Advanced Buddhism

Death is a progressive process of the dissolution of body and mind that can be divided into eight main stages. As the body deteriorates, the energy required to sustain sense consciousness such as our eye awareness, then course conceptual consciousness - thoughts and emotions - and finally subtle consciousness is lost. At the same time there are specific signs or appearances to mind that mark these eight stages. The last stage being called the Clear Light of death or Mother Clear Light.

The point at which this Clear Light of death becomes manifest is of vital importance in a meditators life, as it is at this stage that one’s meditation can herald deep realisations into the nature of reality and propel a yogi along the path to enlightenment in very short period of time.

Also from an ordinary point of view, when death comes to an ordinary human it comes in a series of dissolutions. Since we will all face this process at some point, it is seen as important to understand the death process, if only to not let oneself fall subject to fear and so forth.

The Mind at Death

It is said that the state of mind of an ordinary being at death plays a large role in determining the type of rebirth that the being will take. Therefore it is very important to die with a positive state of mind. Therefore it is very useful for the dying to practice meditation, practice generosity by giving away their belongs, and saying goodbye to loved ones.

The Twenty Five gross objects

The Five Aggregate:

1. Form
2. Feeling
3. Discrimination
4. Compositional factors
5. Consciousness

The Five Basic Wisdom:

1. Basic Mirror-like wisdom
2. Basic wisdom of equality
3. Basic wisdom of analysis
4. Basic wisdom of achieving activities
5. Basic wisdom of the nature of phenomena

The Four Elements:

1. Earth
2. Water
3. Fire
4. Wind

The Six Sources:

1. Eye sense
2. Ear sense
3. Nose sense
4. Tongue sense
5. Body sense
6. Mind sense

The Five Objects:

1. Visible forms
2. Sounds
3. Odours
4. Tastes
5. Tangibles

These 25 gross/course objects constitute one way of enumerating our mind-body complex.

The dissolution process as stated earlier can be presented in 8 stages.
In the first four stages there is the simultaneous dissolution of a group of the 25 gross object from the list above. Don’t think of this process as one thing dissolving into another, it is more like the power of one group can no longer operate and so another becomes manifest. At each stage there is both an internal sign and an external sign associated with the dissolution of the various elements of the body and mind.

The Dissolution Process

The First Stage:

Simultaneous dissolution of the form aggregate, the basic mirror-like wisdom, the earth element, the eye sense and visible forms.

Internal sign - Mirage like vision.

External sign - the body withers, sights become unclear, and there is a feeling as if the body has become heavy.

The Second Stage:

Simultaneous dissolution of the feeling aggregate, the basic wisdom of equality, the water element, the ear sense and sounds.

Internal sign - Smoke like vision.

External sign - Feelings of pain and pleasure associated with the body are no longer felt. The bodies liquids dry up and sounds can no longer be hearing, including the buzzing in one’s ears.

The Third Stage:

Simultaneous dissolution of the discrimination aggregate, the wisdom of analysis, the fire element, the nose sense and odours.

Internal sign -The vision of sparks against a dark background.

External sign - The name’s of people and objects can no longer be remembered. The body loses it’s heat, and so the power to digest food is also lost. Exhalation of the breath is stronger than inhalation, and breathing becomes more difficult. The ability to smell is also lost.

The Four Stage:

Simultaneous dissolution of the compositional factors aggregate, the wisdom of achieving activities, the wind element, the tongue sense and taste.

Internal sign - flickering light, like a very small candle.

External sign - Breathing has stopped and all ability to move has been lost. Because the wind element has dissolved and therefore the breathing has stopped in the west most people are renounced dead at this point. But according to Buddhism death does not occur until the mind has left the body which is sometime after the 8th stage.

The Fifth Stage:

Gradual dissolution of the eighty indicative conceptions and the mind of White Appearance. As the mind of White Appearance becomes manifest a vision of pure white light is seen. It is said that at this point, the mind is empty of all conceptuality other than the mind of White Appearance.

As the mind of White Appearance loses it’s power, the Mind of Red Increase becomes manifest.

These appearances occur as the subtle energies of the subtle body (nervous system) are lost. or dissolve into one another.

The Sixth Stage:

The mind of Red Increase is a vision of redness, like a bright sunset in summer. At this point the mind is empty of all conceptuality other than the mind of Red Increase.

As the mind of Red Increase loses it’s power, the Mind of Black Near Attainment becomes manifest.

The Seventh Stage:

The mind of Black Near Attainment is a vision of complete darkness or blackness. At this point the mind of empty of all conceptuality other than the mind of Black Near Attainment.

As the mind of Black Near Attainment loses it’s power, the Clear light of death becomes manifest.

The Eight Stage:

Clear light of death is an experience of the pure radiance of the mind. This experience is of complete clarity and awareness, it is the most subtle aspect of the mind and is that which all phenomena manifest. A yogi can meditate on this mind for weeks.

The Actual point of death
One can still recognize if someone is alive at this point by whether or not there is any heat remaining at the point of the heart - the centre of the chest, not the physical heart. Once the mind leaves the body - the actual point of death - the heat at the heart will be lost.

Check you this post on Why do Buddhists meditate on death for more details on death and meditation.

Last night at our Yamantaka class, my teacher Geshe Loden spoke of the practice of the common Illusory body and how one can take this practice into everyday life. The practice is a method of seeing all events as like an illusion in order to not get sucked into these false appearances. The practice originated from Pandit Naropa an 11th century Buddhist mystic.

However this practice is just as important today as it was then, perhaps even more so with so much information being thrown at ordinary people. The Common Illusory Body is common to both the perfection vehicle and Vajrayana. So it is possible to speak about it here.

What is the Common Illusory Body.
It is the practice of seeing all things and events as a mere illusion. Thus diminishing the power of false conventional appearances. What is meant by false conventional appearances. See Beyond Appearances for more on this but, for now let’s just say that false appearances are conventional appearances to the mind of with the factor of inherent existence. That is, we see things as if they have a real, concrete, inherent existence, in and of themselves and NOT dependant on our viewing consciousness or labeling process. Because of this rather simply fault, we get sucked into them and then create action induced by them.

This is how ego engages the world, and how all dysfunctional states of mind are generated. By engaging the world as a mere illusion we are in fact viewing the world more realistically. That does not mean the world is just an illusion, just like a dream. No, you I and the world do exist, just not inherently. Buddhism asserts that the mind is the primary source of all happiness, problems and the natural world – the environment. Change our mind and we change our world.

Common Illusory Body example.
So in order to understand how the practice works lets take an example. Say a colleague accuses you of having a poor work ethic or gets angry and says something indirectly to you that implies you are selfish! You immediately react, or I should say your ignorance/ego immediately reacts and from this point you are engaging that person with a dysfunctional mind - dysfunctional in the sense that it is not working to its greatest capacity because delusion like anger distort the mind of stop it functioning properly. Some people might feel this is normal and justified. Buddhism assert that while it is normal for most people, it is however transformable and by doing so, you actually put yourself into a better position to engage your colleague. Have you ever seen someone get into an argument after they have become angry? Most often they look quite silly even though they feel they are justified in being angry. Even normally caring people do silly things when they are angry.

Having said all that, it can be quite difficult to practice when you are in front of the water cooler! You first needs to training by yourself, then when you find you are in a difficult situation your training will kick in naturally.

How to train in the Common Illusory Body practice
Well here comes the fun part…actually the first time I did this I couldn’t stop laughing because it felt so weird.

1: Go and stand in front of a mirror.
2: Look at the reflection of yourself in the mirror.
3: Start to criticize the reflection and learn to not react to the criticism by seeing it as it really is…mere illusion.
My teacher suggests saying things like…you are ugly, you are stupid, you are a thief and so on.�
4: Now praise yourself. You are the greatest, you are very handsome, you are such as good person…again hear these as mere words.
5: Now ask a friend to criticize you and then praise you, all the while you should remain balanced, seeing these words not as meaningless but relative.

The point is that we are all too often elevated by praise and depressed by criticism, when the reality is that good and bad, ugly and pretty are all relative. So why do we get so upset!

This is a mind training practice, training your mind to remain balanced in the face of adversity.

Good luck and if you do give this a go I would be interested t hear the result and your thoughts.