Years go by, but true love will never die… Today — March 14th, is my little sister Alanthara’s birthday. My mother, siblings, and her 6-year-old son are with little sis and my father at their graveyard, celebrating her birthday there, with a smile, I hope… ~Jendhamuni

by Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda

“Life is uncertain – Death is certain” This is a well known saying in Buddhism. Knowing very well that death is certain and it is a natural phenomenon that everyone has to face, we should not be afraid of death. Yet, instinctively, all of us fear death because we do not know how to think of its inevitability. We like to cling to our life and body and so develop too much craving and attachment.

A child comes into this world bringing joy and happiness unto all near and dear ones. Even the mother who had to bear extreme labour pains is pleased and delighted to behold her newborn child. She feels that all the trouble and pain borne by her ere well worth it. However, by crying, the child seems to suggest it too has its share of suffering for coming into this world. The child grows into and adolescent and later into an adult, performing all sorts of good and bad deeds. He eventually grows old and finally bids farewell to this sorrow. Such is the nature of existence of a human being. People try to evade and escape from the clutches of death but no one is able to do so. At the moment of death, they have their minds hovering over their hoard of acquired wealth, unduly worrying about their dear children surrounding them. Last but not least, they keep evincing much concern over their own precious bodies, which despite the tender care and attention, lavished by them are now worn out, decaying and exhausted. It grieves one’s heart to separate oneself from the body. It is the way most people take leave in this world – with moans and groans. The pangs of death are considered dreadful, an attitude fed by ignorance.

Fear of Death

Men are disturbed not by external things, but by beliefs and imaginations they conjure up in their minds with regard to the form of their future lives. Death, for example, is not by itself dreadful: the dread or terror exists only in our minds. It is not often that we brave enough to come face to face with the thought pf our own mortality. Insistence upon the truth of suffering may seem horrible and unacceptable to the mind which is unable to face realities, but it certainly helps to reduce or eliminate the dread of fear by knowing how to face death. Once life is launched, like a bullet it rushes to its destination – death. Realizing thus, we must bravely face that natural occurrence. To be considered free in life, we must also be free from the fear of death. Fear only comes to those who are not able to comprehend the laws of Nature. “Whenever fear arises, it arises in the fool, not in the wise man,” says the Buddha in the Anguttara Nikaya. Fears are nothing more than states of mind. Remember what science teaches us about the process of dying? It is only a physiological erosion of the human body. We needlessly frighten ourselves with imagined or anticipated horrors which never come to pass. As a famous physician, Sir William Osler puts it:- “In my wide clinical experience, most human beings die really without pain or fear.”
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