By K. Sri Dhammananda
Life is uncertain - Death is certain
"Life is uncertain - Death is certain" said the Buddha. Knowing full well that death is certain and that is the natural ultimate that everyone has to face, we should not be afraid of death. Yet all of us are afraid of death because we choose not to remember that death is inevitable. We like to cling to dear life.
A child comes into this world bring joy and happiness unto all near and dear ones. Even the Mother who had to bear extreme maternity pains is pleased and delighted. She feels that all the trouble and pains borne by her were worth it. However, the child, on coming into this world, indicated that it is having its share of suffering by crying. This child grows into adolescence and becomes an adult, performing all sorts of good and bad deeds. The adult finally grow old and bid farewell to this world leaving the kith and kin in deep sorrow.
Such is the existence of a human being. People would try to escape from the clutches of death but no one is able to do so. With their mind hovering over the hoard of wealth they has acquired, unduly worrying about the dear children surrounding them, and last but not least, evincing concern over their own bodies, which despite the care and attention given to it, are worn out and exhausted.
It is a wrench at the heart to separate from the body. It is unbearable and yet unavoidable. This is the way that most people take leave of the world- with moans and groans. The pangs of death are considered dreadful. Such as attitude is all due to ignorance.
FEAR OF DEATH
Men are disturbed not by external things, but by notions, they form concerning things. Death for example, is not by itself, dreadful, the dread or terror exists only in our mind. Insistence upon the truth of suffering may seem morbid to the mind which is unable to face realities but it helps to reduce or eliminate the feeling of dread or fear in facing death. Once life is launched, it is like a bullet rushing to its destination which is death. With this realisation, we must be brave to come face to face with our own mortality.
If we want to be considered a free man in life, we must be free from the fear of death. We should remember what science teaches us about the process of dying. It is physiological erosion of the human body. We should not delude ourselves with imagined or anticipated horrors - imaginations which never come to pass. A famous physician, Sir William Oslet puts it as follows: “In my wide clinical experience, most human beings die really without pain or fear.”
A veteran nurse once said: “It has always seemed to me a major tragedy that so many people go through life haunted by the fear of death - only to find when it comes that it’s as natural as life itself. For few are afraid to die when they get to the very end. In all my experience only one seemed to feel any terror - a woman who had done her sister a wrong which it was too late to right”
“Something strange and beautiful happens to men and women when they come to the end of the road. All fear, all horror disappears. I have often watched a look of happy wonder down in their eyes when they realised this was true. It is all part of the goodness of Nature.”
Attachment to life on earth creates the unnatural, morbid fear of death. It creates the hypochondriac, the man who will never take risk even for what is right. He lives in abject terror that some illness or accident might snuff out his precious little life which he cherished. Realising that death is inevitable, the one who loves life on earth would go into paroxysm of prayer expressing the hope that his soul would survive in heaven. No man can be happy in such a tempest of fear and hope. Yet it is hard to despise or ignore these manifestations of the instinct for self-preservation,
There is however a method of overcoming it. This is to forget the self in service for other people, to turn one’s love of the inward egoistic self outwards, i.e., to provide humanitarian service and to shower love on others. ‘Being engrossed in service to others, you will soon release yourself of the morbid selfish attachments and hopes, pride and self-righteousness,
ILLNESS AND DEATH
Both illness and death are natural causes of events in our life and must be accepted with equanimity. According to modern psychological theory” undue mental stress is caused by our refusal to face and accept life’s realities. This stress, unless overcome or subdued, actually causes grave physical illness.
Maintaining a sense of undue worry and despair over an illness will certainly make it worse. As for death, it must never be feared by those who are pure in heart and action, We are all part of the living cosmos and as such there is actually no individual self to die. The karmic survival of evil reaction arising from past evil deeds may linger with us on our rebirth thus causing us to shoulder the karmic sufferings in a new life. Such an eventuality can be obviated if we make every effort to acquire merit by leading a virtuous life and doing meritorious deeds wherever and whenever possible.
By so doing we can face the future with confidence and without fear, We must face it bravely and realistically as in accordance with the teachings of Buddhism there is no ‘saviour’ upon whom we can entrust our burdens in order to be relieved from the consequence of our wrong actions. We should constantly remind ourselves of the Buddha’s exhortation. “Be ye refuges and islands unto yourselves: labour on with diligence.”
Buddhists should not go into paroxysm of grief and deep mourning over the death of relatives and friends. There can be no halting of the wheel of circumstance. When a man dies and the karmic sequence of his conduct pass into a new being, those left behind should bear their bereavement with calmness, dignity and understanding.
Death is an inevitable process of this world. That is the one thing that is certain in this universe. Forests may be turned into cities and cities into desert dunes. Where mountain exists, a lake maybe formed. Uncertainties exist everywhere but death is certain. All else is momentary we had our forefathers and they in their turn had their own but where are they all now! They have passed into the limbo of death.
Let not the sophisticated assume that a pessimistic view of life is being presented here. This is the most realistic view of all the realism. Why should we be unrealistic and blind our eyes to an indubitable fact. For does not death consume everything? It does. Let this not be forgotten. The role of death is to make every man aware of his destiny; that however high he may be placed, whatever aid in technology or medical science he may have, his end is all the same, either in a coffin or reduced to a handful of ashes. Shall we then be in sackcloth to mourn the life which has turned into ashes. No, this is not the purpose of life, nor of death. The process of birth and death is a continuing process until we become perfect.
MAN’S INFLUENCE PERSISTS
The Buddha said: “Man’s body turns to dust, but his influence persists.” The influence of a past life is some times more far-reaching, more potent than that held by the living body with certain limitations. We occasionally act on thoughts inspired by personalities whose mortal remains have become dusts. In our accomplishments, such thoughts also play an important role.
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Every living person on this earth is deemed a composite of all his ancestors who have gone before him. In this sense, we may assume that the past heroes, celebrated philosophers, sages, poets and musicians of every race are still with us. As we link ourselves to the past mytyrs and thinkers we are able to share their wise thoughts, their noble ideals and even their imperishable music of their age. Even though their bodies are dead, their influence lives on. The ‘body’ is nothing but an abstract combination of chemical constituents.Man realises that his life is but a drop in an ever-flowing river and is happy to contribute his part to the great stream which is called life. Man, forgetting the nature of his life wallows here in this world. He weeps and walls and sometimes smiles just to weep again. But when he knows what his true nature is, he renounces all transient things and seeks the Eternal. Prior to achieving the Eternal he will have to face death again and again. Since death itself is unbearable, should not man try to overcome the continuous rounds of births and deaths?
According to Buddhism, this is not the first and last life we have in this world. If you do good, you can have a better future life. On the other hand, if you feel that you don’t want to be re-born again, you should work towards this end by making every effort to ~ eradicate all mental impurities from your mind.
BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY
The Noble Aryans or saint who ‘have attained the stage of highest perfection do not weep at the passing away of those dear and near to them as they have completely eradicated their human emotion. Ven. Anuruddha, who was then an Arahant, did not weep at the passing away of the Buddha. However, Ven. Ananda, who was at that time only a Sotapanna’or a learner, could not but express his deep sorrow. The weeping bhikkhu had to be reminded of the Buddha’s view on situation of this nature, as follows: “Has not the Buddha told us, Ananda, that what is born, what comes to being, and what is put together, is subject to dissolution? That is the nature of all conditioned formations to arise and pass away - Having once arisen they must pass away - And when such formations cease completely, then comes the Peace Supreme.” These words describe the foundation on which the structure of Buddhist philosophy is built.
CAUSE OF SORROW
The cause for our grief and sorrow is Attachment (Tanha) in all its forms. If we want to transcend sorrow, we have to give up attachment - attachment not only to persons but also to possessions. This is the truth; this is the lesson that death signifies us. Unless we learn this lesson death can strike us and fill us with terror. This fact is beautifully illustrated by the Buddha, who said: “Death will take away the man though he is attached to his children and his possessions, just as a great flood takes away a sleeping village,”
This saying implies that if the village had not been asleep but awake and alert, the havoc created by the flood would have been appreciable reduced.
DEATH IS UNIVERSAL
Let us now examine how Buddha solved this problem for two persons who, through attachment were both deeply grieved by death. One person was Kissagotami.
Her only child was dead after being attacked by a serpent. She went to the Buddha carrying the dead child in her arms to ask for help. Buddha asked her to bring a few mustard seeds from a house where no one had died. But she could not find such house. Every house was either in mourning or had mourned over a death at one time or other. Then she realised the bitter truth: death was universal. Death strikes all and spares none. Sorrow is the heritage of everyone.
The other person whom the Buddha advised was Patacara. Her case was sadder. Within a short period she lost her two children, husband, brother, parents and all her possession. Losing her senses, she ran naked and wild in the streets until she met the Buddha. The Buddha brought her back to sanity by explaining that death is to be expected as a natural phenomenon in all living beings.
“’You have suffered from similar situations, not once, Patacara, but many times during your previous existence. For a long time you have suffered due to the deaths of father and mother, children and relatives. While you were this suffering, you indeed shed more tears then there is water in the ocean.”
At the end of the talk, Patacara realised the uncertainty of life. Both Patacara and Kissagotami comprehended suffering which each learned through tragic experience. By deeply understanding the First Noble Truth “suffering”, the other three Noble Truths were also understood. “Who so monks, comprehends suffering,” says the Buddha, “also comprehends the arising of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path leading to the cessation of suffering.”
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