Because of the joy and admiration of "life", people often welcome the arrival of new life, but ignore that death is actually always around us, so the theme of "hospice care" is rarely discussed. Most people don't understand the meaning of end-of-life care and don't know how to do it appropriately.

Dying, which means "to the edge" or "to the end". The dying of life is commonly known as death, and it is also a part of the impermanence of life mentioned in Buddhist scriptures. Impermanence refers to "impermanence", and impermanence refers to the impermanence of life, which can change at any time. This kind of change can be roughly divided into two situations: one is the difference of transience, such as temporarily leaving the people, things or environment that you are familiar with; One is to change or disappear for a long time, such as the death of a life.

Buddhism believes that, on the whole, the entire vast cycle of samsara is not dying, because life continues and sentient beings continue to create karma, and as long as they are in samsara, there is no beginning and no end. Without borders, there is no deathbed. However, separately, the cycle of an individual's life is a dying, and a person's life is a small reincarnation from birth to death, so there is a dying.

Before exploring the topic of hospice care, you should first ask yourself if you are ready to face your own death and how you are ready to face your relatives and friends when you are dying. Secondly, when someone needs to take care of themselves at the end of life, whether they are mentally prepared enough. In the process of dying, care at the moment of death is very important, but even more important is care before death. This care must be based on the idea of "the inherent goodness of the human heart" since the beginningless, radiating all the potential of goodness in the depths of the heart in order to produce real help to oneself or those in need of care.

Hospice care can be briefly divided into three types: the first is hospice care for oneself, the second is care for family and friends around us, and the third is care for other beings who have nothing to do with us.

It is easier to understand our own hospice care because it is an innate habit to take care of ourselves. We always hope that we will live a happy life and die smoothly and satisfactorily when we die. However, this smoothness must be prepared on a psychological level in normal times. If a person is not well trained and mentally prepared, when facing the imminent death, he may only be accompanied by panic or despair, so that a smooth death becomes a luxury, so that our care for ourselves cannot be truly complete. Especially when a major natural disaster or accident occurs, the principles learned or the training received on a daily basis may be overshadowed by shock and fear. For example, after the earthquake, many people who survived the catastrophe said: "The moment the sky fell apart, I almost forgot my faith and everything I had learned. Why is this so? Because our beliefs and past perceptions and training of life are not deeply ingrained in our hearts.

In order for the external four major bodies, the body, and all material things to change from an impure earthly world to a pure land, we must first adjust the spiritual level, and we must be mentally prepared to face the truth of life in our daily life. is like a wealthy man with a lot of money, suddenly his career collapses, his property is in vain, and he is frustrated; At this time, a person can only provide him with a place to rest or food to eat, and if he is not mentally prepared, he will not be satisfied. Why? Because he will think: how can he be satisfied with the comfortable mansion and exquisite and delicious food that has now become such a humble dwelling and tasteless food? It's a failure to adjust your mindset and be unable to cope with sudden changes.

In the same way, a poor person who suddenly lives in a beautiful and extraordinary house will have difficulty adapting, because he is not mentally prepared enough, so it is difficult to identify the joy and happiness in the eyes of others from the external changes, and of course, he will not be able to find the happiness and happiness that he is familiar with and identified.

Many people do not have a strong faith when they live, and they cannot have a correct understanding of the end of this life and the unknown future life, so when they face the end of their life, they will feel more painful because of the despair that this life will end, and the fear caused by the uncertainty of the future life, than those who have faith. No matter what kind of beliefs you have, the point is to have a clear idea of how people live and die.

Most people think that religion is very mysterious, but in fact, many religious teachings have similarities with secular teachings, and it is not difficult to understand. The Buddha's teachings teach us to understand the cycle of birth and death, and to reflect on our own nature, which is the most different from other religions. As Buddhists, if we really understand that death is simply the passage of the soul from one body to another, that the beginning of this life is a continuation of past lives, and that the end of this life is the beginning of the next life, then we need not and will not be afraid of future death.

In order to be reborn in the Western Pure Land and attain the perfect blessings of human beings, one must have a completely pure mind or a pure mind, and this must be done through spiritual practice. Without practice, one cannot attain a pure mind. If we don't have this kind of training when we are alive, if we don't have a good heart, and if we don't have a deep understanding of samsara, when the true state comes, we will be afraid now, but we will be afraid at that time, and the fear at other moments cannot be compared with the fear at that time. To avoid this fear and to face death calmly, you must have a truly compassionate and kind heart while you are alive, and you must be fully prepared for death, and you must start by caring for others.

The easiest and most willing objects for us to care for are, of course, relatives and friends around us. When they live, treat them with sincerity; When they are dying, they will trust and accept your care. Otherwise, just like many mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law have a bad relationship, sons are not filial to their parents, etc., there is no contact at ordinary times, and when their relatives are dying, their care will not be trusted, and they will not have a substantive effect, and they will not be a formality.

I know a man whose house is only two blocks away from his mother's house, and I heard that he has not seen each other for more than ten years; But when his mother was about to die, he was the first to appear in front of his mother's eyes, hoping to get a share of the family property when his mother explained the aftermath before she died. If others don't know what he has done before, they will think that he is a dutiful son at the moment, because the way he gives - carefully wiping his mother's hands, crying next to him, and regretting it - will make people think that he is really very filial.

This kind of care should be given early when the family and friends are still alive, because you have no idea when they will die; Maybe they'll outlive you, but maybe they'll die tomorrow when they're sick, and today is the eve of death. Don't wait until you're close to the end of your life to care, it's too late, and even if you care, they won't think you're sincere. This must be a continuation of a long time in order for the other person to understand his true heart.

A correct and compassionate faith will tell us the truth of life directly. It does not wantonly exaggerate the colorfulness of life, nor does it obscure the nature of death. As the Dharma tells us, samsara is full of suffering of impermanence. It also exhorts us to "be happy in life and be fearless in death."