BuddhismSutra-obooko-mind0029

modern buddhism
WHAT DOES OUR DEATH MEAN?
Our death is the permanent separation of our body and mind.
We may experience many temporary separations of our body
and mind, but these are not our death. For example, when
those who have completed their training in the practice known
as ‘transference of consciousness’ engage in meditation, their
mind separates from their body. Their body remains where
they are meditating, and their mind goes to a Pure Land and
then returns to their body. At night, during dreams, our body
remains in bed but our mind goes to various places of the
dream world and then returns to our body. These separations
of our body and mind are not our death because they are only
temporary.
At death our mind separates from our body permanently.
Our body remains at the place of this life but our mind goes to
various places of our future lives, like a bird leaving one nest
and flying to another. This clearly shows the existence of our
countless future lives, and that the nature and function of our
body and mind are very different. Our body is a visual form
that possesses colour and shape, but our mind is a formless
continuum that always lacks colour and shape. The nature of
our mind is empty like space, and its function is to perceive or
understand objects. Through this we can understand that our
brain is not our mind. The brain is simply a part of our body
that, for example, can be photographed, whereas our mind
cannot.
We may not be happy to hear about our death, but contemplating
and meditating on death is very important for the
effectiveness of our Dharma practice. This is because it prevents
the main obstacle to our Dharma practice – the laziness
of attachment to the things of this life – and it encourages us to
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