Below is a sharing to a fellow Buddhist on having thoughts of death. Thought this may be useful to others.
Hi ___ , thanks for sharing your thoughts. Having such thoughts flash in our mind is not as uncommon as we may think. It is just that most people do not necessarily share
it or think that it is not auspicious. But I think otherwise.
Think about it this way. When we sit in a car, we wear the seat belt. When we board the plane, there is the safety video or demonstration before the plane take off. All these are reminders of death isn’t it?
Being reminded of death can prepare us to take positive steps towards preventing accidents that can be avoided. But knowing the risks itself gets us prepared so that when it does happen, we are not taken off guard.
Insurance policies and financial planning is about planning for the unexpected, one of which is death. While nobody wishes death to come when they are in their youth and enjoying their life, being prepared is good. That way, while we live our life positively and wholesomely, we know that should the inevitable strike, we’ve got ourselves mentally prepared.
When is it unhealthy to have thoughts of death? In my opinion, when our thoughts of death preoccupies our whole life that we live our life only to die or when our preoccupation with death actually hastens and lead to death. This would be an unhealthy preoccupation with death.
Appreciating that death is part of life, we learn not to cling unto life and have the wishful thinking that death do not come or at least not when we do not want it to. Instead, knowing that life is impermanent, we should cherish our life more and live it meaningfully, to its fullest potential so that we may benefit ourselves and others while learning to not be attached to each moment for we cannot hold onto any moment even if we want to.
Live our life to the fullest, for each moment is unique and is gone the moment you think about it!
With blessings,