The Buddha’s path means giving up attachment to all we are holding on to. It means giving up our cherished views about ourselves and the world. This can be as scary as death itself.

Realizing the Danger of One’s Situation

In order to find the courage to be able to make that leap, we need to realize just how dangerous the situation in which we find ourselves is. For example, one might be very frightened about jumping out of an aircraft with a parachute. However, if you were aware that the plane was on fire and was about to crash, it would be much easier to find the courage to jump.

Opening More to One’s Own Death and Others’ Deaths

An advantage of having reflected on death very strongly again and again is that we are more able to open to our own and others’ deaths. We are not trying to pretend it is not happening or it couldn’t happen, and we are not seeing the dying person in a category apart. This is already very helpful for a person who is dying.

Realizing the Ungraspable Nature of Reality

Another important point about reflection on death is that, as we open to it, the more obvious it becomes that our whole world could collapse any time. This opens us up to realizing the ungraspable nature of reality, emptiness. To experience this suddenly in meditation can be very frightening, like death itself. We quickly want to grasp onto our life and world, and perhaps do not want to go near the path to Awakening again for a while.

The Tragic Danger of Not Closely Looking at the Nature of Reality

Some people sense that if they were to look too carefully at the nature of the world they are attached to, they would lose interest in it and somehow become alienated or different from their friends and family. These kinds of fears often stop people wholeheartedly pursuing the path to Awakening.

These and other deep-seated habits of mind cause us to cling to this world and neglect to follow the path to Awakening, even if we are vaguely inspired by it. We try to convince ourselves that samsara is really not that bad, life is ok, we don’t really need to give up attachment or, at least, not all of it, not yet.

The Inestimable Value of Reflecting Deeply on Death

But when we reflect deeply on death, we realize that this is just deception, and that we need to gather the courage to face that deception and the fear that gave rise to it, in order to dare open our hearts and turn towards our true nature. It is easy to have doubts, thinking that maybe the whole idea of Enlightenment or Awakening is a pipe dream or a fantasy.

Deep reflection on death, however, can help us cut through this kind of doubt. At death, it is certain we will be cut off from all we cling to in this life, but there is no evidence to suggest awareness itself will die. The more we look at the nature of awareness, the more we realize it is not of the nature of something that dies. This realization, combined with the recognition that death severs us from all we cling to in life, makes reflection on death our dearest friend. It is the friend that drives us into the arms of our own salvation.

---

Source: Based on Hookham, Lama Shenpen. There’s More to Dying than Death: A Buddhist Perspective. Cambridge, UK: Windhorse Publications, 2006. [Sub-headings added by website designer.]

---

---