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The dust returns to the earth
as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Judaism and Christianity. Ecclesiastes 12.7
Do not store up for yourselves
treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and
steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroy,
nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your
heart be.
Christianity. Matthew 6:19-21
As a scholar, Mark has found most religions of the world agree there is an Afterlife. To fully understand all the religions of the world would take lifetimes, yet most of these religions have overlapping teachings. As the spiritually-oriented Beatle, the late George Harrison once said, “All religions are branches of one big tree. It doesn’t matter what you call Him, just as long as you call.” Despite their other philosophical and cultural differences, most major religions agree that physical death does not end spiritual existence.
The body is the sheath of the
soul.
Judaism. Talmud, Sanhedrin 108a
You prefer this life, although
the life to come is better and more enduring.All this is written in
earlier scriptures; the scriptures of Abraham and Moses.
Islam. Qur’an 87.16-19
Now my breath and spirit goes
to the Immortal, and this body ends in ashes;
OM. O Mind! Remember. Remember the deeds. Remember the actions.
Hinduism. Isha Upanishad 17
One who identifies himself
with his soul regards bodily transmigration of his soul
at death fearlessly, like changing one cloth for another.
Jainism. Pujyapada, Samadhishataka 77
Matter has no life, hence it
has not real existence. Mind is immortal.
Christian Science. Science and Health, 584.
Relatives and friends and
well-wishers rejoice at the arrival of a man who had been long absent
and has returned home safely from afar. Likewise, meritorious deeds will receive
the good
person upon his arrival in the next world, as relatives welcome a dear one on
his return.
Buddhism. Dhammapada 219-20
Birth is not a beginning;
death is not an end. There is existence without limitation; there is
continuity without a starting point. Existence without limitation is space.
Continuity without
a starting point is time. There is birth, there is death, there is issuing
forth, there is entering in.
That through which one passes in and out without seeing its form, that is the
Portal of God.
Taoism. Chuang Tzu 23
Man’s real nature is primarily
spiritual life, which weaves its threads of mind to build a cocoon of flesh,
encloses its own soul in the cocoon, and, for the first time, the spirit becomes
flesh. Understand this clearly: The cocoon is not the silkworm; in the same way,
the physical body is not man but merely man’s cocoon. Just as the silkworm will
break out of its cocoon and fly free, so, too, will man break out of his
body-cocoon and ascend to the spiritual world when his time is come. Never think
that the death of the physical body is the death of man. Since man is life, he
will never know death.
Seicho-no-Ie. Nectarean Show of Holy Doctrines
All the living must die, and
dying, return to the ground; this is what is called kuei. The bones and flesh
molder below, and, hidden away, become the earth of the fields. But the spirit
issues forth, and is displayed on high in a condition of glorious brightness.
Confucianism. Book of Ritual 21.2.1
Some day the Great Chief Above
will overturn the mountains and the rocks. Then the spirits that once lived in
the bones buried there will go back into them. At present those spirits live in
the tops of the mountains, watching their children on earth and waiting for the
great change which is to come. The voices of these spirits can be heard in the
mountains at all times. Mourners who wail for their dead hear spirit voices
reply, and thus they know that their lost ones are always near.
Native American Religions. Yakima Tradition
The world beyond is as
different from this world as this world is different from that of the child
while still in the womb of its mother. When the soul attains the Presence of
God, it will assume the form that best befits its immortality and is worth of
its celestial habitation. Such an existence is a contingent and not an absolute
existence, inasmuch as the former is preceded by a cause, whilst the latter is
independent thereof. Absolute existence is strictly confined to God, exalted be
His Glory.
Baha’i Faith. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah 81
One breath pervades all, what
point is any weeping over another? Man wails over the loss of what he calls his:
Know, the Self is not perishable.
Sikhism. Adi Granth, Gauri, M.5, p. 188
The Way of death is found in
one’s own mind and no other;
Inquire of it in your own heart,
In your own mind.
Leave to the kami the path ahead;
The road of the returning soul is not dark
To the land of Yomi,
To the world beyond.
Shinto. Naokata Nakanishi, from: One Hundred Poems on The Way
of Death
We are on a market trip on
earth;
Whether we fill our baskets or not,
Once the time is up, we go home.
African Traditional Religions. Igbo Song (Nigeria)
Eight centuries ago, words attributed to St. Francis of Assisi concisely explained what most religions teach, “In dying, we are born to eternal life.” St. Francis understood we are spiritual beings having a material experience and when we leave the physical world, who we are, our consciousness, is transferred to the spiritual level of existence.
“One of the most uplifting things I’ve learned is love transcends physical death.” Mark said, “Our body may die, but our soul doesn’t. The soul can’t die because, as beings created in God’s image, we never cease to exist. Instead we begin a new life on The Other Side. Our soul encompasses our consciousness, our memories, our personality and all our love. Who we are lives on after physical death. Love is why spirits make an effort to communicate with us. Spirits still love us and because they can feel our pain, there is a desire to help us heal from the pain of grieving. Spirits reach out to let us know that love is eternal.”
Accept that loss is a basic part of our life cycle. Whatever is born must die. Whatever grows must decay. These are universal laws. We tend to forget that these physical bodies are mortal. Everything we see around us will one-day decay and cease to be. That includes all plants, animals, people, buildings, cities, the planet earth, the sun and even the galaxy. Everything in the physical universe is temporary. When this fact is understood and accepted, we will begin to seek other, inner sources of security and happiness.Confront death: We need to ask, "what is death?" What is the nature of that energy, that power, that consciousness which, when it was in that body, caused it to think, speak, move, love, feel and create? Now that it is gone, there is a mass of cells that will soon decompose.
What is life? What is its purpose? A number of us have been forced by the death of the loved one to investigate these questions. Death forces us to look deeper into the nature and purpose of life. Reexamine our life values and goals: Contact with death awakens us to the fact that someday we too will die. This generates a number of questions. Will we have fulfilled our life purpose? Why have we come here to the earth? Why have we taken this physical body? Is our life part of some greater process? If so, what does it require of us? How can we live our lives more in harmony with that purpose?
Answering these questions might motivate us to change our life style, live a more meaningful existence, improve our character, purify our love, or investigate the deeper truths of life. We may also discover that life is more meaningful when we value others and their needs.
