Chapter1 - Introduction
There is nothing more precious than our human life. Having been born as a human being we have immense freedom to accomplish almost anything we want. We can become a powerful politician, a successful businessman or woman, or a great scientist or artist. We can travel the world or even go to the moon, or we can settle for a simple family life. With so much freedom, we need to ask ourself what is the most meaningful way to use our life. What will make us truly happy? What will benefit others most? And when this life is over, what will help us then?
If we ask ourself these questions sincerely and deeply we shall discover that the way to make our life truly meaningful is to dedicate it to spiritual development. In essence this means to eliminate our negative and deluded states of mind, and to cultivate positive, peaceful states. By making this our priority, the negative minds that are the source of all our problems, such as anger, jealousy, attachment, pride, and ignorance, will gradually decrease; and our positive qualities, such as love, compassion, and wisdom, will increase. As a result we shall enjoy a happy, peaceful life, free from anxiety and problems, and we shall naturally benefit others. Spiritual practice is what gives meaning to our lives, and by applying our practice at the time of death we can die joyfully and experience pure, lasting happiness in all our future lives. Eventually we shall be able to transcend all the limitations of ordinary existence and attain the highest state of all, full enlightenment.
If we do not keep death in mind throughout our life, when the time of our death comes we shall suddenly discover that all our wealth and possessions, and our friends and relatives cannot help us. Since we have not built up an inner strength through spiritual practice we shall feel intense regret for having wasted our life, as well as fear of what will happen during and after our death. Our tears and cries for help will be too late. We shall be like Mondrol Chödak, a Tibetan greatly admired by all who knew him for his many worldly skills and talents. He led a very full life, travelling from place to place and meeting many people, but when his death suddenly came he cried out ‘I have done so much, engaged in so many business ventures and so many worldly activities, but not one of these will be of any use to me now. People say that I am very clever but in fact I am incredibly stupid because I have completely neglected spiritual practice, which is the only thing that can help me at this time. I have wasted my whole life by doing things that are of no real benefit.’ He felt strong regret and wept, and in this miserable state of mind he passed away.
Dying with regrets like this is not at all unusual. To avoid such a sad and meaningless end to our life we need to remember continually that we too must die. Contemplating our own death will inspire us to use our life wisely by developing the inner refuge of spiritual realizations; otherwise we shall have no ability to protect ourself from the sufferings of death and what lies beyond. Moreover, when someone close to us is dying, such as a parent or friend, we shall be powerless to help them because we shall not know how; and we shall experience sadness and frustration at our inability to be of genuine help. Preparing for death is one of the kindest and wisest things we can do for both ourself and others. The fact of the matter is that this world is not our home.
We are travellers, passing through. We came from our previous life, and in a few years, or a few days, we shall move on to our next life. We entered this world empty-handed and alone, and we shall leave empty-handed and alone. Everything we have accumulated in this life, including our very body, will be left behind. All that we can take with us from one life to the next are the imprints of the positive and negative actions we have created. If we ignore death we shall waste our life working for things that we shall only have to leave behind, creating many negative actions in the process and having to travel on to our next life with nothing but a heavy burden of negative karma.
On the other hand, if we base our life on a realistic awareness of our mortality we shall regard our spiritual development as far more important than the attainments of this world, and we shall view our time in this world principally as an opportunity to cultivate positive minds such as patience, love, compassion, and wisdom. Motivated by these virtuous minds we shall perform many positive actions, thereby creating the cause for future happiness. When the time of our death comes we shall be able to pass away without fear or regret, our mind empowered by the virtuous karma we have created.
The Kadampa Teachers say that there is no use in being afraid when we are on our deathbed and about to die; the time to fear death is while we are young. Most people do the reverse. While they are young they think ‘I shall not die’, and they live recklessly without concern for death; but when death comes they are terrified. If we develop fear of death right now, we shall use our life meaningfully by engaging in virtuous actions and avoiding non-virtuous actions, thus creating the cause to take a fortunate rebirth. When death actually comes we shall feel like a child returning to the home of its parents, and pass away joyfully, without fear. We shall become like Longdöl Lama, a Tibetan Buddhist Master who lived to a great old age. When the time of his death came he was overjoyed. People asked him why he was so happy and he replied ‘If I die this morning I shall be born again this evening in a Pure Land. My future life will be far superior to this one.’ Longdöl Lama had prepared carefully for his death and chosen the specific place of his rebirth. If we use our life to engage purely in spiritual practice we can do the same.
Although intellectually we all know that one day we shall die, generally we are so reluctant to think of our death that this knowledge does not touch our hearts, and we live our life as if we were going to be in this world forever. As a result the things of this world – such as material possessions, reputation, popularity, and the pleasures of the senses – become of paramount importance, so we devote almost all our time and energy to obtaining them and engage in many negative actions for their sake. We are so preoccupied with the concerns of this life that there is little room in our mind for genuine spiritual practice. When the time of death actually arrives we discover that by having ignored death all our life we are completely unprepared. What is death? Death is the cessation of the connection between our mind and our body. Most people believe that death takes place when the heart stops beating; but this does not mean that the person has died, because his subtle mind may still remain in his body. Death occurs when the subtle consciousness finally leaves the body to go to the next life. Our body is like a guesthouse and our mind like the guest; when we die our mind has to leave this body and enter the body of our next rebirth, like a guest leaving one guesthouse and travelling to another.
The mind is neither physical, nor a by-product of purely physical processes, but is a formless continuum that is a separate entity from the body. When the body disintegrates at death the mind does not cease. Although our superficial conscious mind ceases, it does so by dissolving into a deeper level of consciousness, the very subtle mind; and the continuum of the very subtle mind has no beginning and no end. It is this mind which, when thoroughly purified, transforms into the omniscient mind of a Buddha.
‘Buddha’ is Sanskrit for ‘Awakened One’ – one who has awakened from the sleep of ignorance and is free from the dream of mistaken appearance. Since beginningless time sentient beings like ourself have been trapped in the nightmare of samsara because we have never woken from the sleep of ignorance, not realizing that all our suffering is just the creation of our own confused mind. It is only through gaining realizations of Buddha’s teachings, which are known as ‘Dharma’, that we are able to wake up from this dream-like samsaric suffering. These realizations are our real inner protection from suffering. Those who have gained Dharma realizations are known as ‘Sangha’, and they form the spiritual community who help us in our spiritual practice and set a good example for us to follow. Because they are so precious, Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha are known as the ‘Three Jewels’.
Buddha said that every action we perform leaves an imprint on our very subtle mind, and each imprint eventually gives rise to its own effect. Our mind is like a field, and performing actions is like sowing seeds in that field. Virtuous, or positive, actions sow seeds of future happiness and non-virtuous, or negative, actions sow seeds of future suffering. The seeds we have sown in the past remain dormant until the conditions necessary for their ripening come together. In some cases this can be many lifetimes after the original action was performed.
The seeds that ripen when we die are very important because they determine what kind of rebirth we shall take. Which particular seed ripens at death depends upon the state of mind in which we die. If we die with a peaceful mind, this will stimulate a virtuous seed and we shall experience a fortunate rebirth; but if we die with a disturbed mind, in a state of anger, say, this will stimulate a non-virtuous seed and we shall experience an unfortunate rebirth. This is similar to the way in which nightmares arise from our being in an agitated state just before falling asleep. The analogy of falling asleep is not accidental, for the process of sleep, dreaming, and waking closely resembles the process of death, intermediate state, and rebirth. As we fall asleep, the inner energy winds that support our gross minds gather and dissolve inwards. As a result our mind becomes progressively more and more subtle until it transforms into the very subtle mind of the clear light of sleep. While the clear light of sleep is manifest we experience deep sleep, and to others we resemble a person who has died. When it ends, our mind becomes gradually more and more gross and we pass through the various levels of the dream state. Finally, our normal powers of memory and mental control are restored and we wake up. When this happens our dream world disappears and the ordinary world of our waking state appears.
A very similar process occurs when we die. As we die, our energy winds dissolve inwards and our mind becomes progressively more and more subtle until the very subtle mind of the clear light of death manifests. The experience of the clear light of death is very similar to the experience of deep sleep. After the clear light of death has ceased we experience the stages of the intermediate state, or ‘bardo’ in Tibetan, which is a dream-like state that occurs between death and rebirth. After a few days or weeks the intermediate state ends and we take rebirth. Just as when we wake from sleep the dream world disappears and we perceive the world of the waking state, so when we take rebirth the appearances of the intermediate state cease and the world
of our next life appears.
The only significant difference between the process of sleep, dreaming, and waking and the process of death, intermediate state, and rebirth is that after the clear light of sleep has ceased the connection between our mind and our present body remains intact, whereas after the clear light of death this is broken.
While we are in the intermediate state we experience different visions that arise from the karmic seeds that were activated immediately before death. If negative seeds were activated these visions will be nightmarish, but if positive seeds were activated they will be predominantly pleasant. In either case, once the karmic seeds have matured sufficiently they impel us to take rebirth in the lower or higher realms of samsara.
When we think of death we tend to think of it as something that happens to other people, but in reality, of course, sooner or later we too shall die. The time of our death is completely uncertain; there is no guarantee that we shall not die today. When by carefully contemplating the above explanation we understand clearly the existence of our future lives, we shall realize that future lives are endless. We shall then see that the happiness of future lives is far more important than the happiness of this life, and that the suffering of future lives is far worse. No matter how much suffering we may experience in this life, it is still only the suffering of one single life and its duration is very short – like a dream that quickly passes. On the other hand, since our future lives are countless, the potential suffering of those lives is endless, and if we do nothing to prevent our future suffering now it will last forever. If we think deeply about this we shall recognize the importance of not wasting our precious human life and of engaging in the spiritual practices that will prepare us for our death.
All living beings have two basic wishes – to be happy all the time, and to be completely free from suffering and problems. We can fulfil these wishes by following the instructions presented in this book. Through sincerely practising these instructions we can transcend our ordinary life and make genuine spiritual progress, and we can even attain the highest state of full enlightenment. Furthermore, if we apply these instructions as we are dying we shall die joyfully and experience permanent happiness throughout all our future lives.
