Contemplation of Death. By Ajahn Brahmavamso

Contemplation of Death.
By Ajahn Brahmavamso

“ Amata is a word that is used in Pāli.

The word death, marana, is always about the death of the body.

The death of the mind is called Parinibbāna, but the death of the body is always marana.

The past participle of that is mata, dead or died.

But do you know what really doesn't die?

If you've contemplated this through deep meditation, you know it is this stream of consciousness.

It's that which carries on after death.

In that sense, the stream of consciousness is amata, because that is beyond the physical death.

It's that which can be reborn in the rūpa realms (material realms) or the arūpa realms (immaterial realms).

However, that's not the end of things.

I think that word amata was popular in the time of the Buddha because, like most people even today, when they talked about some sort of salvation, it was very much a materialistic idea.

It was the idea of going into a state of amata, of deathlessness, where they could 'be' forever and ever and ever, without having to worry about death.

Some sort of heaven realm, some sort of eternity realm.

Perhaps the way the Buddha used the word amata was taking it from common usage and giving it a different meaning.

But from experience, what doesn't die is the stream of consciousness, the mano viññana or mind consciousness.

In Jhānas you can actually know what mind consciousness really is as an experience.

In the Jhānas it is as if the body has died along with all the conceptions of the world, all feelings, everything that is concerned with the world and the body.

So really the Jhānas are death-like states, in the sense that the body has gone, it has disappeared.

The worlds of the past and future have gone, they have disappeared.

All your possessions have gone, they have disappeared.

All your thoughts have gone, they have disappeared, along with all the struggling and doing.

The coming and going, has gone, they have disappeared.

Can you understand me?

Can you understand what the word 'death' means?

It means transcending this body. It is letting go of the body.

The problem is of course, that most people when they die go and get born again, and then they have to die all over again.

They keep on doing that because they don't fully die to the world, they die a little bit, but they still want to experience some more.

So you have to learn how to develop the meditation of letting go, that effort which abandons all the plans and busyness, all of those little fetters, those little knots, which tie you to this worldly body.

It's fascinating to sometimes reflect on just how wisely you've spent your day.

What's occupied your mind today?

Do a statistical analysis.

How much of your mind has been occupied today with the body, or with the world, or with the monastery, or with your own affairs?

And how much has been occupied with the affairs of the deathless?

That will give you a good idea of why you're not getting Enlightened.

We have to be more occupied with the deathless! ”

Source : I Know, But I Don’t Know: Contemplation of Death.
By Ajahn Brahmavamso

A talk given to the monks at Bodhinyana Monastery 20 December 2000