Death
We live our lives in each moment
but each and every one of us knows
that this life will come to an end one day
Knowing this, should it not be our greatest responsibility to ourselves and to others
to devote some serious attention to this issue of our own mortality?
Indeed, should our death not be the ultimate concern of our life?
For what meaning can this life possibly have
if we have not once seriously considered
that everything we do in this life
will one day be left behind?
Being in this life is the briefest
while our death is eternal
Our authentic journey only begins
when we have the courage to face our fear and confusion about our own death
There are those amongst us
who have spent entire lives seriously investigating this
and who have re-cognized the wisdom about life and death
Not knowing the sacredness of life and death
we cannot know spontaneous bliss
though we continue to seek it in ways that bring great suffering
Kyabje Tenga Rinpoche
Kyabje Tenga Rinpoche passed into paranirvana on Mar 30, 2012. His entire sacred death has been recorded as an invaluable example of what it means to die. Rinpoche was in the state of meditation at the time of death known as Thugdam. There, after death, he remained sitting in meditation for 5 days. Then when he was cremated on May 23, 2012, many relics were found amongst the cremation remains:
Then there was left what appeared to be a leg bone joined with something burned and black, quite big. Slowly we cleaned away the burned black coating. Then slowly underneath this coating we discovered the whole of Rinpoche’s spine. The hip bone completely burned away. On the spine in the neck area attached is the heart, lungs, liver, tongue and the lower part looks like the kidney. We could not find the eyes. All was attached together and became one pice while all the details clearly show.
When great masters pass away and leave these organs usually the eyes are included but we could not identify them. This relic Kyabje Tenga Rinpoche left is very precious and will be placed in the stupa that is going to be in the Tara shrine. This is really amazing and very rare.
So, that’s all for now.
Namaste, Tempa
(Source: from: The Relics of Kyabje Tenja Rinpoche)
Seeing how a human being authentically experiences death
as a most sacred moment
will have profound effect on beings
It shows that we need not fear death
but embrace it as naturally as we embrace life
and that can only spontaneously arouse compassion and wisdom
in all those who witness it
When it comes down to it,
everything we do in life comes down to that final moment, doesn’t it?
Death is the most sacred moment
not to be feared
but to be understood
then penetrated with the wisdom that already knows
that it is not bad, wrong or evil
but as natural a state
as coming into the world in the first place
Most of us are not prepared to die
At that final moment
what arises within us spontaneously
is a combination of intense fear, attachment, sadness and confusion
This is why our teachers teach us
to begin getting AUTHENTICALLY comfortable
with our own death NOW
Use this life to let go of everything we can conceivably think of
and most of all
let go of our attachment to this life itself
Let go of all relationships,
all those we cherish
Let go of feelings of comfort and peace
within this body we inhabit
Let go of all the knowledge we have accumulated
and that we are proud of
Let go of all the triumphs in our life
that in our mind distinguishes us from others
For in the eyes of the infinite
everything we have done
will be engulfed, recycled and vanished forever
The great lesson of life
is that wonder is all around
and not just in those aspects of experience
for which we have formed attachments
it is in those things we love
as well as those things we hate
and those things we are indifferent to
It is our own conceptual filters
that causes us to become fond of one thing and not another
while in reality
everything is of one equal taste
We cling fearfully onto the small island of comfort
which we have created for ourselves
not knowing that the entire world is blessed
and full of that which we seek
Attaching to that which we value
creates artificial value
and forever disallows us from seeing
that everything is already golden, sacred and blissful
as soon as it comes into being
That is why there is truly no enemies
for if we penetrate our own layers of obscurations
to receive the wisdom
that our attachment is like a rose-colored lense
coloring this one-taste, sacred reality
then we will free ourselves
to see the sacred everywhere and in everything
We occupy the mandala of the pureland right here and now
and always have
Hence even this body and this life
is a gift that needs not be attached to
We haven’t lifted a finger to come into being
it’s all been taken care of for us
just as our nonbeing will be taken care of for us
Our fear of death
is that this consciousness we have
which allows us to become aware of everything around us
will disappear
And yet
this consciousness itself was a gift brought into being
by forces beyond its own awareness
It is our tendency to be anthropomorphic
because we see everything from the view of this human consciousness we have been blessed with
yet can consciousness ever apprehend that superconsciousness which gave rise to it?
Within each of us
this multitude of diversity and variation
lies the common seed of the superconsciousness which birthed us all
and trying to apprehend it through analysis
will always be an inherently anthropomorphic exercise
The state of pure being
is that which we are already blessed with
and intuitively know that the answer somehow lies there
even though the analytic mind rails against it
because it is powerless to do a single thing in that sphere
So this journey of life
is the journey of letting go
is the journey of falling into being
and relaxing the state of doing
so much so
that we come to recognize doing itself
as yet another state of pure being
then all is well
and we have travelled full circle
An analogy might be that we walk a circular-appearing path that is not limited to a 2 dimensional X,Y plane
but actually embedded in 3 dimensional X,Y,Z space
so when we return to the same apparent place in the 2 dimensional X,Y plane
we have traced not a circular path within the plane
but rather, a 3 dimensional path along a spiral in the Z direction
so that when the spiral projects onto the X,Y plane
it appears to be a circular path
so in the ordinary mundane world, we appear to return to exactly where we started from
just accepting being in the world
yet, it is different as well, because our journeys have taken us in a 3rd hitherto unseen direction
and what this gives us
that we did not have before
is complete acceptance of being
in the state of being
and this means
accepting our own mortality
and authentically letting go of our life
From the view of scarcity
we try to distinguish ourselves from everyone else
we don’t want to appear as everyone else
we want to appear superior to everyone else
hence we continually want to differentiate ourselves from everyone else
and this is the ignorance that creates ego
When our wisdom eye is opened
we see from a view of abundance
and we are no longer afraid of being the same as everyone else
In fact, we see all beings as sacred
and the concept of “better” is seen as a conceptual abstraction
imposed upon the living sacred mandala.
Authentically accepting our own death
is an incredibly powerful goal to strive towards
because it will cleanse us of our obscurations
which continue to bring suffering into existence
While we are still alive (what other opportunity is there?)
we must develop the confidence
that our death is not what this society preconceives it to be
and this liberating view
can only come about through intense self-discovery
that reveals our true nature in all its glory
Life is sacred
and that means
Life/Death is sacred
E Ma Ho!
How wonderful this life/death is!