Japanese Death Poems

Japanese death poems were written by a person as close to the moment of death as possible. Ideally, as they finished and put down the ink brush, they would exhale their last breath and die before the ink was dry.

Seems that most were written by monks, priests, noblemen, and other well educated members of Japan's history. They reflect on what it means to live and die, and their philosophy on both.
Some are beautiful and reflective, such as Koraku's

The joy of dewdrops
In the grass as they
Turn back to vapor.

Others display a wonderful humor about the inevitable, such as Morikawa Kyoriku's (1656 - 1715)

Till now I thought
that death befell
the untalented alone.
If those with talent, too,
   must die
surely they make
   a better manure?

My favorite so far is from Moriya Sen'an:

Bury me when I die
beneath a wine barrel
in a tavern.
With luck
the cask will leak.

 To read these and others go to the
Google Book search for Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death
By Yoel Hoffmann
Or better yet, support the guy and buy the book like I did!
Here's an easy link to Hoffmann's book on Amazon - ya cheap schmuck!

 

Philosophy of Death

Philosophy of Death
By Shelly Kagan from Yale U.

There are 26 lectures. The first one can be skipped; it mostly lines out what the course will cover - not science, not religion, but the philosophy of death. Also the first lecture covers some classroom expectations and grading scale (boring).

So skip the first one and jump into the second one - Dualism vs. Physicalism

http://academicearth.org/courses/death

Academic Earth is a Web site that offers full video lectures from many great universities.

My Apploigies to All Thomas Grangers Everywhere

Thomas Granger was the first person (and the first teenager) hanged (to death) in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. What's more unique, I suppose, is that he was hanged for the crime of bestiality. He had a mare, a cow, two goats, five sheep, two calves, and a turkey under his belt. [pardon the pun].

I'd rather die anonymously than be in the record books for that...
Another icky thought...