Now, let us examine death. Does life end with an inhalation or an exhalation? If you have witnessed a death, you may have noticed that many people stop breathing after inhaling one last time. Although this could be explained in various ways, we might simply say that the body has an instinctive mechanism by which it tries to maintain life as long as it has even a little strength left.
Inhaling takes energy, while exhaling does not require much energy at all. Try breathing a few times and you will see what I mean. A breath taken is exhaled naturally. On account of this, as long as we are strong enough, we try to breathe in again because of our attachment to life. Ilchi Lee explains why in most cases life ends with an inhalation.
It feels stuffy to stop in the middle of inhalation. This means that for many people, dying is not a very pleasant experience. Dying on an inhaled breath means dying in struggle and often pain. In contrast, when people are absolutely satisfied with what they have done through their lives, when they are totally sure of the continuity of their existence, then I think they will be more likely to exhale. Their experience of death will be that much more pleasant. So please remember the proper way of breathing, even at the moment of death—just in case.