When it's time to die and you're next (audio)

Ajahn Jayasaro, "Our Real Home: A Talk to an Aging Lay Disciple Approaching Death" by Ajahn Chah, Sangha at Wat Pah Nanachat (trans.), 1983dukkha, Ellie Askew, Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah (2012), a complete collection of talks translated into English, recorded by Abbot Ajahn Amaro, Amaravati, England.

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This body is hurtling toward destruction.

Now determine in your mind to listen with respect to the Dhamma (the Dharma, the Buddha's Teaching). During the time that I am speaking, be as attentive to my words as if it were the Buddha himself sitting in front of you.

Close your eyes and make yourself comfortable, compose your mind, and make it one-pointed. Humbly allow the Triple Gem of wisdom, truth, and purity to abide in your heart as a way of showing respect to the Fully Enlightened One.

"We practice to learn letting go." - Ajahn Chah

Today I have brought nothing material of any substance to offer you, only Dhamma, the teachings of the Buddha. Listen well. You should understand that even the Buddha himself, with his great store of accumulated virtue [good karma], could not avoid physical death.

When he reached old age he relinquished his body and let go of its heavy burden. Now you, too, must learn to be satisfied with the many years you've already depended on your body. You should feel that it's enough.

You can compare it to household utensils you've had for a long time — your cups, saucers, plates, and so on. When you first had them they were clean and shining, but now after using them for so long, they're starting to wear out. Some are already broken, some have disappeared, and those that are left are deteriorating. They have no stable form, and it's their nature to be like that.

Your body is the same way: It's been continually changing right from the day you were born, through childhood and youth, until now it's reached old age. You must accept that. The Buddha said that conditions (sankharas), whether they are internal conditions, bodily conditions, or external conditions, are not-self (impersonal), their nature is to change. Contemplate this truth until you see it clearly.

One day, black and blue, this body is a log.

This very lump of flesh that lies here in decline is sacca-dhamma, the truth. The truth of this body is sacca-dhamma, and it is the unchanging teaching of the Buddha. The Buddha taught us to look at the body, to contemplate it and come to terms with its nature.

We must be able to be at peace with the body, whatever state it is in. The Buddha taught that we should ensure that it's only the body that is locked up in jail and not let the mind be imprisoned along with it.

Now as your body begins to run down and deteriorate with age, don't resist that, but don't let your mind deteriorate with it. Keep the mind separate. Give energy to the mind by realizing the truth of the way things are.

The Buddha taught that this is the nature of the body. It can't be any other way: Having been born, it gets old and sick, and then it dies. This is a great truth you are presently encountering. Look at the body with wisdom and realize it.

Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, England

Even if your house is flooded or burnt to the ground, whatever the danger that threatens it, let it concern only the house. If there's a flood, don't let it flood your mind. If there's a fire, don't let it burn your heart. Let it be merely the house, which is external to you, that is flooded and burnt. Allow the mind to let go of attachments.

The time is ripe. You've been alive a long time. More