Buddhist wisdom for overcoming
the fear of Death
All of us are terrified of Death.
If we are interested in religion or philosophy we may
believe in eternal life as promised by the scriptures. The
Christian faith, Hinduism and many other religions assure us
that death is not the end and life continues even after the
physical body dies.
On the other hand if we place our faith in Science we may
come to believe that dying means extinction. Bertrand Russell,
in his critically acclaimed book, Why I am not a Christian –
put forth the view that dyingis the end, a complete full stop.
Yet neither of these 2 views help us to overcome the fear of
death.
My first experience with the
fear of dyingMy grandmother lived to a ripe old age before
she contracted lung cancer in her late 80s. She had always
taken a keen interest in the Hindu religion and had written a
book on the Bhagavad Gita. The Gita assures us that life
continues even after the death of the physical body. Yet all
this learning did not help my grandmother on her deathbed. As
she lay dying she found it almost impossible to breath because
of the cancer in her lungs. I was with her as she lay dying and
I can remember her continuously gasping for breath. But the
most vivid impression I have was the fear of death that my
grandmother was suffering from as she lay dying. I could feel
the fear in her – it had almost a physical presence. All our
views and beliefs – whether of eternal life or otherwise – are
of no help at all when we finally face up to the fact that we
are dying.
And yet what is it that dies at the time of death? It is
only the ego – our sense of a separate self. We see ourselves
separate from the world around us and it is this and only this
– the separate ego – that dies.
Why do we fear
death?Imagine a wave in the ocean. It is immediately
obvious to us that a wave is transitory. It lasts but for a
moment and then ceases to exist. And yet a wave is made of
water which continues to be even after the end of the wave.
Suppose a wave had consciousness as we do. It may become
terrified of its impending death – just as all of us are. It
may see itself as separate from other waves, from the rest of
existence.
And yet the wave is made of water. If only the wave could
get in touch with its true nature – which is that it is water
and not separate from the ocean – then the fear of death would
vanish. The wave would know that the water and the ocean of
which it is a part will continue to exist even after it has
ended. And this realization would have the effect of ending all
fear of death in the wave.
Buddhism tells us that everything in this world is
impermanent – is subject to change. Everything in the Universe
is in a continuous state of becoming. Consider a cloud in the
sky. It came into being because the rays of the sun evaporated
the water in the Oceans, lakes and rivers. And in time the
cloud will relieve itself of the water contained in it is the
form of rain. The rain will water the plants in the fields. The
plants will serve as fodder to the cows. The cows will give
milk which we will then consume in the form of tea or coffee or
for that matter, ice cream. If we look deeply at the ice cream
we can see the cloud in it, as well as the rays of the sun, the
cow, the diary farmer who milked the cow and the business
enterprise which made the ice cream. The milk in the ice cream
contains any number of non-milky elements in it. The milk would
not exist if all these other non-milky elements did not bring
it into being. And also, the moment we consume and digest the
ice-cream the milk changes its form again as it is digested by
the body. All of this leads to the view that there is no milk
separate from the rest of the Universe. The whole Universe has
come together to bring the milk into existence. It is not
separate from the rest of the Universe.
And what applies to milk applies equally to us. We are not
separate from the Universe. The whole Universe has come
together to bring us into existence. And in time – due to the
ceaseless process of change –we will change shape and take up
another form.
An intellectual understanding of this is not enough to take
away the fear of death or to make us enlightened. We need an
experiential understanding and not just an intellectual
understanding. This we can gain through meditation and deep
contemplation. We are waves and we need to understand that we
are made of water.
Thich Nhat Hanh – the Zen Buddhist Master – has written an
insightful book –
No Death No Fear . It explains this and many other
concepts. By reading and sincerely following the teachings of
the book we can overcome our fear of death. This book is
available at Amazon. Please click on the link above to obtain
your copy.
For some of the most memorable quotes about death please
visit this page on
Buddhism beliefs
Is someone close to you facing the end? Here is some heart
advice on
Helping the dying
For a complete list and links to all the articles please
visit this page on
Buddhism
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