Nobody Can Assure Us That Tomorrow Will Come Before The Death

Some days ago I promised to Debasis to write about the meditation on death.

Now I have 3 texts of 3 different schools for me (A-Khrid, Lam-Rim and a text of Dzog-chen teaching that I have not the name here) and all these texts offer the meditation on death as the way that will show us the urgent necessity to ACT today, now, in this moment -and to practice Dharma in sense of right way to live and buddhist practices as the Path too.
This is the main thought of this meditation.

I'll try to make a sort of Summary here.

Meditation on death is the 3-d part of the preliminary practices, practices that have to show you the necessity to discipline our mind and to choose the Path of Dharma.
1 part is the meditation on the sufferings in samsara (in our "realm", life, world)
2 part is the meditation on the enormous difficulty to obtain human life full of benefits.
Because thre are 6 realms of existance, and we reborn in one of these realms in conseguence of the prevalent negative emotion we follow in bardo, the state after the death.
3 part is the meditation on death and impermanence. This one has to explain us that we have not time to wait to begin a right way to live.

In this post I want only to sum the main thoughts about this 3-d part.

There are 3 points in this meditation:
1. Consider that the death is certain.
2. The moment of the death is unknown.
3. There is nothing (except Dharma) that will be helpful to us in the moment of the death.

"If you will not think about death, the understanding that you have not time for vain things will never raise in your mind. You will be lazy and will think about the facts of this life, will be content and do nothing.
But if you will remember the death, will meditate about it every day, the understanding of the impermanence will born in your mind and Dharma will born itself in your mind. So meditate on impermanence."

If we don't think about death, we clutch at impermanent things so as they are permanent and have not time to practice Dharma.

There is no body that was born but will not die.
There is not place where we could live forever.
Even if we will run very fast from the death, it will overtake us.
Rich or poor, king or slave -there is not condition that will help us to remain alive.
There is not medicine or mantra that will conserve us alive.
Our life could not be prolonged but becomes shorter and shorter from day to day, from minute to minute.

Some persons try to run away from the signs of impermanence. They make plastic surgery to become a face without wrinkles for example, but they don't become more young after that.

We have to understand that there are too many possibilities to destroy the life and there are too few possibilities to continue it. The life is too fragile. We think: "Yes, I have to die one day, but not today" but we dont think that there are so many possibilities to lose it. And we prepare money, houses, things for tomorrow, and we don't think that tomorrow maybe will never arrive.

Our body is too fragile, as said, and as conseguence there are too many possibilities to die in every moment.

"...in the period when this body that we lend is without illnesses, lives in pleasure, is not damaged, is this the moment when we have to understand the main sense. When you are ill, old or in bad conditions, even if you understand, what you can do?"

And finally, in the moment of the death there is nothing that will help you. You can't take money with you, you can't take your relatives or friends with you, nobody can help us. Only Dharma can help us. So, don't lose your time in vain things. Don't lose your time. Don't think you can do good things one day. Do them now. Because nobody can assure us that tomorrow will come before the death.


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