Description
Having established that the details of life and death are unknown, the instructions here are to consider the one thing that we do know: Life won’t go on forever. First, perhaps contemplate how much of your life is used up (assuming you get to old age.) Then consider that you might not get to old age. Try on shorter and shorter lengths of life – maybe contemplating that you could die in a year. Then a month. Then a week. That you could die tomorrow, sometime today, before your next meal, or even sooner. Do this until you get to contemplating dying before your next full in- and out-breath. You can customize the number and size of steps here, and can explore as gently or fully as you’d like. Traditionally this contemplation follows the development of the First Maranasati (Mindfulness of Death) Sutta [https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN6_19.html], which concludes with recognizing and practicing as if this very moment could be your last so that you use it well.
Regarding other people, contemplate that they too have a limited life span in a similar way. Consider neutral people, friends, loved ones, enemies, as well as institutions, places, and even the planet as a whole.
How to use
As with all of the eight contemplations, I encourage you to start with either a series – in this case, the third 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 contemplation especially lends itself to use in daily life. Bhante Gunaratana once told a number of listeners at the Bhavana Society that each night, he would get in bed and contemplate that he could die before waking up in the morning. A Zen practitioner I used to work with would contemplate before getting in his car that he could die on the car trip he was about to take. This very powerful technique is similar to the instructions in the second Maranasati Sutta.
Brief version
As you go about your life, consider that your life is limited. You can do this in a few ways. Consider, for instance, with each day that passes, that you’re one day closer to death, whenever it occurs. Or do the same with each meal: one more down of the twenty thousand or so lunches you’re likely to get, for instance. You can also do as I describe Bhante Gunaratana doing above: each evening, consider that tonight you could die in your sleep. Likewise, you could do it when you get up in the morning – who’s to say this won’t be the day? Work with feelings that come up. The idea isn’t to banish any regrets, etc., but to use this lifetime/year/day/moment well, no matter what arises.
Indications, side effects, and results
This contemplation confronts the delusion that death will take place sometime in the future, far from this moment. While youth suffer from this delusion the most, I’ve certainly met elders and even people on their deathbeds who assume there will be more time. The keynote here is that this is it. If you’re going to do something important, don’t put it off. The important activity from the Buddhist perspective is bhavana – the cultivation of meditation practice and mindfulness. That said, I invite you to see what comes up as important to you. It should also be understood that this samvega should be balanced with patience. Many things take time. Consider the Chinese proverb: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” Don’t wait, even if it takes 20 more years.
Regarding climate change, the pith of this practice is the awareness that the world is just like us: it won’t last forever, and thus it’s important to take action now. This contemplation dovetails well with discussions about actions to take to address actionable problems. (It doesn’t go so well with large problems because people will get despondent.) Likewise, the brief practice instructions are great for keeping things in perspective: “I might die before we wake up tomorrow.” Do the best you can with whatever time is left, no more and no less.
I also want to note that the sense of urgency that results from this contemplation isn’t always conscious. Many people have noted to me that, after doing this contemplation, without really thinking about it, they find themselves regretting their wasted time and focusing on the important stuff. This certainly happened for me. Do this practice and see what happens for you.