Death Reflection is one of your most important tools to use. Get ready for it, get ready over and over. Think about that Cobra snake that hangs out here in the woods. Every once in a while someone's going to see one here in the retreat. In the 20 odd years that Rosemary and I have been here no one has stepped on one, but it's always a possibility. Think about the coconuts falling from the trees… we encourage you to use that for death reflection. Also, to reflect on every different way that you can die. That's going to help you.
That's one way. Do lots of good Kamma, lots of good Kamma, so that you like yourself, so that you feel it's okay, and that your life's been okay. If you feel satisfied with this life, then when death comes, it's okay. If you feel satisfied with this life, it's easier. It's easier to say goodbye because everything is okay, you've done a good job, you're happy about yourself. Reflect on your good past Kamma, reflect on your generosity, reflect on your good past morality, these are ways to feel happier within yourself. When you feel happier, then you can die happier.
Now, if you want to reflect on the theory of Buddhism, you can use that as well, you can reflect on the theory of rebirth. The theory basically states that if you've been a good person, then when you die you're going be reborn in a good destination. Again, if you wish to use that, that's not something you can absolutely prove, but it's part of the theory of Buddhism, which most Buddhists do believe and feel it helps them. Now, to a certain extent, it's the same theory that most religions use. Most religions teach that if you live a good life, then you will go to heaven afterward. It isn't really different to Buddhism in that sense; Buddhism teaches that if you live a good life, you're going to get a good rebirth, but they have a lot of different variations, not just heaven alone.
So reflect on death, reflect on your own good Kamma. Also, if you haven't done enough good Kamma, if you really don't feel that good about yourself, then do more. It's that simple. If you haven't done enough, then do more; because you know for yourself whether you feel good about yourself. You know for yourself whether you really feel that you're a good person or not. So, if you have hesitation there, just do a heck of a lot more good Kamma.
And when you think about it, when you think about doing goodness, when you see somebody else who is doing goodness, when you see someone who is spending a lot of time helping others, being friendly and so on, do you kind of admire that person, and think, "Oh, they're a nice person"? Generally anyone who is sitting here is going to have those thoughts. You see someone who is a nice person, who is doing good and you're going to think, "That person is a nice person, isn't it good?" Can you think that of yourself, also? And if you haven't done enough goodness to get that thought going, then of course, as I said, do more goodness, and it'll come. The more content you are then at the moment of death, the less fear comes up, the less anger, the less regret; and it's all much more peaceful.