死亡是什麽，人們到底怕的是什麽

中國文化裏，人們害怕死亡，就像小時候聽特務故事的孩子害怕鬼怪一樣。但是人們從來沒有靜下心來想想，死亡到底是什麽，為什麽那麽值得害怕。

這也許和孔子說的“未知生，何知死”有關？不是很清楚，不管怎麽說，既然每個人都是會死的，為什麽不把這個事情看清楚呢？

麵對死亡，我們為什麽必須像蒙昧時代的人們麵對日蝕一樣，嚇得瑟瑟發抖，而不是去研究死亡究竟是怎麽回事，從而克服對死亡的恐懼呢？

我是相信孔子是知道死亡是怎麽回事的人，要不然他就是一個不值得尊敬的人了，最少，也不能算是有智慧的人。也許當時子路問生死問題時，心智還不夠成熟，所以孔子的意思是，你先把簡單的事情搞清楚。但這並不意味著，中國人都需要一輩子又一輩子都把自己的心智限製在當年子路的水平。

在我心目中，有智慧的人，必須是看透生死的人。“看透”，不是指抗拒，不是指街鬥無知無畏硬抗的混混，而是真實知道生死的過程，並能控製生死、來去自如的人。

不能做到如此清楚明白的人，隻能是有世間知識的人，不能算是有智慧的人---（智慧，在佛教裏是有固定的含義的。其中一個根本的含義，就是對生命、自我、世界觀的了解，不解這個根本的東西，是有知識，不是有智慧。知--識，本來的含義就是和智慧相對，不是智--慧。知-識，表示人知道的隻是識而已，不是慧。而佛法修行的一個指標，就是轉識成智，不再被識所迷。）

世人知識和智慧不分，以為瘋狂追求知識就是有智慧，甚至發明出“知本主義”的說法，陷入以有涯隨無涯的困境。如果用生理學來類比的話，佛對各種心理、知識-智慧的分辨能力比普通人高的多，普通人可能類似心理色盲或色弱，把很多相似而不相同的東西看成一個，黃綠不分，生死不明。

要獲得智慧，擺脫本來不必要的恐懼，必須明白生死，了脫生死，清楚明了“我是誰，從哪裏來，到哪裏去”。否則，活在世界上就像一個外鄉人，被拐賣到偏遠山區的四川小媳婦，喝了孟婆湯，被人販子領著，說，這是你的家，在這裏開始，給你公婆生孩兒吧。還有些人，雖然是在逃犯，也能糊裏糊塗混成國家主席、黑社會老大。嗬嗬。跟佛比起來，仍然都是不知今夕何夕、身在何處、神不守舍的心靈逃犯，一輩子等待著牛頭馬麵的到來。

死亡真是可怕的嗎？死亡真是不可琢磨、不可應對的嗎？其實有太多的人物和資料顯示，答案是否定的。死亡，對於那些掌握相關知識並認真實踐的人來說，並不神秘，更不可怕，反而還是個快樂的經曆呢。普通人的恐懼在於對死亡的無知。

急者治標，緩者治本，在生活被疫情搞得不得不慢下來的時候，不是正好開始琢磨到底什麽才是治本之道嗎？

摘錄一些Sadhguru 的書 << Death: An Inside Story>>中的一些文字, 其中談到了死亡的經曆和類別、方式。這隻是一部分，說明人在死亡時，靈魂如何從七個脈輪中之一離開，差別何在。

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Even if you are liberated within yourself, even if you have attained a certain state within you, you still need a lot of skill to leave the physical body consciously （佛教上叫生死自如）. You need to know the science of how life and the body got connected and what you need to do to disentangle it. Otherwise, you will not be able to leave the body consciously. People who are on the Yogic path can simply sit in the open and leave—just like dropping one’s clothes and walking away, because they know the science of how to leave the body.

Depending upon how much skill and freedom with which someone left the body and from which chakra they left the body, the situation around each death will be different. For the sake of simplicity, we talk mostly of only the seven main chakras in the body. 10 Each is given a name and has certain qualities.

For a very gross person, or if someone leaves in fear—which happens to a lot of people—they end up leaving through the Muladhara Chakra , located at the perineum. This is why you will see that at the time of death, many people will pass urine and faeces with a certain force. This is not because of incontinence,  as  people think, but because the prana has left through the Muladhara Chakra. This is not a good way to die. If we are not able to leave the body at will, at least we should be able to welcome it and allow it to happen rather than resist it and struggle with fear. Generally, if one leaves through the Muladhara Chakra, it is considered a very base exit.  But in rare cases, one who consciously exits through the Muladhara Chakra can come back with enormous occult powers.

One who exits through the Swadhishthana Chakra , located in and above the genital organ, can be reborn with extraordinary creative prowess. One who exits through the Manipura Chakra , located just below the navel, can be capable of a very organized sense of action. One may become a great business person or a great general. Essentially, a genius of organization in his or her next life. One who exits through the Anahata Chakra , where the ribcage meets, can become a prodigy in music or the arts. One may also become a very sensitive poet or a devotee who can inspire many. The Anahata Chakra also has the possibility of finding access to all the other dimensions so one could be a potential polymath.
For someone to exit through the Vishuddhi Chakra , situated at the pit of the throat, is very rare. But if that happens, one will possess an incredible perception of this world and the beyond. Such a person will also exist in an absolute sense of dispassion and fearless involvement in all aspects of life. A phenomenal sense of clarity will be predominant in them. Though the Agna Chakra , located between the eyebrows, is of a higher order, it is more common for people to exit through the Agna Chakra than the Vishuddhi Chakra.

A person who is fully conscious will leave through their Sahasrara Chakra , from the top of their head. That is the best way to leave. Normally the prana just leaves, but sometimes it actually leaves a physical hole there at the moment of death. If you know, the bit of the skull at the top of the head is not yet formed in infants for quite some time. That spot is called the brahmarandhra . For some people, when they leave the body, an actual hole will be found there. When one leaves through their Sahasrara Chakra, it means that they were fully conscious.

If you want that moment of death to happen in full awareness, you have to live a life of awareness. Otherwise, at that moment, there is no way you are going to be aware（實際上，佛的傳記裏，也記述了佛是如何自如地在禪定中離開身體的）. One who is conscious can leave whichever way one wants, but one who is unconscious simply goes in a fixed way—because their life was a bondage, so death is also a bondage. If at the moment of death, a person can be 100 per cent aware, that person will not have to go through rebirth. They will not take another body—they are released.

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在六祖壇經中，六祖在離世涅槃前，說過如下的話，在在皆表明曆史上開悟的智者，是知道自己從哪裏來，到哪裏去的：

《汝今悲泣，為憂阿誰？若憂吾不知去處，吾自知去處。吾若不知去處，終不預報於汝。汝等悲泣，蓋為不知吾去處。若知吾去處，即不合悲泣。》