Message #11336

[Jitendra Hydonus]

The Nine Contemplations of Atisha
Joan Halifax Roshi

The Nine Contemplations offer a way to explore the inevitability
of death and what is important to us in the light of our mortality.
The practice asks us to question what we are doing in our life at
this very moment and to see what is important for us to do in
order to prepare for death. The contemplations come from Atisha,
an eleventh-century Tibetan Buddhist scholar, who systematized
the method for generating an enlightened mind. This practice is
based on the work of Larry Rosenberg.

See this link for the Nine Contemplations Practice:

http://www.upaya.org/roshi/dox/Contemplations.pdf

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May by John William Waterhouse 1909



http://www.upaya.org/roshi/dox/Contemplations.pdf

Preparing for death we have no time better than now to practice kindness and increase our relationship with the hand that takes us thru that portal at that unknown moment. In a little while back in mother's arms again. What a repetitious ride.


Jitendra