Buddhists believe that though the body dies that there is mental body that continues to journey from life time to the next, carrying with it the residue of karma with it. How the person’s mental-body leaves the physical form affects the experience of the post-death state and of the future birth.

One of the distinctive features of the Buddhist view of death and dying, is the notion that death is a process that begins before their last breath, during a time when the person is gradually transitioning from bodily life. And then it continues for many days afterwards.