Western medicine defines death as what happens when our heart stops beating and we stop breathing. In Buddhism, death is described as a sequence of eight stages. The first four of these refer to the disappearance of all physical activity, bringing us to the point at which we would be defined in Western terms as dead.
But there are four more stages when our mental functioning becomes more and more subtle, and we only have the subtlest consciousness. During this mental dissolution, a small amount of warmth can still be found in the heart, the seat of consciousness (the Sanskrit word for mind, chitta, refers to both the mind and the heart). Only after the subtlest consciousness leaves the body is a person considered dead in Tibetan Buddhist terms.
What is subtle consciousness and how does it differ from other forms of consciousness?
In Buddhism, gross consciousness describes all sensory perception and cognitive activity. This is where we spend most of our time. Our entire construction of reality, including our memories, emotions, acquired personality and stories that we tell about ourselves and the world around us, falls into the category of gross consciousness. When we die, we leave it all behind.
Subtle consciousness can be accessed when we remove the veil of knowledge and experience the deepest levels of mind, free from worry or dullness. Since this state of consciousness is not conceptual, using concepts to describe it is as unsatisfactory as using words like “sweet” and “delicious” to describe the use of chocolate - the words may be accurate, but they do not reflect the full experience of what it is. business.
Subtle consciousness is variously described as a state of radiance, illumination, bliss, nonduality, limitlessness, timelessness, oceanic benevolence and pure great love. Excellent condition! Through meditation, we can evolve from catching a glimpse of it or being able to stay in this state for extended periods of time.
Evidence to support the Buddhist version of the death process is provided by the fact that highly trained meditators familiar with being in a state of very subtle consciousness do just that when they die. As a result, although they are dead from a Western medical point of view, they are not dead from a Buddhist point of view. Immersed in a state of blissful timelessness, their bodies do not decay, there is no loss of body fluids, their flesh remains soft, and they appear to be asleep, not dead. They can remain in this state for hours, days, or even longer.
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Tibetan Buddhism has long been known for focusing on thanatology or the science of death. While in the West most of the last two thousand years of scientific research has been focused on the outside world, in the East this same period has been a period of focus on the mind. This is why we find a developed and subtle understanding of consciousness in Buddhism.
What can ordinary Westerners learn from this?
Even if we are not very experienced meditators, it is considered very useful to become familiar with the subjective experience of the death process. Most Tibetan Buddhists rehearse their own death very regularly. This is not only because such an introduction will better prepare us for when the inevitable will happen. This is also because getting to know our most subtle states of consciousness is the most wonderful experience we can have.
The experience of most meditators is a powerful homecoming experience where we can release the waves of conceptuality and dwell in the oceanic calm of our subtle mind. From experiences of authenticity, happiness, and deep well-being, we find that nature is of a completely different quality. She is boundless, benevolent and beyond death.