OK, we'll start at the top. What is the most beneficial thought we can have at the time of our death if the process is fast, an accident? Some of you know, many years ago I had an accident riding a motorcycle, a cow jumped out from the long grass on the side of the dirt road right in front of me. I hit the cow. I was fortunate the motorbike went under the cow, as I hit the cow in the neck. I survived. I can remember only one thought that I had prior to trying to stop myself falling. When that cow jumped out, I can only remember one thought, then I'm on the ground. The one thought was, "Cow". That was it, now I was a meditator for nine years, I had been doing death reflection for three or four years, and that's all I got out was, "Cow". It's going to be very hard if it's an accident, and you try to control that thought. If you're only going to get one thought out, it's going to virtually impossible for you to control it.
Now, what this will possibly hinge on is the powerful habitual thoughts that you're making. The habitual thoughts that you drive into your head over and over. Are you fortunate? Are you using that reflection over and over? Do you believe it? If you use that over and over then maybe that will be the thought that comes up when you're dying, if it's really fast. "Doesn't matter that I'm dying, I'm so fortunate I've got the Dhamma." But those were a lot of words, I didn't get that many out, I only got one syllable out, "Cow." So you may not get many out.
Maybe Compassion/Lovingkindness meditation, some of you know that I've had dreams where I'm dying in my dream, and the minute I recognize I'm going to die, I immediately started doing Compassion/Lovingkindness to the world. Those were my thoughts that came up just prior to when I thought I was going to die. I even had a double death once, a nightmare yet not a nightmare for me, but it would have been nightmare for most people. My truck went over the cliff, I thought I was going to die, I started doing Compassion/Lovingkindness. It hit the water and we went under, I wasn't dead yet. Now I'm going to die drowning. I did Compassion/Lovingkindness. Because of that habitual thought pattern in my mind, that came automatically when I thought I was dying. This is what Buddhism does teach, that if it's a very short time element we've got, an accident, it will be your habitual thoughts that'll probably come up.
Now if you have the time to see your death coming, that's different. You can try to direct your thoughts where you want them to go. Confidence-inspiring objects. Doing Compassion/ Lovingkindness meditation, reflecting on How Fortunate You Are, reflecting on your good morality, if you have good morality, reflecting on your good generosity, reflecting on the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Sangha. These are all thoughts that could help give you confidence, that could help give you a state of peacefulness when you're dying. So if you can control your thoughts you want to move into confidence-inspiring meditation subjects. And if you've got three months to live, do as much good as you can, on the internal level with your meditation practice, and being as nice and friendly as you can on the external level.
Some of you know the name Rockefeller. The Rockefeller Foundation gives away millions and millions of dollars every year. There's a lot of charity organizations they support. The reason that the Rockefeller Foundation exists today is because John D. Rockefeller started it. In about 1890, he was a multi-millionaire, by today's terms he'd be probably as rich as Bill Gates. The reason all this charity exists today is because that man, John D. Rockefeller, became ill and the doctor said, "Looks like you only have a few months to live." He started giving away his money, he built the University of Chicago, 80 million dollars. He set up the New York Institute for Medical Research and the Rockefeller Foundation. A few months later he hadn't died yet, he gave away more money. He was about 52 when they told him he was going to die, he lived to be 96. But his thought was, "I'm going to die soon, what am I doing with all this money, why have I been so greedy before and so on?" And he started doing more good, more good, I've no idea about his specific religious aspects, what he was doing internally as well. But certainly what he did externally was wonderful
So if you've only got a few months to live, do as much as you can on both levels, especially the internal. Get ready, train your mind so that you can possibly die with good positive thoughts. The external, even if you haven't got much money, can you be loving to everyone around you? Or are you going to get angry when you die. This is classic and keep this in mind, there's two major ways to die, one's peaceful and one's angry. Those are the big major ways. Of course there's different shades, but people who have cancer often get angry, they hate it, they get jealous of other people who are not sick. Envious, they lash out with angry words to those who are healthy around them because they don't like being sick.
Another person with cancer, it's okay, it's okay, it's just another way to die. They have a deep inner spiritual growth, they were friendly to others. They may be sitting there in intense pain, and one of their children or close students is standing by, and the student starts getting worried. Sees they're dying, they're dying! And becomes terribly upset. If it's me who's dying, I'll look at you and I'll say, "What are you worried about, it's my body!" So there's two ways to die, keep that in mind. If you've only got three months to live, you're going to die, try to do it with a lot of love outwardly and inwardly towards yourself and others.