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Walter Schels
Maria Hai-Anh Tuyet Cao
[Life Before Death]
2004, 15 February (after)
Black and white print
Provided by the artist - Walter Schels
LL/28957
age: 52
born: 26th August 1951
first portrait taken: 5th December 2003
died: 15th February 2004
Maria Hai-Anh Tuyet Cao's experience of dying would doubtless have been very different had she not absorbed the teachings of the Supreme Mistress Ching Hai. The Mistress says: "All that is beyond this world is better than our world. It is better than anything we can or cannot imagine."
Frau Cao wears the portrait of the Mistress round her neck. Under her guidance, she has already visited the afterlife in meditation. Her call to the next world cannot be far off: her pulmonary alveoli are failing. Yet she appears serene and cheerful. "Death is nothing", says Frau Cao. "I embrace death. It is not eternal. Afterwards, when we meet God, we become beautiful. We are only called back to earth if we are still attached to another human being in the final seconds." Hai-Anh Cao prepares for this moment every day. She wants to achieve a sense of total detachment at the moment of death.
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