6. DEATH AND THE LOWER REALMS
THE THIRD DALAI LAMA
The precious human form, difficult to gain and, when found, extremely meaningful, has actually been attained; one is now a human being. However, this life will not last forever, and it is definite that one will eventually die. Moreover, how long death will wait before striking is not known. Therefore, one should immediately exert oneself to take life’s essence. One has had infinite previous lives in higher, lower, and intermediate realms, but the Lord of Death, like a thief in a rich marketplace, has stolen them all indiscriminately. How fortunate that he has let one live this long! Generate a mind so filled with the awareness of death that you sit like a person hunted by a desperate assassin.
At the time of death, neither money, possessions, friends, nor servants will be able to follow after you, yet the traces of any negative karma created for these objects will pursue you like a shadow. That is how you must go from life. Think it over. At the moment, one is content to eat, drink, and consume, yet life, wealth, sensual objects, and food just burn on and on, and nothing is accomplished. One should fully direct whatever remains of one’s life toward truly practicing Dharma. Furthermore, one should think to do so from today onward, not from tomorrow, for death may strike tonight.
When we contemplate death and the impermanence of life, our minds automatically begin to take an interest in spiritual achievements, just as an ordinary person becomes apprehensive upon seeing the corpse of a friend. Meditation upon impermanence and death is very useful, for it cuts off attraction toward transient and meaningless activities and causes the mind to turn toward Dharma.
Two principal Sutrayana methods for meditation upon death are the “three roots” technique and the method of repeatedly imagining one’s death. Usually the latter of these is practiced for a time before the former.
The former method has three principal subjects of meditation: the certainty of death, the uncertainty of the time of death, and the truth that at the time of death only one’s spiritual development is of value.
It is not difficult to recognize the certainty of death. The world is very old, but there is no sentient being we can point to who is immortal. The very nature of our body is vulnerability and impermanence. Beautiful or ugly, fat or thin, we all steadily approach death, and nothing can avert it. Physical power, flattery, bribery, and all things of this world cannot persuade it to turn away.
On hearing that we have a fatal disease, we run frantically from one doctor to another, and when that fails we come to the lamas and ask them to do divinations to help us. Eventually we find ourselves eating our last meal, wearing clothes for the last time, and sitting on our last seat. Then our body falls to the ground like a log.
Meditation upon death gives us a type of restlessness, an uneasiness, as though somebody dangerous were watching us. This feeling is very real and useful, for, in truth, the certainty of death looms before us.
The time that death will strike is unknown to us. We do not know which will come first, tomorrow or the hereafter. None of us is able to guarantee that he or she will still be alive tonight. The slightest condition could cause us to have to suddenly part from this world. Even conditions that support life, such as food and medicine, can act as poisons and destroy one’s life.
When we die, our body and all its powers are lost. Possessions, power, fame, and friends are all unable to accompany us. Take me, for example. Many Tibetans place a great deal of faith in me and would do anything I ask, but when I die I must die alone and not one of them will be able to accompany me. All that one takes with one are knowledge of spiritual methods and karmic imprints of one’s life’s deeds. If throughout one’s life one has practiced spiritual methods and learned the meditative techniques that prepare the mind for death, then one will maintain confidence and will be able to deal effectively and fearlessly with the experiences that occur at death. By training during life and cultivating an awareness of the death process, when eventually our breath ceases and the elements of our body gradually dissolve, we will be able to deal with the stages of the process and recognize the clear light of death when it arises. The passing of this clear light consciousness marks the exact moment of death. It is said that prior to the clear light consciousness one falls into a deep faint, and, being confused upon emerging from it, the ordinary person fails to recognize the appearance of the clear light; but someone who has trained in higher meditations recognizes the stages of death and establishes a mindfulness upon entering the faint. Thus one transforms the effects of this very subtle state of consciousness and, when one emerges from it, recognizes the clear light of death. Even after the clear light has terminated and one leaves the body to enter the intermediate state, one is able to recognize the bardo as the bardo and to experience the hallucinations and visions that occur with equanimity and insight. At this point the ordinary person falls under the power of anger, attachment, ignorance, etc., and evolves accordingly. The spiritually trained being abides in wisdom and serenity. The clear light of death is transformed into the perfect Wisdom Body, and the bardo experience into the pure Beatific Body. To fulfill their aspirations to benefit beings, spiritually trained persons can then direct their rebirth as desired anywhere throughout the universe.
Those of us who are unable to engage in these yogic practices at death should at least try to apply clear mindfulness throughout the process and to maintain thoughts of love, compassion, and the bodhimind. It is also very beneficial to recollect one’s guru and the Three Jewels of Refuge, praying to them for guidance. This will help one to enter the bardo in a spiritual frame of mind, which in turn ensures a high rebirth conducive to further spiritual progress.
We all carry within our mindstream infinitely numerous instincts of both positive and negative past activities. The principal hope of an untrained person is, that by maintaining a positive stream of thought while dying, he or she will activate a strong, positive karmic instinct at the precise moment of death, thus causing this instinct to be the dominating influence throughout the bardo experience. This is the best approach for an untrained person. The yogi and the ordinary being have quite different methods at their disposal.
We should direct our mind at death as stated above. As for our environment, it is important that during or after one’s death the room is not filled with crying or lamenting people, or any kind of event that could upset the mind of the dying person.
It is not common for someone who has lived a negative life to have positive thoughts at death or a controlled experience in the bardo. Therefore, from now on we should be mindful of death and should engage in the practices that generate spiritual qualities, qualities that will not only benefit us in this lifetime, but will provide us with the ability to face death and the bardo competently.
Thus, in the “three roots” death meditation, we contemplate that death is certain and resolve to practice Dharma; we contemplate the uncertainty of the time of death and resolve to practice immediately; and we contemplate that only Dharma wisdom is of value at that time and resolve to practice Dharma purely.
Now that as humans we have met with spiritual teachings and have met a teacher, we should not be like a beggar doing nothing meaningful year after year, ending up empty-handed at death. I, an ordinary monk in the lineage of Buddha Shakyamuni, humbly urge you to make efforts in spiritual practice. Examine the nature of your mind and cultivate its development. Take into account your welfare in this and future existences, and develop competence in the methods that produce happiness here and hereafter. Our lives are impermanent and so are the holy teachings. We should cultivate our practice carefully.
How does Dharma help us and non-Dharma harm us at the time of death?
The love and compassion of the Enlightened Ones are not sufficient forces to save us. If they were, they would have done so in any of the previous death experiences we have known since beginningless time. To do nothing from our side is like trying to clap with one hand.
THE THIRD DALAI LAMA
You may ask: If, with the exception of Dharma, nothing helps at the time of death, then how does Dharma help? And how does non-Dharma harm?
At death one does not simply evaporate. Death is followed by rebirth, and whether my rebirth is happy or miserable, high or low, is determined by the state of my mind at the time of death. Now, except for the power of karma, ordinary people are powerless. They must take the rebirth thrown to them by the force of their black and white karmas, or psychic impressions left by previous deeds of body, speech, and mind. If at the time of death a positive thought predominates, a happy rebirth follows. If a negative thought predominates, one is born into an appropriate dimension of the three lower realms, where intense pain must be suffered.
What are the torments of the three lower realms? To quote Acharya Nagarjuna,
Remember that in the lower hells
One burns like a sun, and
In the upper hells one freezes.
Remember how ghosts and spirits
Suffer from hunger, thirst, and climate.
Remember how animals suffer
The consequences of stupidity.
Abandon the karmic causes of such misery
And cultivate the causes of joy.
Human life is rare, and precious;
Do not make it a cause of pain.
Take heed; use it well.
As Nagarjuna implies, the sufferings of the hot and cold hells are unendurable, the sufferings of ghosts are horrendous, and the sufferings of animals—eating one another, being domesticated and dominated by humans, being dumb and so forth—are overwhelming. At the moment we cannot hold our hand in fire for even a few seconds. We cannot sit naked on ice in the winter for more than a few minutes. To pass even a single day without eating or drinking anything is considered a great difficulty, and merely the tiny sting of a bee seems terrible. How then will you be able to bear the heat or cold of the hells, the anguish of a ghost, or the horrors of animal existence?
Meditate on the sufferings of the lower realms until you are filled with terror and apprehension. Now that you have gained the auspicious human form, abandon the causes of lower rebirth and cultivate the causes of a positive one. Determine to apply yourself to the methods which cut off the road to the lower realms.
Some people doubt the existence of the hell realms. However, many independent world cultures speak of these realms, and there are people with clairvoyant powers who can perceive them. In Buddhism it is said that through meditation we can develop certain extraordinary powers of memory ourselves and thus recollect some of our previous lives, in which case we would be able to remember our own experiences in hell.
There are many levels of natural law that are beyond the comprehension of ordinary beings and can only be perceived by beings with highly developed states of consciousness. The working of the laws of karma is one of these more subtle truths.
No two human beings have identical bodies or minds. Each of us is fully unique, down to the smallest hair, wrinkle, or muscular feature. Why are we so complicated? Why are the animals and insects individually so unique? This is where the Buddhist theory of karma and its evolution comes into focus. But more of that later.
Numerous Buddhist scriptures write of the hells in very real terms, to the extent that they describe their precise locations and so forth. Whether or not these realms are externally real places or whether they are merely states of mind is a point of debate within Buddhism. Shantideva wrote, “Who created the guardians and weapons of torture in the hells? Indeed they are formed from the karmic imprints that one carries within one’s mindstream.” However, whether they are external states or are merely states of mind does not affect our problem—how to avoid experiencing them. If we find ourselves in the hell realms, the experience of suffering will be inevitable. The types of sufferings characteristic of the hells—intense heat, cold, physical torture, etc.—are not impossible experiences, not something beyond human imagination.
Were the hells and the other realms of suffering not to exist, there would not be much need for Dharma study and practice. But if we look around us, we can see that we are enmeshed by suffering on every side. How can we expect similar conditions not to be present with us after the body dies? But then we have no wealth, power, friends, or even a body with which to protect ourselves. There is nothing but our positive and negative karmic imprints and our spiritual understanding or lack of it. When one is without wisdom and is carrying the imprints of mainly negative karmic actions, the bardo will transform into hellish visions and one’s heart will fill with regret. It would have been better not to have been so proud and confident in the supposed non-existence of the hells when one still possessed the powers of discernment.
The practitioner of initial perspective thus pursues prolonged meditation upon the types of sufferings of the individual hell realms and determines to abandon the causes of these lower rebirths—negative actions performed from a deluded mind. This meditation should be regularly performed, not only for a few days, but for months on end, until one develops a natural aversion to engaging in degenerating activities. At the moment, we make great efforts to protect ourselves from cold, heat, insect bites, and so forth. Would it not be wise to also protect ourselves from future sufferings of this nature by avoiding their causes, negative activities of body, speech, and mind?
The scriptures abound in descriptions of the nature of the various hells. They speak of four main types: the eight hot hells, the eight cold hells, the four hells surrounding the lower hells, and the occasional hells where beings have periodic respite. Each of these realms is described as having a different intensity of misery, duration of life span, and so forth. Their main characteristic is violently intense suffering, and their main cause is negative karma created by violent anger and the harming of others.
I really wish that there were no suffering in this world and no suffering after death. I wish there were no hells or ghost regions. But it would not be wise to believe that these do not exist and to continue in the negative ways that draw the mind down to these realms. The distance between our present existence and the hells could be as short as a single breath.
Negative ways do not have beneficial effects on the mind even in this life. If there is a future life, how can we expect negativity to benefit it? Alternatively, positive ways have positive effects on the mind in this life and lay the foundations for happiness after death. One should contemplate the sufferings of the hells in this light and resolve to avoid the ways that lead to them.
The ghost realms also cannot be seen by ordinary people dwelling in this realm, although there are isolated incidents of interrealm contact between beings having strong karmic connections. Again, many world cultures have independently spoken of these realms, and many mystics and clairvoyants have written of them.
The principal afflictions of ghosts are intense hunger and thirst. Although they are tortured continually by these cravings, they do not die for many centuries. The main cause for rebirth in this realm is negative karma created out of attachment and greed. One should dwell in contemplation of the sufferings of the ghost realms and resolve to avoid the negative karmas that cause them. At the moment, we find it difficult even to practice a religious fast for half a day; how could we bear a thousand years of such cravings?
The sufferings of the animal realms are obvious to us. Work and farm animals experience being driven, beaten, killed, and eaten by human beings. We would go to an institution and claim our human rights if someone tried to do these things to us, but animals can do nothing but look on pathetically. The fish in the Kangra Lake are not respected as owning the lake; to the humans they are merely sources of food. We forget they are living beings who, like us, grasp at an “I” and aspire to happiness. We forget that they do not want pain and do not want to die, and we pull them out of the water on hooks and in nets, causing them to die in fear and agony. The same is the case with chickens, cattle, goats, and so forth. There is nobody they can turn to for help, and they do not have the intelligence to help themselves. This is the karma and suffering of their realm. We should meditate on what we would experience if we were reborn among them.
The wild animals, birds, insects, and so forth usually suffer even more intensely. Theirs is the jungle law, and the old and the weak are devoured alive. Continually having to chase food and seek shelter, they often experience long periods of deprivation. Their great shortcoming is lack of wisdom, and as a result they are unable to cultivate spiritual progress. Thus their lives are controlled by the forces of karma and delusion, until eventually they die in terror.
We should meditate upon the various sufferings of the animal world and then ask ourselves, “Do I want this suffering? Could I bear it?” If you do not, then make a resolution to avoid its cause, meaningless and deluded activity based upon the ignorant mind.
In this and in many previous existences we have created many karmas that could result in rebirth in any of the three lower realms. We should cease creating such causes and should seek the methods that purify the mind of previous karmic instincts and elevate it from darkness to lasting joy.