Coping with DEATH: Kobe Bryant (video)

CBS News; Flow Station; Pfc. Sandoval, S. Auberon, A. Wells, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Kobe Bryant meditated every day. It put him in that flow state and set him up for the day. Be like Bryant. Fortunately, Coach Phil Jackson knew about Buddhist mindfulness and meditation.

UPDATE: Shaq's son Shareef reveals texts from Kobe before fatal copter crash (iheart.com)

Good thing I meditated to prepare myself.

Kobe Bean Bryant (Aug. 23, 1978–Jan. 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, Bryant played his entire 20-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Los Angeles Lakers. He entered the NBA at 17 directly from high school and won five NBA championships. Bryant was an 18-time All-Star, 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, 12-time member of the All-Defensive team, and the 2008 NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP). Widely regarded as perhaps the greatest basketball player of all time, but not according to Shaq, Magic, Metta World Peace, or... Rape allegations dogged him for a while, but he managed to shake them and carry on.

They retired his number along ago

He probably should not have been riding in helicopters to escape horrific L.A. traffic, or maybe the pilot should not have been crashing into hills, but either way the City of L.A. is devastated. People care more about Kobe's death than their own. Death touches us all. However, few were prepared to have their wife's Grammys Award Show ruined by the pall of this shocking tragedy, which took out many passengers including Kobe's daughter Gigi.

That's Samsara (the Cycle of Wandering on through Rebirth) for you! Just when you think you're 41, rich, popular, on top of the world looking forward to a very promising post-sports career job, Mara says "Hello." Then Yama has a talk with you.

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Man, I had so much to do! Who knew Life had D?

The dead are dead (to us), and we can share merits with them. We can learn from them and honor their memory. But they are not dead to themselves; they are not suddenly nonexistent. They exist elsewhere. The Buddha, when repeatedly asked about deceased family and friends, said: "Few are the living; many are the dead."

Many more people are dead than are now alive, so the living are more precious, more important to focus on, more significant to be concerned about. Of course, we cling. He's gone, but he'll never be gone. (He's not really gone. He's just not here). He IS somewhere. That's how it is with Samsara. We wander and wander.

Kobe is like a hero of old, a city state warrior. So common people who never met him feel like they lost a member of their family. Coping with death is an issue for the living. The dead are taken care of and guided. Kobe's in the Bardo now.

Transfer him merit; pray for his safe journey to a fortunate rebirth; hope he had good karma (merit) to help him along. We've talked about all of these in recent posts.