Death is part of ordinary life. There is no escaping it. It is natural. It is the glue between this life and the next, and between last life and this one. It forms the continuity of ordinary life. As we begin to penetrate through our shallow mistaken understanding of reality, we loosen the grip of ignorance and slowly begin to see things as they really are. The more we cultivate this correct understanding of reality, our ignorance lessens. As our ignorance lessens, the bonds that keep us in this cyclic existence of birth and death (12 links) loosen. Eventually when ignorance loses its hold, we will break the chain and no longer die. We will sustain the eighth stage of dying, called luminosity. As death occurs after the eighth stage is finished, we will attain the deathless state. This mind of luminosity will go on to enlightenment.
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Seize the moment
Days pass one after another without much reflection and adjustment. We can easily become complacent. We get older, and one day the doctor informs us of a series disease. We start ruminating about our impending […]
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The root of the problem
For those interested in understanding the teachings of the Buddha, to eliminate suffering for oneself and others, this schema presented in the last post is crucial to understand. The root of the problem is a […]
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Distorting reality
Imagining our early anger as a cloud that dissipates, transforming anger into tolerance, can be very effective. Yet to fully get rid of our anger, and all of our destructive emotions like jealousy, pride, greed, […]