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Practicing Death

There are many ways to practice death in the present.

Inseeing

One is to see in. Who or what do I find there? I find just pure awareness for all phenomena arising in the present. And this pure awareness has no "life" as we typically use the term. It has no characteristics, just capacity for the world, just clear seeing.

It is distinct from the world of phenomena, yet is capacity for it all as it arises in the present. I can find no birth, I can find no death. It is empty of time, and allows time to unfold within it. It is empty of change, and allows change to unfold within it.

Here, I find that I am already "dead", or maybe not dead but at least not-alive. There is nothing here that reminds me of life as we usually use the term. It is just pure awareness, stainless capacity for the world.

Big Mind

The first approach also helps me shift into Big Mind. Here I see that I am capacity for the Absolute and the Relative, for Existence as it arises beyond and embracing all dualitites.

And here, I see that the world of phenomena is a fluid seamless whole. There is no separate or fixed self called "Per", just a temporary pattern of matter and energy with that label. He is just a temporary vortex in the fluid seamless world of phenomena.

From here, I see that this small self is just a part of the fluid seamless larger whole. He is already "dead" as a separate and fixed entity. In fact, he never was a separate and fixed entity.

Impermanence

From the view of impermanence, I see that Existence dies as what it is and is reborn as something else, continuously. The present is always fresh, always different, always new.

And so this small self and the world he exists within, continuously dies and is reborn. The present is death of what was and birth of something else.

Per already dies, continuously. The final "death" of Per, with a certificate, is only a part of this process.

Practice

So I find myself as not-alive right here in the present. I find Per as just a thread in the tapestry of the world of phenomena. And I find Per and the world of phenomena always dying and reborn, always new.

All of these makes the final certified death of Per less substantial. More transparent. A Big Deal, and not such as big deal as well.

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