Clinging is a major problem

I haven't posted in a while, but I'd like to relate a breakthrough idea that I had today. It's not original, just me finally seeing some more pieces of the jigsaw puzzle fall into place. When we meditate, at least in many versions, we try to eliminate discursive thought from our mind stream. When thoughts arise, we train ourselves to recognize them, and then go back to the state of natural awareness. Doing this over and over, the spaces between the thoughts gradually lengthen, and I even had the experience of falling into nonconceptual awareness in the middle of the day as I was walking down the street the other day. Experienced meditators, I have heard, experience this state quite often during the day while not on the mat. My mentor in the Dharma Path program explained that it is very hard to let go of all conceptual thought because we've been clinging to these thoughts, which are essentially delusions or obscurations, for countless lifetimes. Our mind is simply in the habit of doing so, and it takes a lot of practice to undo it. In fact, it's quite remarkable how much progress it's possible to make, considering this. I can only think that I must have had practice in previous lifetimes as well.

I've also been reading a lot about death and impermanence. Basically, the Buddhist view is that you should contemplate death in depth now, so that when it actually happens, you won't be frightened or disturbed. (It will also be a spur to practice when you realize that death can come at any moment.) Part of what I've been reading is advice on what to do around a dying person. You're not supposed to cry, or grab onto the person, because that will create an emotional disturbance in them, and even induce them to cling to their body. If they have an attitude of clinging as they die, they will be reborn within the present state of existence (the world of suffering, samsara) and may even have a lower rebirth (i.e. more suffering), because the emotional disturbance will steer them that way. The best way is to let them leave their body calmly and peacefully. When Buddha himself left his body, he had eliminated all attachments, including attachments to his body. Thus he had achieved the state of not being reborn in samsara (complete nirvana).