The experience of coming back from the brink of death as recounted by CY Lam in the seminar I referred to two days ago is not uncommon. The following passage from the book The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying talks about something similar:
"...how much have we really understood about life and death? I have been inspired by the reports that have appeared in the studies on the near death experience... A striking number of those who survive near-fatal accidents or a near-death experience describe a "panoramic life review." With uncanny vividness and accuracy, they relive the events of their lives... Sometimes the life review takes place in the company of a glorious presence, a "being of light." What stands out from the various testimonies is that this meeting with the "being" reveals that the only truly serious goals in life are "learning to love other people and acquiring knowledge." One person recounted...: "When the light appeared, the first thing he said to me was, 'What have you done to show me that you've done with your life?'... All through this, he kept stressing the importance of love... He seemed very interested in things concerning knowledge too..." Another man [said]: "I was asked... 'What had I done to benefit or advance the human race?'"
The tick that Mr CY Lam found himself deserving could then be the outcome of having loved other people, acquired knowledge or helped advance the human race in his lifetime, or a combination of these.
Would we get a tick like Mr Lam when we die or would we not? Maybe we should pay attention to how Sogyal Rinpoche the writer summed up the point and make a wise choice today:
"Whatever we have done with our lives makes us what we are when we die. And everything, absolutely everything counts."
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