hasunoha

It's scary to think that there is “nothing” after death

I'm currently a college student, and every day I think about “death” that is far ahead of what is right in front of me.

When I was in elementary and middle school, I was afraid of death due to fear of hell, such as “I wonder if I die I'll go to hell and meet my family and pet dog,” but now I'm starting to think “the world after death is a delusion created by people who are alive anyway, and in reality it won't happen forever after losing consciousness,” and I'm afraid of losing my ego and I can't help but even go to sleep.

I have a family, best friends, and favorite comics and games, and I really don't like the fact that every day is so much fun that it's lost and I can't feel anything, and that there are still interesting things happening in a world I can't observe.
Even if you talk about it or look at opinions on the internet, there are many opinions such as “nothing is fine,” “there are people who just go back to before they were born,” and “there are people who don't want to live a long time uselessly and get into trouble because it's fun now,” so it's not that kind of problem! It makes me feel frustrated.

Every day I think it would be easier if I believed in religion, but my strangely realist self doesn't allow it, and I'm just scared without a solution.
I know it's useless for just an ordinary person who isn't a scientist or philosopher to think about this, but it's scary and scary and I can't help it.

6 Zen Responses

Leave things you don't understand in principle unknown

Buddha's teachings are also very realistic in some ways. Imagining things I don't understand in principle is strongly held up as a delusion.

> The fact that every day is so much fun that it's lost and I can't feel anything,

The feeling of fun is not inherent in information received directly from the subject; it only occurs “within oneself” as a result of rumination and interpretation within oneself. If anything, we owe more to the process of ruminating and interpreting information than receiving it. Therefore, once you stop receiving information from the target, I don't know if the feeling of really having fun will be lost.
For example, it can also be thought that it will remain for a certain period of time with a mechanism similar to echoes, reverberations, and afterimages. Alternatively, you might be able to think of a case where a frame from a movie that was stopped during screening will stay on the screen forever, so that it will stay on the screen forever.
Life, including humans, exists by hypothetically merging the five elements, but it is impossible for us to confirm what kind of changes will occur in the process of unraveling that union. No matter how far you think about it, it doesn't go beyond imagination or delusion.

>There are still more interesting things happening in a world I can't observe

For the same reason as above, nothing “interesting,” “uninteresting,” or “neither” happens in a world that you cannot observe. If the process of ruminating and interpreting isn't established within oneself, the phenomenon is simply a phenomenon, and it's neither interesting, nor interesting.

In any case, assuming that something that cannot be confirmed “must be like this” is simply a delusion, and it unnecessarily binds one's own thoughts. It seems that it is also necessary to leave things that cannot be understood in principle ununderstood.

8.3 billion people in the world, and no one lives without death

Precisely because every day is fun, I understand very well the feeling of not being able to sleep due to fear of “nothing” being lost. Fear of death is life's defense instinct, and there's no one who isn't afraid. Even in Buddhism, it is explained that death is the hardest suffering to escape as the four pains of “life, old age, illness, and death.”

I also sympathize with the conflict of not being delusional about religion because they are realists. Actually, I'm also a realist who specializes in engineering. That's why I can say that no matter how much science develops, it is impossible to prove the existence or absence of a “world after death.” If you try to solve something you don't understand with your head, your mind will create a new illusion of fear, just like the “fear of hell” in the past.

There are 8.3 billion people in the world, and there isn't a single person who doesn't die. In the Jodo Shinshu sect, we are called “death and immediate attainment of Buddha,” and we think that we will end our lives and become a Buddha by being born in the “Pure Land” without worry or suffering at the same time. This isn't something you can force yourself to believe right now; you can just keep it in the corner of your heart saying, “There is such a teaching.”

Being able to feel that my current life is “too much fun” surrounded by family, best friends, recommended broadcasters, and favorite games is really “thankful (difficult to have)”, and it's wonderful. Instead of continuing to look at the darkness of “death” that hasn't come yet, try directing that gaze to the “light” (people you love and fun times) right in front of you. I would like you to fully enjoy and live this precious life, which you have been blessed with.

worship
Engiji Temple Shakujo

To a thorough realist

Cells in the body are replaced by careful metabolism, and the mind (thoughts and feelings) floats and disappears instantaneously, and changes.
Therefore, yesterday's “self” and today's “self” are actually different people.
However, since they have inherited stored data and names on the family register, they only have the illusion that they are the same person.
Naturally, who I was when I “died” and who I am now are different people.
For example, it has been decided that the high school I go to will close after 5 years, but since I should have graduated at that time, I feel like it doesn't have any particular impact.
Real realists don't expand their past, future, or delusional thoughts about themselves or others; they just do what they can in 1 second of “here and now” to the extent they can.
It's a vaccination, and it doesn't hurt before being shot. It's not realistic to cry “it hurts” even before you get an injection.
Note, the Jodo sect explains that if you call them Namu Amida Buddha and Nembutsu, Amida Buddha will pick you up from the Pure Land of Paradise at the end of his death.
The high school that will be closed in 5 years is actually a high school attached to Gokuraku University, and it is promised that juniors will always enter the university.
Therefore, in “here and now,” you only need to nembutsu with “namu ami dabu namu amidabu.”
There's no need to worry too much.
Also, when I do nembutsu, I think this might be the last nembutsu at the end of life, so I nembutsu.
I do nembutsu before going to sleep, and even if I die in my sleep, I sleep thinking it's okay because I can pass away in the Pure Land of Paradise.
So, let's try nembutsu or Buddhist meditation in order to become a thorough realist without expanding delusional ideas about the future.
Gassho
Namu Amidabu Namu Amidabu
Namu Amidabu Namu Amidabu
worships

They're all just like you.
Scientists, philosophers, and religious people are just like you, so it's useless to think about it, and they don't have any solutions.
Even so, I have to live, work, and live every day.
Each of them is living hard with their own hypothetical interpretations.
I hope you have your own ideas too.
If it becomes “nothing,” I'm sure it's close to being in a state where you sleep well without loneliness or suffering and without dreaming? Like thinking about it.
That's because dying is also called putting an end to life.
If you're sleeping well, it might be comfortable.
I think it would be nice if I were reincarnated in another world, which is popular nowadays.
I'd like to refrain from being reincarnated as a slime, though.

“Peace of mind” taught by people who lived earlier

Even so, growing old day by day and heading towards death is probably life in this world. No one can avoid it.

What you feel afraid of is also an obsession with not wanting to lose the environment around you or what you have in your hands, and probably the emptiness of thinking that your existence and consciousness will disappear.

You're a realist, and I don't think you'll be convinced until you give answers and realize them. That's why it becomes a theme of life, and it is certain that humans have developed a sense of faith in this way.

From now on, you will encounter many more people and thoughts, and you will be tormented while burning your heart in the midst of them. And then I notice it. There's nothing you can do about it in this world. I think the real world lies in the transcendent guidance of the Buddha.

Like you, I am obsessed with the “important things” in this world. I don't want to leave, and I'm going to suffer when that day comes. It's scary to think about that day.

However, I learned something from that “important thing.” This is a picture of the people who lived earlier. I have seen a way of life where people were relieved, and in the midst of joy, ended their lives due to old age and illness. This “peace of mind” is the peace of mind that is hoped for a “life” that can be lived beyond this world. It is a fact that one's self does not disappear after death, but one is born into the world of the Buddha. Indeed, faith makes fear feel safe. When the Buddha's wishes and voices are heard, even inevitable death becomes reassuring.

I live my life in search of “peace of mind” taught by my loved ones.
I hope you, too, can see what's important. Once you see it, it becomes true.