Meditating on Death & Impermanence

I've posted this picture before, but found a better quality image. It is a picture of an enlightened being meditating on Death.

"Of All Mindfulness Meditations, 

That on Impermanence and Death 

is Supreme."

-Buddha

Although it seems macabre to think about dying, I deeply love Life & the incomprehensible miracle of being alive. One thing that keeps me fully aware and appreciative of the experience of living is the awareness of my own mortality.

The realization that, one day, I will no longer be in this world helps me to live with a greater sense of immediacy in the present moment.

The Buddha taught that meditating on the inevitable death, decay, & dissolution of one's own body was a way to overcome the ego & delusional sense of "self" that is an illusion of our limited perceptions.

Only by accepting and contemplating the idea that our bodies will soon cease to exist, can we overcome the fear of death and truly awaken to the rare treasure of being alive.

“This existence of ours is as transient as autumn clouds. 


To watch the birth and death of beings 

is like looking at the movements of a dance. 

A lifetime is like a flash of lightning in the sky,
 

rushing by, like a torrent down a steep mountain.” 

-Guatama Buddha