How Buddhists Look At Death
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Is it totally different from Christianity?
A basic Buddhist belief is that our bodies are made up of the 5 elements (water, fire, earth, air, and space - the Chinese label this one metal). And they also think that the whole universe is impermanent. The Buddhists believe that there are 'subtle elements' as well as the denser elements that we can see and feel. If a spiritual practitioner is compassionate and wise enough, they believe that they can dissolve their body into a "rainbow body" made up of the very subtlest level of the elements. After someone's death the Buddhists practice something called Shi-Tro for the next 49 days.
Also a core Buddhist belief is that of the Bodhisattva or the wise one who can choose whether to come back to Samsara (earth where all life is suffering) or go on to Nirvana (where there is no longer suffering). The Boddhisattva intentionally chooses to return to Samsara "for the benefit of all sentient beings."
Actually, Buddhist beliefs may reinforce what Christians believe. Some believe that Christ "took the rainbow body." Could Christ have been a Boddhisattva?
Researching the Rainbow Body
A Benedictine monk named David Steindl-Rast intends to corroborate these claims, by accumulating data that would not only help us understand more about the rainbow body and its broader implications. Steindl-Rast stated "We know that Jesus was a very compassionate, selfless person. When he died, according to the gospels, his body was no longer there."
One example is the Tibetan Saint Milarepa, whose body is reported to have completely disappeared shortly after his death. There are also many other similar stories about other monks. They have been studying biographies and any written explanations of these events. It is important to understand the values, spiritual practices, and culture in which this phenomenon is embedded.
"We want to discover if there are ways we can begin to develop spiritual practices that, even though they might not lead us to personally experience the rainbow body, could lead us to some other manifestation of our highest potential," said Marilyn Schlitz of the Institute of Noetic Sciences.
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You might want to actually check out Soygal Rinpoche's lens, because he wrote the book The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying.
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Dalai Lama Quote on the Rainbow Body
Until about three years ago, he frequently said he hoped to have the opportunity of meeting the Dalai Lama in this lifetime. Then, one day he called on his followers to perform offerings for the sake of the Dalai Lama's life. After they made offerings, he surprised them by announcing that he would leave. He put on his saffron monastic robe and told them to seal him inside his room for a week. His disciples followed his request and after a week opened the room to find that he had completely disappeared except for his robe. One of his disciples and a fellow practitioner came to Dharmsala, where they related the story to me and gave me a piece of his robe.
Since he usually remained in retreat as a very simple monk with no pretensions, unlike some lamas, he proved that he was a good practitioner and finally this occurred. You can see the connection between cause and effect. There are others about whom miracles are claimed, but without the proper causes.
In Highest Yoga Tantra, the potencies--that in ordinary life produce impure environments and beings by way of the very subtle wind and mind--are purified through practice of the spiritual path, whereby they are transformed into the pure, altruistic mind, speech, and body of a Buddha. Our aim is to manifest the fundamental innate mind of clear light, the most subtle level of consciousness, and to remain within that level of mind without regressing to grosser levels. However, this purified state is not just mental; it involves body, but a body fashioned from wind, the wind that is the mount of the mind of clear light. The ultimate purpose of these manifestations is to assist others in achieving the same freedom from suffering and limitation.
The center of this process of purification is realization of the luminous and knowing nature of mind--understanding that afflictive emotions such as lust, hatred, enmity, jealousy, and belligerence do not reside in the very essence of mind but are peripheral to it. When the mind knows its own nature and when this knowledge is teamed with powerful concentration, it gradually becomes possible to reduce and finally to overcome the afflictive states that drive the process of repeated suffering. This is the Tibetan view of the intimate relationship between mind and matter, and how they work in the process of altruistically directed purification.
--from Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living Well and Dying Consciously by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living Well and Dying Consciously
Amazon Price: $6.69 (as of 05/31/2012)
His Holiness the Dalai Lama Making a Hospital Visit
Photo Credit by Aditya Jha
DVD on Death
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
Amazon Price: $5.94 (as of 05/31/2012)
Working miracles with only a single set and a handful of characters, Korean director Kim Ki-Duk creates a wise little gem of a movie. As the title suggests, the action takes place in five distinct episodes, but sometimes many years separate the seasons. The setting is a floating monastery in a pristine mountain lake, where an elderly monk teaches a boy the lessons of life--although when the boy grows to manhood, he inevitably must learn a few hard lessons for himself. By the time the story reaches its final sections, you realize you have witnessed the arc of existence--not one person's life, but everyone's. It's as enchanting as a Buddhist fable, but it's not precious; Kim (maker of the notorious The Isle) consistently surprises you with a sex scene or an explosion of black comedy; he also vividly acts in the Winter segment, when the lake around the monastery eerily freezes. --Robert Horton
Just as the strong current of a waterfall
Cannot be reversed,
So the movement of a human life
Is also irreversible.
~ The Buddha
Meditations on CD and Book on Death
Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth: A Tibetan Buddhist Guidebook with a CD of Guided Meditations
Amazon Price: $13.66 (as of 05/31/2012)
Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth:
A Tibetan Buddhist Guidebook with a CD of Guided Meditations
The book is unique in that Tulku Thondup presents about a dozen stories of "delugs" people who died for several days and returned from the dead to talk about it. These stories are deeply moving and Tulku Thondup does a wonderful job of providing a clear context for better understanding them.
While the book thoroughly reviews the traditional Tibetan Buddhist view of death as well as the Buddhist practices created to help the dying and recently deceased, his view is distinctly non-dogmatic and he clearly outlines these teachings relevance and applicability to people of any faith.
Approaching Death Free Of Attachment
An edited excerpt from oral teachings given by Geshe Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
We have the question of how one can help dying people. The teachings at this retreat give part of the answer: Never create a situation that contributes to a dying person's sense of attachment. That is the lesson here. Avoid being someone to whom the dying person feels attached, and avoid creating a situation that reminds the person of things that evoke attachment. Does that make sense?
As the person approaches death, when you engage in conversation with them you can get a sense of where the person is. Of course you don't want to say outright, "Come on, be detached. It is okay for me to be attached, but you are the one who is leaving!" Of course you don't want to go with that. Instead, you can try to loosen up the conversation so it is lighter and more spacious. The mind should not be holding on, not only at the moment of death but also at the time of any departure, such as going on a long journey, or even going to sleep. Your state of mind right before you fall asleep has a strong effect on the quality of your dreams. And your state of mind before death has a strong effect on your experiences in the bardo, or on your experiences in your next life to come.
During any major transition it is important to have a sense of lightness and spaciousness. At those times one should not cultivate heavy and dark experiences. So, lighter and spacious - that explains everything.
Unlocking the Mysteries of Birth and Death
Unlocking the Mysteries of Birth & Death: . . . And Everything in Between, A Buddhist View Life
Amazon Price: $8.04 (as of 05/31/2012)
By Robert Heiniger
This is an excellent book explaining Buddhism's view of life and death. The subject is deep, but the presentation is down to earth and easy to understand. This book should be essential reading for anyone interested in Buddhism. For those who are not, reading it may expand your horizons and open up new ways of thinking about life.
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For Buddhist Kids Who Experience a Loss
Samsara Dog
Amazon Price: $13.46 (as of 05/31/2012)
By Liz Manugian (Memphis, TN USA)
This book is a must for your book shelf, whether you are a dog-lover or not, whether you have children or not, whether you are young or old. In our relentless pursuit of material pleasures and of more, more, more, we are becoming
increasingly alienated from the power and beauty of the natural world. This book illustrates the Buddhist concepts of samsara, the cycle of birth, and nirvana, fulfillment through total selflessness. Let your tired and flagging spirits be warmed by the evocative and heart-warming story, complemented by beautiful illustrations in soft hues.
My Last Gift to My Mother
My mother was 88 years old and she had been on dialysis for a few years. She decided that she no longer had any quality of life. After several infections and experiencing illness after each session of dialysis, she decided to stop dialysis.There was a period of five days after she went off dialysis before she passed. During that time I used the essential oil blend called Peace and Calming.
Peace & Calming is a gentle, fragrant blend. When diffused, it helps calm tensions and uplift the spirit, promoting relaxation and a deep sense of peace. When massaged on the bottoms of the feet, it can be a wonderful prelude to a peaceful night's rest. She found this comforting and assisted her not to struggle with her final transition.
Mothers have also found that Peace & Calming may be especially calming and comforting to young children after an overactive and stressful day.
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Death and Rebirth by Lati Rinpoche, Jeffrey Hopkins
Death, Intermediate State and Rebirth in Tibetan Buddhism
Amazon Price: $7.00 (as of 05/31/2012)
Books don't get much better than this for me. This is hardcore Buddhism, the basis for higher tantric meditation and for Tibetan medicine.
Presents a map for conscious processes during all phases of existence. Useful.
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The Bardo Of Waking Life
The Bardo of Waking Life
Amazon Price: $8.66 (as of 05/31/2012)
An avant garde set of improvisational essays, Richard Grossinger's The Bardo of Waking Life is a meditation on the Tibetan Buddhist bardo realm which, in popular culture, is viewed as the bridge between lives, the state people enter after death and before rebirth. This book examines waking life and its history and language as if it were a bardo state rather than ultimate reality, and thus seeks a context for life (and dreams), even as it addresses more "mundane issues" including genetic theory, the war in Iraq and George W. Bush's presidency, North Korea, advertising, global warming, Prison Industrial Culture, childhood trauma, even country western music. Written with playfulness and precision, Bardo takes a new, probing approach to all the important questions of creation, destruction, and existence. In these intellectual field notes, Grossinger proves thematically fearless as he crosses quantum mechanics with totemic hexes and draws transcendental insight from the ephemeral space-time we call daily life. If, as Tibetan cosmology holds true, all conditional realms are bardos, then the state we all share is nothing less than the bardo of waking life.
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Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living Well and Dying Consciously by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
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Pema Chodron's Advice on Death
At the close of the 2002-2003 Yarne- summer retreat Pema Chödrön offered some advice to the retreatants before they left Yarne. Here is a quote from this talk:
Here are her five key pieces of advice:
1. The mundane details of our life eat us up. Therefore it is important to keep asking ourselves again and again: What is the most important thing? Since death is certain and the time of death is uncertain; what is the most important thing? Let that perspective be your guide.
2. Don`t be afraid to challenge yourself. At the gut level, you might want to go for the most comfortable thing. Always go for the stretch. Sometimes the stretch is to stay, sometimes to go. Sometimes to say "yes". Sometimes to say "No". You don`t want always know. The key is being willing to go through the shedding and unmasking process.
3. Rest in the insecurity. Remember that when we lose ground we habitually panic and look for something solid to hold onto: that`s a description of samsara. Go at your own pace. And don`t push it. But continue to train in resting with insecurity.
4. Don`t believe everything you think. If you can follow this advice, you will be
in good shape.
5. Take exactly what appears as your path.
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A Brilliant Question with an Equally Brilliant Answer
Thank you, Jackson, for all those great points about the real unity behind the apparent duality of the existence of perception and our being aware of it.But I would love to have your explanation on a parallel question: I have always had problems with the definition of our true nature as "Awareness". Even if we are it, the word "Awareness" seems to imply the need of "something" to be aware of, and that leaves a trace of not being the ultimate reality, since it would need "objects" in order to be really meaningful. And the objects of perception rely on a nervous system, body, brain, senses, etc. No body, nothing to be aware of.
Even the processes of being born or dying have to be experienced by Awareness, because "birth" or "death" are nothing more than objects of experience that do not have existence on their own, since they depend on "someone" (Awareness) to whom they happen. But prior to the "perceptible process of birth" or after the "perceptible process of dying" the word "Awareness" loses its meaning, in my opinion. Only silence and the absolute absence of definitions ( "Awareness" included )remains.
Most traditions avoid this topic as if it was the Antichrist, or solve the problem saying that even the absence of perception is something Awareness is aware of.I´d appreciate any insight on this matter, since it is a tipically forgotten perspective.
Jax: Yes, you are absolutely correct. So for me Awareness really means Being. Being has no relationship to its display any more than a mirror has some contact or relationship with the reflections that occur within it. However, Being also has qualities and one of those qualities is luminosity. That luminosity is clarity or Clear Light Awareness. This is still non-dualistic as there is no subject object dichotomy. From the energy of Clear Light Awareness arises a lower frequency energy known as consciousness, or the ordinary mind. The mind is vibrations of Awareness that convey meanings. We call these vibrations of Awareness, thoughts. Once the thoughts of me and other arise the whole system takes on a dualistic dichotomizing processing. This then is the personal universe of self and its memories. However, when the body dies, the sphere of Awareness leaves the body along with its energy field configured as the chakras and channels and mind. That is the energy body of Awareness and it is that which re-incarnates. There is no return to oneness in death, as there is no death, just a transition from a gross body to a more subtle body... Regarding Being, it is everything in the sense that the reflections are inseparable from the glass of the mirror. Everything is conscious, so there is not an observer as Awareness, but rather everything is self-aware... The Awareness is the thing, and the thing is Awareness, like the ocean and its waves... There is no Observer of the waves...
The Answer was written by JAX Jackson Peterson - if you enjoyed this join the the way-of-light@yahoogroups.com
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Did you realize that in Tibet they chop up the body after someone dies and spread it out on a mountain top for the vultures? It is called sky burial.
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Please Share - Did You Learn Something?
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mihgasper
May 2, 2012 @ 5:54 pm | delete
- Very well written lens on very interesting subject. I like the idea of reincarnation more than idea of heaven and hell, but, as we all know, in the moment, when THE moment comes, we will face it one by one... So it is hard to say who is right and who is wrong or if anybody is right at all...
Thanks for good read!
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Lifeboost
Apr 28, 2012 @ 4:53 am | delete
- Very interesting and well-constructed lens! So much fascinating info here - a great read. Blessed by a Squid Angel :)
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RinchenChodron
Apr 28, 2012 @ 5:41 am | delete
- Thanks so much!
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skiesgreen
Apr 18, 2012 @ 8:20 am | delete
- beautifully written and informative lens. Featured on Blessed by Skiesgreen 2012 and also on Why Do Humans Suffer. Hugs
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tincredibleindia
Nov 15, 2011 @ 5:27 am | delete
- Awesome writing........ Keep it up....................
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The 12th Chamgon Kenting Tai Situ Rinpoche blessed Venerable Drubpon Tsultrim Rinpoche who had passed away.
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