Death Meditation
Meditating with concentration on death purifies the heart.
It reminds of the impermanence and fragility of human life, of the inevitability of death, of the unimportance of many things seeming important and vice-versa. This meditation is also a good way of letting go worries about the future, and regrets about the past.
Just sit or lay down comfortably, relax for some minutes, and contemplate:
How much are your possessions worth on your deathbed? How much are your pride, honour, titles, ambitions, achievements, ideas, projects worth on your deathbed? How much are your regrets about the past, worries about the future important? How much are your resentments important? How much is your own or other’s opinion important? How much is your story important on your deathbed, who will verify it, who will care, for how long? How long it will take for you to be forgotten forever? What will happen to your body after your death, who will care?
How many ways there are to die, how many people die every moment, how many other living beings? How many of those who die do you notice? How many peasants or emperors, murderers or saints, fools or sages, weak or strong, losers or champions, unknown or famous, poor or wealthy, unlucky or lucky, sick or healthy, dumb or genius, arrogant or humble people evaded death? How long can you delay your natural death, how long have you left at best?
What is the worth of one day of life on your deathbed? What would you do on your last day? What would be one more breath worth at the moment of the last one?
Photo: Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim 2016, photographed by Aleksander Hansen.