Number Fifty Fear of Death
50
our death is coming
there is nowhere to run to
stop open your arms
Lesson # 50
Lao Tsu asked his followers to face
the charging rhinoceros,
the pouncing tiger, the murderous
soldier, and their own death,
with equanimity.
Today we must face
the raging fires, the rampaging
floods, the poisoned planet, the
merciless capitalist,
and our own death.
Breathe.
Look at what is around you.
Look within. Find a place
of peaceful refuge, one that
nothing outside of you
can take away.
Then do what you can to help.
Death we cannot avoid,
but the paralyzing fear of death
we can master.
.
From: 81 Lessons from the Tao Te Ching
Number 50 Fear of Death
Of all the human beings alive today
some orient their lives
towards what is coming in the future
some orient their lives
towards what happened to them in the past
some focus on
the to-do list for today
but almost all of them are afraid of their mortality
If we follow the Tao, how are we supposed to face our own death
In the face of a charging rhinoceros
or a tiger couched to jump on us
or a soldier with us in his crosshairs
when there is no escape
how do we face
the oncoming termination of our life
When all hope of salvation has come to an end
what choice do we have but to accept it
with all the equanimity we can muster
We will die
Can you accept that simple truth in every moment of our life
not just in the most dangerous ones
Death we cannot avoid, but the fear of death we can master
NUMBER FIFTY
We come into Life, we enter Death.
Three out of ten men follow the way of Life.
Three out of ten men follow the way of Death
Also there are three out of ten
who live as men and yet they move on to the place of Death.
What a Master is he, therefore, who takes hold of life, of real Life!
He lives, his ears open to goodness, listening to hidden things.
In travelling, he fears not the rhinoceros nor tiger.
In entering the war-chariot, he dreads not the weapons of the soldier.
Can a rhinoceros with his horn strike the Inner Life?
Can a tiger with his claw tear the Inner Life?
Can a soldier with his weapon pierce the valley of Inner Life?
What a Master is he,
therefore, who into the place of Death can bring his Inner Life!
Isabella Mears, The Tao Teh King, A Tentative Translation from the Chinese, William McLellan, Glascow, 1916.
Number 50 (commentary) How can I deal with my own mortality?
There are a lot of ways to avoid facing your death: you can create pleasant fantasies about the future, you can brood on injustices from your past, you can get caught up in everything you have to do today.
The First Nobel Truth of Buddhism is,
“Stress and suffering are unavoidable.”
Therefore, the inner work consists of exploring these two questions:
1- What is the nature of your stress and suffering?
2- Who is it that suffers?
Once you begin to deconstruct yourself, once you begin taking in your answers to these questions, you may get the sense that there is an impersonal spark of consciousness that animates you and that feels eternal.
With the equanimity which that brings you, you can then face and embrace all the fear, rage, pain and depression that your body’s mortality brings.
Tangent and Tool #50, The Grave (Reflective exercise) This is a powerful exercise. Put on casual clothes that will get dirty. Then find a private place and scrape away the surface material about 6’ long and 3’ wide. Lie down in that area and just breathe slowly. Think about what it is like to no longer be living. Smell the earth around you, earth that your body will decompose back into after death. Feel it all. Let things go.