Description
The fifth contemplation, like the fourth (Life as Fragile), is focused more on life than death. The angle, however, is different: here we consider the things that exist and thus allow us to exist – how life is shared with us. Then conversely, we consider the things that could end our life, beyond our control. We start internally, considering the organs of the body, as well as the microorganisms that live symbiotically on and inside of the body. These organs and organisms are part of a system that allows our body to work because each of them does their part. Each fills its particular role and so we’re alive. Then consider how death is shared by many: how each part, in ceasing or malfunctioning, can cause our death. For instance, consider the stomach – if the stomach suddenly stops processing and breaking down food, many other parts of the system malfunction as a result – and the body as a whole will die without serious medical intervention.
We continue by considering these same dynamics of shared life and death outside of the body. For instance, we consider how we’re dependent on sources of food (like farms), sources of water (like wells, rivers, or the rain), sources of clean air (like forests), sources of clothes (like cotton fields and factories), and sources of shelter (such as brick yards, lumber mills, and building companies). If any of these sources went catastrophically awry so we no longer had a source of food, for instance, then the body would also go catastrophically awry and probably die, even if everything else was perfectly fine.
Traditionally, this contemplation is mostly focused on the internal and on the physical body. In fact, the original title is “The Body as Shared by Many” and it was originally concerned with the “eighty families of worms” that live off of and support the body (while it’s alive) and awareness of how you can die by upsetting those worms. It should be understood here that Buddhaghosa doesn’t mean literal worms, though he likely does include known parasites in his meaning, along with all the other beings we know or intuit are a part of the body system and that (we know from modern scientific inquiry) are very much a part of maintaining life. The original contemplation also looks at external causes of death in a way similar to Life as Fragile in terms of all the life interruptions that can occur: snake bites, arrows, falls, accidents, crashes, and such. Life interrupting events are similar in that one little thing can go wrong with a body – say the lungs are blocked with a bit of water – and not just the lungs die, the whole body dies. In my rendering, I’ve included life interrupting events in Life as Fragile and I have expanded the scope of this contemplation to include sharing both inside and outside the body, and in my recordings, have added more visualization elements. If you prefer to do it in the original way, feel free to consider only the internal sharing elements, and then consider life interruptions externally. However you do it, you can also consider other beings as well as yourself and develop the awareness that the life and death of other people and beings are also shared by many.
How to use
As with all of the eight contemplations, I encourage you to start with either a series – in this case the second 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.
Brief version
As you go about your life, consider the things that support your life, body internally and externally. Internally, you might consider your body systems or parts, or the microorganisms that support your life. For instance, as you eat, you might consider your digestive system or, as you bathe, you might consider your skin. Consider that each part of your body does its job so you can be alive. Externally, you can consider the sources of your nourishment, water, air, warmth, shelter, etc, and can consider where it comes from. Just as internally, each source does its part. In both internal and external cases, you can contemplate what your life might be like if the thing suddenly stopped working or being available. Consider: How would your life change if it continued at all?
Indications, side effects, and results
This contemplation focuses on interdependence, and does so in two ways: First, of all the contemplations, it speaks most directly to the way our lives are dependent upon internal and external forces and things, many of which are out of our control. Second, it demonstrates how because one thing happens, another happens. Because there’s water present, trees can grow, for instance. Likewise, because one thing ceases to happen, something else ceases. The aim of this contemplation is to develop an intuitive understanding of both parts of interdependent reality. We tend to be a little blind to interdependence. If you can see the gap in your awareness here, this is a good contemplation to explore.
Regarding climate change, this contemplation points directly at the blind spot of cause and effect that many people struggle with: if things are interdependent, your actions matter, as do the actions of others. It can be very motivating for some people. The way I’ve constructed the recorded version of this contemplation can also bring up embarrassment for people who have never considered the waste they contribute to the global system of interconnection.
That said, some people sometimes have strong reactions to this. The most overt is a rejection of the whole contemplation. Some people do this and tell me how stupid the contemplation is, or they hate it, how it’s completely wrong, or how I’m a liberal idiot. If you feel something like this, I encourage you to work with your feelings and consider that this may be a kind of defense against feeling small, messy or like the whole situation is utterly unfair.
Alternatively, some people do this and feel lovely about being one with Mother Earth and the whole way our lives flow back and forth between different beings and the sunlight, etc., etc. If you feel like this, I likewise invite you to consider that you may be defending against the messiness of one’s life being dependent on internal and external factors that are out of your control by focusing on the feel-good elements. Don’t get involved with the feeling or believe the story. Instead, let it come up and go its own way and continue doing this practice regularly if possible.
Maybe most common is that people will feel both a sense of marvel and terror – a sense that things are more complicated than we normally consider – and that that’s both amazing and disturbing. Like the other contemplations, the point isn’t to feel this way all the time – it’s to feel it enough that you aren’t surprised when the world has different ideas about your life than you do. After all, very few people get to plan when the factors that support their lives suddenly cease.
The result of this contemplation is a comfort with interdependence and cause and effect. Both spiritually and psychologically, you might say it’s not taking things personally when life throws you a pile of angry worms.