Maraṇasati

For knowledge these days one only need seek Wikipedia. It sure saves the amount of time it would take scaling some distant mountain all while being chased by a Yeti. Atiśa’s contemplations on death: *Death is inevitable. *Our life span is decreasing continuously. *Death will come, whether or not we are prepared for it. *Human life expectancy is uncertain. *There are many causes of death. *The human body is fragile and vulnerable. *At the time of death, our material resources are not of use to us. *Our loved ones cannot keep us from death. *Our own body cannot help us at the time of our death. According to Wikipedia, Atiśa was ranked 18th in the BBC’s poll of the greatest Bengalis of all time. I’m not exactly sure what he would have thought about being ranked 18th but that is probably irrelevant because he died in 1054. The list seems to pretty much state the obvious however I am fairly certain that the dude had other insights that make him worthy of being in the top twenty. At the time of writing Wikipedia doesn’t have any information about Atiśa’s death. No famous last words, ritual, chanting, no mention. Maybe he just died normally. But maybe he kept his consciousness or transcendentalness active to the very last so that he could have a chance at making the pass! (if there is one) Anyway this is not really about Atiśa; it’s about you. One would think you are better off preparing for death. Just so that it doesn’t take you too much by surprise. But what in heck would I know? What does heck even mean?