The eighteenth lojong slogan basically tells us that what we practice in life, we practice in death. It reads, “The mahayana instruction for ejection of consciousness at death is the five strengths: how you conduct yourself is important.”
It’s so important to die well. And these same five heart strengths offer us a path to do it. Determination teaches us to be brave, willing to let go. Familiarization tells us that our habits and practices will help us from panicking in our death. Both of these, really, remind us that we can retain our sanity and even our peace as we die.
Seed of virtue calls us to consider how we prepare others for our death. How can we make this process simpler for those we leave behind? For example, we can set things in order, have an updated will. We can give our possessions away meaningfully. Goodness, we can choose to clean out our own closets so they don’t have to! We can also leave our loved ones with words of blessing, and our love. We can cherish those moments and say what needs saying.
Reproach equally invites us to consider how we prepare for death. Do we need to make peace with anyone? Where are words left unsaid that need saying? What requires apology and forgiveness? We follow through on them.
And lastly, dedication or aspiration allows us to surrender our very lives to a greater purpose. We offer the culmination of our lives to their highest purpose and trust we did what we could, as we could. We pray our life will continue to benefit others.
It seems fitting this lojong slogan comes in the first few days of the Christian season of Lent. It’s a season dedicated to considering our deaths, and our lives. We begin on Ash Wednesday by receiving ashes on our forehead to remember we are dust, and to dust we will return. It is inevitable, but it does not have to be terrible. Even our death can be an offering of goodness. We can embody such faith and peace when we go. We can try to leave behind goodness, as we’re able.
Because, of course, what we practice in life, we practice in death. We practice for death.
Take some time to ponder your own death this week. How might you live, knowing you will die? What would it look like for you to die with dignity and compassion?
