Death
It is a reality of life that we are bound to lose those who are dear to us. When a relative or one of our friends dies we feel much grief and we find it difficult to bear our loss. The Buddha’s teachings can help us to face reality, to see things as they are. Many times the Buddha spoke about the sorrow caused by the loss of dear people.
We read in the Discourse on Born of Affection (Middle Length Sayings II, 87):
Thus have I heard: At one time the Lord was staying near Sāvatthī in the Jeta Grove in Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. Now at that time the dear and beloved little only son of a certain householder had passed away. After he had passed away (the father) had no inclination for work or for food. Going constantly to the cemetery, he wailed: “Where are you, little only son? Where are you, little only son?” Then that householder approached the Lord; having approached, having greeted the Lord, he sat down at a respectful distance. The Lord spoke thus to that householder as he was sitting down at a respectful distance:
“Do you not have, householder, controlling faculties for stilling your own mind? There is a change in your faculties.”
“But how could there be no change in my faculties, Lord? For, Lord, my dear and beloved little only son has passed away...”
“That is just it, householder. For, householder, grief, sorrow, suffering, lamentation and despair are born of affection, originate in affection.”
“But for whom Lord, could this hold good in this way: ’Grief, sorrow, suffering, lamentation and despair are born of affection, originate in affection’? For, Lord, bliss and happiness are born of affection, originate in affection.”
Then the householder, not rejoicing in what the Lord had said, repudiating it, rising from his seat, departed...
The householder could not grasp the deep meaning of the Buddha’s words. We should try to understand what the Buddha meant. We should try to understand what the Buddha taught about the world, about ourselves, about life and death. The Buddha summarised his teachings in the “Four Noble Truths”.
We read in the Kindred Sayings (V, Mahā-vagga, Book XII, Kindred Sayings about the Truths, Ch II, par 1) that the Buddha explained the “Four Noble Truths” (ariya sacca) to his first five disciples in the Deerpark in Vārānasi. The first “Noble Truth” is the Truth of “dukkha” which can be translated as suffering or unsatisfactoriness. The Buddha said:
Now this, monks, is the ariyan truth about dukkha:
Birth is dukkha, decay is dukkha, sickness is dukkha, death is dukkha; likewise sorrow and grief, woe, lamentation and despair. To be conjoined with things we dislike, to be separated from things we like that also is dukkha. Not to get what one wants -that also is dukkha. In a word, the five khandhas which are based on grasping are dukkha.
The five khandhas, which are the mental phenomena and the physical phenomena in and around ourselves, are dukkha. One may wonder why they are dukkha. We take the mind for self, but what we call our mind are only mental elements or nāmas which arise and then fall away immediately. We take the body for self, but what we call our body are only physical elements or rūpas which arise and fall away. When we do not know the truth we think that these phenomena can stay; we take them for self. We might for instance think that sadness stays, but there is not only sadness, there are many other phenomena such as seeing, hearing and thinking. What we think is a long time of sadness is, in reality, many different phenomena succeeding one another; none of these phenomena stays.
Phenomena which are impermanent are not real happiness; so they are dukkha. Although dukkha is often translated as “suffering”, it is not only an unhappy feeling; the first “Noble Truth” pertains to all phenomena which arise and fall away. There is not anything in our life which is not dukkha. Even happy feeling is dukkha; it does not last.
The second “Noble Truth” is the origin of dukkha, which is craving. The same sutta states:
Now this, monks, is the ariyan truth about the arising of dukkha: It is that craving that leads back to birth, along with the lure and the lust that lingers longingly now here, now there: namely the craving for sensual pleasure, the craving to be born again, the craving for existence to end. Such, monks, is the ariyan truth about the arising of dukkha.
So long as there is craving in any form there will be a condition for life, for the arising of nāma and rūpa. Thus, there will be dukkha.
The third “Noble Truth” is the cessation of dukkha, which is nibbāna. We read in the above quoted sutta:
And this, monks, is the ariyan truth about the ceasing of dukkha:
Verily it is the utter passionless cessation of, the giving up, the forsaking, the release from, the absence of longing for this craving.
Craving is the origin of dukkha, whereas when there is the cessation of craving there will be the extinction of rebirth and thus of dukkha. Nibbāna is the end of dukkha. The arahat has, at the attainment of enlightenment eradicated all craving and thus for him there are no more conditions for rebirth, and that means the end of dukkha(27).
We read in the same sutta about the fourth “Noble Truth”:
Now this, monks, is the ariyan truth about the practice that leads to the ceasing of dukkha:
Verily it is the ariyan eightfold way, namely: Right understanding, right thinking, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.
The eightfold Path (ariya-magga) is the development of right understanding of all phenomena which appear in our daily life. We come to know the world in and around ourselves, not through speculation, but from our own experience.
How do we experience the world? We experience the world through seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, receiving impressions through the bodysense and through the mind. Everything we experience through the doors of the five senses and through the mind-door is extremely short, because all phenomena which arise fall away immediately. When we see, there is the world of visible object, but it does not last, it falls away again. When we hear, there is the world of sound, but it is impermanent. Likewise the world of smell, the world of taste, the world of tangible object and the world of mental objects; none of these worlds lasts.
In the Visuddhimagga (VIII, 39) we read about the shortness of the world:
…in the ultimate sense the life-moment of living beings is extremely short, being only as much as the occurrence of a single conscious moment. Just as a chariot wheel, when it is rolling, rolls (that is, touches the ground) only on one point of (the circumference of) its tyre, and, when it is at rest, rests only on one point, so too, the life of living beings lasts only for a single conscious moment. When that consciousness has ceased, the being is said to have ceased...
What we call death is not really different from what happens at any moment of consciousness. Each moment a citta falls away there is death of citta. Each citta which arises falls away completely but it conditions the next citta. The last citta of this life, the dying-consciousness (cuti-citta), is succeeded by the first citta of the next life, the rebirth-consciousness (paṭisandhi-citta). There is no self at any moment of our life and thus there is no self or soul which travels from this life to the next life.
It is ignorance which causes us to think and behave as if the body and the mind were permanent. We are attached to the body and to the mind and we take them for self. We think that it is self who sees, hears, thinks and moves around. The clinging to self causes sorrow. We wish to be master of our body and our mind; we wish to control our life and to experience only pleasant things. When we are confronted with old age, sickness and death we are very sad. Those who are ignorant of reality cannot grasp the Buddha’s words that sorrow originates in attachment. This is in fact the second “Noble Truth”, the truth about the origination of dukkha which is craving. We should realize that all nāmas and rūpas which arise are impermanent, dukkha and anattā (non-self).
The Buddha pointed out the impermanence of phenomena in many different ways. He spoke about the impermanence of the body in order to help people to become detached from the concept of “my body”. He spoke about the contemplation of the foulness of the body, and he recommended meditations on corpses in different stages of dissolution. We read in the Satipaṭṭhāna-sutta (Middle Length Sayings I, no. 10):
And again, monks, as a monk might see a body thrown aside in a cemetery, dead for one day or for two days or for three days, swollen, discoloured, decomposing; he focuses on this body itself(28), thinking: “This body, too, is of a similar nature, a similar constitution, it has not got past that (state of things).”
The Visuddhimagga (Ch VI, 88) explains:
…For a living body is just as foul as a dead one, only the characteristic of foulness is not evident in a living body, being hidden by adventitious embellishments.
In order that people might realize the foulness of the living body as well, the Buddha spoke about the “Parts of the Body”. We read in the Satipaṭṭhāna-sutta:
And again, monks, a monk reflects on precisely this body itself, encased in skin and full of various impurities, from the soles of the feet up and from the crown of the head down, that: “There is connected with this body hair of the head, hair of the body, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bones, marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, membranes, spleen, lungs, intestines, mesentary, stomach, excrement, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, serum, saliva, mucus, synovic fluid, urine.”
Reflections on the foulness of the body can help us to become less attached to it, but the most effective way to see the body as it really is, is awareness and direct understanding of the rūpa-elements which constitute the body. We read in the Satipaṭṭhāna-sutta that the Buddha spoke about the body in terms of the four elements:
And again, monks, a monk reflects on this body according to how it is placed or disposed in respect of the elements, thinking: “In this body there is the element of extension, the element of cohesion, the element of heat, the element of motion.”
The element of extension or solidity (Earth) appears in the characteristics of hardness and softness, the element of cohesion (Water) in the characteristics of fluidity and cohesion, the element of heat (Fire) in the characteristics of heat and cold, the element of motion (Wind) in the characteristics of motion or oscillation and pressure. These elements are the same, no matter whether we experience them in dead matter or in the body. Both dead matter and the body are only elements which are impermanent and non-self.
We should know the world as it really is by experiencing different characteristics of nāma and rūpa when they present themselves through the five sense-doors and through the mind-door. For example, when the characteristic of heat presents itself through the bodysense, it can be object of awareness. When softness appears it can be object of awareness. In this way we will get to know different characteristics of reality through our own experience and we will learn to see them as elements.
It is important to know different characteristics of realities when they present themselves in order to eliminate the clinging to the concept of self. We may think that the softness of the body belongs to “my body”. When we learn to be mindful of the characteristic of softness more often we will find out that softness is a characteristic which is the same in dead matter and in the body. We will learn through experience that it is a characteristic which does not know or experience anything; that it is rūpa and not self. Thus we will become less attached to the concept of “my body”. When we are aware of realities such as seeing, sadness, happiness and thinking, we will learn that they are only different types of nāma which arise and fall away. They are dukkha. The eye is dukkha, seeing is dukkha, the feelings which arise on account of what is seen are dukkha.
It does not appeal to everybody to be mindful of nāma and rūpa as they appear in daily life. However, we have to consider what we really want in life. Do we want to continue being ignorant and taking body and mind for self? Do we want to live in darkness or do we want to develop wisdom so that there will be an end to dukkha? If we decide that we want to walk the way leading to the end of dukkha, we must develop wisdom in our daily life: when we see, hear or think, when we feel sad and when we feel happy. This is the only way to understand dukkha, the arising of dukkha, the ceasing of dukkha and the way leading to the ceasing of dukkha. When we realize how deeply rooted our ignorance is and how strong the attachment to the self, we will be motivated to learn to be mindful of nāma and rūpa.
The Buddha often spoke about mindfulness of death. He spoke about death in order to remind people of the impermanence of each moment. Life is extremely short and thus we should not waste any time, but we should learn to develop understanding of the present moment so that ignorance of realities can be eliminated.
Ignorance cannot be eradicated within a short time. Only when one has attained the fourth and last stage of enlightenment, the stage of the arahat, are there no more defilements; only then ignorance is completely eradicated. We read in the Mahā-Parinibbāna-sutta (Dialogues of the Buddha II, no. 16, Ch VI, 10,11)(29) that when the Buddha passed away those who still had conditions for sorrow wept:
Then, when the Bhagavā(30) had passed away, some monks, not yet freed from passion, lifted up their arms and wept; and some, flinging themselves on the ground, rolled from side to side and wept, lamenting: “Too soon has the Bhagavā come to his parinibbāna! Too soon has the Happy One come to his parinibbāna! Too soon has the Eye of the World vanished from sight!”
But the monks who were freed from passion, mindful and clearly comprehending, reflected in this way: “Impermanent are all compounded things. How could this be otherwise?”
And the venerable Anuruddha addressed the monks, saying: “Enough, friends! Do not grieve, do not lament! For has not the Bhagavā declared before, that with all that is dear and beloved there must be change, separation and severance? Of that which has arisen, has come into being, is compounded and subject to decay, how can one say: ’May it not come to dissolution’ ?”
We read in the same sutta (Ch II, 32) that prior to his passing away the Buddha said to Ānanda:
Now I am frail, Ānanda, old, aged, far gone in years. This is my eightieth year and my life is spent…Therefore, Ānanda, be an island to yourself, a refuge to yourself, seeking no external refuge; with Dhamma as your island, Dhamma as your refuge, seeking no other refuge.
And how, Ānanda, is a monk an island to himself, a refuge to himself, seeking no external refuge; with Dhamma as his island, Dhamma as his refuge, seeking no other refuge?
When he dwells contemplating the body in the body, earnestly, clearly comprehending, and mindfully, after having overcome desire and sorrow in regard to the world; he dwells contemplating feeling in the feelings, mind in the mind, and mental objects in the mental objects, earnestly, clearly comprehending, and mindfully, after having overcome desire and sorrow in regard to the world, then, truly, he is an island to himself, a refuge to himself, seeking no external refuge; having Dhamma as his island and refuge, seeking no other refuge...
When we “contemplate” the body in the body, feeling in the feelings, mind in the mind and mental objects in the mental objects, we will learn not to see the self in the body, feelings, mind and mental objects. Only if we are mindful of all the different kinds of nāma and rūpa which present themselves in our daily life will we see that they are impermanent, dukkha and anattā. This is the only way leading to the end of dukkha, to the end of death.
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