Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. “Begin again” — a phrase a Thai monk offered Ven Jampa Gendun during a solitary year of meditation in Thailand — opens this 112-minute final session of the 2006 series on the Three Principal Aspects of the Path. The heart of the class is the third root of the nine-round death meditation: that at the moment of death, only one’s mental development and the positive imprints placed on one’s mind will be of any benefit. Three supporting reasons are worked through — possessions and pleasures cannot help, loved ones cannot help, and even the cherished body becomes in moments a lifeless object to be left behind. A vivid passage from Pabongka Rinpoche and a guided hospital-deathbed visualization make the point viscerally concrete. A Q&A covers organ donation and the Tantric death process — the sequential dissolution of sense consciousnesses leading to the clear light — before closing with dedication prayers and Christmas wishes.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 17 3PA 2006 12 11.mp3
UUID: 71463c5b-5496-40f5-bd7e-579fcc4f54fc
Teacher: Ven Jampa Gendun
Collection: Three Principle Aspects of the Path 2006-2007 (Ven Jampa Gendun)
Date: 2006-12-11
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 112.1 minutes
Words: ~10,490
Can you hear me? How is everybody? Okay. There’s a familiar saying that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a first footstep. And that is to say that no matter how long the journey, we actually have to begin it if we’re ever going to complete it, if we’re ever going to reach the end of the path.
There’s no substitute for actually doing something. You know, however humble, however tentative and faltering our steps may be, We actually have to take that first step. We have to at least begin, you know, perhaps for the first time or we have to begin again or begin differently. I think I might I might have mentioned that I think I think it was in nineteen eighty seven. I spent one year in Thailand, and part of that time was on the island of Koh Samui.
Koh Samui is like a it’s a pretty big tourist island. And in the middle of the island, there’s a Wat, a little monastery where I lived for about seven months. And there were two other Thai monks. There were two monks two other monks, and they were Thai in the monastery. And one of them spoke a little bit of English, and one of them didn’t speak any English.
And I spent that time meditating or pretending to meditate. Sounds rather pretentious. I got that seven. Yeah. I pretended to meditate, you know, spaced out, kinda watching the, you know, for this little watch is on a in the center of the island on the hill.
And so you have a big advantage. It’s quite a quite a view. The only thing that you see is the top of coconut palms and and in the distance, the ocean. That’s all that you ever see. Not particularly exciting.
Some days, the ship would go by. I mean, on a big day, two ships would go by. That was an exciting day. Anyway, so I used to get, you know, spending all that time there, and I I used to get I’d get down sometimes and wonder wondering what I was doing on that island so far away from everything that was familiar to myself, everything that I valued, all my distractions and the people that cared about me and who I cared about, on and on. So sometimes in the afternoon when we had a cup of hot chocolate with the other monks, I would tell this one monk who spoke some English, all my feelings, all my troubles.
You know, he would he would always be quite attentive and patient and listen. And then invariably, at the end, he would just say, you know, begin again. That’s I think I’ve come to know I came to find out later that that’s a very popular phrase or standard expression amongst at least the Thai monks to begin again. And the we’re always maybe the point is that we’re always free to start again. And then, you know, all over again if necessary, no matter who we were just up to a moment ago, no matter what our life has been, no matter what we’ve done, and on and on and on, we can begin again from just there.
We can start anew if we so choose. You know, that that’s our that’s our greatest fortune as human beings. You know, we we’ve talked about what the eighteen freedoms and endowments and just but, essentially, that we have this great fortune that we can do just about anything we wish to do, that we’re free in that way. Whoever we are and whatever we’ve done, whatever real or imagined constraints that we see about ourselves in one way or another, how we’re free to choose in that very moment to to if only for that moment, kind of a we can begin to tell ourselves a different story about ourselves. We can reinvent ourselves if we so choose, if we have the will for it and the imagination for it.
It’s it’s if we are committed. Committed is a big word, a very important idea or notion. I mean, that’s what I think refuge is all about in a way, this continually recommitting ourselves. The becoming aware of alternatives and and deliberately looking for them in it. If we choose, the the possibility for change is always there in some way or another in some some form or another.
But the idea is to, you know, to look to see. Having having shaped an idea of the person that you might like to be, what you might like to do with your life, beginning to see if within your your everyday life, all the various insignificant activities and actions and choices of our everyday life to see whether they are, in fact, supporting where it is that you want to go, what it is that you want to do, who you want to be, if they’re aligned with your commitment. Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth, ignorance of which kills countless ideas countless ideas and splendid plans. At the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.
All sorts of things occurred to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no person could have dreamed would have come their way. Whatever you can do or dream, you can. Begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
Begin it now. So, you know, commitment is, like, you know, the consistent choice choice of the discipline that the context of Buddhism describes or prescribes to ensure that what we choose is going to make it a difference for the better, you know, a difference in our lives, and ultimately, the ultimately, the difference of awakening, but anyway, the better. Now we can always make a difference, and we can always commit ourselves to something, but we’re not we can’t be sure it’s for the better. Commitment is is a way of saying that a certain mode of life merits or deserves support even though we find it difficult to live up to it. Our lives are given over to finding such fulfillment as we can in terms of these ways of life, suffering to do so if necessary.
You know, the the commitment to a particular discipline that particular context prescribes for ourselves. You know, what does it mean to commit ourselves to the within the context of Buddhism? You know, if one is going to make a commitment, commitment, if one is going for refuge, and then committing to oneself to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, you know, it’s a way of commitment is like a in in fact, it’s not a big sacrifice. It’s a way of deeply caring for ourselves, you know, in a really very profound sense. It’s a way of honoring our dreams, and it’s a way of caring for others and honoring their dreams as well.
It’s a way of not giving up on ourselves and and not giving up on others as well. You know, we’ve learned to be who we are. Our approach to living of our life is a learned experience. And what is learned can be unlearned, and new learning can take its place. We can change if we have the commitment, if we have the will and the imagination for it.
You know, we can relearn how to live our lives. That’s the the great possibility that Buddhism holds out for ourselves. In the beginning, I think, in in in the beginning of any real learning is first to genuinely believe that we can change, and we have to believe that we can change. And the primary lesson that we are to, you know, that we are to the choices that we are beginning to make is to choose that we are free. Our first choice was to constantly choose to begin to live our life as if we were free to become the type of person that we want to be.
Begin to regain this sense of this unfreedom that we’ve learned somewhere along the line that we’ve lost in our unconscious denial of the possibilities of change that we that we are free to be what we who we want to be. You know, freedom is the is an awareness of options or of alternatives and the ability to choose. And there are there are options. There are alternatives, and we do have the freedom to choose. It’s up to us to make that choice.
You know, we are free to do what we will. This is a quote by Rilke, the Austrian poet. We are not prisoners. No traps or snares have been set around us, and there is nothing that should frighten or upset us. We have been put into life as into the element we most accord with.
We have no reason to harbor any mistrust against our world for it is not against us. If it is terrors, they are our terrors. If it is abysses, these abysses belong to us. If there are dangers, we must try to love them. And if only we arrange our life in accordance with the principle which tells us that we must always trust in the difficult, that what what now appears to us as the most alien will become our most intimate and trusted experience.
How could we ever forget those ancient myths that stand at the beginning of all races? The myths about the dragons that at the last moment are transformed into princesses. Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act just once with beauty and courage. And then in a way, there’s really no alternative but to begin, you know, anew or begin again or begin differently or or try again harder, you know, however, but nevertheless to begin. And there’s no time but now to begin what I do in that person to become that person that we want to be.
The only time for choices is in the present moment. The past is simply a memory and the future is just existed within our present imaginations. So there’s there’s no substitute for committing ourselves in in the consistently choosing of the discipline that the path the path that will make us of our lives what it is that we want of our lives. You know, we we are like the summation of the all the many paths that our life we’ve chosen to take in our life. Who we are now is like a statement about our the history of ourselves and the kind of choices that we’ve made somewhere along the line.
So, you know, this this the path of Buddhism begins with the with the realignment of our allegiance. You know, from from life past to be lived under the control of our unfounded hopes and fears to to one based on constantly choosing to grow, you know, above all else. That’s what’s important for me. Beginning to find out what actually works for ourselves, what is true for ourselves beyond beyond all our all that we’ve been taught or indoctrinated into, all the the beliefs that we’ve taken on knowingly or unknowingly. You know, the our own like our own truths and begin to live under our own truths, under our own power, beginning to to direct ourselves toward other possible refuges in our life.
You know, taking a heartfelt commitment to the Buddha Dharma and the Sangha. So, you know, we we talked about this, guess, about every week, what that what that might mean in terms of the of how we’re directing ourselves, What are are kind of what is important to ourselves. You know, the inner focus of our life becomes Buddha. So, you know, it’s like setting some kind of direction for ourselves for ourselves. Some kind of, you know it’s like sometimes I think of it like a magnetic north.
You know, the the compass keeps coming around to that. So you don’t lose your way, at least for long periods of time. You know, what what is important for you? Becoming a Buddha, well, wisdom is important. It’s trying to think things clearly beyond my some of my wrong thinking, my biases, my conditioning, and so forth.
Love and compassion are important to me. Developing some kind of strength, inner strength that’s important for me, and trying to express these in my everyday life. That’s important for me. That’s what the kind of commitment that I’d like to make in trying to see how this translates in terms of my choices and what I do and all the various, insignificant activities in my everyday life to make sure that they at least don’t take me the other direction in the opposite way I want to go. And the beginning is always difficult because going for refuge is always at the beginning of all true practice, of always of all our attempts at trying to every attempt authentic attempt to to to draw to near what is most sacred about ourselves, what is most true about ourselves, what it is that we want most for ourselves.
And becoming a Buddha is kind of, in a way, the most difficult thing of all. So, you know, we but in a way that we can we just have to keep reminding ourselves about the and holding out the possibilities of I was thinking, we had a meditation just before, we had the meditation session. And we were meditating on loving kindness and, you know, to beginning with oneself and wishing oneself well. And it occurred to me, you know, in my meditation that I very seldom wish myself joy. To wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a joyous life?
And all the things that you do, you find joy in that. Maybe not everything okay. That’s me asking too much. But, anyway, to take joy, to find joy in your life. You know, it’s like you get I think we get our horizons begin to become lowered or we begin to narrow our possibilities and constrain what what what it is that we’re about even even for so called Buddhists.
But we forget that there maybe they maybe we could be a a joyful person and actually having that kinda resonate with yourself. Kinda I guess you have to keep you know, it seems like we have to keep picking ourselves up, keep reinspiring ourselves, re re getting back in touch with of what of of the sense of feeling of other possibilities that we could be experiencing even even as Buddhists or even as aspiring Buddhists. You know, it’s quite easy, I think, to to let things become mechanical just kind of be going be to go through the motions. I guess we all fall in a rut to some degree or another. And we have to that’s I guess that’s an important part of the sangha, isn’t it?
An important part of those who keep reminding us of other possibilities. So we don’t lose sight of what is most important to ourselves even in the terms of our everyday practice or what we call our practice. That way we keep finding new sources of inspiration so to to open our hearts and minds to, you know, again and again to the possibilities of being the type of person we want to be. Seems like it’s a it’s a it’s an ongoing process, isn’t it, every day picking ourselves back up in some way or another, in one way or another. I find that the case for myself.
You know, if if we believe you can or if you believe you can’t, you’re right. So a great deal of the path is believing we can and finding out what it is that you can do and feeling I could be like that. That’s the way I want to be. That’s the way I what I’m going to be. And directing yourself within terms of your will and your imagination and these practices and these teachings toward that person.
So we formulate this. We we kind of bring this idea altogether in one way or another, all these scattered thoughts and bits and ideas. And we try to focus them in terms of, you know, this traditional formula of going for refuge. But it’s really, really, it’s a way of reinspiring ourselves and recommitting ourselves, isn’t it? Helping ourselves get back in touch, reminding ourselves what is what is important.
I go for refuge until I’m awakened to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Through my practice of generosity and the other perfections, may I become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I’m awakened to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Through my practice of generosity and the other perfections, may I become a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I’m awakened to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha through my practice of generosity and the other perfections.
May I become a Buddha for the sake of 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 joy that is without sorrow. May all sentient beings abide in equanimity, free from attachment for some and aversion toward others.
Going to meditate. We’re gonna continue on the meditating on the nine-round death meditation. The first root was death is inevitable. Death is definite. Everyone’s going to die.
And the second root is that the the time of our death is unpredictable. It’s uncertain. We we simply though we we can feel at some level fairly assured that we’re going to die, but we simply don’t know when. And again, I guess it’s important to keep reminding ourselves that it’s not it’s not death we’re so concerned with in a way. It’s concerned with in a way.
It’s that by becoming mindful of death, we become aware of our life and therefore determined to live a quality life while we still have the chance to live it. So we’re gonna go through the three reasons supporting the second root, that the time of death is unpredictable. And these three reasons are that human life is uncertain. And, you know, the various reasons that we gave for that, you know, looking at all of these different age groups. Fetuses die in the womb, babies die at birth, infants die before they have to walk, on and on and on, understanding that there is no age whatsoever that people don’t die.
We all have a sense, I think, that we’re going to live an average life. Okay. I don’t know what the average must be. What? About seventy four now or something like that.
But that’s, you know, probability is not certainty. There there are many, you know, there’s no guarantee that we’re going to live to seventy four to an average life. So human life is uncertain. There are many causes of death and, you know, going through all the various possibilities, you know, just walking out the door, getting in a car, all the possibilities, driving down the street or walking down the street. All the catastrophes that occur, bushfires, and so forth and so on.
The people die in every place, in every situation. And then finally looking at the fact that the human bio human body is very fragile. This nice soft skin kind of holding this bag of flesh and blood together. Our life could easily spill out. Life is dangerous in a way in a way.
And trying to come to some trying to come to a conclusion around that and be that we have to begin our practice of developing ourselves to begin to begin, you know, to really make those choices which are gonna bring about the type of life that we want for ourselves to become the person that we want to be because the future is uncertain. We don’t know how long of an opportunity that we have. Okay? So taking a comfortable firm posture. So first, let’s, relaxing the body, beginning at the crown of the head, the scalp, the forehead, feeling the wrinkles in the brow beginning to smooth.
Pressure in around the eyes beginning to dissipate. Facial muscles softening, relaxing, jaws relaxed. Moving down to the neck muscles, the muscle the muscles in the back of the neck perhaps. Turning your head gently to the side a few times. Just loosening, softening, relaxing the muscles of the neck, Relaxing the muscles in the throat.
The upper back, shoulders, perhaps rotating your shoulders a few times. Keeping your back erect, just letting your shoulders relax to the sides. Feeling the burden that we carry on our back, on our shoulders, beginning to move down out through the body into the ground. Relaxing your hands, letting them go soft and limp. Your lower arm.
Upper arms. Chest is at ease. Releasing the tensions that we hold in our stomach muscles, allowing the belly to go soft. And while holding your trunk erect, just relax the lower back muscles. Relaxing throughout the pelvic area.
The buttocks. The upper legs and thighs. Lower legs Two feet. Bring your awareness to your body in general. Notice any tightness, tensions within the body.
Unconscious, conscious, relax, soften, feeling the tension dissipate, feeling the tightness loosen. Body becoming relaxed, at ease, comfortable. Bring your mind to the breath. Just be easy, gentle, in that flow of the natural breath. So we’re going to meditate on the uncertainty of the time of death.
And the first reason supporting that is human life expectancy is uncertain. So simply go through all the various ages in which people die and come to the sense that, in fact, there’s no age at which people don’t die. It’s uncertain in terms of human beings. The fact that you’re healthy and strong at the moment, young, is no guarantee that you won’t die next year, next month, next week, tomorrow. It’s not guaranteed.
It’s not certain. And the second reason, there are many causes of death. So you can just work your way through your day, like getting out of bed and turning on the gas to make a cup of tea or turning on the electricity and Stepping out your door, getting in your car, driving, all the possibilities of ways that you might die in the course of your everyday life. Accidents. But there are natural causes such as diseases and heart attacks, cancer.
And people die in every type of situation. Some people die in their sleep. Some people die playing sports, going to work. At work, some people die meditating. There’s no place or no situation in which people don’t die.
And then the third reason is that the human body is very fragile. I know you might be strong and active at present, but in the next moment, you could be weak, helpless, full of pain from one moment to the next. Something as insignificant as a a germ or bubble in your bloodstream, a few renegade cells, a sharp piece of metal. It doesn’t take much. Our our body is very fragile.
It’s very delicate. It’s an intricate balance within the body. So just imagine that you’re on a ship, a boat, looking over the stern to the back of the boat, feeling that you’re headed in some dest to this some destination, making some progress along the river. But there’s definitely a waterfall somewhere, but you don’t know how soon. It could be a hundred meters.
It could be a hundred kilometers. Kilometers. We simply don’t know. We can’t see the future. And then this your boat’s going to fall off the edge.
It’s definitely coming, but we don’t see how far it is. So see if you can come to some kind of conclusion in your mind to begin the practice of developing your mind from right now onwards because the future is uncertain. And then bring your mind back to the breath. And get in touch with your body, noticing feelings, sensations in the body. And then slowly, in an easy, relaxed manner, become aware of what you’re going what’s going on about yourself.
So we’re going to continue with the remainder of the the nine-round death meditation. So there were three roots. The what was the first root? Good. And the second root?
Yes. Good. And then finally, the third root, which we’re going to take a look at tonight. The fact that the at the time of our death, only the development of our own mind and the very very positive impressions that we’ve made on our mind will be a benefit at the time of our death. You know, I we in all of this, we can you know, generally, I mean, we talk about the big death at the end of life, don’t we?
But it’s a in some way in some way of speaking, I think there are lots of little deaths over the course of our life, which occur to us, you know, when when for one reason or another, one way or another, our whole life is thrown into up upside down to catastrophes, someone dies or leaves us, some great tragedy. And what it is that what what is it that carries us through? You know, there’s a there is something coming to an end, and the new is yet to begin. There’s kind of a Bardo, kind of a transition. What what is it that that you can rely upon to carry it through that transition, to have a sense that you’re going to land on your feet on the other side of this change that’s occurring to you, perhaps not by your choice.
You know, these little deaths that occur over the course of our lives. It’s I think it’s our need to agree that we’ve our own mental development in a way. There’s in a way, in certain terms, there’s very little else that we can depend upon, but our own minds is such transitions when our lives are turned upside down in one way or another. The sense that we’re going to land on our feet, we have confidence in our own abilities and in terms of our own attitudes and the way we see things and the way we can deal with things. So I don’t think it’s nests, you know, quite a lot of what we’re talking about in terms of death, I think, can be applied in some manner to some degree, some ways in terms of the course course of our life, in terms of these little deaths that occur over the course of our life.
So the third root, the fact that at the time of these deaths, it’s only the development of our mind and the positive imprints that we’ve we’ve placed upon our mind which are going to benefit ourselves. And this is supported by three reasons. I guess in a way, yeah, it is. First, I guess we look at it in a kind of a negative way. What isn’t going to be of help to you?
Our possessions okay. The first reason is our possessions and enjoyments cannot help us at the time of our death. Our possessions and enjoyments cannot help us at the time of our death. You know, you think of all the material things that you’ve spent most of your life in one way or another, a great deal of your time gathering around you, accumulating in one way or another. You know, all the you know, your house, your car, your furniture, your television, your DVD player, computer.
That’s my computer. That’s a big one. That’s a big one for me. Quite attached to my computer. Your mobile.
I was thinking about this, you know, the mobile. I’m not much attached to mobile. Anyway, I I have a feeling that when some people die, you know, in the time of death and transition, they’re gonna grasp to their mobile. It’s the one thing they wanna take with them. They see people carrying it in their hands.
And it’s like, it becomes a part of their life, big part of their life. Like, they’re part of their body almost. And think about all all the time and energy and that we put into pursuing all the various enjoyments, the various entertainments, you know, our creative intellectual pursuits, you know, cooking, going out to meals, sex, a lot of people. Anyway, we each have our our something which we we spend a lot of time pursuing one way or another. You know, when we’re lying there, you know, and and our life is dimming out, You know, there’s a process, you know, we’re we’re going to talk about the death process.
You know, if, you know, how the body begins to shut down, you know, the essentially, the the the bond, the connection between the mind and body begins to weaken. Connection between the mind and body begins to weaken. You can you can you initially, you can see shapes, but slowly, they be the shapes only become things that you see only become shapes, colors, and shapes. They don’t they’re unrecognizable for what they are. And you hear sounds, but the sounds are unrecognizable.
And slowly, ease even those colors and shapes and even those sounds begin to diminish. You know, everything is is darkening and going out. It’s blacking out. And at that moment, you know, what is of use to you at that that precise moment? What you know, you got to, you know, all all of the you know, you got your you got this your home, which you work so hard paying off the mortgage and your car.
And you got, you know, your possessions and that mobile that you’re you’re holding on to. And, you know, the the these pursuits that we’ve spent in our life running after entertainment, movies, good food, and what what not. At that very moment, are any of them any of any use to you? Can you take any one of them with you? Not only can they not help you, but you’re attached to them.
Your attachment to them will make dying all the more difficult, will make dying, you know, peacefully all the more difficult. So the the fact that our one’s possessions or our possessions and enjoyments cannot help us in time of death. I guess it could apply to the little deaths over the course of our lives as well, isn’t it? Material things, they don’t count for us so much. I mean, it’s nice.
But these these great upheavals in our life, and people die on us, so they leave us for one reason or another. Something goes a great tragedy in your life. Material things can’t really help us much at those moments, can we? What to say at the time of our death when going we’re going to have to leave them all behind, all of it. So then the the the second reason supporting the necessity of of trying to understand that’s only the only thing that’s going to be able to benefit us is development of our mind and the positive imprints that we put on our mind.
The second reason supporting this is even the the our loved ones cannot help us at the time of our death. And this is true in a to some degree, maybe a lesser degree than material things, but also the small deaths over the course of our lives. And then people really sincerely want to help you and they want to they want to be there for you. Still, you have to work it out for yourself, don’t you? You have to come to grips.
You have to process it within the within your own experience, inaccessible to others. And at the time of our big death, the end of this life, when the when the bond is weakening, beginning to break between the mind and body, you know, you know, then you could have you could be surrounded by loved ones. You know, people who sincerely want you to be happy, they don’t want you to suffer. They want you to live. And that’s why one of them is holding your hand.
The others are around your your bed. Some are in the corner. Some are praying that you recover, that you be well again. At that moment, you know, their best intentions cannot really help us. At that time, when, you know, when doing our life, the world is beginning to blackout, and we’re we have to experience death by ourselves alone.
It’s our own internal experience that we have to go through alone. Used to be a song. For some reason, it just came to my mind. You have to walk down on some valley or something like that. It’s a long time ago, all by yourself.
None of them can go with you. You know, they can’t no matter how hold the tight how how tight they try to hold your body, they can’t hold back your mind. There’s nothing that can hold that back as it slips away. And and moreover, your your attachment to them and their attachment to you and you’re seeking to cling to them and they’re they’re clinging to you are going to make dying all the more difficult for yourself. And then the final reason, the third reason in terms of what will benefit us at the time of our death is even our own body cannot help us at the time time of our death.
You know, this body, it’s been our best friend, our entire life. And we’ve shared all the pleasures and pains of life, all the ups and downs. It’s, you know, it’s like it’s our it’s our it’s our old friend. It’s always been there. It’s gone through it all.
All these various experiences over the course of our life, it’s been there with us all along. You know, we’ve we’ve this lovely cherished body that we’ve we’ve given the best food to, nice, soft clothing to, you know, vitamins, minerals. We put lotions on it, sunscreen, perfume, shave it, caress it. At the time of our death, it’s going to become in a matter of moments. No different than a slab of meat in a butcher’s market.
Yeah. I disconnected to ourselves. Simply another object apart from ourselves that we’re going to have to leave behind. And moreover, our attachment to it and our seeking to cling to it are going to make our death all the more difficult as we separate from it. There’s a this is a from Pabongka Rinpoche.
So it’s in the Tibetan context, but I thought it’s kind of a nice passage, I thought. They try all different kinds of treatments and holy rituals, but your condition gets worse and worse. The doctors start lying to you. Your friends relatives say all sorts of cheery things to your face, but behind your back, they start wrapping up your affairs because everyone can see that you’re going to die. Your body starts to lose its familiar warmth.
It’s hard to breathe. The nostrils collapse. The lips curl back. The color starts to drain from your face. All sorts of repulsive sign signs begin to show inside and outside of you.
You think of all the wrong things you did in your life, and you wish so badly you had never done them. You can’t quite be sure if you ever really got rid of them all when you confessed or that you really did any true good deed. Then comes the final pain, the unspeakable searing pain that comes with death. The basic building blocks of your body begin their domino collapse. You are blinded by catastrophic images.
Hallucinations of pure terror crowd into your mind and carry you away, and the whole world you have been living blinks out. People take your corpse and wrap it up in a sheet and lay it in some corner. They hang up a curtain to hide it. Somebody lights a smudgy little candle and leaves it there. If you’re one of those reincarnated lamas, they dress you up in your fancy ritual robes and try to make you look good.
Right now, we are all running around trying to arrange ourselves a nice house, soft clothes, cozy chairs. But you know the custom here in Tibet, when you die, they’ll tie your arms and legs up against your chest with a leather strap, carry the body far far from town and throw it naked out on the rocks. Right now, we all go home and try to cook up ourselves some delectable dish. But there will come a day when you stand there praying for a little taste of those cakes they offer to the spirits of the dead. Right now, we have big names.
They call us doctor, professor, respected sir, or your reverence. But there will come a day when they look at your body and call you nothing but that stinking corpse. There will come a day when the title they put in front of your name is the late or the guy they used to call. So now when you respect the lamas out there in the audience, look at your ritual robes. Let us come into your thought that there are these are the robes they will dress you and dress your remains in after you have expired.
And all the rest of us, when we look at our bedsheets before we go to sleep, should try to remember that they are what they will wrap you up your stinking corpse in when we die. As Milarepa said, that frightful corpse they talk about is the very body aware meditator. He means, look at your own body now and always see the future corpse. Is that far? That’s far.
Yes. Cheery for, isn’t it? You know, they you know, you can imagine yourself. You know, maybe you had an accident, maybe a disease, a heart attack, or something like like that. And you’re laying there on your on your hospital bed.
And you’ve got all the, you know, symbols of all the things that you collected together about your life. Got the the papers to your house. They got the registration to your car. There’s your mobile phone. There’s my computer over there.
That’s pretty. There’s my computer over here. And they’re all always, you know, people really think people care about you, you know, stroking your bed, you know, rubbing your brow, holding your hand around your bed in the corner, crying, praying. And doctors and nurses, you know, running here and there with all kinds of tubes plugged into your body, all types of attachments, you know, we all kinds of readouts, cardiograph, all, you know, all these various instruments and so forth. Everything is there.
And then there’s your body, this wonderful body of ours. We’ve taken such good care of. And then, you know, the the the the world is beginning to dim out. The bond between my my my body and mind is beginning to weaken, become more fragile. It’s just about to break that connection between body and mind, between living flesh and a cold corpse.
It’s one moment to the next. You know? And then and and finally, it’s all over. And you look down at the scene from up above. There’s your your the nurses, you know, the doctors have left, and the nurses are beginning to take the tubes out and unplug the all the various instruments, the readouts, and so forth.
Then you see here here all your loved ones walking from the room, and then some are carrying there’s there’s one with your mobile. Your computer out. Anyway, stop. Stop. And then, you know, they’re carrying the papers and all of all your possessions.
And and they’re they’re sad and they’re crying. And then they and, you know, they’ve all left. The nurses that you an orderly comes in, the sheets pulled over your head, and they put you on a what do they call that? The the gurney. And they they wheel you out into the core to the to the service elevator and down down to the morgue.
And then they put you on a you can correct me if I’m wrong about this. They can they put you on these like I said, do I think they wash your body, plug up the orifices, tie together your hands and legs. Maybe they tattoo a number on the inside of your thigh. That’s your body. And the next next scene is that there you are at your at your funeral.
All the people, all your friends and loved ones are there, relatives, some of your work colleagues, people that you’ve known, and people you don’t even know. What are they doing here? And they’re saying all kinds of wonderful things about you. What a great father you were. What a great mother you were, what a great husband, wife, daughter, son, friend, work colleagues.
Some of them are telling all these wonderful events that occurred over the course of your life. You know, the anecdotes that express what a fine wonderful person you are or were. And and then finally, the funeral service is over. Maybe they maybe your body is put into the crematorium or maybe they take it out to the gravesite and the loved ones and relatives are gathering around the gravesite and your your coffin is lowered into the grave. They throw a few shovelfuls of dirt onto your coffin.
And then they’re all leaving, you know. A few of the services over. Everyone’s gone. It’s it’s night. It’s finished.
It’s all over. And what kind of life was it? Did you lead the kind of life that you wanted for yourself? Did you was it your life? What did you achieve by it?
What kind of regrets do you have about it? What would you left what was left undone that you would like to have accomplished in your life? What defenses do you have? You’re in the you’re in denial. But you’re not dead yet.
You have a chance. You still have some opportunity. So thinking about death in this way, you know, in terms of that at the time of our death, our possessions and enjoyments aren’t going to be of any use to us. Our loved ones aren’t going to be of any use to us. Even our body isn’t going to be of any use to us.
What is going to be of use to us? The only thing that can benefit us at the time of death is the degree that we’ve developed of our mind, how long we’ve gotten, how far we’ve gotten in our journey, and the positive imprints that we have placed upon our mind. And this is what’s going to go with you. You know, there’s a I think the Sixth Dalai Lama said all that’s written with by the all that’s written with the hand can be lost by the work of a single drop of water, but what is written in your mind is there for eternity. So, you know, it’s the quite the the latencies that we’ve placed in our mind, which are going to which we is all that we can rely upon.
All that we can have some assurance is going to carry us through and see us to the other side of whatever it is that comes. So out of this comes to some some kind of conclusion or determination to begin to, you know, to integrate. You know, it’s not that we aren’t to have possessions and things. No one’s saying that at all. It’s not that we aren’t to have a loved ones and care about people.
No one’s saying that at all. It’s not that we aren’t to take care of our body. It’s the sense that to begin to integrate them around begin to integrate the material things and enjoyments and the people in our life and even the treatment of our own body around the around the priority of one’s own development of one’s mind, beginning to implant positive imprints within our mind and beginning in the process of removing the negative that are already there within our mind to find you know, to make it a priority in your life. Your practice needs to be a priority in your life. That’s all.
It’s not to meant to be exclusive. It’s to find some kind of balance in your life. Meditate. You might find this heavy. I don’t know if you found that heavy.
Meditate single mindly on death all the time in every circumstance. While you’re standing up, sitting, or lying down, tell yourself, this is my last act in this world, and meditate on it with utter conviction. On your way to wherever you might be going, say to yourself, maybe I will die there. There is no certainty that I will ever come back. When you set out on a journey or pause or to rest, ask yourself, will I die here?
Where ver you are, you should be wondering if this might be where you die. At night, when you die lie down, ask yourself whether you might die in bed during the night, whether you can be sure that you’re going to get up in the morning. When you rise, ask yourself whether you might might die sometime during the day. Reflect that there’s no certainty at all that you’re going that you would be going to bed in the evening. Meditate only on death earnestly and from the core of your heart.
You know, to so we we’ve gone through three three roots, which, you know, we’re trying to cultivate to get a sense of accustom myself. You know, the idea of meditation is to accustom. That’s what the word meditation or gom in Tibetan, means. To familiarize, to accustom, to become acquainted with fact, with the reality, with the truth of things. You know, to always keep the inevitability of death before your mind’s eye is to always remember that what is uniquely important to yourself.
I think there, you know, there is you know, even in a even in a mundane sense, a worldly sense, there’s a great value in that, isn’t there, to keep your prior priorities straight in your life so you don’t take your life for granted and waste your life in some way or another. And to to keep the the unpredictability of the time of death in mind is to be mindful that we’re still alive and there’s still that we aren’t dead yet. There’s still more life to be lived. But there’s a certain urgency about getting on with that life, what it is that we want in our life. And then finally, you know, understanding that what it is that is going to help us at the time of our death is to help us to to remember what is important in how we live our lives.
You know, you die very much as you lived, qualities of the of your mind over the course of your life. And this is the only thing that we have that’s going to to direct our minds in the course of our death. That’s how we lived our life. So if you can so it can be seen that coping with the dread of death is just not a small thing, a particular technique that makes us feel better about the eventual physical demise. But really, it contains the clue to the living of an infinitely better life and should therefore be an essential part of our basic education.
Any individual who goes into this question at all is faced sooner or later with a certain choice. Either life is brought to fulfillment or life continues as it functions at present, thereby wasting the potential for happiness, which is not only our birthright, but unbeknownst to us our real nature. So that concludes the section on, you know, Tsongkhapa was talking about freedoms and rich richnesses are hard to find, and life does not last long. Life does not last long. Keeping this always in mind will alter the priorities you give to this life.
So we’re just kinda trying to help us to stop and pause and think about what is what is important, how we are spending most of our time, and is is that is that really what you want? And if not, to to energize yourself, to get unstuck, to make it so. So we’re gonna go on to eventually look at the death process as as it’s described in in within Buddhist physiology and psychology, and what actually transpires in the course of death. And we’ll go on after that to some of the reasoning, some of the logic behind the proof of rebirth, that the that the the end of the body is not the end of life. That is is something which continues on.
There’s going to be more of after this to give us some some at least begin to open our minds to the possibility. You know, for most people who who either unthinkingly accept the demise of the body is also the demise of the mind that with the ending of the body, we come to an end. Or they accept reincarnation or rebirth, however you want to put it, any really just in a kind of out of wishful thinking or having never really thought about it very deeply. So there are some reasoning to which we can we’re going to look at which tend to establish the existence of of a continuation of life after the ending of the demise of the body. When the physical life dies, the mind will continue on.
We’re going to do that next year if we are back together again. It’s not certain. We like to talk about this. Any ideas or discussions, questions around this? Yeah.
That’s no. That’s that that was that was the only answer. God. I don’t know. Not other than that, other I don’t still alive.
If we’re all still alive, and god willing, we’ll we’ll we’ll all be here together again. Yeah. Maybe I’ll mention one thing. I was gonna ask you. I asked mentioned last week that I want I’d like to I plan to there seem to be some some interest of having once a month on Saturdays, a mindfulness day.
We’ll we’ll introduce that next year. And also oh, yeah. We changed the format slightly. We we’ll have more discussion, and we can have a longer component of discussion. I think it’s quite useful to exchange ideas.
So we’ll make a circle, and actually have a cross. And this way, it’s kind of it’s too much work. No. I’m joking. But there there was something else I wanted to ask you to get some feedback on.
Is how is Monday night? There’s an alternative night that we could get together, and that would be Wednesday night. And also the time is seven fifteen. Is that a good time? Or how do people feel about that?
Working well me. Working well for me. Work Monday works well. Seven fifteen works well. I mean okay.
Yes. Okay. Just wanted to check that out. Okay. So next year, Monday nights at seven fifteen will continue.
And where it was yeah. I’m kinda I’m kinda quite excited about doing the you know, having once a month meditation together and our group discussions. I think I think there will be quite I think it’ll be hopefully, I think it’ll be a useful addition change. Anybody have anything like to share, talk about? Yeah.
Yeah. And it’s a tricky one, isn’t it? Well, I mean, it’s a if it’s a sudden death, there’s no question. It it’s very worthwhile to donate your organs. Yeah?
You know, if you if you were to do if for for I I think for most of us, it’s it’s quite acceptable, especially in the case of it, a sudden death, like a car accident, car accident. That’s a good thing to do. I mean, I I understand that you now you it’s not sufficient that you have it written on your driver’s license. You actually have to fill out some form. Yeah.
No. I think it’s an act of generosity and charity. I think it’s very useful. I mean, I think for for for a high for, you know, it’s said that for, like, a high tantric practitioner, the time of death is an extremely important moment that they have been training for this with for a great deal over the course of their life. And it’s not it would be they shouldn’t for someone who’s a real practitioner, not they shouldn’t be disturbed at the time of their death.
They should be allowed to die. And the you know, the best of the situation, it’s difficult to to even, you know, to give them days give them a number of days. I mean, it said that some some great meditators stay in the what’s called the clear light of death for for weeks at a time. Yeah. But this isn’t these are quite extraordinary individuals.
Yeah. So and if it’s if it’s a a really experienced practitioner, meditator, then it would be best not to disturb their body. But in the case of, myself, it doesn’t matter. And see it. The the organ organ organ donation would be quite a I think it’s a good thing.
I think it’s very Yeah. So it’s in intensive. No. It would it would be actually, it’s it be better because you’re actually you know, it’s a positive leaves in a positive imprint, the generosity. But it I mean, they do wait till you die, don’t they?
They don’t, you know, they don’t wait they don’t stay. Well Right. So so giving blood and donating your body to science is the same sort of thing? Yeah. For sure.
Yeah. The body no. Buddhism doesn’t oh gosh. I don’t wanna stick my head out here. I I think I think in general, I think it’s the body is on the whole.
I mean, you might get different difference of opinion, but my best shot would be that on the whole of the body isn’t isn’t of value after death. I mean, there are certain some some lamas might do various rituals around, you know, their body is burnt and there’s ashes, and they do what’s called a purification of the ashes. But I think you know, I don’t know. This might be on the whole, it’s I think it’s it’s quite alright to donate your body and organs and so forth. I think it’s a good thing to do.
John, but what can I just clarify that last response you gave with tantric? Yeah. Why would they not? I mean because you’re going to disturb their even though they’re no actually meant they stored the Yeah. According to according to, you know, they can remain in the clear light for quite an I mean, I think, like, his senior tutor to His Holiness, the previous senior senior tutor to His Holiness has remained in clear light for fourteen days.
Does that require while you, like, chanted? Body. Yeah. No. You see, you don’t want to disturb their their body because then you disturb their mind.
And he was the the transition between the actual there’s a there’s a gradual transition of the death going through the death process. And the and during this so the the the experienced tantric practitioner tries to make use of this. In the course of the death process, the the the sense consciousnesses begin to shut down. First, the physical sense consciousnesses, eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body, and then then the conceptual consciousness begin to diminish and then begin to arrive at a a the three levels of consciousness, coarse, subtle, and extremely subtle. And when it comes to the so once we’ve gone beyond coarse consciousness, we even the conceptual consciousnesses are most most of them, except for particular type, have ceased.
So among conceptual consciousness is ignorance. So it ignorance is no longer operative. And if one one but a very subtle consciousness through training, one can be mindful of one’s understanding of emptiness. And then, you know, one is able to it’s a great for the trained practitioner, it’s a it’s a tremendous represents a a great opportunity to have a direct realization of emptiness at that moment. But this is only it’s really kind of exceptional individual who is able to keep maintain awareness and mindfulness throughout the entire death process.
And they try to remain at the level of the subtle most consciousness in meditation on emptiness for an extended period of time, and sometimes it could last for weeks. So that’s what they call the clear light of death. And if you were to disturb the body, you’re going to disturb the wind energies, and that would disturb the mind, and they would that would that would precipitate their actual death. So it’s difficult in a hospital. They generally I mean, in the case of Lama Yeshe, for example, is when he died in California, they they were kind enough to set aside a room for him, which was quite unusual for them to do in a hospital for I think he was for a day.
They they they let it’s quite unusual. They was they were very kind about it. Was there, and they they they allowed his body to remain for one day even after was clinically dead. So it’s not to disturb him, but I think that’s unusual. That’s probably the best situation is to die at home.
And if you can yeah. So, anyway, when we go through the death process, we’ll and we’ll describe how this occurs and why this is you know, many of tantric practitioners, they meditate on this process every day. So it’s like programming their mind. So at the time of death, it is turn on the program in their mind. It it just it runs by itself.
They don’t have to think about it because they can’t. It’s kinda becomes automatic process. Good. Good. Yeah.
I I think I think it’s becoming even in the secular areas, I think, about death. I think it’s becoming not only more acceptable, but actually appreciated because it’s you know, whether you even if you even if you don’t believe in rebirth, it maybe you it helps you to appreciate your life, you know, and maybe change in some way, improve the quality of your life. But don’t at parties, it doesn’t go over. People shy away from you. Bring up bring up bring up your dead elephant.
I’ve never heard that. There’s a dead elephant in the room. It’s like the king where the king without clothes. Yeah. Without clothes.
Just something. The devil. Anything else? Ways. But on these night shifts, did these little babies have died one after the other, know, like three nights in a row.
I had three deaths. And on each occasion, and I was exceedingly diligent. And, you know, I cannot believe I had such a good focus because I was obsessed with every breath in and every breath out. Uh-huh. Never left my attention once.
But on each occasion, this is before beeping stuff, you know, back in the old days. They didn’t have beeps. You old didn’t just observe. And on each occasion, I was I won’t call it disturbed, but it was I I had this experience of something absolutely magnificent coming You know? I’ve seen spirits.
I’ve I’ve seen when dead people died, I’ve actually watched their spirits and things at different times. Yeah. But this was different. This was not as small as the spirit of a human being. This was a great breath, you know, like something masterful about an each occasion.
Well, I mean, I I I think Just a good imagination. That something that you can relate to. I can nothing comes to my mind. No. That’s okay.
No. I should take that one and keep my mind as a kid. No. Yeah. It’s a pretty profound experience, isn’t it, Death?
I mean, it’s anything else? Male beings everywhere plagued by sufferings of body and mind, attain oceans of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits. May no living creatures suffer, commit evil, or fall ill. No one be afraid or belittled with the mind weighed down by depression. May the blind see forms and deaf hear sounds.
May those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored upon finding repose. May the naked find clothing, the hungry find food. May the thirsty find water and delicious drink. May the poor find wealth, those weak with sorrow find joy. May the forlorn find hope, constant happiness and prosperity.
May there be timely rains and bountiful harvests. May all medicines be effective and wholesome prayers bear fruit. May all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from their ailments. Whatever diseases there are in the world, may they never occur again. May the frightened cease to be afraid and those bound be freed.
May the powerless find power, and may people think of benefiting each other. Through these careful actions, may I quickly become an awakened spiritual master and lead each and every living being to that awakened realm. May the supreme jewels of the three jewels of the three principal aspects of the path that have not arisen, may they arise and grow. May those that have arisen, may they never diminish and increase more and more. In the land and so forth by snow mountains, you are the source of all happiness and well-being.
Please remain to the end of cyclic existence. Have a merry Christmas.