Comments on: Fear of Life, Fear of Death

By: Maura

Maura — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:04:43 +0000

Thanks, John. A memorable example, and a good one for me/us to follow too.

In the terms of this discussion of fear of life/death, I see here a kind of fear of death, of annihilation of the self (the person who was projecting that fear through curses on to others; the person who is cursed or deeply disturbed and dragged around by another’s behavior).

Taking the lead to open up requires some courage and resolve, and we can be afraid to do that, afraid to stand out and take the initiative–afraid to do what the moment requires of the bodhisattva.

By: lewrich

lewrich — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:57:17 +0000

“This present moment is all, giving.” It never dies because it never had a beginning.

By: John

John — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:47:16 +0000

Last night I was trapped in silence again. I could only speak when offering service to another. Listening to God in silence the first question I have is, is not… “Where are you?” Immediately I place God in another domain, where in fact, but not reason, this present moment is all, giving. It never dies.

By: John E

John E — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:50:50 +0000

Hi,

Last night at work, had a patient who cursed and swore around me, not at me though. It made for a good practice of staying in the positive for me, which seemed to spread out… started when I decided in a subtle way to begin the night at work in the ICU, being open to my coworkers, opened by, when normally I can be pretty quiet.

So I started off the shift, with the first person I met on the floor being openly direct and interested in their perspective.

It seems I have to lead in this opening, because I have lead in the closing. And the whole night focused on openness, and healing, right out to the morning drive home. It felt so so good.

Tonight I’ll do the same.

Right now though it’s about being good, to a cup of warm green tea.

By: Bob Smith

Bob Smith — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:12:29 +0000

Thinking about Catenada’s comment. Children are often shielded from the death of pets let alone relatives or friends. To fear death is to fear life. If we avoid seeing death then it won’t happen. This is living under the dark cloud.

in Gassho

By: John Kernell

John Kernell — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:36:16 +0000

Thanks, Maura et al!

The “hell(s)” I refer to are psycholoigical and are usually self-induced, i.e. karma through habit) Just look around “the room” i.e. the world and you’ll see what I mean.

We do it to ourselves!

:8-)

I did a 10-week online intensive earlier this year on “The Jewel Ornament of Liberation,” Gompopa’s masterwork of Tibetan Buddhism. Scared the bejeesus out of me (and the others, I think). My teacher’s teacher required her to read JOL 26 times in order to reall “get” was being driven at. It’s way too easy to take it literally…

Synchronistically, and to the subject, here is today’s “Glimpse of the Day…” (Tibetan Buddhist author.)

November 24

We may say, and even half-believe, that compassion is marvelous, but in practice our actions are deeply uncompassionate and bring us and others mostly frustration and distress, and not the happiness we are all seeking.

Isn’t it absurd that we all long for happiness, yet nearly all our actions and feelings lead us directly away from that happiness?

What do we imagine will make us happy? A canny, self-seeking, resourceful selfishness, the selfish protection of ego, which can as we all know, make us at moments extremely brutal. But in fact the complete reverse is true: Self-grasping and self-cherishing are seen, when you really look at them, to be the root of all harm to others, and also of all harm to ourselves.

In the dharma,

John

By: Maura

Maura — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:36:55 +0000

I was recently reading the Samyutta Nikaya, a marvellous compendium of teachings by the Buddha and others, on the Access to Wisdom website (trans. Thanissaro Bikkhu and others). There are several useful teachings on fear of living and fear of dying. I’ll just mention one, known as the Sanka Sutra, the Conch Trumpet, in connection with John K’s interesting comment, about the rather special fear of dying that people feel if they believe that karma works itself out in subsequent lives, in literal rebirth or reincarnation. In my understanding of it, the teaching applies even if one thinks of karma as working out in this lifetime in myriad indirect and direct ways. Buddha points out that with most people the bulk of their activities are perfectly harmless, and even good; harmful deeds aren’t habitual, and can be given up and compensated for. So although one cannot avoid some bad karma, one can mitigate it. You’re not going to fry in hell. I’m looking again at things that I’ve done in my life about which I feel guilty, which I’m often afraid to look at face-on, and vague feelings of being a “bad person.” It’ll be nice to die without those things still hanging over my head, if only for my children’s sake.

By: PattyE

PattyE — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:00:41 +0000

In my meditation practice recently I have been notincing how I expand a little extra on the in breath (life) and hold on tight to the out breath (death). Learning to relax both of those has been wonderful ego work.

By: lewrich

lewrich — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:01:53 +0000

Thank you Jo. I was not aware of the blue star / gold star custom, nor the statement by Casteneda. There was a time when all children had the kind of visceral experience of death that you had. Perhaps that helps, and is a piece of what we are missing now.

By: jo lillis

jo lillis — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:01:09 +0000

at age 8 I watched a person die…parachute malfunction; just shy of 10 I was subjected, with neither warning nor debriefing, to the Dachau liberation newsreel; at 12 I was able to be ‘youngest adult’ to assess my grandfather’s having died in his sleep; at that time, many homes had a framed blue star hanging in a window to indicate a family member in the service, and each would be replaced by gold stars when the family learned of the member’s death.

I can’t say when I ceased to be afraid of death, but I am reminded of Carlos
Casteneda’s assertion of the importance of touching a dead preson at an early age.

I am now 74, and have now been holding to the Five Precepts for 32 years. recent hospice work has stimulated my interest in the Tibetan outlook, and I seek to be as awake as possible at the moment of death. the point is how one dies, not when!

ciou.