“A cheerful and profound exploration of death.”

Now, your 60s are not the rest of your life, but the third act of your life.
You have to live through a time that is no less than that of youth or middle age.
In Act 1 and Act 2, there were goals or missions that had to be achieved regardless of lifespan.
Economic independence, marriage and childcare, social achievement, or values ​​and causes, etc.
Even if I died in the middle of it, I didn't consider it the end.
But the 60s are different.
No matter how long the rest of life may be, we must now move towards extinction and disintegration without any countermeasures.


But there is one problem.
It's clear that the theme of this journey is extinction and disintegration, but there's little wisdom about it.
In other words, it is impossible to predict how we will age, how we will become ill, or how we will die.
What is even more surprising is that our time, our civilization, has no assets for this.
That's understandable, since we've thrown away all the intellectual and cultural assets we've accumulated about death over the past century.


A civilization that knows nothing but capital and labor (and consumption) is therefore fatal! It's like walking down a street at dawn blindfolded.

There is only one exit.
You just have to explore old soldiers, especially death.
If there's no mission to be accomplished, but the path ahead is clearly one of annihilation and disintegration, isn't this the perfect time to explore death? As is well known, all areas of human intellectual history—religion, philosophy, science, art—have stemmed from a yearning to understand death.
That is also the driving force that has driven civilization.
Well, isn't that obvious?
If you don't know death, you can't know life.
"How should we live?" is inseparable from "How should we die?" Therefore, life and death are one! This is a truth passed down through the classics of the East and the West for thousands of years.
It is time to actively utilize that wisdom and means.
The eight wise men featured in this book will be its greatest messengers.

'Living as a being that can die' - what a wonderful paradox.
For this paradox to become possible, one must first and foremost have profound insight into life.
The more profound life becomes, the more infinitely lighter death becomes.
Is that why?
The attitude of those who face death is incredibly cheerful! Thanks to you, I learned this.
You have to be profound to be cheerful, and cheerfulness is the source of profoundness!
---From "Opening the Book"

“You must know that to learn how to die is the most valuable science, and that it surpasses all other sciences.” 《Horologium Sapientia》 14th century
---From "Intro"

He is sure.
The afterlife is a world where only souls exist.
So, after death, what determines life in the afterlife is the nature or level of the soul.
A philosopher is a being who moves towards philosophia (love of wisdom).
In other words, aren't they people who distance themselves from the physical body and only practice thoughts related to the soul?
If so, philosophy itself is an act of ‘exploring death and practicing death.’

---From "Chapter 1 Socrates, Philosophy is the Practice of Death"

Youth - Spring (Thursday), middle age - Summer (Tuesday), menopause (Saturday - Seasonal Change), middle age - Autumn (Friday), and old age - Winter (Wednesday).
This is the natural order of the universe.
Therefore, if birth is a blessing, so too is death.
If the dynamism of youth and the vitality of middle age are the climax of life, the fruits of middle age and the tranquility of old age are also the greatest gifts the four seasons can offer.
Death is the process by which the fruit returns to the seed.
The seeds will naturally sprout when spring comes.
The principle is that all life comes from death.
That's all.

---From "Chapter 2: Zhuangzi, Resting Comfortably in the Great House of Heaven and Earth!"

What Zhang Zi and Lu Xun are trying to say is simple.
Life and death are not two different things.
But we live with a sharp division between the two, suffering from obsession while alive and suffering from anxiety and fear when facing death.
What's even more surprising is that we don't even ask questions about or explore death.
Dichotomy and ignorance are a perfect match.

---「Chapter 2: Jangja, just resting comfortably in the big house called Heaven and Earth!)

For Gandhi, death was a daily occurrence and his closest friend.
Political turmoil always put him on the brink of life and death.
There have been many times when I was on the verge of losing my breath.
But I never surrendered to the fear of death.
Becoming a being that can die at any time was the core of spiritual practice.
So, as he said, death was liberation.
A glorious liberation from all the burdens of life or the dharmas imposed by fate, and into the presence of God.
In that sense, his death can be said to be the final version of the 'experiment with truth'.
No, Gandhi might have said something different.
There is no end to Satyagraha.
Death is just a step.
Just one step from this world to the next!
---From "Mahatma Gandhi, Death is Glorious Liberation"

'It is a shameful thing to artificially extend life.
'I have done all that was given to me, and now it is time to say goodbye.' And he says this.
“I will leave gracefully.”
---From "Chapter 4 Albert Einstein, This One Life Is Enough"

Someone asked him.
“Do you believe in immortality?” “No.
“One life is enough for me.” The time of that one life was 1:00 AM on April 18, 1955.
Complex formulas of densely written equations stayed by his side.
Until the very last moment, he never stopped pedaling to unify the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics.
Unfortunately, the pedal kept getting misaligned.
That's okay though.
In any case, there is no such thing as perfection in life or science.
According to his cosmology, even if you run like crazy, you will end up back where you started.
A life where I could pedal until the very last moment, that's enough!
---From "Chapter 4 Albert Einstein, This One Life Is Enough"

Although Yeonam was a master of epitaphs, there is no epitaph for Yeonam.
He spent his entire life mourning the dead and comforting the living through epitaphs, yet he himself has no epitaph.
But he probably wouldn't have been very sad.
Because his death needs no mourning.
He experienced numerous deaths from an early age and never stopped exploring death and separation while writing epitaphs.
In other words, it also means that he was always preparing for death.
In other words, it also means that you always do your best in life 'today'.
Wasn't he the one who had already awakened to the way of death through 'Mindfulness' on his way to Jehol a long time ago?

---From "Chapter 5 Yeonam Park Ji-won, Death is Everywhere"

It is said that old age is more blessed than wealth and honor in terms of knowledge and enlightenment, health of spouses, and excellence of descendants.
right.
Since he died at the peak of such a blessed old age, it cannot be said that death was anything other than blessed.
Yeonam's last words were simply, "Please give me a clean bath."
What would Dasan have been like?
A long time ago, in addition to the “Self-praised Epitaph,” a separate “Yumyeongcheop” was created.

---From "Chapter 6 Dasan Jeong Yak-yong, History Will Testify in the Far Future!"

Isn't that really unique?
It's a final farewell, but there's no mention of death.
Replace with 'to be released from life', 'to lie down', 'to let go of the will to live', etc.
So, for Buddha and Sariputta, death is a release from the hardships of life, a rest for the body, and a letting go of the will to live.
In other words, it is liberation, rest, and freedom.
The most striking phrase in this farewell speech is the phrase, “There will be no more coming or going.”
In short, there is no more reincarnation.
It is not a romantic farewell speech like “See you again in the next life!” or “I hope you are happy in the next life!” that modern people use as a cliché.
The relationship between my teacher and I ends here.
This means that since there is no need to return to the human world, we will never meet again in this body.
This is the meaning of Nirvana; it is not death or extinction.
It is a leap to escape from the cycle of reincarnation where life and death are repeated.
It is a realm that is difficult to imagine for us who are spinning the wheel of reincarnation, but it seems clear that it is the highest form of death that humans can achieve.
A death that transcends the dichotomy of life and death, and nullifies the very concept of death.
Is this what it means to be immortal?

---From "Chapter 7 Sariputta, I will never come or go again!"

Therefore, there is no more rebirth.
Since there is no birth, there is no death.
Since there is no birth or death, there is no sorrow or suffering.
At the end of the journey, I was free from all worries and all causes of sorrow.
Complete extinction, complete freedom! Forty-five years ago, I opened the path to nirvana, and now, through physical extinction, I have fully realized that nirvana.
Nirvana, it was “the highest goal for both man and god, an incomprehensible tranquility, a refuge of utter safety.”

---From "Chapter 8: Buddha, Be Brave and Proceed!"