Death has become a consumer product. Most of us do not contemplate the nature of death on a deep level. We don’t acknowledge that our bodies and environment are made up of unstable elements that can fall apart with even the slightest provocation. Of course we know that one day we will die. But most of us, unless we have been diagnosed with a terminal illness, think that we are in the clear for the time being. On the rare occasion that we think about death, we wonder, How much will I inherit? or Where will they scatter my ashes?

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

from the book What Makes You Not a Buddhist

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Further quotes from the book What Makes You Not a Buddhist:

• Corrosion begins as soon as creation begins
• What is life?
• Fearlessness
• Like a child at the cinema
• Change is inevitable
• Being a Buddhist
• Eventually we are disappointed
• Pride and pity
• Our true nature is like a wineglass
• The cup that holds the teachings
• Enlightened beings may seem insane
• The habit of self
• Happily ever after
• Clinging to our hopes and fears
• Today is the death of yesterday
• Appreciating the whole cycle of impermanence
• Nonviolence
• The real enemy
• Like moths to the flame