What can we expect when we die? (video)

Wisdom Quarterly; Lilou Mace (juicylivingtour.com), Dr. Moody (lifeafterlife.com)

What can we expect after we die?

Adios, mijita.

Host Lilou Mace talks to Dr. Raymond A. Moody, M.D., P.hD. about the phrase he coined, "near death experience," and discusses his astonishing bestseller Life After Life, a book that offers real experiences of people who were declared clinically dead and returned.

The descriptions they give are similar, vivid, and usually so overwhelmingly positive that hearing about them changes our view of life, dying, and spiritual survival beyond death. The Buddha frequently speaks of karma carrying experience beyond "death after the dissolution of the body." One can mystically see beings re-arising ("again-becoming") according to their deeds, the fruition of a karmic act that serves as the "rebirth-linking consciousness."

It's okay. I'm not staying dead (zenmotion.com)

Is it the same being surviving death or wholly another? Both views are mistaken and rooted in ignorance of the impersonal process. Conventionally speaking, it is the same person. But ultimately speaking, there is no identity from one moment to the next even while alive. (Materiality, sensation, perception, mental formations, and awareness are not identical from one submoment to the next but rather are constantly in flux, giving rise to different subsequent replacements).  Therefore, Buddhism uniquely teaches the doctrine of not-self or not-soul (anatta). This does not mean that there is nothing that lives, dies, and is reborn.

Instead, the "ghost," "spirit," or subtle body involved is called the gandhabba.* The Buddha meticulously described and explained the process-of-consciousness (viññāṇa). These phenomena exist, and their nature is radically impermanent, impersonal, and unsatisfactory, and therefore they cannot ultimately be called an immortal or permanent self or soul. A superficial grasp of Buddhism leads to the wrong view that Buddhism is materialistic like science, contradictory, or that it denies or is ignorant of subtle-forms commonly reported in mystical experiences. The Buddha was perfectly aware of the dying process, the rebirth-linking process, and life continuum in any state of existence.
 
*Gandhabba (Sanskrit, gandharva) refers to a being (or, strictly speaking, part of the causal continuum of consciousness) in a liminal state between death and rebirth.

Death can prompt us to live well

We almost never want to think or speak of our own death, but it can be more difficult to deal with the death of a loved one. This is a source of great grief the Buddha called "suffering" (dukkha, unsatisfactoriness). In this long course of rebirths, we have lost uncountable loved ones -- children, parents, spouses, relatives, and friends. Loss and separation are inevitable in wandering life after life. Even heavenly rebirths, which are often incredibly long, eventually come to an end.

When Loved Ones Die

HOW TO CONTACT THE DEPARTED: Anyone can use the Psychomanteum, a chamber developed by Dr. Moody. He was inspired by ancient Greek techniques used for 2,500 years at the Oracle of the Dead in Ephyra, Greece. A visitor to a psychomantium (mirrored room) often experiences contact with departed loved ones. How? The process takes several hours of sincerely and emotionally speaking of the departed while gazing into a specially lit mirror tilted so as not to reflect oneself. This is explained in the doctor's DVDs Through the Tunnel & Beyond and Reunions.

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"Affection" (verses from the Dhammapada)

Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; Acharya Buddharakkhita, Dhammapada, XVI, "Affection"*

Inspiring quotes from the Dhammapada, the imprint or path of Dharma (House of Doves)

 

Verse 209. Giving oneself over to things to be shunned then not exerting where exertion is needed, one who craves and seeks after [sensual] pleasures, having given up one's own true welfare, envies those intent upon theirs.
210. Seek no intimacy with the desired nor with the undesired, for not to see the desired or to see the undesired, both are anguish.
 

(The Dhammapada/flickr.com)

211. Therefore, cling not to what is held dear. For loss of or separation from the dear is painful. Yet, there are no bonds for those who cling to nothing desired or undesired.
212. From endearment springs grief, from endearment springs fear. For one who is wholly free of endearment there is no grief. How then any fear?
 
213. From addiction springs grief, from addiction springs fear. For one who is wholly free of addiction there is no grief. How then any fear?
214. From attachment springs grief, from attachment springs fear. For one who is wholly free of attachment there is no grief. How then any fear?
215. From lust springs grief, from lust springs fear. For one who is wholly free of craving there is no grief. How then any fear?
216. From craving springs grief, from craving springs fear. For one who is wholly free of craving there is no grief. How then any fear?

• How can one possibly be free of clinging, endearment, addiction, attachment, lust, and craving? It is only possible through liberating absorption (jhana) and insight (vipassana), not by a triumph of will, deprivation, or austere self-torment.

(The Dhammapada/flickr.com)

217. People consider dear one who embodies virtue and insight, who is principled, who has realized the (liberating) truth, and who does what one ought to be doing.
218. One who is intent upon complete freedom (nirvana) dwells with heart/mind inspired (by supramundane wisdom) and is no more trapped by sense pleasures -- such a person is called "One Moving Upstream." 
219. When, after a long absence, a person safely returns from afar, relatives, friends, and well-wishers welcome one home on arrival.
220. As relatives welcome a dear one on arrival, even so one's own good deeds will welcome the doer of skillful deeds who has gone from this world to the next. More
 

*Edited from Buddhist Publication Society's The Dhammapada: The Buddha's Path of Wisdom, translated by Acharya Buddharakkhita introduction by Bhikkhu Bodhi (Kandy, BPS, 1985).