Chapter 14 Buddhism and death

Jean-François - The act of withdrawing from the world is also, from a Buddhist point of view or from a Christian point of view, a preparation for death.A consistent Christian like Pascal thinks that from the moment he understands that the only reality is divinity, life in the world ceases to mean anything.One must be ready to appear before the Creator from this life onwards, and therefore one must always live in the condition of a human being who has only a few seconds left to live.In Pascal's Thoughts, this thought comes up often, and it comes from the Gospels: you don't know at what moment the Lord will call you, whether it will be ten years from now or five minutes from now.Even without religious connotations, philosophy often emphasizes the fact that philosophy is a preparation for death.A chapter in Montaigne's "Essays" is entitled "To study philosophy is to learn to die".I think I have understood that this idea of ​​preparing for death, transition, also has a very important role in Buddhist teachings.The transition after death, I believe, is what people call the "bardo."Isn't there still a "Bardo"?

Mathieu - indeed.The thought of death has always remained in the mind of the practitioner.But this idea is not at all sad or morbid, it is precisely what motivates us to use every moment of our existence to accomplish this inner transformation, to not waste a single second of our precious life.If one does not think of death and impermanence, he will allow himself to say: "I will first arrange my daily affairs and complete all my plans. When I have finished all this, I will See this more clearly, and you will throw yourself into your spiritual life." Living as if you still have a lot of time before you, rather than as if you only have seconds left, is the deadliest trap.For death can come suddenly at any moment without warning.The timing of death and the circumstances leading to death were unpredictable.All the circumstances of ordinary life—walking, eating, sleeping—can suddenly become the same number of causes of death.A practitioner must always keep this in mind.When a monk lights a fire in the morning, he asks himself if he will be lighting another fire tomorrow.When he exhales the air in his lungs, he considers himself blessed to be able to inhale again.Reflection on death and impermanence was a thorn in his side that encouraged him to engage in constant spiritual practice.

Jean-François - Is Death Frightening for a Buddhist? Mathieu - His attitude towards death developed in parallel with his practice.To a beginner who has not yet reached a high degree of spiritual maturity, death is a cause of fear: he feels himself like a deer caught in a trap, and tries everything to get out.Then the practitioner does not think in vain: "How can I avoid death?" but thinks: "How can I pass through the intermediate state of 'bardo' without panic, with confidence and peace?" Then he becomes Be like a farmer who has plowed, planted, and tended the harvest.With or without bad weather, he has no regrets because he did his best.Likewise, a practitioner who devotes his entire life to reforming himself, dies peacefully without any remorse.Ultimately, the advanced practitioner takes joy in the face of death.Why should he be afraid of death when the notion of the individual, the firmness of appearance, the attachment to wealth have all disappeared?Death becomes a friend, it's just a phase of life, a simple transition.

Jean-François - This relief is not exactly new, although I don't want to underestimate it.Doesn't Buddhism have anything to add? Mathieu - The process of dying and the various experiences that arise at this time have been described in detail in Buddhist treatises.Immediately following the cessation of breathing are the numerous stages of consciousness and physical disintegration.Then, after the physical world has disappeared from our eyes, our spirit dissolves into an absolute state that is totally different from the state of the conditioned world we perceive when consciousness is united with the physical body.At the moment of death, consciousness disappears for a very brief instant in what is called the "luminous space of the absolute aspect," and then it reappears to pass through an intermediate state, or bardo, This intermediate state leads to a new existence, or regeneration.There are meditations aimed at remaining in this absolute state before the various experiences of the bardo, in order to achieve the realization of the ultimate nature of things at this very moment.

Jean-François - after all... All inferences that make death acceptable to human beings open the way for the history of philosophy and religion.One can generally classify them into two categories.The first category is based on continued existence after death.Once we think that there is an afterlife, that there is an immortality of the spiritual origin in us, the immortality of the soul, then we only need to live a life that conforms to certain laws-in the vocabulary of Christianity, that is, to avoid all capital sins or death. It is the life of confessing these crimes to the confessor—the life that is sure to lead to good conditions in the next life.Death is then a physical ordeal, like an illness, but it takes us from this world into a better one.Those priests who help the dying do so by helping people ease the panic inherent in this transition.The principle of this consolation is that death does not really exist.The only reason for uneasiness is: shall I be saved or condemned to hell?

The other line of reasoning is purely philosophical, and it has value even to those who do not believe in an afterlife.This is to develop a kind of obedience and wisdom, saying to oneself that the destruction and disappearance of the biological reality of the self as one of many animals is an inevitable and natural event, and one must learn to obey it.Philosophers have tried to offer all sorts of mitigating corollaries on this subject in order to make death more bearable.Epicurus, for example, uses a famous argument.He said: We don't need to fear death because, in fact, we will never meet it.It wasn't there while we were here.And when it was there, we weren't there anymore!So it is pointless for us to feel terror in the face of death.Since Epicurus' great concern was to free man from useless fears of the gods, of death, of natural phenomena such as thunder and lightning, earthquakes, etc., he endeavored in a very The modern way explains these fears as phenomena which obey laws for a reason, and so on.

But in any case, in matters concerning death, one cannot escape this or that of these two explanations or consolations.I would like to put Buddhism under number one.While Buddhism is not a theistic religion, the spiritual techniques that make death acceptable are based on a metaphysics that holds that death is not an end.Or when it becomes an end, it is a beneficial end, because it means that man is freed from a chain of constant rebirths in a world of pain.In today's world, in the West, people have noticed that death is covered up as if it were something to be ashamed of.Under the old regime before the Revolution, death was a formal affair.I would even say that people take days to die...Families gather around the dying, people listen to their last recommendation, priests march in solemn procession, giving holy things...The death of a prince is A show that nearly the entire court attended.Today, death is avoided.But at the same time, people realize that silence is not enough, and there are some therapists today who help the dying and try to make leaving this world acceptable to the dying.

Mathieu – In our time, people have a tendency to look away in the face of death and general suffering.This embarrassment is due to the fact that it constitutes the only insurmountable obstacle to the ideal of Western civilization - to live as long and comfortably as possible.Plus, death destroys what people hold most dear: their ego.No material means can enable man to meet this irreversible deadline.One then chooses to suspend death from our concerns and to maintain as long as possible a sweet sleep of false, fragile, apparent happiness; It's just a face-to-face confrontation of the real essence.At least we don't live with anxiety, we claim.It is true, however, that throughout this "lost" time, the life force is being drained day by day, and we are not using it to get to the heart of the problem and finally discover the cause of the pain.We don't know how to give a meaning to every moment in our existence. Life is still just the time that flows through our fingers like sand.

Jean-Francois - What Does Buddhism Say? Mathieu – There are actually two ways of accepting death: either we think that our existence, like a flame going out, like water running out in a dry land, has come to an end; or death is just a transition.But whether one is convinced or not that once our stream of consciousness is separated from the physical body, that is, to continue in another state of existence, Buddhism helps the dying to die in peace.This is one of the reasons for the success of Sogar Rinpochen's The Book of Living and Dying, which devotes a large portion of the book to talking about preparing for death, helping the dying, and the process of dying itself."Death represents the final and inevitable destruction of that which we are most attached to, ourselves. One thus sees to what extent education about not-self and spiritual nature can help," he said. , should cultivate non-attachment, altruism, joy.

Jean-François - If I understand well, Buddhism brings together two kinds of preparation for death that we distinguish. Mathieu—Consciousness or a spiritual principle can be immortalized through death. In most religions, this is a revelation teaching.In Buddhism, it is believed that such direct experience has been gained by people who are indeed remarkable, but sufficient enough to warrant consideration of their evidence.At any rate, it is certain that the last months, or moments, of our lives should be spent in a joyful serenity rather than in anxiety.What's the point of being tormented by the thought of leaving our loved ones and our treasures in this world, of living in the anguish of physical perdition?Buddhism teaches to dispel all these strong attachments, which often make death a mental rather than a physical ordeal.But it teaches in particular that one should not wait until the final moment to prepare for death, since the moment of death is not the ideal moment to begin the spiritual path.We are always worried about the future, and we do everything necessary to never be short of money, food, and health, but we don't want to think about death, which is the most essential event of all future events.As long as people use the thought of death as a calling to remain aware of the fragility of existence and to give meaning to each moment of life, there is nothing depressing about the thought.There is a Tibetan teaching that says: "It is when you are constantly looking at death that you turn your spirits to spiritual practice and reawaken your enthusiasm for practice, so that you will finally see death as a union with the absolute truth."

Jean-Francois—Death today, that is, painless death, that is, euthanasia, has always been a problem in the West: Do people have the right to choose the moment of their death?I'm not talking about suicide, which is another matter.Does a patient have a right to die when he feels that he is finished, or that his suffering is unbearable?Does a doctor have the right to help him die?This issue emerges on a moral and even a legal level, and it is as much a social issue as we have been talking about about abortion.Moreover, this is an issue so looming that in May 1996 the Pope read a short speech during a trip to Slovenia in which he objected to what he called "the forces of death" that support abortion and Euthanized people.Has Buddhism adopted an attitude regarding euthanasia? Mathieu - For a spiritual practitioner, every moment in life is precious.Why?For every moment, every event can be used to move further towards awakening.Confronting an intense physical pain can help one to contemplate the ultimate nature of things, the fact that, despite the excruciating pain, there is no change in the spiritual nature, which suffers neither pleasure nor pain. Impact.Thus, a person who possesses great psychic strength and good stability in spiritual practice is able to use even the most intense moments of suffering to make progress towards spiritual realization. Jean-François-Pascal wrote a short treatise entitled "On the Proper Use of Diseases," which he himself suffered from. Mathieu – Illness can also be used to remind us of the sufferings of countless beings and to revive our love and compassion.It can also act as a "broom" to sweep away our bad karma.Indeed, since illness is the result of negative actions done in the past, we should repay our debt when we have the help of a spiritual practice. For all these reasons, neither euthanasia nor suicide is acceptable.But that's not to say that life must be foolishly and futilely prolonged when there's no hope.To prolong the life of a dying man or a man in an irreversible coma by a few hours is not very reasonable to use a "survival machine" and devote himself to the tenacity of a physician, since the man's consciousness "Wandering" between life and death for a long time, and people do nothing but interfere with it.It is best for the dying to live out their last moments in a conscious peace. Jean-François—but what if the man is not a Buddhist? Mathieu—if the pain seems to the man an unbearable oppression, it destroys the little peace he could have hoped for in his last moments... Jean-François - that's usually the case. Mathieu—Then one can imagine that prolonging this life is useless and only torture.However, as I just mentioned, Buddhism holds that suffering is neither an accident, nor the outcome of fate or providence, but merely the result of our past actions.Perhaps it is better to use up our karma than to carry this karmic debt (dette karmique) all the way beyond death.Who knows what the state of being that follows death is like?Euthanasia solves nothing. Jean-François - The question of the morality of euthanasia is not posed only to the man who wants to shorten his own suffering, but to the man who helps him and thus kills a human being and cancels a life Proposed.On this point, I believe Buddhism is clear.One should never destroy a life. Mathieu - Neither your own life nor the life of another should be destroyed.Indeed, this tragic situation, in which people consider recourse to euthanasia, reflects the almost total disappearance of spiritual values ​​in our time.One finds no help within oneself, nor any external inspiration.Such a situation is unthinkable in a Buddhist society, where the dying are supported by the teachings they have pondered all their lives, by which they prepare themselves for death.They have some benchmarks, an internal strength.As they have learned to give life a meaning, they have also learned to give death a meaning. In addition, they generally enjoy an enlightening, warm spiritual presence in their spiritual masters.This is especially in contrast to the presence of physician-executors like Dr. Kervorian in the United States.Whatever the motivations that motivate these physicians' actions, such a situation is deplorable.The East's positive approach to death also contrasts with the West's sentimental, catastrophic atmosphere, and the heavy physical and spiritual loneliness in which so many die. Jean-François - How does a Buddhist feel about donating organs at death? Mathieu – The Buddhist ideal is to demonstrate our altruism by all possible means.So it is entirely laudable to donate our organs so that our death may benefit others. Jean-François - what about suicide? Mathieu – to kill or to kill oneself is always a deprivation of life. Besides, wanting to "no longer live" is a trap, a form of attachment which, because it is destructive, is still a A kind of bondage towards reincarnation and circular existence.When someone commits suicide, he is only changing the state of existence, not necessarily towards a better state. Jean-François - yes.It's the same in Christianity, so... are people punished for the same reason? Mathieu - There is no punishment in Buddhism.Retribution karmique for an action is not a punishment but a natural consequence.What people do is reap what they sow.A man who throws a stone into the air should not be surprised if the stone falls back on his own head.This is a bit different from the concept of "sin".According to le Pere Laurence Freedman, "In Greek, sin means 'lack of purpose'; sin is that which diverts consciousness from truth. As a result of illusion and egoism , sin contains its own punishment. God does not punish.” I don’t know if this has been emphasized enough, but, in Buddhism, the concepts of good and evil are not absolute.No one can assert that such a thing is good or bad in itself.Actions, words, and thoughts are good or bad according to their motives, according to their results—that is, the happiness or pain they will cause.In this sense, suicide is negative because it is the failure of our attempts to give meaning to existence.By suicide, man destroys the possibility that he had in this life of actualizing the transformative potential inherent in us.People succumb to strong discouragement, which, as we have seen, is weakness, a form of laziness.In saying to oneself "What's the use of living?" one deprives oneself of an inner transformation that can be achieved.To overcome an obstacle is to turn it into an aid to progress.Those who have overcome a great deal of hardship in their own existence often receive a teaching and a powerful inspiration on their spiritual path.In short, suicide does not solve any problem, it merely transfers the problem to another state of existence. Jean-François - Going back to the bardo, what are the different stages? Mathieu - bardo means "transition", an intermediate state.There are many stages that people divide from it.The first is the bardo of life, the intermediate state between birth and death.Then there is the bardo at the moment of death, when consciousness separates from the physical body.Two periods of "disintegration" are spoken of, the external disintegration of the functions of the bodily and sensory organs, and the internal disintegration of the mental processes.The first period of disintegration is contrasted with the reabsorption of the five elements that make up the universe.When the "earth" element breaks down, the body becomes heavy, we have difficulty maintaining our posture, and feel that we are oppressed, as if under the weight of a mountain.When the "water" element breaks down, our mucous membranes dry out, we feel thirsty, and the mind becomes confused and out of control, as if carried away by a river.When the "fire" element disappears, the body begins to lose its heat and it becomes increasingly difficult to perceive the external world correctly.When the "qi" element breaks down, we have difficulty breathing, can no longer move and lose consciousness, and have some illusions.Our whole life unfolds like a whole movie in our minds.Sometimes people feel a great peace and see a bright and peaceful space.Finally, breathing stopped.But a life energy, "souffle interne" lasts for some time, and then stops.This is death, the separation of the physical body from the stream of consciousness. This stream of consciousness then goes through some more and more subtle states, and this is the second phase of disintegration, internal disintegration.One will in turn experience a great light, a great bliss and a state of freedom from all conceptions.It is at this moment that one briefly experiences the Absolute; a considered practitioner can then remain in the Absolute and attain awakening.Otherwise, consciousness enters an intermediate state between death and subsequent rebirth.The different experiences our consciousness has at this time all depend on our level of spiritual maturity.For a person without any spiritual realization, the combined result of all the thoughts, words and actions of his life just past determines the more or less anxiety-provoking character of this bardo.He found himself in this bardo like a feather blown away by the winds of karma.Only one who has a certain spiritual realization can direct the flow of the bardo.Then there is the bardo of "change".At this moment, those patterns of the next state of existence begin to emerge. The process of regeneration is the same in those ordinary beings as in those realized beings, except that the former regenerate by the combined force of their own past actions, while the latter, freed from negative karma, regenerate. It is the conscious rebirth into some suitable condition in order to continue to help the multitudes of beings.It is for this reason that it is possible to identify a new existence of an old master. Jean-François - well... we don't have to talk about reincarnation anymore.But in general, according to a canon in the history of philosophy, it is a school of self-control (maitrise de soi) that attracts many Westerners to Buddhism. Mathieu – Self-control is essential, but it is only a tool.Acrobats, violinists, judokas, and sometimes even murderers performing balancing tricks are masters of their own, yet with some very different motives and consequences.Self-control, like many other qualities, acquires its true value only when it is based on a right motive and some right metaphysical principles.According to Buddhism, self-control is about not giving in to negative thoughts and not neglecting the nature of awakening.We can reasonably say that this is the "science of the mind". Jean-François - So the problem is controlling one's spiritual being for the sake of the good (Bien).That is, to simultaneously control one's thoughts, one's feelings, and thereby control one's behavior in existence.This is what people have called a philosopher's behavior since ancient times, and it comes from an inner deformation and inner practice.In this regard, it is noted that in the West there is a curiosity about all other techniques, especially yoga.Can you say a few words to us about the relationship between Buddhism and yoga? Mathieu - The word "yoga," or its Tibetan synonym, nald-jor, in any case means "union with nature."This is what people call uniting our spirit with the spirit of the Buddha or the spirit of the spiritual master in the sense of incorporating the spiritual realization of the Buddha or spiritual master into our spirit.Hinduism also incorporates many forms of yoga.Raja-yoga is about developing a great spiritual power on the path of action.Bhakti-yoga is the voluntary path, jnana-yoga is the path of knowledge, and finally, hatha-yoga, best known in the West, employs physical exercises and postures , these combined with breath control have some mental as well as physical effects.These exercises lead to a state of relaxation, a state of inner calm which makes us more fit to consider the events of existence with serenity.Tibetan Buddhism also includes some breath-controlled practices and physical exercises, which are taught during extended periods of retreat, never to a beginner unless he has special spiritual attainments.But some testimonies are available.During the Harvard symposium we were talking about, Professor Herbert Benson presented a report entitled "The Interaction of Body and Mind, Including Some Notes on Tibetan Wisdom."Professor Benson has studied the effects of meditation and certain technologies on the human body for fifteen years.In particular, he studied the practice of tum-mo, or internal heat.Alexandra David-Neel describes this practice vividly in her book A Parisian Woman's Travels in Lhasa: "I saw several of these tummo masters sitting on the snow, night after night, naked and motionless, lost in thought, while the terrible winter winds whirled around them. In the full moon In the bright light of the I saw the unbelievable examinations passed by their disciples: some young men were led in the cold winter to the lake or the river, where, taking off all their clothes, they used their own The body is dried with a cloth soaked in ice water. As soon as one cloth becomes a little dry, another wet cloth is immediately replaced. A cloth that is frozen stiff when it comes out of the water is quickly put in a test called rekiang It was like being stuck to a hot stove. I myself did this during the five months of winter, on a plateau at an altitude of 3,900 meters, wearing a beginner's thin cotton robe. kind of practice." Benson studied this practice among monks in Tibetan settlements in the Himalayas.He observed in particular that the consumption of oxygen fell to sixty-four percent of its normal amount during this meditation, the rate of lactate in the blood decreased, breathing slowed down, and so on.He filmed these practitioners drying not just one damp cloth, but several damp cloths, in temperatures of one degree Celsius.Anyone else, according to Professor Benson, would have shivered and perhaps froze to death.However, these yogis were not frozen, their body surface was very hot.I'm not talking about exhibitionism here.I myself have many Tibetan friends who have practiced these techniques.The use of these techniques is for the control of the physical body and its energies through meditation, and the practice of these techniques is not an end in itself.Their purpose is to help us progress in our spiritual awareness.People say: "The purpose of asceticism is to control the mind. Otherwise, what's the point of asceticism?"