Western Buddhist Ajahn Brahm's birthday

Ajahn Brahm (BSWA); Dhr. Seven, Ananda (DBM), Ellie Askew (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

“The Art of Disappearing”

Cambridge, England monk in Thailand

My 60th year is 2011. Nevertheless, it feels like only yesterday that I was 20, going out with girls, running around playing [British football] soccer, not really worried about my health. A lifetime passes very quickly, indeed.

It won't be long before I wake up and I'm 70. This sort of reflection puts our lives in perspective. Reflecting on old age, sickness, and death: Such reflection allows us to see both the limitations and opportunities in life, that is, the big picture.

Civilized to Death (Chris Ryan)

When we understand our limitations -- old age, sickness, and death -- it becomes clear what needs to be done. To see our limitations, look at the nature of this body: It's very fragile, with an endless series of problems that we cannot avoid.

So rather than identifying with it, indulging in it, and excessively caring for this body, we should make sure that this body is our last one and that we do not get into this mess ever again. That's the opportunity.

Old age is a time when most people look back and think about how they've spent their lives.

When we understand old age, sickness, and death, we understand that we have problem (suffering) that needs to be solved. The trouble is, most of us do not take action until the problem is right in front of us.

They're just like kids who should have been studying for months and instead do all their reading the night before the exam, cramming. It's the same with the great exams of old age, sickness, and death: If we do our homework now, while we're still young, healthy, and fully alive, we will be all right.

We can prepare for those exams by abandoning concern for bodies, our own and those of others.

Keep reflecting

"[It is inevitable.] I must be parted and separated from everything dear and agreeable to me." Reflecting in this way, we gradually lose interest in addictive sensory pleasures and the body.

When we thoroughly investigate them, we realize that it just doesn't make sense to pursue our happiness through these unsatisfactory, unreliable, impersonal things. We can then commit ourselves to being free from the body and making sure we do not inherit any other bodies in the future.

We understand that clinging and attachment to the body is one of the most crucial things to understand so that by understanding (wisdom) we let go of all we foolishly cling to.

Let us train ourselves to sit down, cross our legs, close our eyes, and practice present-moment awareness and silence. Remember that most of our thinking is about the body and the world of sensory pleasures. Let's stop all of that obsessing.

Let's stay with our breathing and allow the breath to become beautiful and the body to disappear. We don't know where the body is and we could care less. It has [temporarily] disappeared, and all we have is the breath.

The breath becomes beautiful, and then a counterpart sign (nimitta) arises. At that point the body, including the breath, has completely vanished.

Freedom from the body

This body lives on air/spirit (prana).

This is what happens when we re-die. The nimitta is the same light that people see when they leave their bodies at death or have a conscious near-death experience in this life right now.

We, too, can experience the bliss of freedom. Then we'll understand the Buddha's teachings and become independent. We won't need other people, and we won't care what they say or do. We'll just sit down in solitude, bliss out, and become free. Don't we want that? It's an offer, and we can do it.

If we haven't done it yet, it's just a matter of time. The door to the deathless (nirvana, amata) is open. It's up to us to walk through that door, and then we won't grow old, get sick, or die ever again. Let's make this the last time.