I've been doing breath meditation for a few weeks now, and the first reading material for my spiritual practice is Awakening the Mind, Lightening the Heart, and The Way to Freedom by The Dalai Lama. After meditating I feel like most, very clear and in the present. During meditation it feels as if I'm almost escaping my body. In Awakening the Mind, he mentions how important it is to meditate on death and well as many other things like loving other sentient being. My questions are: - How do you meditate on death, love, etc? - When do you move on to another subject? Ex: Death to love. Right now I'm trying to find a resort and/or teacher, but this is not my main concern at the moment. Feel free to ask any questions. Thanks for looking/responding.
The instruction on meditation on love and death and other things is to give rise to a sense of the importance of setting aside time for allowing oneself freedom to meditate, not to turn the mind to morbidity. And about love, compassion, and so on, the instruction is to imbue your actions with these not to become a parody of some sixties film. How to act and still give rise to compassion? In all things moderation. This is how you meditate. Don't fool yourself and consider that for an instant that if you think these things well you'll be a good human, rather, you'll become human, instead of just being a beast like many.
I realise that there are so many books and self-help guides discussing the benefits of meditation death (particularly Buddhist). However please remember that to meditate on death is not to be morbid, but part of a greater plan of release and acceptance of one-self (as discussed by our eloquent friend Chodpa). To accept our place we need to come to terms with the prospect of death. If we see death as the opposite of life, then life is good and death is bad. But if we see life and death not as hostile but as a greater whole called samsara (the cosmic evolutionary cycle of birth-death-rebirth), then life is good and death is also good. Both are part of the Cosmic-What-Is. But again let me echo our friend....little by little.
Life and death are both good. You'll just have to believe that. This is something you have to adjust on the mindset.
Meditative states are completely spontaneous, human thoughts are not, that which was never born can never die.
its not possible to meditate on death. being OOB is simply becoming unattached from your human vessel. everyone speaks of relief they feel once they re enter there vessel. this is because all pain is self created in the mind. anyways, its not possible to meditate on death because there is no such thing. there is only rebirth. whether or not rebirth will occur in a human vessel or the unbounded Sea of One Consciousness is up to you. how will you live your life? as a spiritual being, selfless and unbounded by personal thoughts and emotions? or as a human, self conscious and not life conscoius, allowing your mind to create life to extent of its ability? peace and one love.
