Daily Life Awareness - Death & Dying - LAH Practice Stream

“Death comes without warning

 It may come today”

“Living the Awakened Heart is as much a preparation for death as it is for life.  The whole training is about letting go of the attachments, anger, bitterness and confusion that can cause us such agony at the time of death.  More than that, it is a daily training in how to rest in the Awakened Heart with confidence, the only way to face death with confidence and, of course, death may come any day.” (Lama Shenpen in the Living the Awakened Heart booklet, Page 1) 

In this stream, we are going to turn toward something our society and culture generally try to ignore, … the inevitability of our death. We’ll be reflecting on our own attitudes and fantasies about death, and how our Dharma practice can prepare us for that inevitability. Above all, we’ll be exploring how awareness of death can enrich our life now – every day, as we turn toward the living reality of who we are.

Later in the stream, we’ll be looking at ageing, loss and grief, as well as some of the practical considerations involved in preparing for death. 

But for the first 12 week cycle we’ll be reflecting on Lama Shenpen’s verses – recited every day at Morning Puja – Turning  the Mind Away from Samsara. 

Each week, we’ll have the chance to reflect and share how each of these verses affects us, and how we can embody that awareness in our Dharma Practice. There will be other resources and contributions available for us on the Stream web site.

Maybe this sounds frightening or grim. But we’ll approach it with gentleness and humour .. perhaps the first assumption we need to challenge is that reflecting on death has to be solemn and “morbid”!

Please watch this short video to learn more about the inspiration behind this stream: Here  Passcode: j51pf*&T