Zen Buddhist Saying Die Die Die Then Be Born Again
Thinking Differently About Death: A Zen Practice
In Zen, Life and Expiry are 1, a continuum, and they are non separated and there is no dividing line between them (equally, indeed, there is actually no dividing line between annihilation, there simply seems to exist – divisions are arbitrary and made to enable us to part in the finite globe, what Zen calls 'the globe of form'). All is one.
Besides, at that place is no 'Soul', or even a permanent 'Self' (higher, or lower) – this is considered illusory.
A well-known gimmicky Zen Master was asked 'what happens after Death?' He replied that he did non know. His questioner protested 'Merely y'all are a Zen Master!' To which he retorted 'Yes, only non a dead Zen Master'.
Death and the Self
Most people fright and avoid decease, and their lives are in event tainted by this fright, and information technology is therefore a good idea to resolve it now, rather than waiting for the dreaded hour of our own decease or the decease of our loved ones. Thus we might then live the rest of our lives more freely, without bearing this burden.
If all fear is, essentially, a reflection of the fear of death (which I suspect information technology is, a viewpoint plain shared by some psychotherapists – encounter Dr Irvin D. Yalom's volume 'Staring at the Sun – overcoming the dread of death', published by Piatkus, 2008) so by familiarising ourselves with death, by experiencing it directly, without theories, concepts, comforting ideas or beliefs, we can, perhaps, live more than lightly.
But tin can we experience death without actually dying (physically)? Non truthful death, apparently. Only is it true death we actually fear (equally nosotros don't actually know it. Nosotros can fearfulness the unknown, but then is it 'decease' or the unknown we fear?). If it is non then actual physical expiry nosotros are afraid of, and so could it be the extinction of our sense of self we fright? Me—not existing? Ooh!
Dying Earlier You lot Die
At that place is a saying in Zen: 'If y'all dice earlier you die, then when you die, you don't dice'! Of class this ways that if when yous are live you tin can truly see (not merely hold an opinion, a conventionalities, or think) that the sense of cocky is illusory, so at the point of decease (that is, when the organism, the trunk dies) what, who is there to dice? Also consider the Biblical 'Unless a man shall die unto himself, he shall not enter the Kingdom of Sky'. Also, 'Death where is thy sting, grave where is thy victory?'
Fugitive Death
We can push death away from us past fugitive any mention of decease, constantly seeking escape in entertainment, pleasure, and activity. Or we can have religious theories, or create our own theories or behavior virtually decease (heaven, reincarnation, spiritualism, etc.), which comfort us and soften the prospect (I am not questioning the truth of whatsoever of these theories or beliefs; I am merely observing their effects). These attitudes are both like in that they postpone the inevitable event; and our fears, though possibly unconscious, remain to haunt our dreams and distort our enjoyment of and our constructive participation in everyday life.
If we are enlightened of the motion away from expiry, not denying it, simply observing with involvement the manner nosotros react, the despair, the hope, the theorising and so on which have become an accepted part of the scenario of death, in the aforementioned manner nosotros can witness and straight touch every form of fright which arises in our daily life, and death itself.
What Dies?
As the Self, the Ego is considered to be illusory (merely a series of thoughts and memories constantly circulating through the heed), and so the question may be asked, 'if there is death, and then what is it that dies?' And is something reborn, or transported to another dimension (sky, hell, or purgatory or something else)? I don't know!
Zen is actually all about death, and Zen meditation (Zazen) is non just a preparation for death simply in then far every bit in meditation we realise the illusory nature of the Self, information technology is actually coming together death caput on and walking right through! 'The Way of Zen' could besides be called 'The Way of Death'. And in Zen it is non a question of thinking differently about expiry, but more a question of why are you Not thinking about death.
Jeremy Sellars is a practitioner of Zazen
For book recommendations from Jeremy Sellars click on Book Reviews.
Source: https://cedareducation.org.uk/thinking-differently-about-death-a-zen-practice/