How Does Buddhism Help Us Accept Mortality?

One aim of Buddhism is to help us accept our mortality and so come to terms with death. We'll look at how his mortality was the Buddha's concern when he began his search, how coming to terms with mortality functions in various forms of deep meditation practice, and even how it plays a central role in mindfulness. Finally we will compare such practices to the concept of "exposure therapy" found in contemporary psychology.

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✅ Videos recommended:
Playlist on deep states of meditative absorption in early Buddhism:    • Deep Meditation in Buddhism  

✅ Books mentioned:
Alexander Wynne, The Origin of Buddhist Meditation — https://amzn.to/48ZanLM
Patrick Olivelle (trans.) The Early Upaniṣads — https://amzn.to/42Jpyqf

✅ Suttas mentioned:
https://suttacentral.net/mn26/en/sujato (The Noble Search)
https://suttacentral.net/sn45.8/en/su...
https://suttacentral.net/mn39/en/sujato
https://suttacentral.net/mn50/en/sujato
https://suttacentral.net/mn10/en/sujato
https://suttacentral.net/an10.72/en/s... (Thorns)

✅ Other references:
https://discourse.suttacentral.net/t/...
https://www.themindingcentre.org/dhar...
https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/pa...

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Thumbnail image courtesy the Metropolitan Museum: Buddha, 3rd c. CE Andhra Pradesh, India.

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00:00 Intro
00:42 Bodhisatta’s “noble search”
02:17 The formless attainments
05:43 The fourth jhāna
09:02 The cessation of perception and feeling
10:24 Mindfulness meditation and mortality
12:30 Psychological “exposure therapy”
13:35 Nirvana and death: the goal

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