[Buddha-l] Being unable to imagine dying and living

[Ben Carral]

Dear Buddha-L citiziens,

   I use to read Buddha-L messages once in two or three
months,  so  I'm  sorry  for  contributing late to this
thread--however  I  have found it quite interesting and
would like to share my two cents.

   First  of all, I'm agnostic about what happens after
death, in short, I don't know if my personality will go
on in some way.

   As  far  as  my  understanding goes, early Buddhists
thought  that life is suffering and wanted to end it in
a  ultimate  way.  Since they believed in rebirth, they
didn't   tend  to  commit  suicide,  but  followed  the
eightfold path instead.

   Then  some  later Buddhists decided that better than
an ultimate end is a continual rebirth in order to help
sentient beings.

   I share the view that life is truly awful. In short,
I  think  that  we  are  born  as slaves of an economic
elite.  Many people are starving and dying because they
are not allowed even the most basic vital stuff, and we
are  the  slaves who keep this system going on. We also
exploit  other species and our planet resources. That's
why I have decided not to bring new human lives to this
world.

   Since  I'm a living human being I have to decide how
to  spend this time until death. I have decided the use
my  life  trying  to  understand  how  our world works,
contributing to our well-being (i.e. helping myself and
others  to  experience  as less suffering as possible),
and  exposing  our madness. I also try to enjoy life as
much as I can and, for me, marriage is the key.

   I don't know what happens after death. I'm intrigued
about   rebirth   stories  and  rebirth  hyponsis,  I'm
thinking  for  instance  in  Elisabeth  Kubler Ross and
Brian  Weiss.  I  would  like  to  know  is someone has
studied their reports in a critical way. Death is still
a   big  mystery  for  me.  However  I  find  it  quite
interesting and enjoyable studying it.

   Best wishes,

   Ben (Oviedo, Asturias, Spain)