Me (Alexandra): Universe, I found out today that someone close to me died last week. This is the second time in my life that a man close to me has been found dead in his apartment. And this is the second man in my life who has died in the past few weeks. I’m attending a memorial service by Zoom this week for Ray, who died on July 13 in England.

Universe: Both of these men shared time and energy with you. It is fitting that you honour their lives.

Me: I agree. I shall chant daimoku* for them. They both affected me deeply, even if the relationships were unhealthy. It was the best we could do at the time. And I’m more capable now of taking responsibility for my part in the melodramas. Blaming and bearing grudges are so weakening, no matter how justified they feel. I’ve said for years that when you blame you b-lame – you be lame, crippled, by your own negativity.

U: It is well that you have grown in this way. When next you meet these gentlemen the energy between you will be full of light.

Me: That’s a lovely thought. Thank You. Can I share with You a favourite Buddhist teaching about death?

U: Please do…

Me: Thank You. It’s from Daisaku Ikeda.

Death is thought to be not so much the cessation of an existence, as the beginning of a new one.

Every individual’s death is a means to an end; that is, a means to our rebirth. As we grow older we become weak and sickly and eventually die. But we do not die for nothing; we die in order to start a new life. The fundamental purpose of death, then, is to allow us to be reborn in the next phase of our eternal life cycle.

Me: I feel better now, thank You.

U: Good. Your friends have merged back with us for a time until the correct conditions for their karma occur for them to be reborn. Your prayers will alter their karma, and favourably affect the conditions of their rebirth. 

Prayers based on the state of Buddhahood are transmitted to the dead person’s alaya or eighth consciousness. And even if they created bad causes while they were alive, your prayers for them will enable them to enter a joyful state.

You have this power, and influence, when you chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

*daimoku = Nam-myoho-renge-kyo

Photo by Chris Buckwald on Unsplash