Master Hsing Yun: The Science of Life and Death in Buddhism
2015.06.05 10:11:21
Distinguished guests, all Buddhist Dharma protectors, good night everyone! Amitabha!
After I talked about "The Science of Life in Buddhism", today I will talk about "The Science of Life and Death in Buddhism". In the past, some people were taboo about talking about life and death. In fact, it is useless for you to be taboo. Life and death are very realistic and real things. When you face it, whether it is life or death, it is very cute. There is an old saying in China, "Regard death as home", and regard death as returning home. Isn't it a joy to return home? People like life but don't like death. The main reason is: I can feel and know about life; after death, I don't know, and I fear the future that I don't know. If you understand the loveliness in life, you can understand it after death. Therefore, whether it is life or death, it doesn't matter.
There was a family who had a son when they were old and were celebrating happily. A Zen master came and stood at the door, crying. "I cry for another dead person in your family." In fact, when you live, you already know that you are going to die; if you die, you don't need to be sad, because you know that you will be born again. Like the cars that everyone uses, they are old and will be discarded and scrapped, just like people who are old and dying; if the car is scrapped and replaced with a new one, wouldn't it be very happy? Similarly, when our body is old and decayed, shouldn’t we be happy when we get a new body? When the willows wither and turn green again, when the flowers wither and bloom again, why can't we people come again? Everyone must deeply believe and deeply know: "People can't die!" I once said: If a teacup falls on the ground and breaks, it is impossible to restore it, because it is broken; However, even though the water in the teacup flows to the ground or the table, if you drag it back with a sackcloth or a mop, there will be no water left at all. The water of life flows in the river of human growth, which is endless and has an infinite future. Before humans had gas and electrical appliances, we all used firewood to burn fire. After one firewood was burned out, another firewood was added, and another firewood was added... just like a stage, a stage of life, The fire of life can continue forever and will not be extinguished. So birth and death, birth will lead to death, death will lead to birth, it is samsara. So there is no need to be too happy in life, and life is also very hard; there is no need to be sad in death, and there may be a better future.
Human beings will die after birth, just like changing clothes. If the clothes are worn out, it is a good thing to replace them with new clothes and a new body for us to live in! Therefore, for life and death, don't regard them as two irrelevant things. In fact, life and death are one thing, just like a hand has a front and a back, and one paper has two sides. Birth and death, death and birth, we should not make any distinctions. In the world, some people want to live, but there are also a few people who seem to be dying because of some things. In fact, it is not very good to be greedy for life, nor is it good to be afraid of death. I still use the words of Huang Zhan, a celebrity who just passed away in Hong Kong: "Look at the life and death of impermanence with a normal mind." Whether life is good or bad is not certain, but you can do it very well. Confucius once said: "If you don't know life, how can you know death?" It can be seen that if we can understand life, if you push and imagine, we will also know death. In the past, there was a Zen master Daowu who said: "I neither talk about life nor death. Why? Because life and death are very natural, and there is no need to say anything to it."
There seems to be a division between life and death, and this division is called "the mystery of separation of Yin" in a Buddhist term. "Yin" is the body, the "yin" of yin and yang. The five skandhas and the five aggregates are the combination of five things. Form is matter, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness of mind. These five accumulated things become a person. When the consciousness is dead, form, feeling, and thought are all gone, and there is only one called the "bardo body", which is a thing between life and death. Before this "bardo body" is reincarnated, it will be ethereal, as if it is in some empty place, and it is looking for a place to be reborn. At this time, it is called "bardo body". It's just that we are separated by this yin, and suddenly we don't know the past life and the future life. If you tell him what is good after death, he doesn't know, and he is very scrupulous. This is probably the biggest reason why people are afraid of death. But if you are afraid of death, it doesn't mean that you don't have death. In Buddhism, death is called Nirvana. Is Nirvana death? No, Nirvana is neither birth nor death. We have birth and death, but when you practice to a certain stage, there will be neither birth nor death, that is called Nirvana.
There is such a thing recorded in the classics: a woman, her son died, oops! Her son died when he was a cute teenager. She couldn't think about it, so she was sad, cried, and even went to Buddha, "Buddha! Can you make my child alive?" Buddha said : "There is only one way, you go to find a grass called auspicious grass, if you find this grass, you can save your son and live again." "Oh, where is this grass?" Buddha said: "Go ask , Which family has never died, there must be auspicious grass in his family.” The woman asked from house to house, “Has anyone died in your family? Has anyone died in your family?” Of course, most people don’t like her, thinking that she has mental problems. .
Later she realized: "Oh, there is no family where no one has ever died. Death and life, this is a very real human reality!" Therefore, if you want to go against the natural reality, you just don't understand Life and death.
There was a believer who was a high official, and his father, with whom he was very affectionate, passed away at a very old age. But he was very sad. Dozens of children and grandchildren in the family were crying all the time. They even asked me to do the farewell ceremony for him. At that time, the family was still crying. I said, "Why are you crying? This old man immigrated to a foreign country. He has gone to the country of Buddha, the country of the pure land of Amitabha Buddha. You should be very happy!"
Don’t we all have to cook some dishes for immigrants, treat him to eat, congratulations, see him off happily, you should happily see off the old man, he immigrated, you don’t think so, what do you think? Human beings are the most ignorant, their parents are dead, so quickly find someone to recite scriptures and save them, why? He may have become a ghost, or he may have fallen into hell. This is the greatest unfilial piety. Why do you want your parents to be ghosts and fall into hell? Why don't you think that your parents have gone to the Buddhaland to be reborn?
The Buddhist theory of life and death that I am telling you today is mainly to let us understand life and death, be able to deal with life and death, and even achieve liberation from life and death. Just like yesterday, it is easier to understand by asking questions and answering them. Now, let Venerable Juefan ask the first question:
Venerable Juefan: "Master, I would like to ask you to tell us about your experiences or examples when you were on the verge of life and death, based on your extensive experience in the religious world."
Master Hsing Yun: In my nearly 80 years of life, I have seen other people die and come back to life after a few days. I have seen such examples several times. There was a person who helped me watch the door and cook. He died suddenly. Everyone recited Buddha's name and wished him to ascend to the Buddha's kingdom. But the heat on his body has never subsided. Although he has no breath, no one knows whether he is alive or dead? About three days later, he suddenly sat up again. When he saw us chanting sutras, he said, "What are you doing?" We were startled.
You asked me just now: What experiences have you had on the brink of death? Yes, in my life, counting the times when I was on the verge of death, and even came back from the door of death, there were about ten times in this life. I once said that when I was young, I encountered misfortune as soon as I came out of the Buddhist Academy. Because the place where I live is under the regime of the Kuomintang during the day and the regime of the Communist Party at night. The Kuomintang sometimes arrests me, saying that I am a spy of the Communist Party, and wants to shoot me; sometimes, the Communist Party also arrests me, saying that I am a special agent of the Kuomintang, and I will be shot too. In fact, I am not at all, I am just a young monk. I remember one time, I was tied up and taken out of this house. I thought it was shot, because many people are often shot like this. Seeing other people die, I feel anxious, not because I am sad for others, but because I see it is my turn. I remember that afternoon, the weather was fine and the sun was shining, but when I walked on the road, I felt that I was facing death, as if the sun had no color and was very dim. I was not very scared, I just thought: "Hey! I am only 21 years old this year, and I died just like that. My parents didn't know, and my master didn't know. Hey! Life is like a blister, and it just burst." Of course, it was not shot. , is to take me to another place for interrogation, if it is shot, of course I am not here to speak to you today.
When I was a teenager, for a period of time, the temple we lived was about a dozen miles away from the street, and I was responsible for shopping on the street. The road is far away, so I ride a bicycle. It's fun and fast. I really like riding a bicycle. Once riding on a small road, two elementary school students came across. Oops! The road is so narrow, how can I not collide with them? With a thought, I fell from a very high road into a deep ditch beside the road. It is about the height of the current three-story building. People and bicycles fell down together. In the deep ditch, the bottom is full of stones. At that time in the air, I thought: "Oh! This is over, this time I will definitely die." The head hit the ground first and hit the rock, oh! It was as if the world had shattered, the sky was full of gold stars, and I lost consciousness. It should have been several minutes, and I was almost dead. When I woke up, I thought I was already in the underworld, so I sat up and looked around, hey! Why is the underworld the same as the world? There is loess, grass, and trees, and death and immortality are the same. Think about it this way, am I dead or am I not dead? Touch your head, it’s me; look at your hand, it’s me, I’m not dead! I took another look, my bicycle was smashed and scattered around. But I found no scars or pain on my body, so I went to pick up the bicycle fragments one by one and tied them with ropes. I thought that these scrap irons could be sold for one or two yuan, so I Pick up these scrap irons and carry them back to the monastery. On the road, I thought, hey, I used to ride a bicycle, and now it rides me.
Because I have been on the verge of death many times, I have slowly trained myself, and I also feel that whether it is life or death, it is the same thing. Seven or eight years ago, because of heart bypass surgery, the doctor asked me: "Are you afraid of death?" He asked me this way before.
This question is difficult to answer. If I said that I was afraid of death, he would laugh at me: "This useless monk". If I say that I am not afraid of death, how can I say that I am not afraid of death? But because I have been in contact with people for a long time, I also know how to answer these questions. I said: "I am not afraid of death, but I am afraid of pain." Why? Because pain has a limit. If the limit is exceeded and the pain cannot be tolerated, I will become a bear instead of a hero.
In Buddhism, the eminent monks of the past played life and death like a game. For example, there is a Zen Master Feishi from Dengwen Peak. He said to everyone one day: "Hey, when a person dies, he sleeps, with his head north and his feet south, and his hands facing east and west. You have all seen this, but I Ask you: Sitting death, have you seen it?” Everyone said: “I have seen it, where and where I saw it in the past.” “You have seen sitting death, and standing death have you seen it?” Everyone asked again Said: "I have seen it in such and such a place." "Have you seen the head on the bottom and the feet on the top?" Everyone said: "I haven't seen it." Zen Master Feishi said: "Okay! I will die for you to see." He died standing upside down with his head down and his feet up. Everyone wanted to help him deal with the funeral, but they couldn't move him, standing there upside down like an iron pillar. Later, everyone had no choice but to inform his younger sister who became a monk in another nunnery, saying when your brother died, and now he is standing on his head in that place, unable to move. His sister came and said, "Brother, you often did strange things to confuse others when you were alive. Do you still do strange things when you are dead?" As soon as his sister pushed him, he fell down. I have learned something about death from "Biography of the Eminent Monk" or from my own personal near-death experience.
The second question: How does Buddhism view the relationship between life and death?
Everyone has seen a lot of physical death, and often encounter it, even oneself cannot avoid it. In addition to physical birth and death, we also have mental birth and death. For example, ideological conflicts, like life and death entanglement, if the mind suddenly becomes enlightened, oh! I understand, this is the so-called "life and death". For example, some people who practice and understand the Buddhadharma have experienced thousands of births and deaths in the process of enlightening the Buddhadharma in their life. How many lives and deaths have been awakened before they have transformed their lives. For example, in our spiritual and soul world, it seems to be different day by day, just like life and death, each period is different. In a word, whether it is physically, mentally, spiritually, suffering, or morally, people are constantly going in circles and circles in life and death.
What is the most equal thing in the world? It's so hard to find something equal! Life and death are the most equal. Emperors, generals, wealthy families, poor beggars, no matter who they are, life and death are the same. It is very equal to die after birth, everyone is the same, it is inevitable, there is no difference; this is very common, and there is no special privilege. In this very fair and equal life and death, of course we are not controlled or manipulated by gods, nor are we manipulated by any external force. In fact, in this life and death, there are good birth and death, and there are bad birth and death. The main thing is our own behavior, that is, our karma to determine the situation of life and death.
It is said in the Buddhist scriptures that the life and death of all living beings is called segmented life and death. "Segmented life and death" is like a different rosary beads, as if we are a human being today, what we will do in the next life, what we will do in the past and future lives, and the six reincarnations. This is called segmented life and death. If it is a person who has practiced, such as an arhat, he is not like us who must be reborn after death, and die after birth. He is "mutated life and death". The so-called "mutated life and death" refers to continuous sublimation and progress in the spirit. Slowly, troubles are eliminated; A personage during the French Renaissance said a word: "Life will never end". It is equivalent to a very good saying in Christianity: "The believer can have eternal life." But now I can go a step further and say: "Whoever believes will surely have eternal life, but if he does not believe, he will not die." People don't die in the first place, as I said just now, the body can die, and my life and spirit will come back again.
The third question, how many kinds of life and death are there? Can we choose which one is the best?
There are many types of life, and there are many differences in death. The main ones are fate and karma, which make our life and death good or bad. The life in the world, according to Buddhism, all living beings are born from the harmony of all conditions. Not necessarily people, birds flying in the sky, tigers and leopards in the mountains, fish swimming in the water, earthworms and insects in the soil. In the universe, there are many types of sentient beings. Like Buddhism says, some are parasitic, some are viviparous, some are eggs, some are wet in aquatic plants, and some are born by transformation. Gods and ghosts belong to transformation. There are really many types, colors, and types of how life survives.
As for the types of death, there are also various differences. We have seen that some people die very well, and some people die really pitifully and miserably, and there are various differences. Some people die peacefully, even in their sleep, that's really good! For some people who are practicing, they can live and die, and they die naturally, because they regard life and death as one. Of course, there are some people who have run out of blessings and died; even people in the heavens, after running out of blessings, fell to the human world. When his lifespan is over, when his lifespan is over, he will naturally die. Some people seem to deserve to die, and some people seem not to die, and they died unjustly. In fact, in this world, there is no wrongdoing in terms of cause and effect. Of course, there are some intricate causes and conditions, which we have no way to understand. Some people are going to fly, and when he arrive at the airport, he suddenly feel unwell, cannot get on the plane, and his tickets are refunded. How would he know about an air crash! He got his life back.
Sometimes, he was not on the same flight, and he went to the airport very early, hey! There is an early flight, good! Change ticket. Oops! Catastrophe. The so-called "Huang Chao killed eight million people, and it is inevitable to die." This is his karma and retribution, which is equivalent to "the king of Hades told you to die on the third watch, and will not let you go to the fifth watch."
We face the issue of life and death. On the one hand, the karma we do has a great impact on life and death. We must be careful not to leave stains and ruin our innocence. On the other hand, to train yourself, you must not only have wisdom, but also have strong strength! Sometimes willpower and mental strength can also fight death and prolong your life. Although death is inevitable, it is also very happy to be able to make death peaceful and comfortable, see through it, and let it go.
In primitive Buddhism, there was a nun named Upashena who was bitten by a poisonous snake, and the venom spread all over her body immediately. She was not panicked at all. When she saw Shariputra, she said, "My lord, I was bitten by a poisonous snake just now. I am about to die." Shariputra said: "Where will it be? You are full of energy and have good eyes. How can you be bitten by a poisonous snake?" She said: "It is true, Venerable Shariputra, I am contemplating emptiness (empty emptiness), A poisonous snake can bite my body, but can it bite the emptiness?" It's like hitting the emptiness with a fist, can it reach it? "Emptiness" is the truth, can it bite the truth I have realized?
I don't think it sounds good to regard death as death. Some nouns in society are also changing now, for example, when a person dies, it is not called "death" but "rebirth". If one dies and is reborn there, then what is so terrible about death? Like Buddha, Sakyamuni Buddha has ten titles, such as Tathagata, worthy of offerings, right and omniscient, satisfied with clear actions, good at passing away..., "good at passing away" means passing away as we talk about, "good at passing away" means "Nirvana". People can live and die, and this is a wonderful thing. When it comes to death, of course some people sacrifice their lives for benevolence, sacrifice their lives for righteousness, and are willing to regard benevolence and righteousness as more important than death. But there are also people who die for money or love because they can't figure it out and are troubled. Therefore, there are still many people who do not understand life and death, but in a word, with a little self-cultivation in the world, "death" means letting go of a burden and taking a rest.
There was a rich man who was about to die, and the lawyer asked him which property he would give to whom? Asking him to make a will, he looked at everyone for a long, long time, and said a word: "I'm so tired!" He died like this. It is indeed tiring to live in this world! In short, the issue of life and death, we understand that life is more important than death! Because life is very realistic. In Buddhism, we often transcend death. In my opinion, the responsibility of us monks is: "To save life is more important than to save death!" important. For example, when your parents are alive, you should be filial. When your parents are gone, it is impossible for you to be filial. Therefore, if you don’t take care of your life while you are alive, it will be very difficult for you to save your life after death. Now that society is progressing, people don't seem to care too much about death, knowing that it is inevitable, but dignity at the time of death is also very important.
The fourth question, how does Buddhism maintain the dignity of death?
Since ancient times, China has also attached great importance to the dignity of death. For example, after death, you must put on good clothes for the deceased, and even cover his face and body with cloth, so that no one can see his face. His appearance left people with a good impression of his past. The author who recently wrote "Nanjing Massacre" committed suicide because she had mental weakness and was in great pain. She wanted to commit suicide to relieve herself, so she said to her family: "Please remember my smile when I was healthy a few years ago, that is My eternal face." Or when a person dies, a curtain is used to surround it so that irrelevant people can't see his body casually. People nowadays demand life because they are afraid of death, and at the end of life, they demand first aid, intubation, and injections from doctors. In fact, sometimes it is not worthwhile to increase the pain. Our loved ones saw him with tubes and needles all over his body when he was dying. That impression was unforgettable. So at the moment of death, it is best to die calmly, naturally, and peacefully. Our lovers, dependents, and family members love each other well during life, respect and help each other well, and when they die, for example, husband and wife are originally birds in the same forest, and when the deadline comes, they will fly separately. Therefore, when you are alive, do things to respect, love and help each other. Don't let him miss you and worry about you when he dies.
From a Buddhist point of view, when a person dies, one should not even cry. It is said that Confucius had a very poor disciple named Yan Hui. When he died, he should have been covered with a piece of cloth, but he was so poor that he did not have this piece of cloth. Later, the family managed to find a piece of cloth, but it was too short, covering the head but not the feet, and covering the feet but not the head. Then someone said, hey! This is good, turn it sideways so that the head and feet can be covered, his great wife said: "No. Yan Hui has always been upright. It is better to be upright and not comprehensive than to be oblique and redundant. Let him Let’s expose the dead body.” It is also the fact that integrity is more important than skewness!
Originally, I wanted to tell you here that ordinary people die, or bodhisattvas (life and death issues), that is, nirvana with surplus and nirvana without surplus. There are also many types of "nirvana", but it is too professional, so I won't go into it. I just talked about the issue of suicide. It seems that suicide should not be allowed to spread in our society. This is a wrong behavior. Just like what I said yesterday about releasing life, many of them are wrong, and suicide is also wrong.
The fifth question, can suicide really be liberated? Or will it lead to more tragic consequences?
In today's society, those who commit suicide are not necessarily old people, nor are they poor. Today's teenagers even come from a good family background. They just can't think about it and live impatiently. Suicide is wrong and a sign of weakness, cowardly. Some people say they are tired of the world, they hate this world, and they can't understand or listen to everything, "Oh, forget it, death is clean." In fact, death is unclean, why? Because you are dead, you are evading responsibility. You say that I am in debt and emotionally unsatisfactory... There should be another way to solve this. You can't think of committing suicide. Suicide is the same as murder. Life is natural. How can you cruelly end it? This is also a crime. People are very stupid if they can't think about it.
I remember that before I became a monk, when I was about ten years old, I liked raising pigeons very much. Once my pigeon ran away with other people's pigeons and flew to someone else's house. I was very reluctant and asked my mother to buy it for me again. My mother refused and said: "Let it go." But I If I disagreed, I threatened my mother with suicide. There happened to be a river near my house, so I committed suicide by jumping into the river. In fact, this was just a moment of anger, I would not really commit suicide, because I can swim, jump from one side, and come out from the other side, just to scare my mother. But now the husband and wife quarrel, and sometimes make a fake come true. This suicide, you can't play this set of games casually.
Life is like a frame, you frame it yourself, bind yourself, if you can't get rid of it, you can't think about it. I was thinking: "You are not afraid of death. If you want to commit suicide, what else is there to be afraid of? You should use the courage to commit suicide to face the reality to solve the problem. Even if you are responsible, it doesn't matter. You go tell the creditor, I will Set up street stalls, do small jobs, and pay back your money slowly, is it better than committing suicide? You said that there are emotional problems, and he doesn’t love me anymore. What’s the big deal if you don’t love me? There are more people than stars, so why commit suicide just for him? It’s not worth it!” People who commit suicide always think of problems that are difficult to solve, and because they can’t solve them, they choose to commit suicide and die. Is it really dead? Can't! In terms of sin karma and karma, it even caused pain to family members, relatives and friends. Are you so cruel and disregarding other people's feelings?
Our Fo Guang Mountain built a Motosu Temple near Motosu Lake under Mount Fuji in Japan. There is a suicide forest next to the Motosu Temple. People often commit suicide in the forest. Hundreds of people commit suicide every year. The trees in the forest are towering, there is no sunlight, and it is dark. If you die in it, no one goes in to collect the body, and no one dares to go. Only in October and November, when the winter leaves are all gone, the police tied up with ropes and slowly went in to find the bones of the dead. Why can't you think about it? I saw the words written on the sign outside the woods: "Can you think about it again, do you want to go further? Your family, there are many lovely things, and many things are unfinished, you think about it carefully , wait a little longer, okay?" Although it was a few simple words, it should be regarded as a wake-up call for suicides! He committed suicide because he couldn't think about it for a while. If you help him and save him for a while, his thoughts will change after a while, and he will not easily get confused and commit suicide. In today’s society, there are many ignorant people. We all need to increase our love and help these many people who are temporarily confused. Don’t commit suicide. I think: "As long as there are green hills left, you won't be afraid of running out of firewood!" Don't think about committing suicide, we all should increase our love, and give some love to the society and many people. This is an obligation and a responsibility.
The sixth question, I just talked about the "mystery of the yin", so what is the truth after death? I hope the master can give us a detailed introduction, what will happen after death?
Master Hsing Yun: The truth after death, I am thinking, people after death are better than us living people. As we are alive now, we have this body, which is tantamount to a corpse. We carry this corpse on our backs every day to carry out activities, and the burden is also heavy. If a person dies, without this body, this body becomes another substance, and the immortal spirit is better than our present. He can go through walls without hindrance. Even if he wants to go to Beijing or Tokyo, Japan, he will arrive immediately, because he is the function of the spirit, so there is no obstacle. Isn't that very liberating to me?
I remember decades ago, there was an article in "Reader's Digest" that mentioned: There was a car accident in one place, and all four people in the car died. At this time, the police and villagers gathered around to watch. How could this car have such a car accident? How could this man die like this? Everyone is discussing, and the police are still using scientific instruments to measure and identify. One of the dead actually stood beside him and said: How did the car accident just happen, how did it happen, and how did we die. Because it was his mental function that was speaking, the people around him didn't know it. The dead man who spoke was very angry and said: "Hey! I am an authority, and I personally participated in it. I tell you now, but you don't listen, and you are arguing on your own. What do you mean?" No flesh, no body. So after death, if it is our relative, he should not say that he left all at once, but should still be with us all the time. So the situation after death, the first is that after the death of the body, the pain in his whole body is gone. So, once you die, it's like being free.
Therefore, death, he will not leave immediately, we just cannot see it. Buddhism does not talk about the soul. We use popular words to say that his consciousness will still be with us. Where does a person go after death? According to records, if one is born in a good state, there is a tunnel, which is a white light. Through it, one may ascend to the sky, or come back to the human world; if the tunnel is very dark, You go in and it's not great. It is recorded in the classics that when a person dies, the last heat on his body can also be used to determine where he has gone. For example: "If there is heat on the top of the head at the end, this person will definitely be born into heaven; if the abdomen is still hot at the end, then he will fall into hell; if the heat on the knees and soles of the feet is the last to disappear after death, then he will surely fall into hell." Some great good and great evil people die here and are reborn there immediately.
If it is said that ordinary people cannot be born immediately, they will be reincarnated within a week, during these seven days. In Buddhism, the number "seven" is very wonderful. If one cannot be reborn for seven days, seventy-seven forty-nine days, the so-called "bardo body", he will definitely find a destination, that is, where to go to rebirth. If you cannot reincarnate after forty-nine days, it will be difficult to make an appointment later. "Rebirth" refers to where to reincarnate after death, and some rely on karma—good or bad, strong karma leads him to where to go. Some rely on thoughts, what he usually remembers, and where he has a deep impression on, such as the Pure Land, chanting Buddha, the main thing is at the moment of death, oops! "Amitabha!" If you can remember this one thought, you may be reborn in the Pure Land. You may say, then we usually don’t have to chant “Amitabha! Amitabha!” now, as It’s fine to just say “Amitabha” when we’re dying. I’m afraid that at that time, you won’t be used to it and won’t remember to say “Amitabha!”
The seventh question is to care and help relatives when they are dying.
Now that the society is progressing, human beings will care for each other, not necessarily relatives and friends, but even strangers, when life is critical, they also pay attention to caring and helping, so when it comes to care at the end of life, there is also a contract during life. If in case I die, can someone help me? Find a place to sign a pre-living contract, so I think people should know more about such issues. The most important thing for the care of the dying is that the people we contact with him should be able to speak good language, for example: "You must be very happy! You have accomplished a lot in your life! Don't worry, if the worldly relationship is still there It’s not over, you will be healthy again. If the fate is over, you should be able to let it go, and it’s good to go to the Buddha’s country! Look, isn’t there a Buddha statue in front of you? It’s so solemn! Have you seen it? Him?" Say some comforting and joyful words to him, even though he knows that his time has come and he may die, you still have to say some comforting and auspicious words. But some people can't speak, and when they just caught a cold and were hospitalized, he said, "Oh! A cold is very dangerous. It can turn into pneumonia! My friend passed away the day before yesterday."
In addition to speaking some good languages, the place where he lives must be ventilated and moderately warm and cold. It is also very important to take care of the people he likes by his side. Most importantly, for a dying person, let his heart not be greedy, and his mind not be turned upside down. He is prone to inversions, cranky, reluctant, hates death, does not accept it, he seems to think that I should not die. After struggling, he will slowly accept. At this time, we should make his body feel comfortable, and don't make him suffer or feel resentment. Of course, if it is convenient, there are some voices of Buddhist chant, music, verses, and chanting Buddha, and he will gradually get used to listening to them around him. He is familiar with these solemn, pure, and beautiful sounds. Now the tape recorder is very convenient. What, who, and what he usually likes, of course, should not arouse his greed, but occasionally show it to his ears or eyes, and he will feel a little acceptance and peace of mind, which is also very good. Some old people are afraid that after a hundred years, their children will not be filial and do not do what they want, so they sign a "living contract" with another association or some organization. How effective is this contract in the human world? Of course, we do not deny the validity of the law, but when he died, were those many contracts very effective? The entrusted person, the most trusted person, may be more important than the contract. Now that there is a pre-will, I don’t think it’s a terrible thing. You can prepare a will early, and you can change it frequently if the fate in the world is gone, so I think it’s good to make a will.
The eighth question, life and death are suffering, what method can be used to get rid of life and death?
Liberation from birth and death, have you ever seen someone who liberated from birth and death? However, if you think that breaking away from the limitations of life and death is becoming a fairy, ascending to heaven, or a strange auspicious appearance, you may think so. Let's not limit the scope of liberty from birth and death to a very small one. In fact, according to my opinion, there are many people who have liberated from birth and death in the world. Let me give some examples. The first point is to be satisfied with existence and not to be afraid of death. People who have this kind of thinking have already liberated life and death.
The second point is that when you are born, you can have some strength to help others, and bring joy and happiness to others. This is also living! If you say that you are dead, there are still some good words to be quoted, some good morals to be missed, and some credits to be praised. The so-called "three immortals": meritorious service, morality, and words can be left behind. In this world, this is also liberation from birth and death.
The third point is that he can die in a natural state, and there is no greed, nostalgia, or inversion; or he can think of coming back by wishing. I made a wish myself: "I will be a monk in my next life." If I can really become a monk again, I will be saved from life and death!
The fourth point is to feel that at the end of my life, I will not fall into hell, evil spirits, animals and other evil deeds with my behaviors. How many good deeds I have will help me to be reborn in the Buddha's country, that is Liberated from life and death!
The fifth point is that I feel that I can be born in a good place, my heart is full of good thoughts and light, and I will not fall into a bad realm, I will not reincarnate, and I will not fall down. This is the liberation from birth and death. According to me, if we can understand life and death, arrange life and death, or get rid of life and death, isn't life and death a common thing? We talked about life, life and death, tomorrow we will use another angle, different from the general life in society, we will talk about life science, see you tomorrow!
Namo Master Sakyamuni Buddha