The mind can leave the body, and in death, consciousness survives. There doesn’t seem to be a set amount of time it takes to rebirth, as it depends on our general attitude and certain actions that we may have taken while alive. The Buddhist attitude to death and dying is different to our Western perspective because it’s based on acceptance of what is happening, rather than grieving and feeling pain. Suicide is never the answer. We are reborn in similar lives because of attachments to things such as love, craving, or guilt.

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This dhamma talk was originally recorded using a low quality MP3 to save on file size (because internet connections were slow back then – remember dialup?) on 10th May 2003. It has now been remastered and published by the Everyday Dhamma Network, and will be of interest to his many fans. If you like the Ajahn Brahm Podcast, you may also like the Treasure Mountain Podcast and / or the Forest Path Podcast which are also produced by the Everyday Dhamma Network.

These talks by Ajahn Brahm have been recorded and made available for free distribution by the Buddhist Society of Western Australia under the Creative Commons licence. You can support the Buddhist Society of Western Australia by pledging your support via their Patreon page.