The day of death is the most crucial time for every person, universally.

Whether you are from the East or the West, whether you are a Buddhist or a follower of some other teaching, a believer or a nonbeliever – it makes no difference.

The moment when consciousness departs from your most cherished body will be a momentous turning point of your life, for death will launch you on a journey into an unknown world.

When the last hour is at hand, you will stand at a crossroad. If you have prepared in advance, you will be ready to move on with great ease and confidence, like an eagle soaring into the sky. If not, according to Buddhist teachings, you will journey again and again through the passages of life, death, and rebirth.

Most people do not like to be reminded of their inevitable death, which may arrive at any moment. They are scared even to think about it, let alone discuss it.

To some, the notion of contemplating death never even arises, absorbed as they are in the affairs of daily living.

Although people of faith express confidence in an afterlife, many others insist that there is nothing at all after death.

Today, we are in the golden age of science and technology. But the scope of our amazing knowledge about life ends where our breathing stops.

Science and technology cannot offer the slightest clue to whether there is any continuity of our consciousness after our last breath.

Researchers who study the question seriously are dismissed by the medical and scientific mainstream.

In these skeptical times, people are often reluctant to believe in an afterlife, for fear of being labeled irrational, unsophisticated, or naive.

Dramatic images of death greet us whenever we turn on the television – whether they are fictional deaths in a movie or news clips of people around the world succumbing to disease or violence.

Yet real, natural images of ordinary individuals who are dying or deceased are seldom visible. We are more likely to witness rosy eulogies and bodies all made up in flowery caskets.

If only we dared to gaze at the realities of life and death with open eyes, we would receive a powerful demonstration of the ever-changing cycles of existence that all beings must endure, from life to death and back to life again.

Source: Thondup, Tulku. Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth: A Tibetan Buddhist Guidebook. Shambhala. Kindle Edition.

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