Thinking about death doesn’t make you die. The reason that the Buddha has you think about death is because you have to prepare, you have to be heedful. The act of meditation is our present karma right now, and it’s good karma.

"I was talking to someone today who likes to get exercise by riding a bike. Recently a number of her acquaintances have had really bad bike accidents, and she was getting concerned. She’s getting older now. And seeing how badly mangled her friends were, she was beginning to worry about herself, and thought maybe she should stop riding the bike. She had mentioned this to a friend of hers, and the friend said, “Oh no, don’t think of accidents. We create our reality, so if you think about accidents, you’ll make them happen; but if you don’t think about accidents, they won’t happen.” Kind of a Barnie-the-dinosaur approach to the world. If it were true, nobody would age, nobody would die. Most people who die are not thinking about death. Most people who get sick are not thinking about illness. These things happen because of karma.

We have all kinds of karma in our past, good and bad, and it’s a combination of past karma and present karma that actually shapes our experience. If we could totally shape our present experience, who would suffer in this world? As the Buddha said, if we could get things just by wishing or praying, who in the world be old, who in the world would be sick, who in the world would be poor or ugly? We can’t just wish our way or imagine our way into perfect health, youth, and continued life.

That’s because we have our past actions and they’re having an influence. We’ve already chosen to be born as human beings and maybe we didn’t look at the fine print in the contract, but part of being a human being is that if you live long enough, you get old, you’re going to get sick, and even if you don’t live long, you’re going to die for sure. Thinking about death doesn’t make you die. The reason that the Buddha has you think about death is because you have to prepare, you have to be heedful. So even though you can’t do anything about your past karma, you can do something about your present karma. That’s why we meditate: The act of meditation is our present karma right now, and it’s good karma."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "The Skill of Not Suffering"

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