Buddhist meditation texts indicate that we have ample evidence of death around us as everything changes from moment to moment. A person who wants to contemplate death does not need to go to a cemetery or funeral home: death occurs everywhere and at all times. Even the cells in our body are constantly being born and dying. We are all moving inexorably towards physical death at every moment.
Since every created thing is impermanent, everything we see, hear, touch, taste, love, despise, or desire is in the process of dying. There is nothing to hold back, nothing remains the same from moment to moment, and therefore anyone who tries to find happiness among the transitory created things is doomed to be disappointed.
This transitional period is the reason why we are prone to unhappiness and suffering, as everything we desire eventually collapses and we often have to put up with things that we find unpleasant. Impermanence is also important for liberation because the constant change in the nature of cyclical existence makes progress possible. Every moment provides an opportunity to train the mind in the direction of enlightenment, and since there is no fixed element in a person, each person is constantly involved in the process of becoming something else.
Of course, we tend to fall into patterns of behavior, and it's all too easy to get sucked into negative patterns, but since every moment is a rebirth, there is always the opportunity to initiate change. A wise person, according to Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, understands the inevitability of death and plans for the future.
Warned of a hurricane, we don't wait for the storm to hit the shore before we start preparing. Likewise, knowing that death is looming far from the shore, we should not wait until we are overcome before developing the meditation skills necessary to achieve the enormous potential of the mind at the moment of death.
It is said that every moment gives us an idea of the bardo, the intermediate state between death and rebirth, as every moment of the mind passes and is replaced by the next moment. Reflections on one's own mental processes graphically indicate the fleeting nature of consciousness: thoughts flow in an endless sequence, each of which is inferior to its successor. Thoughts and emotions change with our experiences and perceptions, and even our most cherished ideas and aspirations can change. Thus, for a person who is aware of death, every moment becomes a lesson in death and impermanence.
Our dreams also provide an opportunity for awareness of death. In Tibetan Buddhist literature on death, it is said that at the moment of falling asleep, a person experiences a moment of clear light, similar to that which occurs during death. Moreover, the state of dreaming is similar to the bardo, since in a dream a person often perceives himself in the body and experiences vivid experiences that are creations of the mind, as beings in the bardo.
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Awakening in a dream is like a rebirth, as the illusory dream body disappears and we awaken to a new "reality." Because of this similarity, dream yoga is considered an important method of gaining control over the production of mental images, a skill that is extremely useful in the bardo.
