How to Guide Someone through the Death Process using Mindfulness ~ SHINZEN YOUNG

Danca.

Hubiera credo.

Careful where the talk, too sick.

Every morning

No car never.

Hubiera would I have.

Credo believed

Guess where that it would turn out to be.

Tom do say.

So sweet.

Everybody here to die.

Heard that quote probably not.

Who said it someone you probably never heard of but?

It's worthy to be remembered his name was Francisco swap ads.

And if you were living in 16th century Catholic Europe. You would probably know his name. He was one of the most respected philosophers and intellectuals of his time in terms of.

Scholastic philosophy in fact, is sometimes referred to as the last of the Scholastic philosophers that whole.

Moda philosophy that characterized Europe in the Middle Ages and sort of reached its epitome in the summer theillaud feel Logica of Saint Thomas Aquinas.

An Whi Suarez is worthy to be remembered historically is 2 things related.

Besides that quote which will go into him at all, he invented the concept of international law.

And he was probably the first person in Europe and this is way back right. This is the 1500s early 1600s.

The first person in Europe, too.

State that tribal peoples who were of course, being completely enslaved and exploited to the Max by Europe at that time.

Uh to state that tribal People actually had legal rights.

That had the that should be honored by the Christian nations, and that it was wrong to exploit attics enslave them.

Which is pretty good for a 16th century Spaniard?

Considering all things.

So that was what he had to say while he was die.

No car we had a greater give where about to say who would have ever thought that this was going to be such a good trip. If I were to make it into very colloquial modern English so.

Can this happen?

Can it be a sweet thing?

Potentially.

Yes.

And I'd like to talk a little bit.

How about that?

Both in terms of.

Uh.

How we would make it that way for ourselves?

And in terms of how we can help it be that way for others.

There is an arse moriendi.

Art technique.

Of dying.

This is they used to have in Europe manuals on this. I've never seen those European Middle Middle Ages manuals. I don't know what's in them, but I know it's in my manual?

Uh.

And, of course, there is the famous.

Pardo touch it.

The Tibetan work.

Pardo BIRDO means in between.

So the there's many in between States and one of them is.

One of those many in between states is the in between the state in between death at next reincarnation.

And that that view that we have multiple wives and that there's an interval between.

Dying and the next birth is.

Share by

Certainly the Terra cotta world in Buddhism, and very much the ledgeriana world.

And in general, Mahama but there is a very conspicuous silence about reincarnation from the world of Zen Masters and they they don't seem to make much of this, which I find so they are very adamant.

This is in general, OK, there are exceptions. But as a general rule.

Um.

Yeah, it's it's

The Zen Masters tend to be.

Pretty adamant about what they want you to.

Believe I find their silence on this issue to be quite informative so in any event, but taken as a whole certainly in the Buddhist tradition believes in Reincarnation?

So to bet there's this famous manual to means to hear drew needs to be set free so the idea is that these would be things that you would say to People that would set them free while they're going through the dying process.

Beginning to enter the

The Death Bardo.

Uh it's called it usually translated that Tibetan Book of the dead, which was a.

The reason I chose that titles because there was a famous work translated. I guess in the night in the 19 century from Egyptian that was somewhat of a similar idea. And that was known as the Egyptian book of the dead so anyway. There are these books and instructions and so forth from different cultures.

But my approach is pretty simple actually.

Uh.

A number of years ago, my mother.

Fell, which does happen for People that are in their 90s.

And she broke some things and she was in the hospital and.

They messed up on her treatment with her electrolytes.

And it it cause them to.

Uh.

Think that or it produced a situation where she was going to die.

And so it's like OK, it's yeah.

Later on the mistake was notice tan with just basically just the right salts, potassium and so forth, she didn't knock.

But there was a time when.

That issue was had to be brought up. It's like OK Are you ready to go mom, etc, etc. So we talked about that.

Ann.

I'm thinking.

Uh.

How many?

How many people I have guided through the dying process over the years lots?

And they thought that comes to my mind is.

I know how to do this, it's not going to be any different for her.

I'll just guide her through the way that done so many times before with so many People at least in my experience. It's always worked.

Um.

And so you know, OK do you want me to guide you through this process?

And, yes, and so it was just like OK. I know what to do of course. I had my emotions because it's very different. When it's someone that close to you versus a stranger that someone is referred you know over the Phone that I've never met that has asked to be helped in this regard, but still I sort of I know the steps do the procedure. I know what to do.

So.

Uh.

In this regard I think of myself.

In the role of death coach.

So to speak like as?

Sort of Google issues that sounds OK. It is it's a job and it could be a very satisfying job.

Um.

I look upon it as.

Being a reverse midwife.

So a midwife doesn't.

Create life

A midwife understands how nature?

Brings.

Uh.

A baby from a human.

From the unborn into the born.

And knows how to help nature along in that regard.

So a reverse MetLife.

Understands how nature it takes People from uh from alive already born and takes them back into the unborn.

Understands that process and helps it along that's the conceptual framework that I use.

And, of course, there's an intimate link.

Between.

One's ability to.

Guide others through this process and one's ability to go through the process yourself.

All.

But he was 95, but it's a lot of elements that are now.

So inside now it's OK. It's like this is what it is, and it's more like OK. There's this one's funeral and there's this one that's you know sit can this like OK. That's sort of its dominating the scene.

Now.

What I find helpful for myself?

Is 2 things one is sort of philosophical?

And I don't you as you know, I don't try to convince people of philosophical positions. I sort of have a philosophy about things. It works for me, I don't make it.

Central to what I teach People how to only teach things that I have absolute confidence are correct and practical philosophy. That's sort of speculative things to it, so but I do have a sort of General philosophy, VM things.

Which I inherited from Sasaki bushy now part of that philosophy of things I have absolute confidence is correct the part that is used to model sensory experience in terms of expansion and contraction that we can see we can directly experience that in our senses so to me that's not speculative.

But Sasaki Roshi takes the expansion contraction thing way beyond a.

Description of

Sensory experience, he builds an entire philosophical apparatus that he claims is the ground theory of everything.

Now I would never voiced on anyone because that's philosophy of that speculation but.

I think he could be right OK.

To me, there is some evidence but I'm not rock solid sure of it, so I wouldn't ask any person to believe that.

So his idea is that?

The principles of expansion and contraction behind everything.

But you know, comparing how real world really works all aspects thereof.

So that

And that are.

Our basic problem is that?

We are 1 sided in general, People or one sided they prefer the expensive side of things and they have an aversion to the contractive side of things, so he says People everyone loves to be expansion means affirmation.

It means the principle of life.

It's Aeros.

Contraction is negation.

It's the principle of death.

Yes, Thanatos in the Greek.

Freud towards the end of his life so there's nothing but.

Thanatos and arrows.

There's nothing but affirmation and negation life and death.

So society, Roshi says the problem is People like being affirmed.

But they dislike being negotiated.

Found that

Lack of balance is what causes are suffering.

So.

Looking at the world that way year after year after year hearing his talks.

Uhm I guess I start to sort of see see things that way.

And therefore just philosophically speaking.

It makes sense that you can't ask that dying is.

As much a part of nature as living things.

And the

Experience of being nated.

Uh.

Should be philosophically speaking?

OK.

Uh it should be as OK as the experiments of being affirmed so you could from this point of view talk about life in terms of success and failure. That's one legit at that point of view or you can. Look up on success praise and so forth as merely the space of yourself.

Being expanded.

And you can look up on blame and failure and so forth as just impersonal. It's just the space of yourself is being contracted.

Um.

So this is a sort of conceptual and philosophical framework about things. But as I say I sort of find helpful in making.

Uh.

The contract if side of the fact that it's sorted downhill OK and more and more. I'm going to be negated physically mentally and so forth.

It's sort of this philosophy makes that a little bit more palatable well that's just philosophy.

Uh.

In terms of practicality.

So from a practical point of view.

Watt would tend to make one's own dying process and not just you know it's not just deaf OK and it's even not just dying it's the whole decline OK.

And you know, there's the decline and then the sort of extreme part of the decline is the dying process. However, longer short that is, and then you know the olds of it of it is like passing out of existence itself. The actual death. So for me. If I think in terms of expansion and contraction, but nature seems to be.

2 sides.

In order to be nature.

Then, like I say philosophically I find that help.

Why I think that Sasaki Roshi might beyond or something in terms of this philosophy?

Is because we actually do see?

The notion of mutually canceling polarities.

The expansion and contraction.

They polarize and then they neutralize him to 0, which is the golf.

The source.

We see the notion of mutually canceling polarities.

Is very?

Widely present.

In.

The main tool that scientist use to model the natural world.

The main tool that scientists used to model the natural world, is something called the complex number field.

You could just think of it as numbers.

Uh.

Uh.

And.

I won't go into details it's actually the manual, but the complex number field.

Is built on 3 kinds of contrast each of which has a zero point or a neutralization?

There's one kind of contrast, which is move forward move move backwards.

And that's reflected in the addition subtraction.

Operation.

And there's another contrast, so we can move backwards. You can forward over you cannot move.

And if you move forward that move equally backward. That's the same is not moving so they cancel out.

Then there's a spreadsheet out and pull.

And then you can just.

Not stretch or Cole OK and that is the most of the real multiplicative group within the complex field is that.

Contrast of stretching versus sweet.

And then the imaginary multiplicative group.

Which is like a subgroup within this field is?

Turn clockwise or counterclockwise.

And it took centuries millenia.

For scientists and mathematicians to realize that you needed 3 three different flavors of.

Mutually canceling polarities woven together.

Through certain distributive laws and so forth, it to a single mathematical structure called the complex number field centuries and centuries to develop that but that is now the Premier tool that is used to model quote reality.

And the fact that.

That the

They are the main mathematics that that is used to model reality is based on mutually canceling polarities gives me some.

You know, some basis for thinking that maybe zombie or something.

I as I say I know it's useful with regards to study consciousness.

That I have no doubt about it, but is this really the ground theory of everything I don't know, but it's reflected in the mouth.

And not just in the complex number field.

There are numerous other algebraic abstract algebraic systems.

Uh.

But not all of them but.

Many of the most important abstract algebraic systems involve invertible invertible elements is you do it this way. You do the opposite way. I'm going to bring those 2 together, you don't know anything.

So because the structure is so widely prevalent in mathematics and because mathematics is what?

Modern science uses to model and predict and even in some ways explain the real world, well if one underlines math seems to sort of agree with Sasaki Roshi's grand philosophy well. Maybe is on or something so course when I go to him and tell and things like this.

He's completely blase doesn't care. I went out prompts after one of his talks. He gave this talk where he absolutely.

Described.

On the set theoretic construction of the natural numbers. I mean he described it. That was that was like the most innovative thing that happened in mathematics in the 19th and 20th century was cantorian set theory. That's the basis of new math and captures formulation of the natural numbers.

Built on the notion of set.

What's a revolution in mathematics?

Absolute absolute revolution.

And one day in one of his case shows. He described that you describe that of course, he did know that that's what he was describing he was describing consciousness.

So I go up to when I say.

Inner OCD your talk about web 0, is and what one is and the number 2 is you know, etc. So he was saying 012. He was describing how each moment of consciousness contains the previous moment, OK and give this very detailed thing about expansion contraction come apart come together come apart come together and he started come. They come back together. It's a larger 0.

But the way that he described it once virtually isomorphic to sum up the set theoretic formulations. So I go up to when I say you know Rocha.

You just described some pretty advanced mathematics.

Any goes aaah.

So.

Sue got shot while so girl so bad with their no comma.

Oh is that so, so the mathematicians have seen that far huh.

That was the last time I will pay rocheux rediscovered silence now, what kind of ether does he pull this out of thing about math and science.

But he knows consciousness.

And he knows a very deep view of consciousness, so in his view of consciousness.

Call.

The there is life and there's death.

And there is that which is beyond life and death that which comes about when you completely give yourself to life and completely give yourself to death at the same time so.

Being steeped in this philosophy. I find that OK. That's somewhat helpful, so this is just half of nature when I'm going through and.

Call it's part of the deal, but then as I say that's philosophy and that's cognitive refraining.

Now let's talk practical.

Practically how do you die?

In a good way, and how do you guide another person to die in a good way?

Well, first thing I do if I'm sort of call Donna case. Typically, I get called in either a student is facing death. I've gotten like OK, I've got this terminal diagnosis kind of thing.

Or.

Yeah, it's an acquaintance of a student? Why do you have a friend who is facing death?

And you would like me to work so.

The first thing is the first issue is this awkward thing.

That's interesting you know between life and death right the awkward intermediate SUV.

There's this awkward thing of.

To what extent is this person still fighting to survive.

Which.

Is desirable inapplicable and to what extent?

Are they saying well you know OK? It's the end and I'm pretty much allocating my resources to having euthanasia. The original meaning of euthanasia is not mercy, killing is literally in Greek. You thought it was a good experience of die OK so.

How do you sort of bring this up because you don't want to say?

Like if you remember that that that Simpsons thing where Homer Simpson eats properly prepared fugu. Puffer fish in the sushi place. It's going to die, so they give him a book to read in the book. The name of the book is so you're gonna die.

OK, I think you can just in the role of the death coach.

I almost liked it going, there and say OK so you're gonna die. You're smoking that would really be cool and besides there's People aren't necessarily ready to say OK. I'm going to dine out. That's what resources are going so the first thing I have to find out is.

Have they sort of crossed that threshold where basically they are thinking. This is it an I'm not. We're not doing any Hail Mary heroic things here to try to survive. It's like their mental set is oriented towards the dying process or is it still oriented towards recovery or these something surviving.

Longer what happened so the so the way I bring it up is instead of saying so, you're going to die I say.

Oh.

OK.

Sooner or later, everyone's going to die.

Right now, the one thing we can say for sure, is that you're in a life threatening situation.

And therefore that's going to bring up for you in a very tangible way. The reality of whether it's now or whether it's way in the future. You know sooner or later. We have to face this and I'm going to give you some ideas about how to face it, so that way. I'm not constraining. I'm not consigning them to already bit kind of thing.

Ah so that's kind of how I deal with that usually in my situation by the time.

I've been called them there pretty much they know they're going to Diane. That's what they're doing, but in those cases where that's not the case. There is a very subtle way of.

Getting them to buy into the notion of OK. Let's consider how to die.

Arcelor EMT, let's consider that even even though they might not be resigned to their own imminent death. At this time, so there's sort of that.

Then.

But that's what I do to get so I can get a sense of their on board with the things that not playing died and suggest and so forth, then there's another thing that I learned early on.

Which is?

Where People do die they tend to get very went out and not be able to talk very much and also very often there medicated so there comes a time when there can't be much back and forth and you know that my whole way of working is real time interactivity.

So what do you do well that's sort of cut off So what I do wait before hand is I asked them I'll say you know, there may come a time when you really cannot.

Talk much or give me any feedback is it if that, if that happens is it OK. If I give you guidance is even though you're not giving me feedback.

If I just speak and say certain things.

And they almost always say, Yes, but I do that because I feel that you need an informed consent in this regard that you don't want I don't want to feel like I'm invading someone space specially in the last days of their life.

So if they say, Yeah, it's OK, you know, toys again, you can say some things. Then they've they've told me that it's OK and they know what to expect and I don't. I don't have hesitation about doing this at that at that point.

So then the next thing that I do is I start.

I query I'm looking for certain things, So what? What is the dual same part.

Of Elmo rear OK.

Well, actually.

It's right on the basic mindfulness grid.

As People become more.

Worn out.

By the process.

There.

Can often be natural tendency to be drawn to restful states?

If you look at the body language of dying People OK, it could be very.

Or already sort of course, like it's like the yoga corpse lobster kind of thing because it's just just 2 pieces, Austin to want to move at all, even microscopically. You could see it that the body is starting to is wanting to relax.

So I can query.

If they can relate to the relaxation of the body and it's a way of putting a positive spin on the exhaustion actually.

So can can the Arcana may not relate to OK well. You're really exhausted so how about just being like perfectly still and totally relaxing. The body does that work for you.

And so I queried that restful state. I also query if there either experiencing or can relate to the possibility that mental talk may somewhat turn off.

That could be caused by various causes of course, it may not happen. So there may be a lot of spinning there, but there is a natural tendency for the mental for the sort of Disengage from sound and for the mental talk to turn off I query. I don't say it has to be, but I ask OK is there any of that tendency or can you relate to that notion of here rest.

And then you know the classic thing that that is talked about Tibetan Book of the dead that People see this bright light well. Of course, that's just.

I'm example of C restaurant or as you look at dying People, you see that their eyes defocus, OK well. That's another cirez or this blackness. You know, People sometimes like there's this darkness coming over me, etc. That's another flavor of C rest. So I query whether they are experiencing or can relate to the rest will states. The answer is yes that's what we start.

And often that's about it. That's all it in because it's simple. They find one or a combination of the restful states that they can relate to they can do it and the dying process seems to be pushing them. That way and usually that's where it is I just keep reinforcing the notion of rest when I had the discussion with my mother about time.

Uhm I couldn't be at her and say, Hey, I know what's going to happen with the person after their dead and you're going to go to Heaven and whatever you know.

But when I could tell her with confidence is what I said, is that?

It's natural for the dying process to be secrets of deeper and deeper restful experiences like the ones that you've had when you meditate 'cause. She one of her favorite meditation. Techniques is focus on rest so she was familiar with that.

And her exact words were that sounds wonderful, so of course, produced a lot of pleasant feeling prepared her by being her meditation teacher that she could say that sounds wonderful as opposed to.

All the other freakouts that People could have when they are facing the app. That sounds wonderful is pretty good.

Uh so often that's that's what I do typically that's what it is it's the vessel states.

Mom and it's a way of thinking about dying. It's like well. I'm just going deeper and deeper into into rust.

It can happen, though, that a couple other themes come up.

UH-1 is flow if you look at People as they are dying. I don't know it sounds weird. and I don't know how to put it into words, but you can actually see.

That's subtle vibra Tori flow.

Let's fill in their consciousness.

I don't I know it sounds weird. I'm I don't know how to put into words. But you can actually see it. It's like a scintillating missed.

Over their whole.

PM.

So you can see that that's what's happening that there it's like.

There's something this is something Nahs of self and world is like this. Alka seltzer tablet. That's been dropped in this water and is just always fins.

So I will sometimes query if they're detecting any flow states.

Uh.

Either in the Angela Tori, Vibra Tori, or the expensive contracted because when you come into this world you come in born in between expensive contracted flow OK.

That's that's also how I guide the birthing process.

And when you go out of this world you are you are.

Um.

You are torn apart.

Literally by the forces of expansion contraction, which sounds horrible, but need not be because if you give yourself completely to those forces.

To be infinite in the infinitesimal if you allow yourself to be literally.

Stretched and literally like blown away and crush crucifixion stretched and nailed.

If you

Don't fight those forces of life and death. Then you become those forces of life and death and you become free from the bondage of life and death.

And because you become.

Life and death itself.

So I'll sometimes query flow.

If it's present or not or if they can relate to it.

Up.

Now the other thing that comes up is gone.

OK.

There is the micro guns.

Of.

That you may experience in meditation.

And to the extent that you have become intimate with those micro Ganz moment by moment.

Send through call.

To the extent that Europe, intimate with that.

To the extent that you have learned?

To associate safety fulfillment.

Um.

After.

Tranquility.

With those calls will sensory box.

To that extent.

The.

The gone of your existence.

Um.

Has a very, very different meaning for you?

Because it's just a big version.

Of all those.

Little Cocks just a big version of that.

So the bottom line for meditators is.

To the extent that you have become intimate with the restful states to that extent. There is a very high public probability that you're dying process will be that natural to the extent that you become intimate with flow.

And.

Particularly well any of the flavors of flow, including the expansion contraction flavors.

There is a pretty good probability that you're dying experience.

Um will be informed by that.

To the extent to which?

You've come to really know.

Gollum.

As it is.

To that extent.

You.

Woot actually.

How?

Notice the difference.

Between being alive being dead.

There's a figure ground reversal that takes place at the beginning of your practice.

You don't detect many vanishings at all.

Then, as things progress that theme.

Often becomes prompt.

They talk about the stage where there's you're aware over rising passing rising in passing.

So wells up here subsides also appears subsides. Wells up using science bells up here. Subsides rising passing would I am. Yeah, who die means means going up via means going away. When you put them together and probably becomes good. I'll file it's a stage described in the classic manuals from SE Asia.

What tends to lead to that experience of rising passing knowledge of dia Badia Yama Dustin I guess is the actual phrasing, politie the knowledge of.

Rising falling let tends to lead to that clear experience of rising falling.

Is your equanimity your up your ability to completely open to each new arising to just just say yes?

That ability at the at the at the very inception of.

A sensory veldt, too like a fur totally affirm.

The more you affirm.

Quickly.

Are given sensor you found?

The more you will get this rising passing thing.

So that's how quick and how complete the saying of Yes is.

To the arising of a given event that will allow you to see.

The pattern up yes. No yes, no, the big yes allows you to see the no, the passing.

But then the next stage after who dia pia.

Is described as you're only aware of the passing but actually not quite what it actually says is?

No sooner is it arising but it's already messing.

And so.

That's a spatial that is a temporal description.

Uh.

In my beginning is my end.

E Coker, a poem by TS Eliot begins that way in my beginning as my app.

No sooner does a sensory that I thought an external sound body sensation.

Arise but you're already aware it's dying.

As it surprising it's coming up with style.

And the dying away is very significant.

Now.

In the classic.

Manuals of Pteropod Buddhism, which is where the mindful assert be possible that we do comes from.

They use this temporal metaphor as soon as it's arising it's already passing.

What Sasaki Roshi's done is he's taken that stage of practice?

But it gives it a special app.

Because.

Every sensor event exists and 3 dimensional space, it has whiffed at the night even mental Talk has some space shower into it.

Certainly the body of visual sound right left and so forth.

So.

Temporally speaking.

That stage of insight.

You could be described as no sinners and rising it's already passing.

But spatial speak.

The exact same thing could be described this way.

No sooner is it expanding but it's already contract.

So Sasaki Roshi's discovery of expansion contraction.

Is merely a spatial reworking of the temporal description that exists in Terra model literature?

He says.

Adamantly, there's no such thing as flat Zen. Zen is a ball you must become a ball signed simultaneously expands and contracts In other words, I'm not here observing rising and passing over here.

Me and the world are arising and passing in this 3 dimensional fountain that is simultaneously gushing and gathering always.

It's a fountain of pure doing so that's that's a spatially of talking about the same thing.

That gets us away from the notion of a fixated meditator observing things.

The observer him or herself.

Horizons in between.

The spread, it collapse of space.

So.

Sometimes People say a shift and you've got a label from the moment of vanishing gone.

What's wrong? Why don't you have the label for the moment of arising?

I do.

I absolutely have a label for the moment of arising.

That we use.

Ann.

When we do the expense in contraction flow.

The moment of a rising at a very deep deep level of understanding the moment of arising is the moment when the space of that experience simultaneously comes into existence end begins coming out of going out of existence. While label for that is both both expansion and contraction. They've pulled apart and they are molding. The present moment both.

Of Call of call of car you sum up all those posts and gods.

And you have a giant eternal fountain of youth.

That is always simultaneously spreading and collapsing at pervaded with the absolute tranquility of a trillion vanishings.

To the extent that you have become that that there's been a figure ground reversal.

That instead of thinking about that or observing that you actually participate in that well. That's an eternal fountain of youth so to that extent.

You become that and

Your personal death.

Is much less of an issue?

Because.

Writing personal death mean the death of a mind and body.

But to the extent that you've re identified with the flow of the source.

That's not going to go away.

So quote you will never go to that extent.

And to the extent that there's been a figure ground reversal.

And instead of observing bomb.

Um.

There's just called?

And.

Things come and go from it.

Well to that extent, you won't actually notice the difference between being alive and being dead.

And as strange as that sounds.

That means that you won't have to die.

Your body mind will have to pass away, but you won't have to die.