Buddhist Advice on Death and Dying

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We’re all going to face death, so we shouldn’t ignore it. Being realistic about our mortality enables us to live a full, meaningful life. Instead of dying with fear, we can die happily because we’ll have made the most of our lives.

Leading a Meaningful Life

Over the years, our bodies have changed. Generally speaking, even spirituality or meditation cannot stop that from happening. We are impermanent, always changing, changing from moment to moment; and that is part of nature. Time is always moving; no force can stop that. So the real question is whether we are utilizing time properly or not. Do we use time to create more problems for others, which also ultimately makes us ourselves feel unhappy deep inside? I think that’s a wrong way to utilize time.

A better way is to try to shape our minds every day with a proper motivation and then carry on the rest of the day with that sort of motivation. And that means, if possible, serving others; and if not, at least refraining from harming others. In that respect, there’s no difference among professions. Whatever your profession, you can have a positive motivation. If our time is used in that way over days, weeks, months, years – decades, not just for five years – then our lives become meaningful. At the very least, we’re making some sort of contribution toward our own individual happy mental state. Sooner or later our end will come, and that day we’ll feel no regrets; we’ll know we used our time constructively.

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