Meditation on Death

Meditation on Death
Marananussati

Like a flame blown out by the wind,
This life-continuum goes to destruction;
Recognizing one's similarities to others,
One should develop mindfulness of death.

Just as people who have achieved
Great success in the world have died,
So too I must certainly die.
Death is harassing me.

Death always comes along
Together with birth,
Searching for an opportunity,
Like a murderer out to kill.

Not the least bit stoppable,
Always going forward,
Life rushes towards its end,
Like the rising sun to its setting.

Like lightning, a bubble, dew drops,
Or a line drawn in the water, life cannot last;
Death is like a murderer after his foe,
Completely unrestrainable.

Death slays those great in glory,
In strength, merit, powers, and wisdom,
And even the two kinds of conquerors;
No need to speak about one like me.

Due to a lack of the necessities of life,
To some inner or outer misfortune,
I who am dying moment after moment
Can die in the blink of an eye.

The life of mortals is signless,
Its length cannot be known in advance;
It is difficult and limited
And tied up with suffering.

There is no possibility
That mortals shall not die;
Having reached old age they die;
Such is the nature of living beings.

As a fruit, when ripe,
Has to fall,
So all beings live constantly
In the fear that they will die.

As a potter's earthen jars
Eventually must all break up,
So too does the life of mortals
Eventually come to an end.

The young and the old,
The foolish and the wise,
All move in the grip of death;
All finally end in death.

Impermanent are all conditioned things,
Affected by rising and falling away;
Having arisen they then must cease;
Blissful is it when they subside.

Before long this body will lie
Cast away upon the ground,
Bereft of all consciousness
Like a useless block of wood.

Uninvited he came here,
Without leave he departed.
He went just as he came,
So why lament?

Like gigantic boulders,
Mountains reaching to the sky
Moving in from all sides,
Crushing all in the four directions–

So aging and death come
Rolling over living beings–
Noble warriors, priests, merchants,
Workers, outcasts, and scavengers.
They spare nothing;
They crush everything.

Here elephants can hold no ground,
Nor can chariots or infantry.
One can't defeat them by a battle of spells
Or buy them off by means of wealth.

So a wise person,
Seeing his own good,
Secures firm conviction
In the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha.

He who practices the Dhamma
In thought, word, and deed,
Receives praise here on earth
And after death rejoices in heaven.

Last weekend was Kathina weekend at the Bhavana Society.

There was also a merit making in remembering p'Krieng (Dr. Kriengsak Sukanich) who passed away last month.

I really like the "Meditation on Death" as it helps me contemplating death. There was one question I asked myself everyday when I was an undergrad.

Will there be any regrets if I die today?