Death

Death is the most important spiritual teaching. It wakes us up, If we are truly present. -- Chodo Campbell

"To eternity, death has no impact; death is more like changing the scene in a play, changing your clothes at the end of the day.”

“What you are is never born, never lives, and never dies. Birth, life, and death happen within what you are.”

“When the fear of death comes up, say yes.”

“Because our associations with death are wholly negative, we don’t see that death is an intrinsic part of life.”

“When you realize what you are now, the issue of death will solve itself.”

-- Adyashanti, Death - The Essential Teachings

"Death is not waiting for us at the end of a long road. Death is always with us, in the marrow of every passing moment. She is the secret teacher hiding in plain sight, helping us to discover what matters most."

When you live a life illuminated by the fact of your death, it informs your choices. Most of us have images of dying at home surrounded by those we love and those who love us, comforted by the familiar. Yet that is rarely how it goes.

While seven out of ten Americans say they would prefer to die at home, 70 percent of Americans die in a hospital, nursing home, or long-term-care facility. The cliché says, “We die as we live.”In my experience, that is not entirely true. But suppose we lived a life that turned toward what death had to teach, rather than trying only to avoid the inevitable? We can learn a lot about living fully when we get comfortable sitting with death."

-- FRANK OSTASESKI