Question: How to act or think when we face death, when we don’t have jhāna or are not yet a Sotāpanna?

The Teaching of Ajahn Suchart.

18 April 2023

Question: How to act or think when we face death, when we don’t have jhāna or are not yet a Sotāpanna?

Than Ajahn: You can chant or recite a mantra. Don’t think about death. Just keep chanting or reciting a mantra. The mind will forget about death. Then, your mind will not suffer when death happens.

If you can think in vipassanā terms, then just look at the body and think that the body is impermanent, that the body isn’t you. You are the mind. The cessation of the body doesn’t cause the mind to disappear or to die. It’s only the body that dies. The mind will not be disturbed by the death of the body if you let the body die.

The problem is the mind doesn’t want the body to die, so it causes the mind to become very sad, very miserable. But if the mind can separate itself from the body and let the body be, then the mind will not be miserable. If the body is going to die, let it die. The mind will be peaceful, calm and happy.

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Question:  What happens to the minds of the people with stroke who are unconscious? Have their minds already left the bodies?

Than Ajahn:  No, it’s still there. As long as the body hasn’t died, the mind is still with the body. But the mind will be like in the state of sleep. It’s like when the body is sleeping. The mind cannot do anything with the body. So, it will probably be dreaming a lot. If it has good kamma, it will have good dreams. If it has bad kamma, then it will have bad dreams. Good dreams are heaven. Bad dreams are hell.

Dhamma in English, Mar 1, 2017.

By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
www.phrasuchart.com

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