Maranasati
Seeing with wisdom the end of life in others
and comparing this life to a lamp kept in a windy place,
one should meditate on death.
Just as the world beings
who once enjoyed great prosperity will die,
even so one day will I die too.
Death will indeed come to me.
This death has come along with birth.
Therefore, like an executioner,
death always seeks an opportunity to destroy.
Life, without halting for a moment,
and ever keen on moving,
runs like the sun that hastens to set after its rise.
This life comes to an end like a streak of lightning,
a bubble of water, a dewdrop on a leaf,
or a line drawn on water.
Like an enemy intent on killing, death can never be avoided.
If death could come in an instant to the Buddhas
endowed with great glory, prowess, merits,
super-normal powers and wisdom,
what could be said of me?
Dying every instant,
at one point I shall die in the blink of an eye,
for want of food, or through internal ailments,
or through external injuries.
********************
May this realization help me to put aside useless regrets,
to live each day with compassion for myself and others,
with kindness towards myself and others,
with joy in the achievements of myself and others,
and with even-mindedness in all things.
