Venerable Dr K. Sri Dhammananda HOW TO FACE DEATH

 Human Life and Problems

Venerable Dr K. Sri Dhammananda
HOW TO FACE DEATH

Another problem that people face today is how to come to terms with the death of their loved ones, and this includes parents. We must realize that death is a natural occurrence and however much we love our aged parents we have to realise the biological fact that human cells have a certain life span. A time must come when they stop renewing themselves. It is to be expected that in extreme old age, cells lose their ability to maintain the balance of the destruction and repair process and can no longer maintain the body in a healthy manner.

The history of man is nothing but how he tried to run away from death. Different cultures have tried to run away from death in different ways.

Mind needs a permanent life but life creates an impermanent physical body and we take this as life. After that unsatisfactoriness disturbs the mind.

For those who have lived a long and reasonably happy life and who have strong religious training impending death can even be a welcome phenomenon. When the time comes the dying person becomes composed and leaves the world peacefully, confident that he or she had lived a harmless life and contributed to the progress of man.In societies with deeply entrenched religious beliefs and unadulterated cultural patterns, the concept that death is inevitable and a natural part of the life cycle is accepted. When it does occur in such societies it is treated with philosophic acceptance of the inevitable and is always treated with dignity.

Human beings are the only beings who can understand that one day they will have to face death. That is why they worry unnecessarily about it. Worrying about death will not make it stop, so why not accept it calmly? Shakespeare makes Julius Caesar say:

'Of all the wonders that I yet have heard and seen. It seems to memst strange that men should fear. Seeing that death, a necessary end. Will come when it will come.’

On the other hand, there are those who do not bother at all about the end of their lives or about what happens after that. However, the majority not only worry about existing problems but also worry about the next life. All other living beings are free from that feeling.

We have to realise that whatever method we adopt to overcome our problems, it is impossible to gain complete satisfaction in our lives until we train our minds and reduce selfish desire. The teachings of the Buddha give us a very clear exposition of how to understand the nature of human problems and how to overcome them and how to face death without fear.

Remember the simple saying in Buddhism, 'Life is uncertain and the death is certain.' Death is not the end of a life. In fact death is the beginning of a life and birth is the beginning of death. 

The setting sun in this country is the rising sun in another country. Therefore, birth and death are interrelated.

'The birth of a man is the birth of sorrow. The longer he lives the more stupid he becomes. What bitterness. He lives for what is always out of reach. His thirst for survival in the future makes him incapable of living in the present.' (Chuang Tzu)

The Buddha reminded us that everything that exists is impermanent. With birth there is death; with arising, there is dissolving; with coming together, there is separation. How can there be birth without death? How can there be arising without dissolving? How can there be coming together without separation?

Birth and death are two ends of the same string. We cannot remove death and leave existence only. First, man struggles to avoid death. After that, he prepares for death. Actually we do not exist but struggle for existence which we call living.