There is a saying that the worst enemy is one that doesn’t exist. The Buddha said that everything that we regard as real is not real but imaginary, and that trying to achieve, or avoid such illusions which are like a mirage created by ourselves is sentient beings’ lives.
According to the Buddha’s words, birth and death are also not real but illusionary. Death is an illusion that our imagination created, and we are scared of it in the same way that we are seized with fear of a ghost we have never seen in a deserted old house that is known to be haunted, all because of our imagination.
In summary, we cannot avoid death because it does not exist. The best way to avoid it is to realise that it is not real but merely illusionary.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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