Meditation during near death

When you have a death or near death experience during a meditation session...how should we deal with this? Should we transform these fear based experiences into a learning experience?

In fact, people who still do not forget to meditate before dying are people with excellent psychological qualities (wholesome mind) such as right mindfulness, right concentration, and right understanding.

In order to eliminate or transform the "fear of death", Mahayana Buddhism often use "Buddhānusmṛti". By remembering the Buddha’s Name and his virtues, they can increase their confidence and mindfulness, thereby dispelling fear and anxiety.

Theravada Buddhism also has the practice of "Buddhānusmṛti (reciting the Buddha)", but "Ānāpānasati (mindfulness of breathing)" is always the first choice.  Let our mind rest in the present moment of every breath, so as to eliminate the fear in our mind.

In fact, among the many spiritual practice methods of Buddhism, there is another method called "Maraṇasati".

Maraṇasati (mindfulness of death, death awareness) is a Buddhist meditation practice of remembering (frequently keeping in mind) that death can strike at anytime (AN 6.20), and we should practice assiduously and with urgency in every moment.

However, whether this method is suitable for everyone to practice, it varies from person to person.  For some, who can definitely gain wisdom and confidence in facing life through the visualization of death. But there are also some people who are very afraid of death in the very first place OR always have a pessimistic and negative attitude towards life, and if they visualize various phenomena related to death, it may cause either bad or harmful effects for their practice. That’s why this method is mentioned in Buddhist scriptures, but it is not widely used, or even known to some Buddhist practitioners.

Further reading:

Maraṇasati Is for All of Us by Margaret Meloni

Death Awareness by Larry Rosenberg

The Symbolic Meanings of the Buddhas from the East and West

 Q&A (2021/10/24)

VERSE 142

Because Lady Vaidehī experienced the suffering of this world deeply, she did not want to be reborn in this world, so the Buddha told her about the Most Blissful Pure Land. ……

1. Who is Lady Vaidehī? Is she associated with a sutta?

~> Pāli Vedehī. The wife of King Bimbisāra 頻婆沙羅 of Magadha, and the mother of Ajātaśatru 阿闍世. When the king was imprisoned, she asked the Śākyamuni to preach, and he responded by delivering the sermon of the *Guan wuliangshou jing 觀無量壽經. Throughout the sutra, Vaidehī and Ānanda serve as the main recipients of the sermon, which consists of a series of instructions on how to contemplate in a way that will bring rebirth into the Pure Land. At the end of the sutra, she receives assurance from the Buddha that she will be reborn in the Pure Land. She also appears in the Lotus Sutra. Her name is translated as 思惟, 思勝, 勝妙身, etc. (quoted from http://www.buddhism-dict.net/ddb/)

*Guan wuliangshou jing 觀無量壽經 : Sutra of the Meditation on the Buddha of Immeasurable Life

The Medicine Buddha's Pure Land is in the east, which symbolizes growth, whereas Amitâbha Buddha's Pure Land is in the west, which symbolizes retirement. ……

2. As mentioned in the Mandala: 

a) In regards to Abitaba: Does retirement mean death? 

~> The word “retirement” is actually translated from 歸藏，歸(gui) literally means return, back to the where we belong (back to pure land); 藏(zang) literally means a place that full of treasure (the treasure of merits and happiness).

b) Is there an East Medicine  West Amitâbha Yin Yang connection here?

~> YIN陰YANG陽, is two forces of creativity from classical Chinese philosophy, and first defined extensively in the Yijing [易經]. However, in Buddhism does not explicitly mention the concept of yin and yang.

~> We have countless of Buddhas in all directions, and emphasizing East and West here in Mahāyāna Buddhism, is mainly to conform to the two general tendencies of the people: some people focus on this life, while others focus on the afterlife.

Medicine Buddha made twelve great vows with great compassion. His aim was to develop knowledge, to promote enterprises, to save and heal those with bodily defects, poverty, illness, and helplessness, to enable people to enjoy abundant clothing and food, to keep people from believing in deviant teachers and non-Buddhists……

3. Why is the word enterprising used? And the word abundant? 

~> “To Promote Enterprise” may not be a precise translation, it is actually meant: to boost the economy, develop opportunities, make society thrive, and people can live and work in peace and contentment. And this is one of the vow from Medicine Buddha.

~> Food, clothing, sheltering and medicine can be said to be everyone's basic needs in life. 

~> We can learn from the news that the living conditions of the people in some countries are extremely terrible due to the lack of basic living materials.  Not only are there many diseases, but people also ignore moral values ​​because of poverty, and commit crimes frequently, resulting in social chaos and uneasiness. Hence, “ABUNDANCE” is also a vow of Medicine Buddha, and the Medicine Buddha wishes that all beings will live in a world of abundance.

So Yu Lin was full of praise: "In the world there are cranes that can carry one to Yangzhou; there is also the boat of the Tathagata' s virtue that can ferry one to the other shore." 

4. What is the Tathagata's virtue and how does it work?

~> It is actually referring to what we have studied right now, all the pāramitās.

~> The virtues of the Tathagata are actually achieved through learning the way of the Buddhahood.

~> The six paramitas are the good causes, and they are called the virtue of the Buddha when they are fully accomplished.

~> When a bodhisattva has attained the virtue of the Buddha, it is like moving away from THIS SHORE which is full of troubles and fears to the OTHER SHORE which is free from all kinds of suffering and defilement.

VERSE 143

Some people casually practice this or that, without determination and perseverance, and eventually develop bad habits and accomplish nothing.

5. “Since people practice this or that casually”...…What would be an example of this? Does it mean practicing without the goal of enlightenment?

~> Some practitioners like to listen to the Dharma everywhere, but never practice it. I think it is a common example.

~> This is to urge every practitioner, “Once one has started to practice, one should proceed from the beginning to the end without giving up. Only in this way can one develop firm will power.”

~> I would like to suggest that the “purpose of practice” is more important than the “goal”.

Life as a practice

Anticipate to have a better physical body condition or 

to get rid of all sorts of bodily pain

through the Dharma Practicing,

is a very common misconception.

Never forget:

birth, old-aged, illnesses and death,

are parts of life, living and even themes of cultivation.

生命即修行

期待透過修行

讓身體變好或沒有痛苦，

是對修行的錯見。

切記：生老病死——

是過程，是生活、也是修行的所緣。

Old age and death

How to Grow Old: Bertrand Russell on What Makes a Fulfilling Life

By Maria Popova

Thanks to Maria Popova whose article provided us so many life fulfilling references regarding the topic of old age and death.

Regarding that, certain ideas in the article worth reflecting, for instance: falling in love again and again, forgive and forget, the dissolution of the personal ego into something larger etc.

Excerptions :

An individual human existence should be like a river — small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea.....

I should wish to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do and content in the thought that what was possible has been done.

......

Click here to read the article: How to Grow Old: Bertrand Russell on What Makes a Fulfilling Life