vtrader125 Posted May 30, 2015 I read a book a while back where they briefly described how samurai warriors would meditate on death, so when it came to fighting they would become fearless. Does anyone know how to do this meditation, I tried to think about death but it just did nothing for me? It's like all your fears are released and you truely accept your mortality and become 100% present, nothing phases you. I would like to get rid of all the bs fears we have been thought over the years growing up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MooNiNite Posted May 30, 2015 i think the fear of death goes away at a certain degree of consciousness. its not really something someone can tell themselves, more of a knowing. So in this regard I would say that the meditation is the same as normal mediation. I believe that if osmeone steps into silence, taking responsibility doing ones duties, they will not have a fear of death because they will be beyond fear in general 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vtrader125 Posted May 30, 2015 I remember reading that they would meditation on dying, on being killed in many ways. I tried that and got nothing, no emotional response or anything. Is it more then just visualising? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jetsun Posted May 30, 2015 Try the White Skeleton meditation, William Bodri gives good instructions. Its a great meditation to try. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cheshire Cat Posted May 30, 2015 Try to imagine your funeral, see people crying and know that everything is impermanent. The point is to arouse the emotional responses of fear and sadness... to learn how to pacify them with wisdom. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dust Posted May 30, 2015 Samurai would have been able to deal with death for a number of reasons, I think They were obsessed with honour and loyalty They were well-trained with deadly weapons They studied Buddhism (Zen) and meditated We know from the Hagakure and others (thanks Ghost Dog!) that part of this meditation practice was to meditate on being ripped apart by arrows etc If they believed fully in honour and loyalty and Buddhist ideas of reincarnation/rebirth, what would they have to fear from death in the first place? Meditation on death would be the icing on the cake. I don't know that there's one specific meditation practice that makes you a fearless warrior... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Silent Answers Posted May 31, 2015 It'll happen when you're ready...but not waiting for it. When You slips away into truth. Just before every drop of you is emptied away, there's the moment of fear and death of not coming back. "What is going to happen?" If you're successful, it should allow a new view of life and death. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Spotless Posted May 31, 2015 (edited) In any meditation, when you focus upon an idea or action feel for the tension that reacts to the focus. This energy of tension can be released or dissolved in many ways. Simply noticing it can release it for some or at some point in ones practice. Until you have reached the strong understanding of the reality of your simple power of a sweep of your attention, you will want to practice a more mechanical hands on approach. Qi Gong and Yoga postures with breathing naturally remove fears of many types from the body. If you are not a warrior and we have little need of warriors in this world, you may find that you have little close fear in your space of physical contact and the actual reality of death from it. So approaching it from fear of this type unknown to you is cloudy. You have not walked onto a battlefield recently looking for comrades who have their head blown open from a club or an arm hacked off and spent from blood loss. You have not seen great warriors chopped down in front of you. Have you recently turned the body of a friend over to find maggots spilling from his head? Why go hunting for fears that are distant from you. The most fearless warrior fears much. Every awakened and enlightening teacher has taught that when one becomes Awakened all fear falls away - and they will also say in every case that they did not realize the extent of their fears. The great warrior you speak of may come not to fear death - yet he may fear that he will squeal like a baby in front of his comrades when injured - this might be a great fear. He may fear that in the moment he may be called upon he has had too much drink and will fail to protect. He may fear that his transgressions on a number of levels even unto himself will undo him. He may fear bad omens. He may fear he has not done certain things which he must do before he can consider that he has done all that he can. The act of meditation dissolves fear, attachment and patterns that block natural rivers of energy movement. If you have on your mind particular frustrations or considerations - meditation will be automatically addressing these energy obscurations. If you wish to be fearless - consider thinking of walking outside in public naked - quite a few people would rather die in battle than do this. Meditate on your reaction to this - the vanities are our biggest fear - death is trivial by comparison. We do not know death will be bad but we do feel embarrasment and it makes our skins crawl. Perhaps we are drop dead beautiful and going naked would be somewhat fun in a sense - then consider what it would be like to be grotesquely disfigured and obese - unable to move freely and yet you repel almost anyone that would like to help you. But rather than considering possible possibilities that might effect you - and clearing them from your space - why not live in the present with your own set of proclivities and tensions and move in that present experience with your self and your great vehicle and meditate on nothing in particular - this will bring you to yourself within the body and clear your head from the "what ifs" that it always wishes to mentally grasp and the futures it hopes to attain and the pasts it clings to or wishes to fix. "Death" is no different from "birth" - they are exciting movements through portals - their is life - their is no death. You will not fear death when you have finished what you came here to do - be in the business of unfolding to that. Edited May 31, 2015 by Spotless 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blue eyed snake Posted May 31, 2015 maybe,when you go to the fear that's related to your own dying, you'll find something that's not fear for dying, but fear for something else. In the case of the samurai, that may well have been a fear for a dishonorable way of dying, or, better said. Dying in a way that feels dishonorable, when the warrior goes through that fear and dissolves it, it will make him/her indeed more fearless and therefore even more a dangerous enemy. For us, who are far away from the life of a true samurai, we might meet fears that we didn't know existed. And thereby being able to dissolve them. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vtrader125 Posted May 31, 2015 My reason to become fearless is not because of life or death situation, but of living a more profound, interesting life. At the moment I have so many small to big bs fear holding me back I think. Form my understanding the opposite of fear is love and curiosity. I'm not looking for the next big thing to fill the so called void, as much as being free to live and thrive and not just survive. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bearded Dragon Posted June 1, 2015 Birth and death is going on all over the place all the time. Thoughts are born, then they die. Emotions are born, and then they die. The death of phenomena is a return to source. Don't start with physical death. It's not an easy one to deal with. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vtrader125 Posted June 4, 2015 I trying smaller, more everyday fears to meditate towards fearless, like neediness of approval and acceptance. I find this one easier to meditate too. Imagining that everyone rejects you is a lot easier as I spend half the day thinking that anyway. I guess I will work up to death. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
z00se Posted June 5, 2015 I have experienced 2 ways of overcoming fear of death. Not sure if either actually work when it comes to bite the bullet cos in still alive. 1. Through softness and disassociation, i don't feel like its my body, i don't care what happens to it, like a feeling of indifference. 2 through sheer chi power overload. A few days of iron shirt 3 without healing sounds and i feel like i could charge into on comming heavy cavelry in my tracksuit pants, topless, with a dagger named Excalibur and chop them all down. True. I find neither method sustainable though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
z00se Posted June 5, 2015 I think it depends on how one will die too. It would be alot easier being fearless getting a bullet to the head than being burned alive while tied to a stake Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
