Facing Death

2024, December, Issue 126

Growl at this demon called death,

face it down, stare it in the eyes,

have no fear, let it know,

let it know that it means nothing to you;

It’s not real;

Disperse the terror into the void,

conquer this menace who has always

always been hovering, waiting to take you

take you at any moment;

Know that death is of no concern,

know that you have no real reason

no real reason to be afraid;

It is life that poses

the real threat,

keeping you here in cyclic existence,

keeping you from knowing who you really are,

keeping you attached to what is not real;

Know that awakening disperses death

scattering the essence of that demon

into emptiness;

Know that death is an illusion;

Know that reality itself annihilates

this great obstacle,

this demon we call death;

Growl at it like you own it;

You will conquer death,

When you face it,

When you stare at the folly

of ever thinking that it was real,

And then you will laugh.

A poem by Robert Aho © 2024

Death is of no concern to me. As you may recall, I’ve been there. I’ve had a complete death experience that I can recall in vivid detail. I even remember other deaths, many of them, as I gaze back in this illusion of time we call cyclic existence.

It’s all an illusion, this life, this death, the death before that and before that. Rebirth, life, getting sick, getting old, dying, rebirth again and again and again. If you begin to see appearances more clearly, you begin to see this infinite thing we think of as existence. You begin to scratch the surface of reality, this reality that you’ve tried to avoid for all eternity.

Death doesn’t worry me at all. It’s living a life without regret that makes me twitch. The only parts of my life that I regret were those parts where I acted out of negative emotions, from a time before I was able to start on the Spiritual Path.

It is no coincidence that I speak so often about awakening and generating a life of great compassion. The death bardo made this apparent to me. It is where I developed great confidence in our Ultimate Nature. All of this great confusion and lunacy we call life made me laugh. It was the first thing that I did when I returned from the death bardo, popping back into my body. I laughed. What a stupid thing it is that we’ve ever been so concerned about anything at all, hoping for this, fearing that, not knowing most of it. We’re stupidly concerned about our own demise.

Life is not what we think it is, and neither is death. We don’t have some outside force who can rescue us from our nightmare. We do this to ourselves.

I was very depressed when I returned from death, having learned that this really is up to me. I can’t pray to some being for help, expecting any sort of magical solution that will take me to paradise. It’s up to me. It’s also up to you to awaken. No one can do this for you.

It’s also such that no one can tell you the answer to your questions or the solution to your dilemmas. You need to discover the answers and the solutions for yourself. You need to discover just what reality really is, what is ultimately true. There is no other way. Fantasy and belief will never get you there. You must get there, a place where there really is no there there, a wide open spacious place beyond all obstacles, beyond subject or object. You must do the hard work of opening your heart and mind to what is, as it is.

So, I recommend that we all awaken. This has nothing to do with religion or belief. It has to do with becoming empowered to traverse the death bardo with relative ease, to not be consumed by worldly concerns. It has to do with going beyond your own suffering, your own concerns and regrets, beyond all that has kept you bound to cyclic existence, to this eternal moment which has eluded you since beginningless beginnings.

I make this recommendation that you aspire to awaken, so that you can awaken in this moment. It’s not possible unless you really want to know what’s going on, what’s kept you in this downward spiral for all time. It makes sense that we take a humble stance, simply admit that our arrogance and ego have never served us well. It’s time to awaken.

In our material world, people arrogantly believe that this or that is real, even though simple investigations of mind will easily reveal that none of it is real. This does not mean that it is nothing. It means that we cling to what can never be located. We cling to our own delusions, even though none of them have ever been located, even though nothing at all can ever remain for more than an instant.

I’m writing this little essay on the day before I go under the knife, yet again. My heart surgery is expected to go well. Perhaps this is not the last time I write.

Blessings in Light,

Robert Aho