Born Naked, Die Naked

When we are born, we are naked. When we die, we are naked. When I say we are naked when we die, I am not referring to our clothes, I am referring to whatever we have strived to achieve in life.

When we are born, we start fresh and anew, we have no gains, no accomplishments, nothing in this life. We are just a baby fresh out a womb, soon to be taught the harshness of life.

After birth, we are taught basic knowledge to survive before going to more advance knowledge, ie School. We study for about 12 years and then we work, we go through a lot of suffering before we end up dropping dead.  Then, it continues on in our future lives. It is a vicious cycle. A cycle of birth and death.

However, there is a way out of this cycle, Enlightenment. Freedom from suffering and attachments. Eternal bliss fueled by compassion. Enlightenment, of course, is no easy feat. Thus, this is the goal we must strive to attain, not wealth or material gains. Those are all lost at the point of death.

When I say that we die naked, everything we once known to care for and treasure, our wealth is all stripped off us, except for one thing - our mind. Our mind remains with us even after death and our karma and merits follow suit.

Karma is like a shadow. You can't easily get rid of it. So, we must be detached from all material attachments and focus on clearing our negative karma and gain merits. This can be done by practising the Dharma and practising compassion (If you are not religious).

In conclusion, if you do not wish to die a meaningless life, put some meaning into your life through having unconditional care for others. Everything you would work hard for in this life is impermanent, it does not really exist. They are merely illusions. Your Buddha nature is the true nature of your mind. The naked body is your mind and in that body there is a Buddha.