Death of a Hermit
A local hermit who lives in a nearby cave passed away last night. We all called him Crazy Uncle. He was quiet and kept to himself mostly. Nobody really knows what he has been doing in his cave for the past few decades, but some speculate that he practised Tantra. As a community, we must decide how we are to care for his body. This will take some careful consideration.
It is important within our Buddhist culture, that we reflect and meditate on death, and the truth of impermanence, to remind us of how valuable and precious this life is. This life is our best opportunity at attaining liberation from samsara, so a reminder of impermanence and death will hopefully help us to live a more fulfilling and meaningful life.
Our life actions and our state of mind, have a direct influence on our rebirth in the cycle of samsara. It is our goal to have no fear or regrets on our death bed, so as a spiritual practitioner this is our aim in order to die happily.
In our Tibetan culture, we have two types of meditation we do at the time of someone’s passing. The first, is a look at the certainty and approach to death, that, looking at what we will benefit at the time of death, in order to live our lives the best way we can. The second, is we practise and rehearse the death process in order to familiarize ourselves with it, so we are no longer in fear of the unknown and allows us to die skillfully. It is encouraged to attend funerals, in order to reflect on this inevitable event.
The first meditation is called the “nine-round death meditation”, in which we take the time to seriously think about the three roots, the nine reasonings, and the three convictions.
The first root is that death is certain. Within this, there are the first three reasonings. The first reasoning is that it is impossible to escape death. No one not even the Buddha has ever escaped death. The second reasoning is that every moment in life is bringing us closer to death. From the time we are born we are becoming closer and closer to death. The third reasoning is that death can come and any moment. The only thing that separates us from this life to the next is one breath. The first conviction is to practise the spiritual path, and to grow and mature our inner potential by cultivation positive thoughts and actions, and discarding our delusions.
The second root is that the time of death is uncertain. Within this, is the fourth, fifth, and sixth reasonings. The fourth reasoning is that any person’s life span is uncertain. The young can die before the old, and the healthy can die before the sick, no one can know when death will creep upon them. The fifth reasoning is that there are many things and circumstances that can lead to death, including the very things we need to live. For example, food can poison us. The sixth reasoning is that our physical bodies are fragile; this physical weakness contributes to the uncertainty of life expectancy. There are many diseases, environmental factors, other life events that can put an end to our life. The second conviction is to not postpone our growth and development of our inner potential, but to ripen it without any delay.
The third root is that only our mental and spiritual development can help us at the time of death. The reason for this is that it is only our karmic imprints, positive or negative that are carried over to our next life. In Yogacara Buddhism, a school of thought within the Mahayana traditions, teaches that everything that happens in our lives- thoughts and actions, plant seeds in our alayavijinana (consciousness). Under the right circumstances these seeds (bija) will grow and affect our actions, and plant new seeds for potential growth. It is our conscious that is passed on from life to life along with the old seeds and the new. There are many who have questions regarding the concept of anatman (no self), that was taught by the Buddha. There has be much discussion in relation to no self, and the idea of transmigration. People ask, how is it possible to have transmigration (reincarnation), if there is in fact, as the Buddha taught, no self? Many different ideas and theories have been provided, however as discussed previously, in Yogacara Buddhism, it is the consciousness (alayavijnana) that is passed on through transmigration, and it is our alayavijnana that seeds are planted and grow if cultivated in a particular way. This is how they explain it to be possible to have both “no self”, and transmigration.
Okay, back to the seventh reasoning, worldly possessions such as wealth, status, and money, will not be helpful. These are the things we form attachments to, which in simple terms, form delusions and cause suffering. The eight reasoning is that we are alone in death, our family and friends cannot prevent our death or go with us. The ninth and last reasoning is our body is no help to us in dying, it is something that will and must be left behind like an empty shell. The third and last conviction is, while ripening our inner potential purely, do so without staining our efforts by forming attachments and desires to worldly possessions and concerns.
Before the Buddha passed away, he was given a funeral. Some of his followers were having a difficult time letting go of the Buddha, as they continued to struggle with attachments to worldly possessions. The other followers everyone that all life must come to an end, all people will perish. The Buddha went engaged in four stages of mediation, which ended with the passing away of consciousness; it was at this time, that many had believed that he had actually died, but this was not the case. He was still alive, and went through the four stages again, but this time, he did them backwards. Following the passing of the Buddha, the people honored his remains with music, hymns, and dance. They also prepared for his cremation that would take place the following day.
It is tradition in Tibet to cremate people’s bodies after they pass away. Tibetan Buddhists offer a variety of reasons as to why it is more culturally and religiously acceptable to them to cremate than to embalm a body. Preserving a body is perceived as harmful, it is very rare in Tibet to be embalmed. When a body is preserved, it does not produce relics, it is harmful to the deceased, and it causes great difficulties for the next conscious rebirth. Due to this tradition, the idea of embalming may come as a shock to the people. If a body is to be preserved, it must first be treated with a special corpse salt and purgative for at least a year before it is brought to rest in the tomb. The reason for this, is that it is necessary to ensure that all the blood and tissue must be completely soaked up.
It cannot be stressed enough, the importance of mindfulness of impermanence, and that death is inevitable and unescapable. There are three classifications that humans are divided into according to how they lived their live, and their journey on the path to enlightenment. The three classifications are small capacity, intermediate capacity, and great capacity. Those who are in search of happiness within the cycle of samsara, are those who have a small capacity. Those who recognize the impermanence of pleasures and seek to be liberated from this mundane existence fully, are those who have an intermediate capacity. Having empathy towards others, because of the recognition of suffering within one’s own life, and also the desire to forgo one’s own attainment of enlightenment and liberation, and instead strive to help all other beings escape samsara, are the ones who have a great capacity, they are called a bodhisattva.
Crazy Uncle chose to live his life in isolation from the rest of society. There is no way to know why he chose to live this way, or what kind of person he really was, and who are we to speculate and form decisions based on our perceptions? In the interest of compassion and caring that he has the best opportunities in the cycle of rebirth, I think it is important to cremate his body in accordance to our tradition. It is sad that he died alone. Who knows if he lived a fulfilling life, or if he died in fear full of regrets and fear. May he find peace, love and happiness.
