In Respect of the Triple Gems, Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, in Respect of the Elders of the community , my person tries to answer this question. Please, may all knowledgeable Venerables and Dhammika, out of compassion, correct my person, if something is not correct and fill also graps, if something is missing.
Mr/Mrs ? (user3169), before coming to the main question, there is no such as a exact time span given when birth happens, as far as knowing the teachings, aside of when consciousness (nama/mind) comes together with body (rupa), but such is much much earlier and happens sort after conceptions. So short life is actually something more common as long, when we think wisely. A good illustration of taking birth also in regard of many other things, can be found in the Dhammatalk "
A Heart Released " by Ven. Phra Ajaan Mun Bhuridatta Thera. Such moment speculation have mostly the reason to justify killing by abortion. One should be very clear about the fact that really soon after conception, there is life what one would kill, a human being, and such deeds have effects and be the reason for short life, to come to the more important part of the question "is there a reason, and which?".
The Buddha teaches cause and effect, and so short life has also a reason. Once Subha the student asked the Buddha (
MN 135 ):
"Master Gotama, what is the reason, what is the cause, why baseness & excellence are seen among human beings, among the human race? For short-lived & long-lived people are to be seen, sickly & healthy, ugly & beautiful, uninfluential & influential, poor & rich, low-born & high-born, stupid & discerning people are to be seen. So what is the reason, what is the cause, why baseness & excellence are seen among human beings, among the human race?"
and the Buddha gave the general statement and explaining:
"Students, beings are owners of kamma, heir to kamma, born of kamma, related through kamma, and have kamma as their arbitrator. Kamma is what creates distinctions among beings in terms of coarseness & refinement."
The student, showing interest for more and detail explaining requested such:
"I don't understand the detailed meaning of Master Gotama's statement spoken in brief without explaining the detailed meaning. It would be good if Master Gotama taught me the Dhamma so that I might understand the detailed meaning of his brief statement."
That the Buddha started to point out the reasons (note that this are mainly outwardly appearances!) for the "
distinctions among beings in terms of coarseness & refinement", and in regard of long and short live he uttered this explaining:
"There is the case, student, where a woman or man is a killer of living beings, brutal, bloody-handed, given to killing & slaying, showing no mercy to living beings. Through having adopted & carried out such actions, on the break-up of the body, after death, he/she reappears in the plane of deprivation, the bad destination, the lower realms, hell. If, on the break-up of the body, after death — instead of reappearing in the plane of deprivation, the bad destination, the lower realms, hell — he/she comes to the human state, then he/she is short-lived wherever reborn. This is the way leading to a short life: to be a killer of living beings, brutal, bloody-handed, given to killing & slaying, showing no mercy to living beings.
"But then there is the case where a woman or man, having abandoned the killing of living beings, abstains from killing living beings, and dwells with the rod laid down, the knife laid down, scrupulous, merciful, & sympathetic for the welfare of all living beings. Through having adopted & carried out such actions, on the break-up of the body, after death, he/she reappears in a good destination, in the heavenly world. If, on the break-up of the body, after death — instead of reappearing in a good destination, in the heavenly world — he/she comes to the human state, then he/she is long-lived wherever reborn. This is the way leading to a long life: to have abandoned the killing of living beings, to abstain from killing living beings, to dwell with one's rod laid down, one's knife laid down, scrupulous, merciful, & sympathetic for the welfare of all living beings.
Important to know is, that a short life does not mean that one could not have reached even spiritual attaining of an Arahat and also does not give hints if the person suffers much less or even not at all with it, at the event of death. So the experience of person observing one dying, and the experience of a person dying, are to different things. Its important to understand that a long life (ayu) is good and wished, because it enables one, in the special situation of being a human being, to practice the Dhamma for an escape form Samsara, or make meritorious deeds for a better future life, if one does not see a reason to develop the path to liberation. So neither death, nor a short life are something inherent bad, that are simply effects of causes, also the experiences with it. For the outwardly observer and for the being facing it for him/her self, there is no objective connection for this event, and everybody has "just" his own experience through the six doors (eye, ear, nose, mouth, body and intellect).
That is maybe important to bring to mind again and again to understand, so that it touches not a emotional level, that is drawn from such experiences like of being dying and then having certain ideas of what is a good death, and a unlucky death. We would not know for the dying person in most cases, but what be merely get confronted with, are our ideas coming form attachments (positive or negative) as such as death of others, is observed. Mostly we even to not have the sensitive to face our self and feel compassion, but simply react on or desire and aversion, when losing something we took for our own. Such as sorrow if we are separated form beloved and such as joy, if we separated from people we did not like. Yet we forget forget that we face it with everything we love, even the most beloved, our self.
It also makes no sense, for one self, to try to judge a being on his outwardly appearances like short live, in ways like "ohh he must have been a bad person". As told, it could have been even a person who has reached the stream of Dhamma (a holy person) or an Arahat (a consummated one). But of cause it has reasons and reasons are never sure where and when they have the soil to ripe, but they will as long in Samsara.
The is the story of a beggar who once though that a assembling of of many people must be a food share and met the Buddha teaching in the middle of the group. The Buddha seeing that he was ready to be taught the Dhamma
[1]"... gave a step-by-step talk, i.e., he proclaimed a talk on generosity, on virtue, on heaven; he declared the drawbacks, degradation, & corruption of sensuality, and the rewards of renunciation. Then when the Blessed One knew that Suppabuddha the leper's mind was ready, malleable, free from hindrances, elevated, & clear, he then gave the Dhamma-talk peculiar to Awakened Ones, i.e., stress, origination, cessation, & path. And just as a clean cloth, free of stains, would properly absorb a dye, in the same way, as Suppabuddha the leper was sitting in that very seat, the dustless, stainless Dhamma eye arose within him, "Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation."...
Short after he left and on the way form there he was killed by a cow. The Bhikkhus informed the Buddha about the happening and asked what his destination is and he told them:
"Monks, Suppabuddha the leper was wise. He practiced the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma and did not pester me with issues related to the Dhamma. With the destruction of the first three fetters, he is a stream-winner, not subject to states of deprivation, headed for self-awakening for sure."
When this was said, one of the monks said to the Blessed One, "Lord, what was the cause, what was the reason, why Suppabuddha the leper was such a poor, miserable wretch of a person?"
"Once, monks, in this very Rājagaha, Suppabuddha the leper was the son of a rich money-lender. While being escorted to a pleasure park, he saw Tagarasikhin the Private Buddha going for alms in the city. On seeing him, the thought occurred to him, 'Who is this leper prowling about?' Spitting and disrespectfully turning his left side to Tagarasikhin the Private Buddha, he left. As a result of that deed he boiled in hell for many years, many hundreds of years, many thousands of years, many hundreds of thousands of years. And then as a remainder of the result of that deed he became a poor, miserable wretch of a person in this very Rājagaha. But on encountering the Dhamma & Vinaya made known by the Tathāgata, he acquired conviction, virtue, learning, relinquishment, & discernment. Having acquired conviction, virtue, learning, relinquishment, & discernment on encountering the Dhamma & Vinaya made known by the Tathāgata, now — on the break-up of the body, after death — he has reappeared in a good destination, the heavenly world, in company with the devas of the heaven of the Thirty-three. There he outshines the other devas both in beauty & in rank."
So we really need to take care that a person is not something inherent good or bad- remember the the money-lender facing a beggar, but as it would be recited daily by followers all over the world, according to the Buddhas teaching
[2]:
Kammassakomhi kamma-dāyādo kamma-yoni kamma-bandhu kamma-paṭisaraṇo.
I am the owner of my actions, heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and live dependent on my actions.
Yaṃ kammaṃ karissāmi kalyāṇaṃ vā pāpakaṃ vā tassa dāyādo bhavissāmi.
Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir.
Evaṃ amhehi abhiṇhaṃ paccavekkhitabbaṃ.
We should often reflect on this.
The last sentence is important "We/I should reflect on this" often and for one self, and such outwardly seeing or facing of death and suffering should give further rise to such, rather to speculate much on kamma details. At least, to cut of the wasting of much time with other things as to simply practice, the Buddha remembered often is such a way. Seeing monks still fetter sitting, he asked them:
"From an inconceivable beginning comes transmigration. A beginning point is not evident, though beings hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving are transmigrating & wandering on. What do you think, monks? Which is greater, the blood you have shed from having your heads cut off while transmigrating & wandering this long, long time, or the water in the four great oceans?"
and he later after having been given the right answer by the monks, repeated:
"...This is the greater: the blood you have shed from having your heads cut off while transmigrating & wandering this long, long time, not the water in the four great oceans.
"The blood you have shed when, being cows, you had your cow-heads cut off: Long has this been greater than the water in the four great oceans.
"The blood you have shed when, being water buffaloes, you had your water buffalo-heads cut off... when, being rams, you had your ram-heads cut off... when, being goats, you had your goat-heads cut off... when, being deer, you had your deer-heads cut off... when, being chickens, you had your chicken-heads cut off... when, being pigs, you had your pig-heads cut off: Long has this been greater than the water in the four great oceans.
"The blood you have shed when, arrested as thieves plundering villages, you had your heads cut off... when, arrested as highway thieves, you had your heads cut off... when, arrested as adulterers, you had your heads cut off: Long has this been greater than the water in the four great oceans.
"Why is that? From an inconceivable beginning comes transmigration. A beginning point is not evident, though beings hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving are transmigrating & wandering on. Long have you thus experienced stress, experienced pain, experienced loss, swelling the cemeteries — enough to become disenchanted with all fabrications, enough to become dispassionate, enough to be released."
So the use of the fact that beings (we and all others!) have done and lived many lives in many situations, makes clear, that one actually has more and a important thing to do, as to judge peoples goodness or badness, and in this moment, when they felt secure where they are, he talk them so that they would increase there goodness, they also had developed already, and use there situation to give them a possibility to finally let go and gain liberation.
Its not only a wast of time to speculate much. You will die, and it's not sure when and could be right now as well, and what conditions are next are also not sure, but the speculations lead, if done one a level that one tries to trace back the "line" (which is actually not a line, but many woven loops of past and important present intentions) of kamma, such an undertaking, as we often face when people come out with really strange theories of generalizations, things that even lead to very sad things, can make one crazy. So the Buddha did not taught the tracing of beings kamma, but used his knowledge to point always back on the place where there work has to be done and to give the needed urgency for that:
So for ones own practice, it's good to focus much on to understand what is skillful (not killing, taking what is not give, not lying, no sexual misconduct and no intoxicants, or mind states complied with no-greed, no-aversion, no-delusion) and what is unskillful (breaking the basic precepts and mind states complied greed, aversion, delusion) and using every possible effort to try to developed skillful mind states with the practice of meritorious deeds, such as generosity (dana), virtue (sila), and mediation (bhavana), so that if one is remembered like the monks above, you may then have accumulated good amount of goodness and find even proper attention when such a moment to gain release, like the Sutta ended, happened:
That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, the monks delighted in the Blessed One's words. And while this explanation was being given, the minds of the thirty monks from Pava — through lack of clinging — were released from fermentations.
You also can find, if the conditions are proper, security right now, when seeing that the important part here is: "Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation." No matter if big, small, young, old, rich, poor, ugly or beautiful, lucky, or unlucky.
Mudita.
[3]