Cultivating a Mindfulness of Death

Bhante J leads you through a guided meditation on cultivating a mindfulness of death. Read more about these Buddhist practices at the website link given.

Transcript

We begin by taking a posture that is comfortable for us,

Whether this is on a cushion or a chair.

We want to have a posture that is stable and comfortable.

We want to set up our body so that our upper body is erect but not strained,

Allowing the natural curvature of the spine.

As we are setting up our body,

We want to observe our body.

Put our awareness to this body as we move and adjust.

Observe the posture of this body.

Examine the balance of the upper body.

Make small adjustments.

Something that is mildly uncomfortable now will become quite painful 30 minutes from now.

Mindfully,

With clear awareness,

Be with your body,

Setting it up.

When we are ready,

We take three deep purposeful breaths.

And then we let the breath go.

From here on in,

We don't try to control our breath.

We just observe,

Watching as the breath comes in and the breath goes out.

Wherever works best for you to observe this breath,

Whether this is the tip of the nostrils,

The chest.

Be aware,

Continuously placing our awareness back on this fact that our body is breathing.

Our breath is home base.

When in doubt,

We come back to the breath.

We're distracted away by a thought,

An itch,

Any of these kinds of distractions.

We practice letting go and placing our awareness back on the breath.

Friends,

We come to our practice with many responsibilities,

Family,

Friends,

Work,

School,

All kinds of activities,

Responsibilities and experiences that we are involved in.

All of these create a heavy burden on our mind.

And whenever we come to sit down,

We start to think all about these various aspects of our world.

Just like the mighty Atlas,

Who holds the earth on his shoulders,

We too hold our world on our shoulders.

Just for the time of this meditation,

We want to practice laying down that burden,

Letting it go.

If this brings anxiety up,

Just remind yourself that there'll be plenty of time to pick up the burden after once more.

But for now,

We practice letting go.

When we let go,

We come back to the breath.

The breath is always there from the minute we were born to the second we die.

The breath is our good friend that keeps us going,

Keeps this body alive.

So we wish to spend time with the breath,

Observing the breath and using the breath as a vehicle in the development of tranquility,

Which leads to concentration,

Which is the stable basis for the development of insight.

Continue to follow your breath.

You're distracted away.

Don't become agitated or judgmental.

We don't want to push away our thoughts,

And we don't want to attach to them either.

We acknowledge that they're there.

We let them go.

And we come back to the breath.

Continue to follow the breath and practice letting go.

As I give these initial instructions to practicing mindfulness of death.

This practice is not easy.

This practice can bring up fear,

Disgust,

Anxiety,

And that's okay.

If at any time you feel you need to pause or leave this meditation,

You may do so.

Facing reality is not easy.

We normally run away from old age sickness and death.

We hide from it.

We cover it up.

But the importance of facing these realities is not to develop a sense of morbid nihilism,

But an understanding of the fragility of this body and our lives.

An understanding that we live for a short time in this life.

And this practice helps us to keep focused.

Keep our desire to do the best that we can with the time that we have left.

However long that might be.

This guided mindfulness of death meditation will have both words to repeat and suggested visuals.

You may use these words and visuals as you see fit.

They are there as a guide in the development of mindfulness of death.

We begin by recognizing that I may die today,

I may die tonight,

I may die at any time.

There are many ways that this life might be ended at any time.

Accidents,

Murder,

Illness.

Any kind of way.

This is because life is uncertain.

But death is certain.

We don't know where we'll end up in life.

But we know in the end,

It all ends in death.

From there we move into the five subjects of contemplation.

I who may die at any moment,

Am subject to aging and decay.

I am not exempt from aging and decay.

We can visualize ourselves as elderly.

Perhaps like looking and seeing ourselves in the mirror,

But as elderly,

Decrepit,

Falling apart.

If we are lucky enough to live that long,

We will experience the decay of this body.

I who may die at any second,

Am subject to illness and disease.

I am not exempt from illness and disease.

You can use a visual of yourself sick,

Perhaps in a hospital bed.

But in this visual,

Do not make yourself elderly,

Whatever age you are right now.

Because we can get sick at any time.

Visualize yourself as you are right now at this age.

Sick with all kinds of various diseases.

Like cancer.

I who may die at any moment,

Am subject to death.

I am not exempt from death.

Can use the visual of yourself,

Perhaps deceased,

On a hospital bed or in a coffin.

But once more,

We use the visual of ourselves as we are now,

Not as we are older.

Just as in a storm,

When a tree is shaken,

On the ground you might see many green leaves and many brown leaves.

Life takes young and old.

Life is not a defense against death.

I who may die at any moment,

Will be separated from everything and everyone that I love and hold dear.

All things are ever changing.

All living beings are moving towards death.

This is a natural part of life,

One that we can fight only in vain.

Everyone that we know and love will die.

Or we will die before them.

We will be separated from the people,

The places and the things that we most cherish.

Even this very body and identity.

I who may die at any moment,

Have my actions as my heir.

Whatever I do,

For good or ill,

To that I shall be heir of my consequences.

Our actions in this life,

This very short life,

Have much importance.

What we do in this life,

Not only impacts us,

But those around us.

No matter how we try to avoid it,

We own our actions.

And so,

It behooves us to act in ways that are beneficial for ourselves and others in this very short life.

We continue on with this guided mindfulness of death practice.

I am subject to these five facts,

Because I have clung to this body.

This body that is made up of various components,

Come together from various elements,

Born in the heart of a dying star.

When looked at with equanimity,

We see that this body is simply a biological machine,

Made up of many parts.

We practice examining this body in this way,

So that we lessen our enchantment with this body and the bodies of others.

We are not trying to develop a disgust,

Or a revulsion,

Or a hatred towards our body,

But merely a realistic understanding of it.

This body is made up of various parts,

Head hairs,

Body hairs,

Nails,

Teeth,

And introned in skin.

Skin that keeps this body wrapped up.

Skin that we spend much money beautifying,

Moisturizing,

Nipping and tucking.

Underneath the skin we have bones.

While we are doing this practice,

Use various visuals in your mind.

Try to examine and understand these various parts of your body.

With the bones we have various sinews,

Joints,

Ligaments,

That attach various parts of the body to the bones,

Such as muscles.

This body internally has many different systems,

Such as the circulatory system with all of our veins,

The nervous system with our nerve endings,

Various organs like the heart,

The lungs,

Liver,

Kidney,

Spleen,

Various liquids like water,

Snot,

Urine,

Bile,

And phlegm.

We make judgments on these aspects of our body.

We think that they are ill and disgusting,

But our body is simply this amazing biological machine with all of these many thousands of parts that work together for it to function.

You can imagine all of the many little thousands of parts in this body that can be taken out and unraveled piece by piece until what we consider this singular identity attached body is no longer there as we know it.

Can we find ourselves in any of these body parts?

This body moves on according to its nature.

You can examine this body in terms of the elements.

The earth element is the solid form of this body,

The solid aspects of it.

The water element is the liquid moving aspects of this body.

The air element is the gaseous aspects of this body,

All the various gases and airs that move through the body.

And the fire element is the temperature,

The heat and the cold in this body.

As we start to understand what this body is,

We realize that one day this body will lie devoid of life,

Useless as a dead tree stump.

And then it will decay according to its nature.

Body will go through various stages of decay,

Starting with the swelling as liquids seep out from this body.

And various creatures make this body their home and do what they do best in their ecological niche,

Cleaning these bodies that are left behind.

And this body,

When it is devoid of liquid,

Will swivel up and the skin will start to fall off and decay,

Be eaten by animals until there is nothing left but bloody bones and ligaments.

And over time,

Even those ligaments and bones will begin to break apart.

The bones will begin to be bleached white.

And as they break apart,

They will scatter into the wind.

This is the end of this body.

Various bones that are scattered and buried by the sands of time.

Utterly forgotten.

Just as your body is subject to this fate,

So too the bodies of all beings are subject to this fate.

All of us grow old,

Grow sick,

And die.

All living creatures.

Everything in this existence arises,

Persists with the time,

And as it persists,

It's always changing.

And then,

When the time comes,

It decays and ceases.

Nothing can escape this reality.

So we can make peace with this reality and get about the business of making the best with the time that we have left.

Or we can try to fight it.

And when the time comes for us to die,

We have not prepared,

We are not ready to let go.

So just as we are subject to this fate,

So too all beings.

It is enough to develop a mind of goodwill for all of us who are subject to this fate.

May all of us in existence who arise and decay,

May all of us find happiness and rejoice in the happiness of others.

May all of us find peace and abide with an equanimous mind.

May all of us live in friendship with each other,

Abiding with a mind of goodwill.

And may all of us find release from suffering,

Developing compassion for our fellow beings who must grow old,

Grow sick,

And die.

And so we come to the end of this mindfulness of death,

Awareness practice.

It is very important to practice this regularly.

It will help you keep perspective on your life.

It will help you live your life not wasting any time and making choices that you can be happy with when you are about to die and you look back on your life.

You are already prepared for this moment and you live the skillful life with nothing to regret,

Bringing benefit to those around you who you now must leave.

Practice well,

My friends.

Live well.

For we never know how much time we have.

Reviews

My ego was terrified about doing this again 😞... We went together and it was amazing 🙇🏼‍♂️, blessed to receive 🫰🏼

One of the best meditation on death I have heard. Thanks so much for helping us with your experience and practice. 🙏🙏🙏

This was very helpful in my initial exploration of beginning my death practice and learning how to contemplate my ending.

Release

Insightful and inspiring meditation on death awareness.

Very insightful and challenging practise. Recpmmended

Well-paced reflection on impermanence.

This meditation helps us to understand clearly the impermanence and uncertainty of our lives and the importance of having diligence in our practice as death is certain. Thank you for your clear and wise instructions.

This guided meditation helps me face life with honesty and truth.

Balanced. Well done.

Difficult to listen to at times but facing up to the stark reality of the certainty of death makes every living moment far more precious and encourages living and being conscious of the present moment because it’s a gift to be cherished. I think this is really helpful for people with a very real fear of death. Thank you 🙏🏻 namaste 🙏🏻

Good practice for keeping clear perspective on living a joyful and mindful life. Thank you 🙏

Timeless piece, words cannot do justice to this thoughtful piece

Thank you for the wonderful, insightful meditation on death. I will practice it regularly. May you be blessed with peace love and joy🙏🏻

Very Helpful. Skillfully Guided. Thank you!

Excellent meditation, very thought provoking

I particularly appreciated that there was a lot of time spent centering around the breath before going into the death focused meditation. Very good place from which to contemplate relatively heavy subjects.

"Live well. For we never know, ho which time we have. "
Well said. Thank you!

Great meditation if you're willing to look inside and accept reality!💀

Yes indeed. The more we are aware of our mortality the better we can make the most of our lives. Excellent.