What is death?
It is an age old question. The first time I really pondered this question was when I was ten. I remember swing on swings at the park with my friend. It was a cloudy day and can still hear the swing hinges creaking above me and my friend. We were unsynchronized, I heard her hinges creaking before mine. I still remember turning to her and asking "Where do we go when we die?" She responded with "Heaven." That was in the distant past, but I still can recall the feeling of uneasiness and loneliness. It chills me. But now that I look at it, death has always been respected. From early man when they buried their clan members and put flowers where they were laid to rest. Still today, it is unclear what happens after death. Do we live on? Do we become part of Earth? Is there a heaven or a hell? Or is all the concept of death only human and it is irrational. And the fact that, there is only one way to enter this world and so many ways to leave it. However, the most chilling idea from the Buddhist perspective is: when one passes on their face and physical company appears to only be a dream. And as the time grows between the death and the present, they fade away like a hazy, forgettable dream, but their soul and being will forever be in the hearts and souls of the ones they touched.
It is an age old question. The first time I really pondered this question was when I was ten. I remember swing on swings at the park with my friend. It was a cloudy day and can still hear the swing hinges creaking above me and my friend. We were unsynchronized, I heard her hinges creaking before mine. I still remember turning to her and asking "Where do we go when we die?" She responded with "Heaven." That was in the distant past, but I still can recall the feeling of uneasiness and loneliness. It chills me. But now that I look at it, death has always been respected. From early man when they buried their clan members and put flowers where they were laid to rest. Still today, it is unclear what happens after death. Do we live on? Do we become part of Earth? Is there a heaven or a hell? Or is all the concept of death only human and it is irrational. And the fact that, there is only one way to enter this world and so many ways to leave it. However, the most chilling idea from the Buddhist perspective is: when one passes on their face and physical company appears to only be a dream. And as the time grows between the death and the present, they fade away like a hazy, forgettable dream, but their soul and being will forever be in the hearts and souls of the ones they touched.
JOSHI
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