Picturing Death Is The Right Way To Life
This, too, shall pass.
Our adopted dog, Peanut, fought with a rat the other day. She ended up having a small scratch on the left side of her mouth. She bled. We rushed her to a veterinary clinic, while the image of her dying that day was at the back of my head.
She’s still alive. It doesn’t change the fact that she will pass away later. It makes my stomach churn. She’s my most loyal companion and I love her to bits.
Another day that I dread is the day my parents pass away — hopefully not at the same time. Recently, we were reminiscing and looking at pictures from childhood. I’m grateful that I have this chance to do this with them. They are healthy, alive and only in their mid-sixties.
Loved ones leave this world all the time. It’s nothing new.
Buddhism has a lot to say about dying. For Buddhists, it’s a way of life, in as much as breathing is. We tend to look at death as a grand finale to a performance. To this religion, it’s only one part of the cycle.
They even meditate on it. When they meditate on death, they imagine people that they love, as old, grey, and dying. If sadness comes, they sit on it and let it stay for a while.
Never have I come close to death. Never been injured, hospitalized nor met any serious accident. For this I am grateful. I do think of death a lot.
And thinking about it makes me change how I interact with them on a day to day basis. As I get to know more about death, it makes respect the remaining time that they have here on earth.
How do you feel?
Do you fear death? In the book Light On The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by BKS Iyengar, fear of death or abhinivessa is one of the 5 causes of suffering along with ignorance, pride, attachment, and aversion. Fearing death is like a sickness that can be cured by embracing it.
Realizing that everyone you know — your favorite sibling, your mentor, father — will eventually be gone, does it drive you to be a little bit more caring, a little more compassionate towards them?
When your emotions get the best of you after an argument with your partner, does it cross your mind how bleak life will be when he or she is gone?
When you strive to be successful in business, do you pause and think of what having more money can do for you when you will leave this world anyway?
How would your life change if you get a call about your best friend dying today? How will that affect your choices?
Thinking about death isn’t morbid. Thinking about it is being considerate and thoughtful. It means you know that we only live once and this is all we’ve got.
When we understand our true nature, that’s when our life becomes bigger…and better.
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Odyssa writes, practices Ashtanga yoga, and works remotely.
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