Ten Minutes
(By Tsem Rinpoche)
The best thing we can do for ourselves daily is to do a ten minutes meditation on the fallibility of our body, it’s decay and death. We must fully be able to visualize our bodies actually dying, being buried, or burned and seeing it rot or burned up. It’s very important to do this type of visual meditation daily if we really wish to transform our habits, learn dharma, be able to apply dharma into our lives. Meditation of this sort is not gruesome but reality. You are not visualizing something that may or may not happen, but will happen for certain. So it is fast forwarding. When you meditate on death, you will learn how to live the short time you have left. This type of meditation is practiced by all schools of Buddhism and also it really makes you think carefully what is important and what is not. Doing the visualizations clearly is very good for our mind to realize our destinies and to do something now before it is too late.
After the ten min death meditation, it is good to do ten minutes of breath meditation. Feeling the breath go into your nostrils and out. Block everything else out and just focus on the breath going in and out. Feel it at the nostrils and hold the concentration there clearly. Do this daily and you will see your concentration become stronger and focus on whatever you put your mind to become easier. Feel the breath going in and out, ‘hear’ it with your mind and feel it at the nostrils. Perfect this and don’t make your mind tight during this practice. Whatever comes to mind, just put your mind back on the breath. The purpose is to focus on the breath, everything is ‘blocked’ or ignored in order to develop powerful concentration and calmness of the mind. In time you will feel calm, focused and aware of everything around you clearly.
Tsem Rinpoche
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Meditation on death awareness is one of the oldest practices in all Buddhist traditions. Buddhist meditation practice of remembering that death can strike at anytime and anywhere. We should practice diligently and with urgency in every moment, even in the time it takes to draw one breath. Over the centuries Buddhism has evolved many different techniques such as mindfulness, loving-kindness and visualisation. Death awareness can serve as a real aid to practice, the importance of using every moment wisely, while we still have the time.
Reading this article again to refresh , it’s a profound teachings one should read and understand it what is all about. All it take us 10 minutes of our time to do the practice.
Thank you Rinpoche for this profound teachings.
Meditation has been shown to have mental benefits, such as improved concentration, happiness, memory, self-control, academic performance and more to go. Even researchers found that meditation may have other health benefits as well, including improved metabolism, heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure .Consistent practice over the long-term can boost our empathy, resilience and compassion too. Having just ten minutes is good enough for us all and powerful.
Its good to do death meditation when we still have the time now. Visualizing our bodies actually decaying and on death will be good. It is a good practice to do so before the time is up.
Thank you Rinpoche for this wonderful teachings.
Short practice and a potent remedy! Very powerful! Thank you Rinpoche.
Sometimes, we forget what is the objective of a meditation. We tend to try to do something else rather than what is meditation is to achieve.
It sounds easy but does require more attention than we think. But, with practice, it comes a bit easier each time. The visualization of the death meditation tend to get a bit unnerving but as Rinpoche pointed out, it is something that will happen.
The breath meditation is a bit more comfortable compared to the death meditation but not necessarily easier as it requires us to let the thoughts flow through and not invite them to linger in our mind.
Thank you, Rinpoche for this teaching.
This article brings me back to life. Lately, it has been exhausting for me to have more workloads. Although I know it is good (doing Dharma) but I was so caught up that I felt that I was loosing myself on the purpose. I will certainly remind myself not to fall on the side track. Death mediation is really powerful and I have no doubt about it. Perhaps, I need to try on the second meditation, i.e. breath meditation to increase my awareness and concentration. Thank you Rinpoche and Pastor Seng Piow for this reminder.
blok c-04-05,pangsapuri suria,tk 4/5,
The thought that our life can be like a water bubble does not even cross our minds. One day we will become the very old people that we see on the streets or at the eating place. It will not be incorrect to think the older people and people who are ill is a mirror of what we can be in the future.
We will get there feeling ill, no energy, not sharp in mind, no mood, depressed, not attractive to others anymore, bored, aged and all the things we want to avoid.
As Rinpoche has said death is certain to happen. The me thinks that it is something that never happen top me every day but on a very distance future. It thinks that death is the end and there is no control over it therefore it doesn’t have to think much about it. I think this happen to a lot of people who are living quite comfortably and busy surviving due to poverty. However for those who are at very old age , very sick from deadly disease or near death in accidents most likely they would have a very different kind experience with thoughts of death. Some would fear death, some would have no choice but to accept the coming of death, a few might have happy thoughts at that moment. It a way it seems like a self mechanism to cope with the death at hand. Then this question become a very self-evidently paramount in importance, “What is utmost important when we are alive as a human being?”
Thank you Rinpoche for reminding us about our most important thing in our live is death. I guess non of us can run away from death death is inevitable it could happen to us any time so we really need to prepare for it.
Death is inevitable, time is running out! Even though i have heard Rinpoche’s teaching on death meditation but never really consistently put into practice, must make effort to do it now for 10 minutes daily.
After learning breath meditation lately, i find it very refreshing and calming and my mind is more at peace and focus. Thank you Rinpoche for reminding and caring for us once again.
Thanks Rinpoche. This is a reminder that life is transient and we can all die anytime. We must spend everyday for others. That is the greatest favor we can do for ourselves.
Christmas is just 2 short days away and soon a new year will dawn. Another year has passed so quickly. The sands of time flows very quickly and stops for no one. This is such an apt and timely reminder to do something truly meaningful in our lives. This year, my wish for all is “Have a Meaningful Christmas”. Thank you very much, Rinpoche for yet another wonderful post.
Thanks Rinpoche. Yes, death meditation is very effective for me to realize how fragile we are and how not important of things that we are grasping to.
The death meditation helps me to ‘realign’ my priority in life and even my attitude to others, because like what Rinpoche says, death is not something may or may not happen, it will happen in the end definitely.
Several encounter of friends passing away when I was young led me to think further about life and then I really found that if we live for ourselves, it will be wasted when our body become ashes.
So I totally agree with Rinpoche’s teachings that we should live for others.
To a lot of people it’s a fear or taboo when talking and discussing about death. Some even avoid attending funerals or visiting hospitals! I remembered when I attended the first Lamrin class at Kechara, we have already been reminded of death and the impermanent of life. Most of us including myself have spent most of our time struggling to protect our body and maintain our youthful look . Once I have learned that dharma, I have contemplated and realized that whatever I have done in the past are only self-treasured and surely this will lead me to no where!!! Thank you Rinpoche for your constant reminder and care for us .
With Folded Hands
Thank you so much Rinpoche for offering this precious advices on death and breath!
Thank you Rinpoche. If we do the death meditation, in all its details, every day, if we see ourselves being buried with the earth thrown on our coffin and the finality of being shut out completely and plunged irretrievably into darkness, then we must surely be propelled to put dharma into practice and transform.
The, when we follow this with a ten-minute breathing meditation, and cultivate focus and concentration, we will develop calm and peace.
It is truly powerful to do these two meditations side by side.
意念死亡也是让我们面对自己，普遍对死亡都是恐惧的，因为不知道死亡的到来会是如何，大家都会对死亡忌讳。意念死亡也是让我们当每一天都是你活着的最后一天，珍惜当下。
感恩仁波切的分享与开示
许多时候，我们都避忌谈论或想起死亡，因为我们是如此的害怕，然而在佛教里，我们谈论死亡并不是要我们害怕，而是要我们成长
我们常挂在嘴上的话语，等。。。等明天我才去做我该做的，该完成的，反正明天，大后天还有时间，然而当我们学习冥想死亡时，我们能够领悟，世间都是无常的，所以我们都把握当下的一刻，完成我们该完成的
许多人在无常里，在不得不面对死亡真正的那一刻，突然慌张彷徨，不知所措，然而倘若我们常在冥想里学习正面地面对死亡，那么在那一刻正真到来的时候，我们反而心平静着，让我们能够让我们的气在祥和中移出，有好的转世
所以仁波切教导我们的是正面的面对生命，冥想死亡不是要我们有邪见而是正见地帮助我们
感恩仁波切成立了克切拉佛教中心，禅修林及讲法师制度，当我们每周参与金甲衣护法发会时，讲法师秉着仁波切的教诲与传承，给予我们所有的参与者，一个学习禅修静坐，呼吸法的帮助与教导
感恩仁波切，祈愿您长驻在世，常转法轮
This is a very powerful meditation, is a reminder to me that i am not alive forever. Instead, i might just die tonite and never see the sun tomorrow.
After the meditation, whatever negative feelings, anger, jealous, frustrated is not an important issues anymore. The important things that i can think of is have i accumulated enough merits for myself, so that i can be as lucky as this life : to meet dharma , to meet with H.E Tsem Rinpoche, to be able to work for Dharma. To born with complete senses, in good environment .
The thoughts go on to the people i love have enough Dharma knowledge for them to change their life into better one and for their future lifetimes.
Have i done my work well today, so that will not passed my unfinished work to other and cause them to curse me over my death body because of burdening them.
Many thoughts arises after this meditation. Everything is impermanent, people around me must have karmic connection with me thus i have to practice compassion, patient and skillful means. May i able to release from my tight mind
Death meditation make us focus what is truly important. What is truly important may not be beneficial for me, that is self gain, self importance but something which has longer lasting positive impact on others. Also it comes down to the fact that if every one does is only care about own self there would not be enough to go around because every one would fight for food, resources. In away it is sharing our lives with others because we are indeed dependent on others to live in this very short life.
Thank You for sharing Rinpoche. My mother has always been telling me that whenever she does this kind of visualisation, she would feel like something is choking her and that she couldn’t breathe. I personally have not tried doing it yet, but I think this is to help us to let go of our attachments so when our deaths arrive, we will not be over attached with our bodies.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this instruction AGAIN and again to remind us what to do and this short explanation is short and clear. Death meditation if we do it diligently and consistently it is supposed to have the motivational effect to push us to go further and beyond.
Nothing is certain in this life but one thing. That is death. We will never live forever, we will always die regardless of how we take care of ourselves. So, why waste our lives making ourselves better and healthier for ourselves when it is all going to end one day. We should spend our lives helping others instead.
谢谢仁波切分享。 死亡重生禅修对每一个人都很重要，同修们可以自己禅修。记得几年前还没有来克切拉佛教团体前，在xx心灵课程有学过这一课。现在在克切拉里经过仁波切的开示， 令我更加了解死亡重生禅修的意义和重要性，让我更容易进入禅修，可消除障碍和让心识净化。
Thanks Rinpoche for the sharing.
I attended the Death Meditation at Sunday Dharma Class before, but too bad i did not put the practice as one of my daily sadhana.
Thanks Rinpoche for the sharing.
Thank you Rinpoche for the sharing.Yes,life is indeed short and we should be aware of our own action every moment.Death is eminent and we could not avoid it.
Although it is only twenty minutes investment daily, but the death and breathing meditation will bring great benefits to oneself when done properly and consistently.
It is a very low maintenance but yet powerful instructions to help busy people of today. Thank you, Rinpoche.
A simple meditation we can do daily with our sadhana to remind us of impermanence of our body. If we imagine ourselves rotting, I think we would learn to appreciate what we have and everything around us better.
We would change our attitude and the bad habits that we do that creates suffering for ourselves. It would make us less attached and we would stop being angry and blaming others for our own failures.
Thank you Rinpoche for this great reminder that all things are just illusions that will one day will surely fade. All we can take is the deeds we have done. I am glad I in Dharma everyday and to be around Rinpoche who guides us through many skillful means to wake us up before it is too late!
Thank You for this reminder!
Love – Padam, Weinviertel nesar Vienna, Austria
This is great! People often say that they do not have enough time due to their commitments etc… but I don’t believe that we can’t even spare 10 minutes for the wellness of our mind and meditate on the impermanence of our life.
Just catch a 10 minutes break during lunch time, get a quiet spot and do this meditation… it will surely be beneficial for us to do it daily, not to mention how it will train our mind to focus, and have a more quiet mind.
To visualize myself stuck in a dark box with hardly enough space to move, to be fully aware that I am dead and to be able to smell the earth that bury me, or feel the heat of the furnace just outside the box creeping its way to my body, and then to realize that I do not know where I am heading, fills me with a certain fear and panic, especially the realisation that, at the point in time, there is nothing I can do anymore.
When we are alive we busy ourselves by filling our senses with pleasurable things and pursue goals which we think are important, but not so when we imagine ourselves in the coffin. That is all fine, but these things also distract us from preparing well for the eventuality that is death and the life we will assume thereafter. Death will come to us all and that sense of helplessness and panic will come for sure, unless we prepare now and do what we know will fill us with peace and anticipation instead.
It is good that we do not end the death meditation in fear but proceed to do breathing meditation after that, which brings our mind back to the realization that we still have a short opportunity left and must now to use the time properly to study and practice the Dharma which is the only thing that can help us.
The only things that goes with us to our death and travels with us to the next life is our subtle mind, and therefore that is what we need to protect, nurture, develop and abide within. Only Dharma can teach us how to do all those things.
Thank you Rinpoche!
When we use 10 min of our day to do this death meditation, and another 10 min to do the breath meditation, I noticed that on I can be less attached to things, also not so easily get agitated and can do things in a clearer and calmer way!
Powerful massage to bring us back that what is the basic for us if we really want to make changes and improve our practice. to have mediation on death to remind us life is short , we should slowly let go all the attachment that we chasing for with our whole life.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this meditation method and is very useful. People always have wrong view on meditation, that to view on ’empty’ or nothing and relax enough, but i think meditation on nothing and empty is different. Like the post explain when meditation you will feel calm, focused and aware of everything around you clearly. when meditation we still mindfulness and sometimes we meditated on some purpose like thinking about our life topic, focus on one purpose or regret , what we regret on and firm it.
This death meditation is quite advance and really good to try.I try before and is quite ‘scary’ at beginning, and at the stage ‘ being buried’ ,and i have stop and did not continue.i will continue do again once i have very stable on breath meditation.
I’ve seen people passed on with a smile on their faces like they were just falling into the sweetest dreams, I’ve also seen people struggled for days , clinging on to their last breath.
We can’t tell for sure how our last moment would be but with the daily meditation on our OWN DEATH, familiarize ourselves with this eventuality we would definitely reduce our attachments to the present life. When our draw our final breath, may we be not afraid of the unknown and maintain a clear image of our Guru for as long as we can.
There is this movie “After Life” which i find quite interesting. It depicts a young lady who is caught in between life and death. After her sudden death, she felt lost, therefore having “mental instability”, refuse to accept her death and clung on her life. It is saddening to see how the lady struggles in the process of “dying”, how she is so attached to her body. It reminds me of the ignorance in us which actually blindly make us believe that although death is certain, when it happens, we are freak out and refuse to accept. I mean who doesn’t afraid of death? But by understanding the cycle of human life scientifically and karmically, it would definitely make death more acceptable. This ten minutes of meditation is definitely a preliminary practice for us to accept death.
We come to the world with nothing so at the end we will back with nothing. After know a little bit of Dharma, we notice that only Dharma knowledge and Karma will follow us. So we should grab the every good opportunity to create good Karma no only for this life but for future life also. We already know how to do then what are we waiting for???
万般带不走，只有业跟随！不管我们是国家精英或贩夫走卒，终究难逃一死。只有活在当下，学习佛法与禅修，让自己和身边的人更快乐；活着才更有价值,才不会辜负上师对我们的教导！！
By constantly reminding ourselves how unpredictable our lives are, we learn how to let go, not holding on to things. Life become better and more meaningful with a swift in our mind.
Death is the final destination. I remember a friend who told me she got into the spiritual path because she remembered god while she was dancing away in a club. Which told me she probably also thought about death and how she would face God then. I do believe strongly that spiritual path without thinking or reflecting on death won’t be very real or powerful.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing these techniques 🙂
Thank you, Rinpoche, for constantly reminding us that nothing last forever. Life is so uncertain but death is.
Our mind always plays tricks on us. We tend focus on pleasant thoughts. Ugly truths are kept far from our thoughts, we bury them, pretend or don’t want to think about them. That’s our way of coping and surviving hoping that if we don’t think about them, they go away. But how long can we pretend? Death is a taboo subject in some cultures. People think we should’nt talk about death because we might get what we ask for if we keep talking about it. So better not talk about it, then it won’t happen. Even funerals are avoided, as they bring bad luck. Is that escapism or stupidity or both?
Thank you Rinpoche for always reminding how short life is!
I always have to be reminded. I know the benefit but so quickly forgotten. As you said it is always more difficult to do the good things. Thank you for your caring for us.
Though the physicality of death destroys us, the idea of death can save us.
-Irvin Yalom
Sadhu!Sadhu!Sadhu! I enjoy death meditation because it can truly motivate me not to procrastinate and practice harder without delay. It also creates a sense of urgency while contemplating death. It’s a reality check to contemplate the inevitability of death and the uncertainty of the time of death. Thank you Rinpoche for suggesting doing breath meditation afterwards, so that we can be grateful and mindful of the present moment, it reminds me of Ven.Thich Nhat Hanh’s calligraphy: “Breathe you are alive”.
我们终究都会离去。每一天的禅修，提醒自己，反而能让我们更加珍惜身边的每一个人事物，更容易地放开让我们不开心的状况。没什么是值得我们紧握不放的，属于我们的最后都会属于别人。
Somehow when i do breath meditation, i feel the “heaviness” of my mind and body is released one layer by one layer. I feel GOOD. I should do it everyday.
Thanks Rinpoche for sharing this. 🙂
Thank you Rinpoche. Death is indeed a fact in the end.