Ajahn Chah (1918-1992) was Buddhist monk in the Thai Forest Tradition. Highly revered and loved, he was instrumental in bringing Buddhist teachings to the West. When an aging student was approaching her death, she asked for his advice on how to die. Here are five of his insights:
1. Don't be surprised by death. "You should understand that even the Buddha himself, with his great store of accumulated virtue, could not avoid physical death."
2. Let go of the body and be satisfied. Just like the Buddha released his body and the burden it had become, "now you too must learn to be satisfied with the many years you’ve already depended on your body. You should feel that it’s enough."
3. The body deteriorates, the mind does not. This is something very important to remember at the time of death. " The Buddha taught that we should ensure that it is only the body that is locked up in jail, and not let the mind be imprisoned along with it. Now as your body begins to run down and deteriorate with age, don’t resist that, but don’t let your mind deteriorate with it. Keep the mind separate. Give energy to the mind by realizing the truth of the way things are."
4. Don't blame your body. Our physical self is subject to change and decay. That's just way it is. "Actually there’s nothing wrong with the way the body is. It’s not the body that causes you suffering, it’s your wrong thinking. When you see the right wrongly, there’s bound to be confusion." Be at peace with the way things are. This too, is very important.
5. Let go of all externals. Use your end time for meditation to bring peace and relieve any struggle. "Don’t go grasping at thoughts of your children and relatives, don’t grasp at anything whatsoever. Let go. Let the mind unite in a single point and let that composed mind dwell with the breath. Let the breath be its sole object of knowledge...... look on the breath as if it were a relative come to visit you. When a relative leaves, we follow him out and see him off. We watch until he’s walked or driven out of sight and then we go back indoors. We watch the breath in the same way. If the breath is coarse, we know that it’s coarse; if it’s subtle, we know that it’s subtle. As it becomes increasingly fine, we keep following it, while simultaneously awakening the mind. Eventually the breath disappears altogether and all that remains is the feeling of wakefulness. This is called meeting the Buddha."
1. Don't be surprised by death. "You should understand that even the Buddha himself, with his great store of accumulated virtue, could not avoid physical death."
2. Let go of the body and be satisfied. Just like the Buddha released his body and the burden it had become, "now you too must learn to be satisfied with the many years you’ve already depended on your body. You should feel that it’s enough."
3. The body deteriorates, the mind does not. This is something very important to remember at the time of death. " The Buddha taught that we should ensure that it is only the body that is locked up in jail, and not let the mind be imprisoned along with it. Now as your body begins to run down and deteriorate with age, don’t resist that, but don’t let your mind deteriorate with it. Keep the mind separate. Give energy to the mind by realizing the truth of the way things are."
4. Don't blame your body. Our physical self is subject to change and decay. That's just way it is. "Actually there’s nothing wrong with the way the body is. It’s not the body that causes you suffering, it’s your wrong thinking. When you see the right wrongly, there’s bound to be confusion." Be at peace with the way things are. This too, is very important.
5. Let go of all externals. Use your end time for meditation to bring peace and relieve any struggle. "Don’t go grasping at thoughts of your children and relatives, don’t grasp at anything whatsoever. Let go. Let the mind unite in a single point and let that composed mind dwell with the breath. Let the breath be its sole object of knowledge...... look on the breath as if it were a relative come to visit you. When a relative leaves, we follow him out and see him off. We watch until he’s walked or driven out of sight and then we go back indoors. We watch the breath in the same way. If the breath is coarse, we know that it’s coarse; if it’s subtle, we know that it’s subtle. As it becomes increasingly fine, we keep following it, while simultaneously awakening the mind. Eventually the breath disappears altogether and all that remains is the feeling of wakefulness. This is called meeting the Buddha."
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