Life is uncertain, death is certain

Life is uncertain, death is certain

Life is uncertain, understand this with your heart.

Famous rulers and writers, musicians, philosophers, saints, scientists, criminals, and ordinary people. These people were once alive—they worked, thought and wrote; they loved and fought, enjoyed life and suffered. And finally they died.

No matter how wise, wealthy, powerful or popular a person may be, his or her life must come to an end. 

The same is true for all other living creatures. 

For all the advances in science and medicine, no one has found a cure for death, and no one ever will.

There are several billion people on the planet right now, but one hundred years from now, all of these people—with the exception of a few who are now very young — will be gone. You yourself will be dead. Try to experience this fact with your entire being.

Time never stands still—it is continuously passing. Seconds become minutes, minutes become hours, hours become days, days become years, and as time is passing in this way, you are travelling closer and closer towards death. Imagine an hour-glass, with the sand running into the bottom. The time you have to live is like these grains of sand, continuously running out...Hold your awareness for a while on the experience of this uninterrupted flow of time carrying you to the end of your life.

Life can end at any point: at birth, in childhood, in adolescence, at the age of twenty-two or thirty-five or fifty or ninety-four. Being young and healthy is no guarantee that a person will live a long time— children sometimes die before their parents.

No matter how much we have acquired or developed throughout our life—in terms of family and friends, wealth, power, travel experiences, and so on— none of it goes with us at death. Only our mind continues, carrying imprints of all that we have thought, felt, said and done. It is vital that when we die, we will have as many positive imprints—which will bring good experiences— and as few negative imprints—which will bring suffering—on our mind as possible. 

Also, we should aim to die at peace with ourselves, feeling good about how we lived our life, and not leaving behind any unresolved conflicts with people.

As you lie on your deathbed, our family and friends, you would probably think of them, and feel a strong wish to be with them. But even if they were present with you at the time of death, would they be able to help you? 

Although they love you very much and do not want you to die, they cannot prevent this from happening. 

Most probably they will not know what to say or do that will give you peace-of-mind, and instead, their sadness and worry about the coming separation will affect you—stirring up the same emotions in your mind.

When we die, we go alone— no one, not even our closest, dearest loved one, can accompany us. And being unable to accept this and let go of our attachment to our loved ones will cause our mind to be in turmoil and make it very difficult to have a peaceful death.

Your possessions and property, which occupy a great deal of your time while you are alive, and are a source of much pleasure and satisfaction. 

But can any of these things bring you comfort and peace at the time of death? Your wealth may be able to provide you with a private room in the hospital and the best medical care, but that is all it can do for you. It cannot stop death from happening, and when you die, you cannot take any of it with you—not even one cent or one article of clothing.

Not only will your possessions be unable to help you at the time of death, but your mind may be caught up in worries about them—who will get what, and whether or not they will take proper care of “your” things. So that will make it difficult to have a peaceful, detached state of mind as you are dying. Contemplate these points, and see if you can understand the importance of learning to be less dependent on and attached to material things.

Your body has been your constant companion since birth. You know it more intimately than anything or anyone else. You have cared for it and protected it, worried about it, kept it comfortable and healthy, fed it and cleaned it, experienced all kind of pleasure and pain with it. It has been your most treasured possession.

But now you are dying and that means you will be separated from it. It will become weak and eventually quite useless: your mind will separate from it and it will be taken to the cemetery or crematorium. What good can it possibly do you now?

Contemplate the strong sense of dependence and attachment you have to your own body, and how it cannot benefit you in any way at death.

Since you are getting closer and closer to death all the time, what are you doing to prepare for it?....The best way to prepare for death is doing spiritual practice. This is because the only thing that continues after death is the mind, and spiritual practice is the only thing that truly benefits the mind, preparing it for death and the journey to the next life. But how much time do you actually devote to spiritual practice-- working on decreasing the negative aspects of the mind (such as anger and attachment) and developing the positive aspects of the mind (such as kindness and wisdom), and behaving in ways that are beneficial to others?

The only things that will truly benefit us at the time of death are positive states of mind such as faith, non-attachment and calm acceptance of the changes that are taking place, loving-kindness, compassion, patience and wisdom. 

But in order to be able to have such states of mind at the time of death, we need to make ourselves familiar with them during the course of our life—and this is the essence of Dharma, or spiritual practice. Realizing this will give us the incentive and energy to start practicing Dharma now, and to practice as much as we can while we still have time.

After we are born, we would soon pass away.  

If we do not make any merits, upon our passing, (our body) would end up rotten and foul smelling. 

So we should make merits while are are alive, let the our merits overwhelm the foul smell. At least when after we die, we would leave behind good deeds and good virtue.  

And after our passing, we would not be disliked by the society. Instead, the society would accept and praise us for the good deeds that we’ve done. 

Instead of using the money to do evil deeds or just wasting it away. Give it for the benefit of Buddha Sasana. This is like taking worldly material things (wealth) and converting it into noble treasure for himself (merit). giving, or generosity, as a fundamental and essential virtue in one’s spiritual development. Hence, whenever Buddha gave a discourse to those new to His teaching, a graduated approach (anupubbi katha) was used that first discussed the importance of giving (dana katha) before discussing other aspects. An act of giving will bring us happiness. From little one should little give, from moderate means likewise, From much give much: of giving nothing no question can arise.

Give alms of that is thine: Eat not alone, no bliss is his that by himself shall dine, By charity you may ascend the noble path divine.

When he dies, if the power of his merit power is not enough to send him to heaven, at least, the virtue of this merit will prevent him from falling into the lower realms of woe [hell, animal kingdom, hungry ghost, or demon realm]. 

You should cultivate many good deeds. No matter how big or small, just do it; anything for beneficial activities to support the Buddhism and good cause, you should do it.

“In giving a meal, the donor gives five things to the recipient. Which five? He/she gives life, beauty, happiness, strength, & quick-wittedness. 

Having given life, he/she has a share in long life, either human or divine. Having given beauty, he/she has a share in beauty, either human or divine. 

Having given happiness, he/she has a share in happiness, either human or divine. 

Having given strength, he/she has a share in strength, either human or divine. 

Having given quick-wittedness, he/she has a share in quick-wittedness, either human or divine. In giving a meal, the donor gives these five things to the recipient.”

The enlightened person giving life, strength, beauty, quick-wittedness— the wise person, a giver of happiness— attains happiness himself.

Having given life, strength, beauty, happiness, & quick-wittedness, he has long life & status wherever he arises. — AN 5:37