死亡是什么，人们到底怕的是什么

中国文化里，人们害怕死亡，就像小时候听特务故事的孩子害怕鬼怪一样。但是人们从来没有静下心来想想，死亡到底是什么，为什么那么值得害怕。

这也许和孔子说的“未知生，何知死”有关？不是很清楚，不管怎么说，既然每个人都是会死的，为什么不把这个事情看清楚呢？

面对死亡，我们为什么必须像蒙昧时代的人们面对日蚀一样，吓得瑟瑟发抖，而不是去研究死亡究竟是怎么回事，从而克服对死亡的恐惧呢？

我是相信孔子是知道死亡是怎么回事的人，要不然他就是一个不值得尊敬的人了，最少，也不能算是有智慧的人。也许当时子路问生死问题时，心智还不够成熟，所以孔子的意思是，你先把简单的事情搞清楚。但这并不意味着，中国人都需要一辈子又一辈子都把自己的心智限制在当年子路的水平。

在我心目中，有智慧的人，必须是看透生死的人。“看透”，不是指抗拒，不是指街斗无知无畏硬抗的混混，而是真实知道生死的过程，并能控制生死、来去自如的人。

不能做到如此清楚明白的人，只能是有世间知识的人，不能算是有智慧的人---（智慧，在佛教里是有固定的含义的。其中一个根本的含义，就是对生命、自我、世界观的了解，不解这个根本的东西，是有知识，不是有智慧。知--识，本来的含义就是和智慧相对，不是智--慧。知-识，表示人知道的只是识而已，不是慧。而佛法修行的一个指标，就是转识成智，不再被识所迷。）

世人知识和智慧不分，以为疯狂追求知识就是有智慧，甚至发明出“知本主义”的说法，陷入以有涯随无涯的困境。如果用生理学来类比的话，佛对各种心理、知识-智慧的分辨能力比普通人高的多，普通人可能类似心理色盲或色弱，把很多相似而不相同的东西看成一个，黄绿不分，生死不明。

要获得智慧，摆脱本来不必要的恐惧，必须明白生死，了脱生死，清楚明了“我是谁，从哪里来，到哪里去”。否则，活在世界上就像一个外乡人，被拐卖到偏远山区的四川小媳妇，喝了孟婆汤，被人贩子领着，说，这是你的家，在这里开始，给你公婆生孩儿吧。还有些人，虽然是在逃犯，也能糊里糊涂混成国家主席、黑社会老大。呵呵。跟佛比起来，仍然都是不知今夕何夕、身在何处、神不守舍的心灵逃犯，一辈子等待着牛头马面的到来。

死亡真是可怕的吗？死亡真是不可琢磨、不可应对的吗？其实有太多的人物和资料显示，答案是否定的。死亡，对于那些掌握相关知识并认真实践的人来说，并不神秘，更不可怕，反而还是个快乐的经历呢。普通人的恐惧在于对死亡的无知。

急者治标，缓者治本，在生活被疫情搞得不得不慢下来的时候，不是正好开始琢磨到底什么才是治本之道吗？

摘录一些Sadhguru 的书 << Death: An Inside Story>>中的一些文字, 其中谈到了死亡的经历和类别、方式。这只是一部分，说明人在死亡时，灵魂如何从七个脉轮中之一离开，差别何在。

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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（实际上，佛的传记里，也记述了佛是如何自如地在禅定中离开身体的）. 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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在六祖坛经中，六祖在离世涅槃前，说过如下的话，在在皆表明历史上开悟的智者，是知道自己从哪里来，到哪里去的：

《汝今悲泣，为忧阿谁？若忧吾不知去处，吾自知去处。吾若不知去处，终不预报于汝。汝等悲泣，盖为不知吾去处。若知吾去处，即不合悲泣。》