Meditation on death

"All of Man's problems stem from his inability to sit quietly with himself"~ Pascal

I would go one step further. Man's problems in continuous true living stem from his inability to die once in a while to himself. 

"The unwillingess to think of death is itself a kind of death, for the poignancy of life is inseparable from the knowledge of its decay." Philip Kapleau

Even at times when all seems to be fine, life is beautiful, though the mind of course still feels all the atrocities and sees the all the madness of this age, but somehow there is an underlying peace in knowing that everything is a process of energy, we are in the way of evolving, darkness is as necessary as light, merely a downward curve of the whole circle-there is positivism, there is love.... yet day after day the peace slowly loses a certain energy, the middle way dulls the blissful feeling of life slowly but surely. Unless we are fully enlightened then slowly but surely the mundane, the adversities with some aspects of the mirror that this society is- start to erode the joy and start to seed in habitual feelings of reaction, of unease. The peace slowly erodes into chaos, the largeness of our body shrinks into ego in difficult moments, the mountain once again becomes the idea of a mountain. This is the time to reaffirm life, to rejuvenate that feeling of joy from it, that feeling of utter being in the moment with all of ones soul. It is much said that we need the opposite to get back to life, we need to feel death, cause the feeling of life is connected to the feeling of death. You cannot really know one side without knowing both. Death meditations are wonderful tools, here's what Osho said about it-

[A sannyasin, who is leaving, says: Would you say something about dying? I’m very much engaged with that. I awoke last night and suddenly I saw how absolute it was. I’ve never seen it before like that – I could hardly get any air. In response to Osho’s query she says she likes Kundalini meditation best.]

Osho - So continue Kundalini in the morning, and in the night before going to sleep, start a death meditation. 

Just lie down, put the light off, and start feeling that you are dying. Relax the body and feel that you are dying, so you cannot even move the body – even if you want to move the hand, you cannot. Just go on feeling that you are dying – a four or five-minute feeling that you are dying, dying, and that the body is dead. And through this five-minute experience of dying you will feel a totally different quality of life. The body is almost dead – it is a corpse – but you are more alive than ever! And when the body is dead, the mind by and by stops thinking – because all thinking is associated with life. When you are dying, the mind starts dropping. After two or three months you will be able to die within five minutes. The body will be dead and you will have just a pure awareness, a luminous awareness. Just something like a blue light, that’s all. You will feel a blue light just near the third-eye centre, just a small blue flame. That is the purest form of life. And when that blue flame starts being felt there, just fall asleep.

So your whole night will be transformed into a death meditation, and in the morning you will feel so alive, more than you have ever felt – so young, so fresh, and so full of juice that you can give to the whole world. You will feel so blessed that you can bless the whole world.

And this death meditation will make you aware that death is an illusion. It does not really happen – nobody has ever died and nobody can really die. Because we are too much attached to the body, it seems like death; because we think the body is our life, we think it is terrible. And this is one of the greatest preparations for death. One day death will come: before it comes, you will be ready, you will be ready to die!

When buddha was dying, he asked permission from his disciples. He said, ’Now I am ready to die. Within a few minutes I will disappear into myself. If you have to ask something, you can ask it.’ They had nothing to ask, because for the whole life he had been talking to them. And this was no time to ask anything – even if they had many questions, this was no time to ask them. They started crying and weeping. He said, ’Don’t cry and weep – because my whole message for the whole of my life has been this, that nothing dies. I’m simply going home... I am turning in.’

Then he sat in his posture, closed his eyes, and it is said that people could see that his body started dying. They could see that the body was becoming a corpse – and he was alive! The body turns into a corpse: that is the first phase, buddhists say, of death. In the second phase, his thoughts started disappearing. Those who were very very aware, those disciples who were real meditators, could see his thoughts disappearing, falling from his head just like old leaves falling from a tree. They could see that the thoughts had been renounced: the second stage was fulfilled.Then the third stage: his heart, his feelings, started disappearing. They could see the smoke arising and the cloud arising, and everything was gone. And then the fourth stage: he disappeared into the unknown. Those who were enlightened amongst his disciples could see even that, that his drop had fallen into the ocean. 

These four stages: first start a simple meditation of five minutes of dying. Then just watching for the blue light to appear at the third eye. Then go to sleep. By and by, you will be able to see all these four stages. Slowly, slowly, you will become aware – and that will be the greatest preparation. And then you can really die!

Source: " For Madmen Only (Price of Admission: Your Mind) " -  Osho

Small glimpses of the day and sensitivity

As we are feeling sensitivity to this world we also experience the sensitivity to ourselves. For what is this world but ourselves as we truly are. Today the world is quiet and beautiful. So quiet in fact that the sharper forces, and faces of life, loom a thousand times more noticeable than usual.
The more inward we get the larger the world becomes. The deeper we go into the "I", the less "I" we feel and it is wonderful. Retracing our steps back into greater and greater simplicity... The teeth fall out from the edges of our experience, leaving us soft and supple, receiving and in surrender. All that remains are the wounds cut the deepest, the most subtle insecurities.
I tremble in this sensitivity like a fresh blade of grass in the wind, I shake in front of crude forces of this world and within, almost unbelieving. The world is such. But which one? Can I reside in its fragile, gentle core and be unhurt by its rough edges? Can such extreme sensitivity sustain itself in the worldly atmosphere and while still having personal memories, and if so, for how long?
Words and sounds limit the vibration of the soul. When overtaken by silence, deep and pregnant, we travel far and wide. In silence expression is not bound, nothing has limits, sensations fly to the corners of the world, to all the elements, to the material, to the void. We can go anywhere, be anyone. And most of all- be no-one, except perhaps life itself.
In the end- even the deep scars and wounds, both internal and external, that rise up in this state, are forgiving. Their whispers are perhaps the anchors that are needed for greater transformation. And then, hopefully, there will be none.

Too much information

"To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day."- Lao-Tzu, Tao Te Ching.

Very often when I am busy gathering important and for me interesting information, I forget that I am actually quite devoted to the path of emptying my mind from information, the Taoists way. There are always so many new and interesting pieces of information out there, the mind is like a little child reaching out a hand and saying, "Gimme!". There will never be enough for your hungry brain, once it values information above wisdom. 
In my experience the mind is very much at peace when it is in a no-thought state. So today, going through another pile of essays and words online- I said to myself ENOUGH! You already have and know everything that you need to know.

Chuang-tzu (Master Chuang), who followed the teachings of Lao-tzu, describes the empty mind in his monumental work that bears his name by stating:

"The still mind of the sage is the mirror of heaven and earth, the glass of all things. Vacancy, stillness, placidity, tastelessness, quietude, silence, and non-action - this is the Level of heaven and earth, and the perfection of the Tao and its characteristics." (Legge version)

The still mind is a mind that is not moving, or put another way it is the mirror of the universe. This is the pure mind of ancient Taoist masters.

Chuang-tzu illustrates the empty mind in several stories:

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Consciousness wandered North to the land of Dark Waters and climbed the Unnoticeable Slope, where he met the Speechless Non-Doer. "I have three questions for you," Consciousness said, "First, what thoughts and efforts will lead us to understanding the Tao? Second, where must we go and what must we do to find peace in the Tao? Third, from what point must we start and which road must we follow in order to reach the Tao? Speechless Non-Doer gave him no answer.

Consciousness traveled South to the land of the Bright Ocean and climbed the mountain of Certainty, where he met the Impulsive Speech-Maker. He asked him the same three questions. "Here are the answers," Impulsive Speech-Maker replied. But as soon as he started to speak, he became confused and forgot what he was talking about.

Consciousness returned to the palace and asked the Yellow Emperor, who told him, "To have no thought and put forth no effort is the first step towards understanding the Tao. To go nowhere and do nothing is the first step towards finding peace in the Tao. To start from no point and follow no road is the first step towards reaching the Tao."

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On his way back from the K'un-lun Mountains, the Yellow Emperor lost the dark pearl of Tao. He sent Knowledge to find it, but Knowledge was unable to understand it. He sent Distant Vision, but Distant Vision was unable to see it. He sent Eloquence, but Eloquence was unable to describe it.

Finally, he sent Empty Mind, and Empty Mind came back with the pearl.

~

"I am learning," Yen Hui said.
"How?" the master asked.
"I forgot the rules of Righteousness and the levels of Benevolence," he replied.
"Good, but could be better," the Master said.
A few days later, Yen Hui remarked, "I am making progress."
"How?" the Master asked.
"I forgot the Rituals and the Music," he answered.
"Better, but not perfect," the Master said.
Some time later, Yen Hui told the Master, "Now I sit down and forget everything."
The Master looked up, startled. "What do you mean, you forget everything?" he quickly asked.
"I forget my body and senses, and leave all appearance and information behind," answered Yen Hui. "In the middle of Nothing, I join the Source of All Things."
The Master bowed. "You have transcended the limitations of time and knowledge. I am far behind you. You have found the Way!"

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Stories from Bejamin Hoff's wonderful book "The Tao of Pooh". If you love Pooh- go here. :)