The Truth of Death

What is the difference between cardiac death and brain death? Why can one still blink at the moment of decapitation? Why does one still feel the presence of limbs and torso immediately after head-body separation, 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?

Cardiac death occurs when the heart stops beating, blood circulation ceases, and breathing halts. Brain death means the central nervous system exhibits no reflex activity: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body show no response whatsoever; there is no neural activity; pupils are dilated and unresponsive to light; examinations of ears, nose, and tongue reveal no reactions; the body's muscles become limp and inelastic, with loss of bowel and bladder control. These phenomena indicate the complete failure of the subtle sense faculties (胜义根). In cardiac death, the brain may not yet be dead, as vital energies may still supply the brain, allowing sensory data (六尘) to transmit to the subtle sense faculties, where faint sensory consciousness (六识) may persist. However, brain death invariably entails cardiac death. Brain death constitutes true death, though inadequate examination may lead to misdiagnosis—declaring death prematurely.

At the moment of decapitation, vital energies still supply the subtle sense faculties in the brain, and sensory data continues transmitting there. The mental faculty (意根) can still control central nervous system activity, directing the five sense organs and six consciousnesses. Hence, blinking remains possible. As sensory information lingers in the subtle sense faculties, including bodily awareness, the mental faculty habitually perceives the body as intact and attempts to control it. Only upon failing does it realize the body has separated from the head (itself). The mental faculty possesses extensive knowledge—partly innate, mostly experiential. Having undergone countless experiences, it knows innately yet cannot articulate this knowledge, leaving the conscious mind unaware. Between ignorance (无明), which is more prevalent—the mental faculty or the conscious mind?

For non-natural death, what method ensures the swiftest, least painful demise? Decapitation is optimal: the brain’s vital energy reserves within the subtle sense faculties deplete instantly, causing rapid death. Once vital energies vanish, sensory data ceases transmitting to the subtle sense faculties, sensory consciousness dissolves, pain ends, and death follows. If other body parts are severed, the farther from the brain and vital organs, the longer vital energies sustain the brain, prolonging death. The cruelest death is lingchi (death by a thousand cuts): repeated non-lethal wounds prevent sensory consciousness from extinguishing, subjecting one to relentless pain.

What constitutes the most comfortable death? Death supported by wholesome karma (善业) and merit (福业), leading to rebirth in heavenly realms, is blissful: body and mind soften, countenance glows more radiantly than in life, heavenly realms manifest, celestial music welcomes the departed, divine fragrances permeate the chamber. With a single joyous thought, breath ceases, and consciousness manifests in heaven. An even more serene death involves Buddhas and bodhisattvas greeting the departed; the bardo body (中阴身) ascends on a lotus, reaching the Pure Land or another Buddha-field in the snap of a finger. This, however, requires vastly greater wholesome karma and merit—beyond ordinary cultivation.