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We Must Prepare for Death
When suddenly one day one of your loved ones dies and you don’t know what to do to help, you’ll feel so confused, so lost. Recently a Buddhist student of mine told me that this is what happened to her when her father died unexpectedly.
This made me think that knowing how to help others at the time of death is such important education to have.
As you get older, you’ll definitely hear about people dying—family members will die, friends will die, even your enemies will die too!—so you will need to be prepared to help them.
This doesn’t just apply to people who work with the dying; everyone should learn to know how to help people when they die. …
But before you can help someone else at the time of death, you need to learn how to prepare for your own death.
If you look at your mind and how much attachment you have, I think you will see that there is a lot of work to be done before you face death, and this is true of almost everybody.
Have you freed yourself from attachment to your possessions? To your loved ones and friends? To your career and reputation? Could you separate from your body happily tomorrow? The more familiar you are with the various practices, the ways to think, how to make your mind happy, the more easily you can help others at the time of death.
But if you haven’t prepared for your own death and you’re limited in your knowledge of what to do at the time of death, you’ll be limited in your ability to help others. So write down what you want to practice at the time of your death, how you want to die. Write it down in your diary right now!
(Lama Zopa Rinpoche, How to Enjoy Death: Preparing to Meet Life’s Final Challenge without Fear)