Description
The fourth death contemplation in my series is the fifth in the Visuddhimagga. In my ordering, it’s the first that’s focused more on the circumstances of staying alive rather than of death. The fifth contemplation (Life as Shared by Many) is similar, and I put them both in the second series. In this contemplation, you consider the delicate balance that must be maintained for you to stay alive. You can do this from different angles, such as:
(1) considering literally the balance of things – the right amount of oxygen, the right amount of food, the right amount of warmth, clothes, and shelter, needed to stay alive.
(2) considering what can go wrong with those delicate balances – not enough oxygen, not enough water, too much water, water in the wrong place, not enough food, too much food, the wrong food, the wrong clothes, etc.
(3) considering what can go wrong in other ways (“life interruptions”): slips, poisons, falls, bullets, arrows, stab wounds, bacteria, viruses, cancers, blockages, ruptures, impact wounds, bodily malfunctions, etc., that can lead to death.
(4) Considering the time and maintenance we must spend to maintain the body in decent working order.
This can all be quite extensive. For the purposes of my recordings, I’ve focused on the traditional five elements (earth, water, fire, wind, and space) as a way to categorize the above. You could organize your contemplation in a different way if you wanted: you could consider hormones, macro-nutrients, micro-nutrients, vitamins, and metabolic intermediates, for instance. However it’s done, the point is to contemplate that life is fragile. You can also consider the fragility of other people’s lives, as well as other beings, institutions, places, and even the whole planet.
How to use
As with all of the eight contemplations, I encourage you to start with either a series – in this case the first series – or with a short or long recorded version of this contemplation. Once you’re familiar with it, you can do it on your own and use the brief version in your daily life. This particular contemplation is especially suited for innovation: for good or bad, there is such a variety of ways to consider the fragility and limitations of the body that you could easily do this for some time without running out of material.
Brief version
As you go about your life, consider the fragility of your life. This could take any of the forms I mention above (the balance your body needs, the things that can go off balance, other things that can interrupt life, and life maintenance). This can be especially interesting while doing body care tasks (bathing, eating, dressing, etc). You can also consider the fragility of others’ lives and of other things as I note above. I find it personally helpful and interesting to consider a specific need or area of fragility (for example, the need for water) and consider it with every person I meet.
Indications, side effects, and results
Regarding climate change, this is one of the most beneficial contemplations for those who don’t have an intuitive sense of why responding to climate change is important. It does not speak about the climate directly. As noted below, it can also bring up compassion for others. Looking at others’ fragility as I describe in the brief version is helpful for bringing up compassion toward those that are otherwise difficult.
One of the psychological benefits of this contemplation is a more direct relationship to one’s body. We mostly have indirect relationships with our bodies, wanting them to be different, better, stronger, thinner… All of this is caked with meaning and internalized cultural messages. We rarely think about our bodies as a process that requires maintenance and care simply to function. The result of doing so is much simpler: It’s just a body process and it’s the only one we have. When applied to others, this awareness can also bring up a lot of compassion and universality – we can recognize that our friend (or our enemy) also has a body – and they’re trying to do the best they can with it, same as us. This contemplation is similar to the Contemplation of the 32 parts of the body, which also introduces this simple way of relating to the body process.
On the other hand, sometimes this contemplation can bring up disgust. After all, this body can have such problems and contain such grossness and disease. A variation on this is realizing how much we do to avoid having a body that brings up disgust (whether our own disgust or to avoid disgusting others). If you find yourself here, you’re directly experiencing an overlay – an internalized cultural message. Try to see this simply as thoughts and look past them at what you know to be true of this body process.