The Truth of Death

What is the difference between heart death and brain death? Why can the eyes still blink the instant the head is severed? Why does one still feel they have limbs and a body the moment the head separates from the body, only to find them unresponsive? Why do people consider the brain the most vital part of the body, instinctively protecting their heads when in danger?

Heart death refers to the cessation of heartbeat and pulse, the stoppage of blood circulation, and the end of breathing. Brain death means the central nervous system of the brain has no reflex activity—no response whatsoever in the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, or body; no neural activity; pupils dilated and unresponsive to light; no reaction upon examination of the ears, nose, or tongue; the body’s muscles limp and lacking elasticity, with loss of control over urination and defecation. These phenomena indicate that the subtle sense faculties (胜义根) of the brain have completely lost function. During heart death, the brain may not necessarily be dead, as there might still be some supply of vital energy and blood to the brain, allowing sensory objects (六尘) to be transmitted to the subtle sense faculties, enabling faint traces of the six consciousnesses (六识) to persist. However, brain death inevitably entails heart death. Brain death is true death, but if examination for brain death is inadequate, misjudgment may occur—declaring death when it has not yet taken place.

At the moment of decapitation, vital energy and blood still supply the subtle sense faculties of the brain, sensory objects can still be transmitted to these faculties, and the manas (意根) can still control the activity of the central nervous system, directing the five sense faculties and six consciousnesses. Hence, blinking is still possible at this stage. Because sensory information remains present in the subtle sense faculties, and the body’s information is also there, the manas and consciousness habitually perceive the body as still existing. The manas attempts to control bodily movements, only realizing that the body has separated from the head (itself) when it feels unable to exert control. The manas knows many things—partly due to its inherent functions, but mostly from pure experience. Having undergone so much, it knows innately, yet it cannot express this knowledge, so even consciousness remains unaware of it. Is ignorance (无明) more prevalent in the manas or in consciousness?

If death is not natural, then what method of dying is the swiftest, with the briefest duration and the least suffering? It is direct decapitation. The vital energy and blood required for brain activity are only present in the subtle sense faculties; once depleted, death occurs very rapidly. With the exhaustion of vital energy and blood, sensory objects cease to transmit into the subtle sense faculties, the six consciousnesses vanish, suffering stops, and the person dies. If other parts of the body are severed, the farther from the brain, heart, and vital organs, the longer the vital energy and blood can supply the brain, prolonging death. The most cruel and agonizing death is lingchi (death by a thousand cuts), where cuts are inflicted non-lethally, preventing the extinction of the six consciousnesses, resulting in continuous, unrelenting pain.

What, then, is the most comfortable way to die? Death supported by wholesome karma and merits, leading to rebirth in the heavenly realm, is blissful and joyful. The body and mind become soft, the countenance more splendid than in life, heavenly realms manifest before one, celestial music greets them, heavenly fragrances fill the room, and with a single joyful thought, the breath ceases, and consciousness manifests in the heavens. An even more comfortable death is being welcomed by Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, with the intermediate state (中阴身) riding on a lotus flower and being reborn in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss or another Buddha-land in the snap of a finger. However, this requires far greater wholesome karma and merits to support it, which ordinary people cannot cultivate.