At the moment of death — when the body is weak, the mind is frustrated, the mind is distraught — cravings and clingings can bubble up inside. We latch on and we GO.

"If you can’t get any control over your craving and clinging, then rebirth is going to be very difficult. It could lead you in all kinds of directions. Because at the moment of death — when the body is weak, the mind is frustrated, the mind is distraught — cravings and clingings can bubble up inside. We latch on and we go. When the mind is distraught like that, it tends not to be very choosy. It just takes whatever comes. And who knows what’s going to come up bubbling up out of your karmic past.

So we meditate to get some control over our cravings and clingings. Every time the thought comes up that you could go away from the breath, you’ve got to realize, “Okay, this is exactly how rebirth happens. If I’m not good at sticking with what I know is right, then who knows what side paths the mind will take.” So try to be really on top of yourself, watching yourself carefully.

One of the strange tendencies in modern Dhamma is to tell people, “Don’t try too hard, don’t place too many demands on yourself. Don’t make yourself miserable over the fact that the mind isn’t centered, the mind’s not settling down. Don’t even try. Just let it happen naturally.” But death doesn’t say that. Death says, “You’re going to make your choices right now.” It’s not there with a soothing voice, sympathetic for your neuroses.

So you’ve got to learn how to take yourself in hand and encourage yourself that, yes, you can do this. And see your little victories as just that, as victories, and not as something to deprecate. But you do want to have a string of them so that they get bigger and bigger, so that you find it easier and easier to say No to a distraction, or you can find it easier once you’ve realized the mind is wandering off to pull the mind right back and get back to where you were. Because these are skills you’re going to really need."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Taking the Long View"

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