Life and Death

I must remember that death is quick to strike,
For spirit quivers in flesh like a bubble in water,
And after death one’s good and evil deeds
Trail after one like the shadow trails the body.
Understanding that this most certainly is true,
May I discard every level of wrong,
And generate an infinite mass of goodness;
Inspire me to be thus continually aware.
-- The Foundation of All Perfections, Verses 3-4

Remember your creator in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come,
and the years draw near when you will say,
"I have no pleasure in them";
...before the silver cord is snapped,
and the golden bowl is broken,
and the pitcher is broken at the fountain,
and the wheel broken at the cistern,
and the dust returns to the earth as it was,
and the breath returns to God who gave it.
-- Ecclesiastes 12:1,6-7

As we have seen, this life, in this place and time, is our best chance for spiritual development. To encourage us to be diligent in this, the Lam Rim provides a three-point meditation on death. These points can be reinforced by meditation on some of the verses in Chapter II of Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life:

1. That we shall die is certain.

My foes will become nothing.
My friends will become nothing.
I too will become nothing.
Likewise all will become nothing.

Just like a dream experience,
Whatever things I enjoy
Will become a memory.
Whatever has passed will not be seen again.

Remaining neither day nor night,
Life is always slipping by
And never getting any longer.
Why will death not come to one like me?

2. The time of our death is uncertain.

The untrustworthy lord of death
Waits not for things to be done or undone;
Whether I am sick or healthy,
This fleeting lifespan is unstable.

3. At the time of our death,
nothing can help but our own spiritual development
(our "internal Dharma").

Leaving all I must depart alone....

While I am lying in bed,
Although surrounded by my friends and relatives,
The feeling of life being severed
Will be experienced by me alone.

When seized by the messengers of death,
What benefit will friends and relatives afford?
My merit alone shall protect me then,
But upon that I have never relied.

And finally, this:

And he spake a parable unto them, saying,
The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
And he thought within himself, saying,
What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
And he said, This will I do:
I will pull down my barns, and build greater;
and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
And I will say to my soul,
Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years;
take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
But God said unto him,
Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee:
then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself,
and is not rich toward God.
-- Luke 12:13-21(KJV)