The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart.
23 May 2023
Question from Norway: “What to do at the moment of death?”
Than Ajahn: “You should pretend that you’re dying and you do it now.
You control your mind not to become agitated or afraid. The way to do it is by having mindfulness. You have to practice dying before you die. You have to pretend that you are dying right now and the only thing that will keep your mind peaceful and calm, and not hurt by death is mindfulness.
So, you have to practice mindfulness until you are able to calm your mind, to enter into jhāna or samādhi.
Once you know how to do it, when you are going to die, all you have to do is entering into jhāna. Then, your mind will not be hurt.
Once you have jhāna, you can develop the next method of coping with death, by using vipassanā or insight – by understanding that the body isn’t you; you are the mind; you are the one who look after the body; the body is like your servant. So, you should not cling to your body when your body wants to leave you.
If you can understand this truth – that the body is not you, that you’re the mind, you will not be able to keep your body forever, and you let the body die, then you won’t be hurt. This is the second way of coping with death, by using knowledge or insight. To be able to do this, you need to have a calm and detached mind before you can detach yourself from the body.
If your mind is not calm, it will cling to the body and it will have the desire for the body to get well, not to die. This desire will cause the mind anguish and suffering.”
“Dhamma in English, Q&A session, Feb 27, 2018.”
By Ajahn Suchart Abhijāto
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