Meditation: Mindfulness of Death (video)

Ven. Nyanatiloka (Anton Walther Florus Gueth, Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Terms and Doctrines via palikanon.com; Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Mara (Death personified) has the power to shapeshift, like a yakkha or genie (djinn).

The best way to get the most out of this life is paradoxically to be mindful of death (SE).

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"Life" is so much more than we know.

Marana-ānussati or "mindfulness of death" is calling to mind, remembering, recollecting, contemplating the end of this run.

• [Due to the incessant cycling of rebirth in samsara, there are many more.]

It is one of the Ten Recollections treated in detail in the Path of Purification (Vis.M. VIII):

''Recollection of death, frequently practiced and developed, yields great reward, great blessing, has deathlessness (nirvana) as its goal and object. How may such recollection be developed?

"As soon as the day declines, or as the night vanishes and the day is just breaking, the meditator reflects:

"Demons of Mara" palm leaf manuscript, Nalanda, Bihar

"'Truly, there are many possibilities for me to die: I may be bitten by a serpent or stung by a scorpion or centipede, and thereby I may lose my life [if I do not practice the protection against dying of snakebite]. And this would be an obstacle for me.

"'Or I may stumble and fall to the ground, or the food eaten by me may not agree with my health. Or bile, phlegm, and piercing bodily winds may become disturbing. Or humans or ghosts may attack me. Thus I may lose my life. And this would be an obstacle for me.'

"Then the meditator considers: 'Are there still to be found in me unsubdued defilements, unwholesome things which, if I should die this day or night, might lead me to suffering?'

"Now, if one understands that this is the case, one should use one's utmost resolution, energy, effort, endeavor, steadfastness, attentiveness, and clear-mindedness to overcome these unskillful, unwholesome things" (A VIII, 74).

The Path of [self-] Purification

Don't worry, Suze. Death is ulimtately unreal.

In the Path of Purification (Vis.M. VIII) it says: "One who wishes to develop this meditation should retreat to solitude, and while living secluded should wisely reflect:

"'Death will come to me! The vital energy will be cut off!' or 'Death! Death!'

"To anyone who does not wisely reflect in this way, sorrow may arise by thinking about the death of a beloved person, just as happens for a mother thinking about the death of her beloved child.

"Again, by reflecting on the death of a disliked person, joy may arise, just as it does for enemies while thinking about the death of their enemies.

"By thinking about the death of an neutral (indifferent) person, however, no emotion arises, just as when a person whose work consists of cremating the dead has no feeling at the sight of a dead body.

I'll off myself slowly with this soda poison.

"But by reflecting on one's own death, fright may arise...just as at the sight of a murderer with drawn sword one becomes filled with horror.

"So whenever one sees a slain person or other dead beings, one should reflect on the death of such deceased persons who once lived in happiness. One rouses one's attentiveness, emotion, and knowledge and considers:

"'Death will come,' and so on.... Only in one who considers in this way, will the Five Hindrances (nīvarana) of mind be subdued. And through the idea of DEATH, attention becomes steadfast, and the exercise reaches neighborhood or access concentration (upacāra-samādhi)."

According to the Path of Purification (Vis.M. VIII), one may also reflect on death in the following various ways: One may think of Death (Mara or marana)

• as a murderer with a drawn sword standing there,
• or one may bear in mind that all happiness ends in death,
• or that even the mightiest beings on this earth are subject to death,
• or that we must share this body with all those innumerable worms (protozoa, bacteria, parasites) and other tiny beings residing in it,
• or that life is something dependent on in-and-out breathing and intimately bound up with it,
• or that life continues only so long as the elements, food, breath, [karma], and so on are properly performing their functions,
• or that nobody knows when, where, and under what circumstances death will take place or what kind of fate we have to expect after death
• or that life is very short and limited.

Continued cycling of samsara: again rebirth

"For as it is said, 'Short, indeed, is this life of humans, limited, fleeting, full or woe and torment. It is just like a dewdrop that vanishes as soon as the sun rises, a water bubble, a line drawn on water, a torrent dragging everything along and never standing still, cattle for slaughter that every moment stare death in the face" (A. VII, 74).

"The meditator devoted to this recollection of death is at all times indefatigable and thereby gains the idea of disgust with regard to all forms of existence, lets go of delight about life, detests wrongdoing [harming], no longer hoards things, is free from stinginess with regard to the necessities of life.

"And the idea of impermanence (anicca) becomes familiar. By pursuing this idea, the idea of unavoidable-disappointment (dukkha) [misery, the inability to find fulfillment through things] and of the impersonal (anatta, selfless) nature of all things become apparent to one [who continues to reflect in this way]....

Peace of Mind: "I'm Afraid"

(Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo) LYRICS: Afraid of the dark/Afraid of the light/Don't walk in the park/Afraid of the night/Afraid to get stabbed/Or hit by a car/Afraid of the streets/Afraid to go far/Afraid of the sky/Don't like to be high/I don't want to fall/Afraid I might die/Afraid of my friends/Don't like to be seen/Afraid to be nice/Afraid to be mean/Afraid that the wind/Will knock over trees/Afraid of my dog/Afraid of his fleas//

Hey, come on, Monkey Baby, don't be dead.

[CHORUS:] Peace of mind/Peace of mind/Hard to keep/Hard to find/Look ahead/Look behind/Looking for/Peace of mind/Peace of mind/Can't relax/Can't unwind/Deep inside/Secret mind/Oh no!//

Afraid to be caught/Afraid to be free/Afraid to make love/Afraid of VD/Afraid of the rain/Don't make me get wet/Afraid to take drugs/They make me forget/Afraid that the air/Will make me get sick/Afraid that the girls/Will cut off my...OHHH!/Someone tell me how it happened/Why my head is so confused/Can it be my circuits finally blew a fuse?/Can a human being really change into a humanoid?/Or is my imagination paranoid?/All I need is peace and quiet/Maybe just a little time/Turn the channel!/Turn the channel!/Piece of mind/Peace of mind//

[Chorus]//Afraid of success/Afraid to grow old/Afraid that my brain/Is covered with mold/Afraid that I might/Be put on a shelf/But last but not least, oh!/Afraid of myself!

"Free from fear and bewilderment, one will pass away [peacefully] at death. And if one does not yet realize the Deathless State (nirvana) in this lifetime, one will at the dissolution of the body attain to a happy course of existence" (Vis.M. VIII).

• Buddhist Reflections on Death (V.F. Gunaratna, Wheel 102/103)
• Buddhism and Death (Maurice O'Connell Walshe, Wheel #260)