do you spend consciously trying to improve your state of mind?
Do these calculations honestly. Assess your life in this practical way to see clearly just how much of your time is spent doing things that will bring positive result, that is happiness for yourself and others. By meditating on these first three points, we will develop determination to use our life wisely and mindfully. Now turn your mind to the uncertainty of the time of death. Think about how our human life expectancy is uncertain.
If human beings died at a specific age, say eighty eight, we would have plenty of time and space to prepare for death. But there is no such certainty, and death catches most of us by surprise. Life can end at any point at birth, in childhood, in adolescence, at the age of twenty two or thirty five or fifty or ninety four. Even if we are now young and healthy, there is no guarantee that we will live much longer. We can hope to live until we are seventy or eighty, but we cannot be certain of doing so.
We cannot be certain that we will not die later today. It is very difficult to feel convinced that deaths could happen at any moment. We tend to fear that since we’ve survived so far, our continuation is secure. But thousands of people die every day, and few of them expected to. Generate a strong feeling of the complete uncertainty of your time of death, how there is no guarantee that you have long to live.
And there are many causes of death. Daily we hear of some disaster or other, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, forest fires, storms and flood, war, famine and terrorism, bringing about the death of thousands of human beings. For those of us who feel remote and safe from this kind of violent death, there are the more day to day causes such as heart attacks, cancer and other fatal diseases. There are plane and car crashes, fires, drowning and murder. Even things that are meant to support and protect life can cause death.
Houses and hotels collapse or burn. Food and medicine, if improperly taken, can lead to death. And then there is old age. No one is safe from that. People die in their sleep, in the warmth, coming home from work, going to school, on the playing field, cooking dinner.
Deaths can occur at any time in any situation. Contemplate this. See clearly that it is the nature of life on this planet and that any one of the catalytic causes can bring about your own death. Now think, our human body is so fragile. It is extremely vulnerable.
It can wound and break so easily. Within minutes, it can change from being strong and active to being helplessly weak and full of pain. Right now, you might feel healthy, energetic and secure, but something as small as a virus or as insignificant as a thorn could drain your strength and lead to your death. Think about this. Recall the times you have hurt or injured your body and how easily it could happen again and even cause your death.
Your body won’t last forever. In the course of your life, you might manage to avoid illness and accidents. But the years will eventually overtake you. Your body will degenerate, lose its beauty and vitality and finally die. Meditating on these second three points, you will develop the determination to begin your work of mind transformation right now as the future is so uncertain.
Now we are will meditate on the fact that only spiritual insight can help you at the time of death. No matter how much we have acquired or developed throughout our life, in terms of family and friends, wealth, power, travel experiences and so on, none of it goes with us at death. Only our stream of consciousness continues, carrying imprints of all that we have thought, felt, said and done. We should aim to die at peace with ourself, feeling good about how we lived our life, and not leaving behind any unresolved conflict with people. The only thing that will truly benefit us at the time of death are the imprints left by our development of love, wisdom, patience, compassion and other positive attitudes.
And if we can realise this now, we will have the energy and determination to live a meaningful life. And we can experience a strong feeling of this reality by contemplating the following three points, while you visualise yourself actually dying. As you lie on your deathbed, your body growing weaker by the minute. Where do your thoughts turn to? When you are unhappy or ill, usually take refuge in material comfort.
But can food, medicine, sleep, music, drugs or alcohol help you now? Think of your possessions, all the things you have made, such an effort to acquire in order to fulfill your needs and desire. What can they do for you now? Try to recognize your dependence upon these things and recall that you cannot take any of them with you. Not only are they unable to help you at death, your attachment to them will only be a hindrance to dying peacefully.
As you lie on your deathbed, you will turn for help especially to your loved one who have much concern and affection for you and have given you so much comfort and security. But now, as your consciousness is slipping away, there is little they can do for you. You are totally alone in your experience of death. Clinging to your loved one and feeling grief at the thought of separating from them will create only turmoil in your mind and make a peaceful death impossible. Recognize the attachment you have to your family and friends.
Realize that it is utterly inappropriate to feel so strongly attached both in life and at death. As you lie on your deathbed, you realize that your possession and loved one cannot help you but also your own body cannot help. Your body has been a constant companion since birth. You know it more intimately than anything or anyone else. You have cared for it and protected it, worried about it, kept it comfortable and healthy, fed it and clean it, experienced all kinds of pleasure and pain with it.
It has been your most treasured possession. But now you are dying, and that means you will be separated from it. It will become weak and eventually quite useless. You will leave it. I hated this time for the ceremony.
What good can it possibly do you now? Contemplate the strong sense of dependence and attachment you have to your body and how it cannot benefit you in any way at death, fear of pain and regret about leaving it will only compound your suffering. By meditating on the final three points, you will develop the determination to keep your life and practice of mind transformation free from attachment to people and possession. It is possible you will feel depressed or worried after doing this meditation. In one sense, this shows you have taken the ideas seriously and contemplated them well.
But it also shows you have made a wrong conclusion and will not be wise to end your session in such a state of mind. Remember that death is just a natural and inevitable aspect of life, and it is your inability to accept it as such that makes you upset. Fear and regret arise because of unrealistic clinging to a permanent self. If we keep death in mind in an easy, open way, this clinging will loosen, allowing us to be mindful and make every action positive and beneficial for ourselves and others. An awareness of death gives us an enormous energy to not waste our life but to live it as effectively as possible.
Now conclude your meditation with an optimistic thought that you have every possibility to make your life meaningful and positive. And though you will be able to die with peace of mind. Because of the merits we have created tonight by meditating and listening to the teachings, may our spiritual teachers live long and healthy lives. May the Dharma spread throughout the infinite reaches of space, and may all sentient beings quickly attain enlightenment. Now you are welcome to join me for the dedication prayer if you want to.
Due to the merits of these virtuous actions, may I quickly attain the state of the Guru Buddha and lead all living beings without exception into the enlightened state. May the precious bodhicitta that has not arisen arise and grow, and may that which has arisen not diminish but increase more and more. Thank you. Any questions or you feeling okay? Okay.
Good. So don’t forget to take the homework outside and you’ve got this summary of all the points too.