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| I didn't have to suffer? Robert Redford lost both sons: The darkest days of his life |
BREAKING: Hollywood legend Robert Redford dead at age 89
"Recollection of death" (maranānussati) is one of the ten recollections treated in detail in the Path of Purification (Vis.M. VIII):
One reflects, "Truly, there are many possibilities for me to die: I may be bitten by a serpent or be stung by a scorpion or a centipede, and thereby I may lose this life. This would be an obstacle for me. Or I may stumble and fall to the ground, or the food I eat may not agree with my health. Or [the humors] bile, phlegm, and piercing gases [bodily winds] may become disturbed. Humans or ghosts may attack me, and I may lose my life. This would be an obstacle for me."
In the Path of Purification (Vis.M. VIII) it is said: "One who wishes to develop this meditation should retreat to solitude [a private, quiet place], and while living secluded one should wisely reflect: 'Death will come to me! The vital energy will be cut off!' Or [recall,] 'Death! Death!'
"Therefore, whenever seeing here or there slain or other dead [formerly living] beings, one should reflect on the death of such deceased persons who once lived in happiness.
The meditator devoted to this recollection of death is at all times indefatigable and gains the realization of disgust with regard to all forms [31 planes] of existence, gives up delight in [samsara, endless rebirth], detests evil [that traps one in experiencing the results of miserable karma], does not hoard up things, is free from stinginess with regard to the necessities of life.
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| I am become Death (on TV) |
The Buddha taught: ''Recollection of death, developed and frequently practiced, yields great reward, great blessing, has deathlessness (amata) as its goal and objective. But how may such recollection be developed?
"As soon as the day declines, as the night vanishes and the day is breaking, the meditator reflects:
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| I'm indestructible and strong. |
Then a meditator considers thus: "Are there still to be found in me unsubdued unskillful, unwholesome things which, if I should die today or tonight, might lead me to greater suffering?"
Now, if one understands that this is the case, one should use one's utmost resolution, determination, energy (viriya), effort, endeavor, steadfastness, attentiveness, and clear-mindedness (sati-sampajanna) in order to overcome these harmful, unwholesome things" (A VIII, 74).
What does the Path of Purification advise?
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| Redford's children die tragically |
"To one who does not wisely reflect, sorrow may arise by thinking about [recalling] the death of a loved one, just as it does to a mother while thinking of the death of a beloved child.
"Again, by reflecting on the death of a disliked person, joy [schadenfreude] may arise -- just as enemies while thinking about the death of their enemies.
"Through thinking about the death of a neutral (indifferent) person, however, no emotion will arise, just as none arises in a worker whose work consists of cremating dead bodies at the sight of a dead body.
"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 terror.
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| Death, be not proud. |
One should rouse one's attentiveness, emotion, and knowledge and consider thus: 'Death will come, and so on.
Only in one who considers in this way, will the Five Hindrances (nīvarana) be repressed. Through the idea of death, attention becomes steadfast, and the exercise reaches [meditative] neighborhood-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 [personified] as a murderer with a drawn sword standing in front of oneself;
- 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 innumerable worms and other tiny beings [microbes] residing throughout the intestines and tissues;
- or that life is something dependent on in-and-out breathing, and bound up with it; or that life continues only as long as the elements, food, breath, etc. are properly performing their functions; or that nobody knows when, where, and under what circumstances, death will take place, and what kind of fate we have to expect after death; or, that life is very short and limited. As it is said: 'Short, indeed, is this life of men, limited, fleeting, full or woe and torment; it is just like a dewdrop that vanishes as soon as the sun rises; like a water-bubble; like a furrow drawn in the water; like a torrent dragging everything along and never standing still; like cattle for slaughter that every moment look death in the face" (A. VII, 74).
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| Path of Purification (Nyanamoli) |
- And the realization of [radical] impermanence (anicca) becomes familiar.
- And through pursuing it, the idea of disappointment (dukkha).
- And the impersonal (anattā) nature of all things becomes present to one....
- See Buddhist Reflections on Death by V. F. Gunaratna (Wheel 102/103)
- Buddhism and Death by M.Q.C. Walshe (Wheel 260)
- Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary, maranānussati based on Path of Purification (Vis.M. VIII), edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly
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