electric

what the tibetans say about death:

from the book on tantra im currently reading--
the tibetans say the stages of death follow a predictable
sequence in accordance with the elements.

earth, water, fire, air and aether.

these elements are in order as for lightness and subtleness.

first, the earth part of the body begins to fail. earth is the densest
material and is the global functionality of the body. people undergoing
dying will expereince these failures on a significant level first.

next, the water element and they say that the earth sinks into
water. it is partly a build up of fluids people dying can have and
they can take on a watery sort of appearance. next water
begins to sink into fire.

when the fire element begins to fail with people thier bodies
grow colder and they cant keep thier body heat very well.
circulation problems which then sinks into the air element.

usually the last thing to fail is breathing for people. then air sinks
into aether the finest or most subtle element. incidentally the last sense
people lose is hearing. so, a person can be no longer breathing but still
hearing things in the environment.

when it gets to the level of aether is where it gets really interesting.
and the most subtle aspects of consciousness begin releasing.

so from here, the tibetans say that each person gets a drop of white
from thier father that resides in the crown of the head and a drop of red
from thier mother which resides in the abdomen. at the time of sinking into
aether, the drop from the abdoment floats upward and the drop at the crown
sinks downward and they meet at the center of the heart. here is
formed a green orb of energy. (green is the color usually represented
for the heart center in eastern schools of thought--it is the color of love and
compassion.)

when the two meet in the heart space, the connection to the body is gradually
released and the clear light of pure consciousness is realized. at this point, the body
is dead and from this clear light a type of bliss that is beyond words is joined.

this is what the tibetans have to say about the process of dying.

i tend to think theres some truth in it.
but, even if its all totally wrong its astoundingly beautiful imagery in anycase
and for that i like it very much.

as to my own personal beliefs on death.
i have none. i have no opinion on it at all.
i simply enjoy collecting stories and explainations most.
its facinating.