Preparing for Death

2024, October, Issue 121

Preparing for death, preparing for the inevitable,

we must look within, look within,

look within our heart and mind;

We must gaze at our lives, this turmoil, this agitation;

We must understand the constant change,

Endeavoring to see mind, mind in action;

We must gaze at all phenomena, empty labels,

We must understand the unreality of this great illusion; 

Death is not what you think it is, no matter what you think,

It’s not what you think, not this or that, not some journey

not some journey through what might comfort you;

We all know this.  We all know this.  We’ve been there before. 

We’ve all been there a billion trillion times, and more. 

We know about death, we know that it is not what you think;

Death, coming to us all, coming with certainty,

Death is this lunatic confronting the inexplicable for all eternity. 

Death is confronting all you have been, becoming who you really are,

Seeing that this illusion has no end in all you will be,

and, if you know, if you know, you can remain in light,

as light, you can remain, remaining

in the inexplicable reality of our being; 

If you do not know, if you do not know

what is happening, what is happening, well,

What is happening?  What is really happening?

These fierce karmic winds will most certainly

propel us most violently,

Propel us into the next bout with this lunatic asylum,

as it has done so, so many many times before,

as it has happened for all eternity, for all eternity,

happening, continuing, repeating, reverberating

as it has been, and always will be,

so many many times before, so many times from now

as it is continuing through your aspiration

your aspiration to remain,

to remain in this endless cycle,

rather than

awakening.

A poem by Robert Aho © 2024

In general, people reject this notion of looking within, this notion that we must awaken.  It’s rather uncomfortable to decide definitively upon the Spiritual Path.  We see things that we’d rather not see when we examine mind, when we see our memories and thoughts as they are, without filtering them like turbulent water.  Even big burly men don’t want to do this, as it might make them cry like a little baby, sobbing uncontrollably as they venture into the psyche that they’ve kept carefully buried for so long.

So, the quantum physicist might ask, if we are preparing for death, why are we delving into mind, rather than exploring the quantum for answers?  The answer to this is simple:  Everything is mind.  Our entire relative reality is composed of conscious wisdom, perfect from the beginning, a reflection of Ultimate Reality, with every possible outcome manifesting before our senses.  The quantum physicist already knows that observing an experiment will change its outcome.

We prepare for death by getting ready for reality.  The turbulence of the death bardo can be astounding.  We find ourselves potentially horrified by the energetic dimension, within an amazing display of all possibilities.  In this, we must remain at ease.  It’s not enough to merely know intellectually what that is.  We must be capable of remaining at ease all while being jostled about by the most turbulent violent storms imaginable; and, within such storms, we are certain to imagine all sorts of terrible things.  The unprepared mind will simply freak out at this point.

I was most fortunate with my death experience.  I instantly became the light of Dharmakaya.  I didn’t traverse the energetic dimension first, I simply became the ineffable bright brilliant Supreme Source.  That’s pretty amazing, if you think about it for just a second.  It happened simply because I had prepared myself for death.  I was prepared quite extensively.

So, when I give people some spiritual advice, it’s not that I’m adhering to some institutional dogma.  I’m actually taking this right from my own experiences in the death bardo.  Since my return from the death bardo, I have absolutely no need to seek teachings from anyone.  All of the inexplicable teachings are already clear and freely available to me.

When I share, I’m not looking things up in books first.  I have no one who I need to ask for permission first.  I’ve been that inexplicable light for all eternity.  My texts are blazing in my heart center; and it was all because I had prepared for death.

When you are preparing for death, you are looking at everything as realistically as possible.  Within this, you gaze at mind.  As you learn to gaze at mind, you then learn to remain at ease while gazing at mind.  You learn to remain at ease in every circumstance.  As you do that, you cultivate Bodhicitta, by starting with a simple aspiration, then extending that to all beings, then going beyond relative reality, going beyond this idea of separate beings, seeing this illusion, seeing that this illusion also has limits and cannot be real.

Bodhicitta is the key; however, we must delve into all aspects of mind, learning to generate great compassion, then transform everything, then go beyond transformation into the Nature of Mind.  With the recognition of our real nature, the essence of all becomes revealed.  With such realizations, we’re no longer limited.  We awaken.

Blessings in Light,               

Robert Aho