Book Reflection - How We Live is How We Die

-

How We Live is How We Die, Pema Chodron (2022)


The six realms:

Gods realm
Human realm
Demi-god realm (Asura) 
Animal realm
Hungry ghost realm
Hell realm





2 Sentence Summary

The title implies the whole book, how we live is how we die. Living with few attachments, compassion, and awareness will allow one to die in the same manner and, as Chodron puts it, come back to the mother being like a child returning home.


Disclaimer

This book's uses a Tibetan Buddhist's perspective. I respect all views on what happens after death and the things I will discuss here I acknowledge may be incorrect but I do find them to be reasonable and probable based on my current understanding of the spiritual experience and reality. The Buddha always taught to be skeptical of ideas, saying to experience things for oneself through meditation. About metaphysical ideas like this, the Buddha said that it does not contribute much to liberation. More information can be found here. 

Overall Summary:

    

    Through our lives, we go through with a notion of "me" or separate self. Through meditation we are able to return to our true self. Consistent meditation conditions the false self to realize its true nature so that at the moment of death we may be able to merge with the infinite or mother being with little resistance if any. Meditation allows us to refine our habits and live with awareness so at the moment of death we may realize our true nature with little resistance as we have realized it countless times in everyday consciousness.

    Meditation and the spiritual experience are like training so that when we really need to let go of our physical body we can do so and merge with awareness. Otherwise, we will likely be reborn into samsara again, or into one of the other 6 realms (pictured above, DALLE 3 generated). None of these realms are permanent like Hell is in Christianity, it is just another part of the bardos (bardo = state of transition), which is also where we are right now, a bardo.


    The book describes teachings that say if the opportunity to merge with the infinite is missed, it is because we are drawn to our familiar illusion of a separate sense of self - our karma. 

    She describes lights which vary in color and intensity which represent the 6 realms of which you can be reborn into and she briefly describes what each realm is like. In traditional Buddhism, they are cosmological places to be reborn in, but from our modernistic, materialistic reconstruction, many believe it to be aspects of the mind at different times in one's life. I think both can be simultaneously true.


    In lay person life, we live in a world of duality, life-death, self-other, beginning-ending, etc. What all of these dual things have in common is that they are all in a state of change and that change is the only thing which is truly permanent, meditating on this is a great way to understand one's true nature. 



Key Takeaways:

  • The 3 Kleshas - Craving, Aggression, Ignorance - make escaping Samsara (physical world, life-death cycle) more difficult

  • Live with great compassion and understanding for others.

  • Change is the only thing that is permanent, make this your identity and "you" are no longer subject to the world of cuase-effect duality

  • Everyone/everything/every event can be perceived as a message to awaken to your own true nature

  • We are always in a state of transition (bardo) 

  • Consistent practice of mindfulness and meditation is essential for healthy living and a healthy death

  • Surrender to uncomfortable emotions. Not a passive surrendering, but an active surrendering. Be aware of them but allow judgements to cease.

  • Merge with the purifying light of your true self or at least maintain awareness enough to be able to be born into one of the 6 realms that allows for spiritual growth so that one can understand their true nature in the next life

  • At the moment of death, try to say something meaningful to you that reminds you of your true interconnected self. This is personal to you. Ghandi said "Hey Ram". Here are some other examples (they apply for everyday living as well):

  • "So Hum" (Sanskrit, my personal favorite) - This ancient Vedic mantra means "I am That," suggesting that one's individual consciousness is connected with the universal consciousness.

  • "Tat Tvam Asi" (Sanskrit) - This phrase from the Chandogya Upanishad is often translated as "Thou art that," meaning the essence of the individual is the essence of everything.

  • "Be here now." - Popularized by spiritual teacher Ram Dass, this phrase reminds us to be present in the moment, which is a central tenet of mindfulness practice.

  • "Know thyself." - This aphorism from ancient Greece is inscribed at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi and calls for self-examination and understanding of one’s own nature.

  • "I am" - A simple but profound affirmation used in various meditative and contemplative practices to focus on one's existence and presence


Thank you for reading.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to change your relationship with math

-
Image
How to change your relationship with math Introduction :  Having any problem - whether with math, your car, or your personal life -  is really a blessing, not only because of how great it feels to have solved it afterwards but because of the deeper understanding of the world that results from it afterwards. Math has been an exceptional tool for me to cultivate a growth mindset where we learn from our mistakes and appreciate them rather than fear them. Its also important to know that most people are not born to be exceptional at mathematics but its like any other skill that needs to be refined over time.  One thing that helped me is to just study math for fun, don’t enroll in a course or anything, just read a math book or try to solve some math puzzles.  Here is one of my favorites:      Can you try to count to 16 with just 5 fingers? (hint: think with a different number system. Maybe like a      computer?) Using math for meditation: ...
Read more

How to deal with stress

-
Image
Stress and anxiety are normal parts of life.  There is the type of stress that we experience on a daily basis and if left unnoticed, it can pile up and up as we develop the habit of getting into negative thought patterns that materialize themselves in generalized anxiety for the world. We identify with our stress and get addicted to the thought cycles. Through the practice of mindfulness, we don't ever make stress go away, we just change our relationship with it. So, maybe when we start our practice of mindfulness we still fall into the repeating thought patterns that cause stress - or allow moments of stress to linger with us throughout the day. As we continue our practice, we start to see form a third person perspective our relationship with it and we can smile at ourselves. Continued practice allows us to break the cycle that our minds and habits may try to keep us in.  Breathing in with the stress Breathing out, releasing the stress Breathing in, Breathing out.  Notic...
Read more