The Third Messenger Death No comments here. Hold the intention in mind. Intention: - accepting the inevitability of death - Be prepared for death and dying: materially and emotionally and spiritually - being able to welcome the fourth messenger – to know there is a pathway out of the suffering The Third Messenger

Check-in What are you finding challenging about the Five Wishes? Bill leads 5 minutes

Preparing for Death Cultivating wisdom Applying energy Living virtuously – blamelessly Sustaining favorable relationships Being kind Keeping a journal of wholesome actions Ayya – 10 minutes Four powers and five fears –AN 9:5 Preparing for death is a lifetime practice Bill : Thinking in and out of the boxes: don’t wait to live kindly and virtuously

Preparing for Dying Health insurance Palliative care and hospice “Having THE CONVERSATION” POLST – Physician Orders Life Sustaining Treatment Advance Care Planning Advance Directives Bill – 10 minutes ADVANCE CARE PLANNING Organizing medical team (doctors, nurses, counselors), other trained personnel and support team: may be friends not family What is Palliative Care What is Hospice POLST appropriate when “no one would be surprised if you died in the next 12 months” What makes your life worth living? What’s it all about, Alfie? You will be a different person when you are actively dying than you are now when you are making decisions, can change mind Trust goodness – there is good karma Be kind to yourself as well as others 2 DYING v DEATH When do you start planning as a person who is dying Stages of dying: End Game Preparing for death does not make death happen faster Use of denial  

Being with our own death Decisions about care Managing symptoms Assisted dying? Setting a clear intention Coming to peace Bill – 10 minutes plus 3 minutes for Ayya when do you change from prolonging life to QOL: boxes; End Game Strategy as in chess Care decisions: curative care v life prolonging care palliative care, hospice care Symptoms: Can use various medical systems: acupuncture, homeopathy, naturopathy; value is often provider dependent: QOL AS GOAL NEVER A POINT WHERE NOTHING CAN BE DONE in treating person though disease treatments may not be beneficial i.e. futile Patient Example: Control over life, control over death: Doctor’s father, went thru process to obtain drugs, she asked him daily whether he wants to explore self medication as End of Life Options Act. Ultimately became unable to swallow and had AND Allow Natural Death BOTH Dealing with: Body, Others, Truth, Humility Ayya : Setting intention and coming to peace

Being with death Nothing to fear Mindfulness of body and feeling Focus on inconstancy, dissolution, dispassion, cessation and relinquishment Ayya – 5 minutes total 45 minutes This works for being with one’s own death or the death of another “Death is perfectly safe” SN36:7 in “Beyond Coping” page 109: Mindfulness of the body and feeling ... Focused on impermanence, disenchantment, dispassion, cessation and relinquishment

Meditation 10 minutes Ayya – passage from SN 36:7

Small Group Discussion What makes my life worth living? If you knew you were going to die one month from today, what would you do? 25 minutes

Discussion 25 minutes Forgiveness for ourselves and others Loving kindness and compassion for ourselves and others Letting go of attachment to possessions, people and who we think we are Serenity meditation – developing joy, happiness and tranquility Insight meditation – seeing the way things actually are Keeping a journal of kind and generous actions Developing faith

Parting Instructions What does faith mean to you? Reflect on your experience of awakening, of liberation from suffering Serenity and insight meditation Readings Bring images of serenity, awakening or faith Kalyāṇamitta group? 10 minutes