諸經要集

Editor-in-Chief: Thích Nguyên Chơn

XXIX. THE END OF LIFE

Comprising nine sections: Introduction, Attending the Sick, Treating Illness, Arrangements, Recollective Concentration, The End of Life, Funeral Procession, Rebirth, and Memorial Offerings.

XXIX.1. Introduction

The three realms are boundless, and the six paths teem with beings. The bodies of all sentient beings are sustained by the four great elements and formed through the five faculties. Thus, when the four great elements gather, a body comes into being; when they disperse, it returns to emptiness. Earth, water, fire, and wind each possess a different nature. Each retains its own characteristics, yet all must seek harmony with one another. Such harmony is exceedingly difficult; therefore, they must be kept in balance. If they oppose one another, disorder readily arises. When one great element falls out of balance, all four are harmed.

When the earth element increases, the body becomes dark and sallow, the flesh turns livid, and hard tumors form, as firm as iron or stone. When the earth element decreases, the whole body becomes emaciated and weak; one side of the body may become paralyzed; the body grows dry and haggard, the eyes dim, and the ears become deaf.

When the water element increases, the flesh becomes waterlogged and loses its healthy complexion; the entire body turns sallow, the countenance becomes haggard, the limbs swell, and the bladder becomes distended. When the water element decreases, the body becomes thin and wasted, the bones protrude, the sinews show, the pulse sinks, and the lips and tongue become dry. The ears ring, the nose is obstructed, the five viscera seem to burn, the bodily fluids dry up and cannot be discharged, and the six bowels become depleted, so that one cannot stand steadily.

When the fire element increases, the whole body becomes restless and burns as though scorched by fire. Boils become inflamed, wounds ulcerate, blood and pus flow profusely, and a foul stench arises. When the fire element decreases, the body becomes emaciated and weak; the six bowels and five viscera grow utterly cold; cold qi congeals in the chest, and the mouth feels as though it holds frost. [175b] Even in the heat of summer, one does not feel warm despite wearing many layers of fur. Food and drink cannot be digested, and vomiting frequently occurs.

When the wind element increases, qi fills the body, the chest feels constricted, the six bowels and stomach become obstructed, and the arms and legs grow sluggish, weak, numb, and painful. When the wind element decreases, the body becomes emaciated and weak, its strength as frail as a thread. Movement brings exhaustion, the breath seems shortened, and there are coughing, wheezing, retching, difficulty swallowing, abdominal distension, and a hunched back. The heart feels cold, while the throat, sinews, and vessels become swollen.

Illnesses such as these all arise from abnormal increases or decreases in the four great elements. Whenever one element increases or decreases, the other three suffer; illness gradually develops and causes affliction. When the four great elements oppose one another, the six bowels are difficult to harmonize. Because evil causes were planted in past lives, one now encounters painful retribution, yet one still knows neither shame nor gratitude. Through all four seasons, the body is constantly supplied with necessities and nourished day and night, yet it has never shown gratitude. If its provisions fall short by even a little, it immediately gives rise to sickness and suffering.

Knowing that this body is ungrateful, why labor so strenuously to sustain it? Even if one supplies it with delicious food and fine clothing, these ultimately become filth and excrement. The purpose of eating and drinking is merely to help the body dispel hunger and thirst; it is certainly not for the body's sake.

If one continues accumulating things in this manner, one only burdens one's mind and neglects advancement in cultivating the path. This body is truly a vessel of suffering. The five skandhas are like an earthenware jar, easily broken and difficult to preserve, swiftly dissolving like foam upon water.

The four great elements are unreal and constantly oppose one another; dependent upon the five skandhas, numerous afflictions arise. Moreover, we have been born as human beings in this world of the five turbidities, taking an illusory substance as the body and dwelling amid fearful circumstances. In the dark realm are immeasurable ghosts and spirits, of kinds too numerous to count.

Some inhabit houses, hermitages, shrines, mountains, or hills. Wherever a supernatural manifestation occurs, people go there to supplicate, causing the mind to become clouded and consciousness to grow obscure. Whether asleep or awake, their hearts are filled with fear.

All hope that when danger arises they may gather the mind in recollection; without even waiting to invoke the Buddha's name three times, they attain peace and safety—why would it be necessary to recite it a thousand times? May the noble path be vast and replete with majestic radiance, benefiting all beings so that none suffer harm or affliction. What follows are true accounts worthy of record, with evidence duly presented.

XXIX.2. Caring for the Sick

So long as one remains an ordinary being, who can be free from illness? Because we possess bodies born of karmic retribution, we are constantly subject to sickness. Some have renounced secular life and gone forth, dwelling alone in secluded places. Others are poor and sick, aged and infirm, with no one upon whom to rely. If no one cares for them, upon whom can they depend?

Therefore, in the Four-Part Vinaya, the Buddha taught: “From this day onward, there must be someone to attend and nurse the sick. If you wish to make offerings to Me, you must first make offerings to the sick. Even while traveling, if you encounter a sick person among the five assemblies of monastics, you must remain and care for that person. If anyone encounters such a person and abandons them, [175c] that person incurs an offense. The minds of all Buddhas take great loving-kindness and compassion as their essence. To practice correctly in accordance with My teaching is to manifest the mind of the Buddha.”

As recorded in the Mahasanghika Vinaya: “If, while traveling, one encounters a sick person among the five assemblies of monastics, one must find a conveyance, bring that person back, care for them, and make offerings in accordance with the Dharma. Even if the person dies, one should cremate and bury them and must not abandon them.”

There are nine circumstances that lead to an untimely death:

1. Knowing that food is unwholesome, yet still eating it.

2. Eating without moderation.

3. Eating again before the previous food has been digested.

4. Seeking to expel food before it has been digested.

5. When food has been digested and should be expelled, forcibly retaining it.

6. Eating food unsuitable for the illness.

7. Eating food suitable for the illness, but without moderation.

8. Being indolent.

9. Lacking wisdom.

(The Medicine Buddha Sutra also speaks of nine kinds of untimely death.)

Furthermore, the Ekottarika Agama records: “At that time, the Blessed One addressed the bhiksus: There are five reasons why a caregiver may prevent a patient from recovering:

1. Not knowing how to distinguish good medicine

2. Being indolent

3. Frequently becoming angry and craving sleep and rest

4. Caring for the sick out of greed for food and clothing

5. Failing to give proper care and failing to converse with the patient.

If these five conditions are reversed, the illness will quickly be cured.”

In the Sutra of the Good Life, the Buddha spoke this verse of praise:

One who cares for the sick

Must share in their suffering.

Good and evil bring their recompense,

As fruit is reaped from seeds that were sown.

The Blessed One is the father,

The scriptural teachings are the mother,

Fellow practitioners are brothers and sisters;

Through these, liberation is attained.

Furthermore, the Parable Sutra of the Dhammapada records: “Long ago, there was a kingdom named Xiandi. At that time, an elder bhiksu had long been ill. His body was emaciated, weak, and filthy, and he lay in the Xiandi monastery with no one to care for him.

The Buddha led five hundred bhiksus to that place. He instructed the bhiksus to take turns caring for the sick bhiksu and providing him with rice, gruel, and medicine. But when they smelled the foul odor, they all conceived contempt for him.

The Buddha then instructed Sakra to bring a basin of warm water, and with His vajra hand He bathed the sick bhiksu. At that moment, the earth suddenly trembled and the sky shone brilliantly, causing everyone to become alarmed. The king, together with countless officials and subjects, devas, nagas, ghosts, and spirits, came forth, bowed their heads in reverence, and addressed the Buddha:

‘Blessed One! You are the Supremely Honored One, unequaled throughout the three realms, [176a] and Your virtues are complete. Why must You humble Yourself to bathe this sick bhiksu?’

The Buddha said:

‘The reason the Tathagata appears in the world is precisely for the sake of poor and distressed people such as this, who have no one upon whom to rely. Whoever attends and sustains sick practitioners of the path, sramanas, the impoverished, and elderly people who are alone will gain immeasurable merit; their wishes will be fulfilled, and ultimately they will attain the noble path.’

The king again addressed the Buddha:

‘Blessed One! What transgression did this bhiksu commit in a previous life that he has been tormented by illness for so many years and remains uncured despite prolonged treatment?’

The Buddha said:

– Long ago, there was a king named Evil Conduct, who pursued exceedingly cruel policies. The king ordered a powerful man named Wu Ba to administer the punishment of flogging. Relying on the king’s authority, Wu Ba acted as he pleased. If those about to be flogged brought him abundant wealth as a bribe, he struck them lightly; those who had nothing were struck severely. Consequently, the entire country was filled with fear.

At that time, a worthy man was falsely accused by another and therefore subjected to flogging. The worthy man said to Wu Ba:

– I am a disciple of the Buddha and am innocent. I have been framed by another. Please spare me!

When Wu Ba heard that he was a disciple of the Buddha, he struck lightly, so that the whip did not touch his body. After Wu Ba’s life ended, he fell into hell, where he was interrogated, beaten, and subjected to ten thousand painful torments. When his punishment in hell was exhausted, he fell into the animal realm and was constantly beaten for more than five hundred kalpas. When the karmic retribution of the animal realm was exhausted, he was born as a human, but his body was continually afflicted by painful illness.

The king of that time is now Devadatta. Wu Ba is this sick bhikkhu. The worthy man of that time was I. Because in a former life Wu Ba spared Me and did not let the whip touch My body, today I personally bathe him. Those who perform good or evil deeds will receive the corresponding misfortune or blessing; whether living or dead, they cannot escape it.

At that time, the Blessed One immediately spoke this verse:

Those who beat the virtuous,

Falsely deeming them guilty,

Truly incur tenfold offenses;

When calamity comes, none can save them.

While living, they endure much suffering;

Their bodies are maimed and incomplete;

Illness suddenly befalls them;

Their minds are always fearful;

They are scorned by everyone.

Or they suffer punishment by the authorities;

Their property is dissipated;

Their families are forced apart;

Their homes are consumed by fire;

At death, they fall into hell—

These indeed are the ten offenses.

When the sick bhikkhu heard the Buddha speak this verse and recount the events of his former life, he wholeheartedly reproached himself. His illness consequently vanished, and he immediately attained arhatship. Throughout his life, the king of the country of Xiandi practiced according to this verse and therefore attained the fruit of stream-entry.”

The Sutra of the Good Life records: “One who tends the sick should not become weary or disheartened. If one possesses no material resources, one should go out and seek alms. If alms cannot be obtained, one may borrow property belonging to the Three Jewels; when the sick person recovers, it must be repaid tenfold.”

[176b] Furthermore, the Treatise on Five Hundred Questions records: “If a caregiver takes something belonging to one sick person and gives it to another without first asking permission, or asks permission but the sick person becomes angry and reproaches them, the object must not be used. If it has already been taken, it should be returned; failure to return it constitutes a grave offense.”

The Dharmaguptaka Vinaya records: “One who tends the sick must possess five virtues:

1. Know which foods the sick person may and may not consume. Foods that can be eaten should be provided

2. Feel no disgust when the sick person defecates, urinates, spits, or vomits

3. Harbor compassion and not care for the sick merely to obtain food and clothing

4. Constantly attend to the sick person’s medicines until they recover or their life ends

5. Constantly teach the Dharma so that the sick person’s mind becomes joyful, while one’s own wholesome qualities also increase.”

XXIX.3. Treating Illness

Human beings possess bodies and five viscera; they wake and sleep, breathe in and out, and their vital essence circulates. When it flows freely, the vital energy and blood circulate; when abundant, it produces the complexion; when expressed, it becomes sound. These are the normal conditions of human life.

Yang pertains to the spirit, while yin pertains to physical form; in this, all people are alike. When balance is lost, however, heated vital energy and blood produce fever, while the contrary produces chills. Accumulation forms tumors; obstruction gives rise to malignant sores; excessively rapid circulation causes palpitations and fear; depletion produces burning heat.

Therefore, a skilled physician uses acupuncture needles to guide the vital essence and fine medicines to cure illness. Sages, meanwhile, employ supreme virtue to bring harmony and worldly means to confer benefit. Thus, they can dispel illnesses of the body and eliminate calamities throughout heaven and earth.

The Ekottarika Agama records: “At that time, the Blessed One told the bhikkhus that there are three major illnesses: illnesses of wind, phlegm, and cold.

There are also three excellent medicines for treating them: First, for an illness of wind, use cream as medicine and food; second, for an illness of phlegm, use honey as medicine and food; third, for an illness of cold, use oil as medicine and food.

Bhikkhus likewise have three great afflictions: sensual desire, anger, and ignorance.

There are also three excellent medicines with which to counteract them: First, for the illness of sensual desire, one should employ the contemplation of impurity as its antidote and reflect upon that Dharma; second, for the illness of anger, one should employ loving-kindness as its antidote and reflect upon that Dharma; third, for the illness of ignorance, one should employ wisdom as its antidote and contemplate the Dharma of dependent origination.”

[176c] Furthermore, the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom records: “Prajnaparamita can utterly eradicate eighty-four thousand illnesses. These eighty-four thousand illnesses all arise from four illnesses associated with greed, anger, and ignorance. Each of these four illnesses comprises twenty-one thousand afflictions.

The contemplation of impurity eliminates twenty-one thousand afflictions of sensual desire. The contemplation of loving-kindness and compassion eliminates twenty-one thousand afflictions of anger. The contemplation of causes and conditions eliminates twenty-one thousand afflictions of ignorance.

The foregoing methods applied together eliminate twenty-one thousand afflictions combining greed, anger, and ignorance. Just as a radiant jewel can dispel darkness, so too can prajnaparamita dispel the afflictions of the three poisons.”

XXIX.4. Arrangements

The treatise states: The house of the three realms is fundamentally a repository of the four great elements; the objects of the six sense fields are the dwelling place of the five skandhas. Because false thoughts fabricate deceitfully and delusion and inversion intermingle, myriad kinds of suffering vie to bind beings, and a hundred anxieties gather together. Now that karmic retribution has ripened, life is like a lamp before the wind.

Yet sentient beings remain attached and do not awaken even at death. Fearing that if sentient beings remained continually in one place, they would cherish their possessions and cling to their families, the Buddha taught that their dwelling place should be changed, causing them to develop disenchantment, recognize the approach of impermanence, and arouse right mindfulness.

The Mahasamghika Vinaya records: “If a venerable elder becomes ill, a fine, well-ventilated room should be chosen so that members of the Sangha, nuns, and Buddhist devotees may visit and form wholesome affinities. Each day the caregiver should light incense and lamps and sprinkle fragrant water upon the ground to welcome visitors.”

A painting at Jetavana Monastery in the Western Regions depicts the following: “At the northwestern corner of the monastery, facing the setting sun, stands the Cloister of Impermanence. If anyone becomes ill, arrangements are made for that person to rest there. Most develop a sense of weariness and leave, with only a few remaining.

Within that building stands a statue of the Buddha, coated with golden lacquer and facing east. The sick person should be seated before the statue, facing it; if too weak, the person should be laid down facing west and contemplate the Buddha’s excellent marks. The statue holds a five-colored streamer in its hand.

The sick person is told to grasp the lower end of the streamer and contemplate rebirth in the Pure Land. Even if the sick person defecates or urinates while seated there, the Blessed One does not regard it as defilement. This realm is inherently impure and turbid, yet He still comes to receive and liberate sentient beings of inferior capacity.

How, then, could the Buddha abandon someone now approaching the end of life? According to the realm preferred by the sick person, an image of Amitabha Buddha, Maitreya Buddha, Akshobhya Buddha, Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, or another sacred figure should be arranged as described above, [177a] and incense should constantly be burned and flowers scattered as offerings, causing the sick person to arouse bodhicitta.”

XXIX.5. Gathering the Mind in Mindfulness

The three realms have no true existence, and the five skandhas are all empty; yet delusion gives rise to the four inversions[1], and the ten bonds[2] come together in mutual conjunction. Everything is like a flash of lightning; ten thousand kalpas pass in but an instant. The aging body is like a dry well, easily lost; a hundred years rush by as swiftly as the snap of a fingernail.

Yet beings continue along the path of delusion, not knowing the way home. They do not realize that this small, seven-foot body is merely provisional and temporary; the ears and eyes constantly pursue external objects, while all day long the mouth engages in empty talk. Already without any refuge or anyone to offer deliverance, they still refuse to accept the truth.

Once this life and body are relinquished, there is no appointed day on which they will become human again. Therefore, one must reflect upon oneself, have compassion for oneself, and cultivate practice when faced with danger.

The Ten Recitations Vinaya records: “A caregiver must accommodate the sick person and should praise that person’s former cultivation and study. The caregiver must not disparage them and thereby cause their initial wholesome resolve to decline.”

The Dharmaguptaka Vinaya records: “A caregiver should expound the Dharma to the sick person, causing them to give rise to a joyful mind.”

The Vinaya-Matrika Treatise records: “If the sick person does not heed the caregiver’s words, and the caregiver acts contrary to the sick person’s wishes, both incur an offense.”

The Avatamsaka Sutra contains verses concerning a sick person approaching the end of life:

To behold that radiance is to behold the Buddha;

That radiance awakens the one approaching death.

Through the Buddha-recollection samadhi, one will behold the Buddha;

After relinquishing the body, one is born in a Buddha-land.

Encourage the dying person to contemplate the wholesome;

Set up a sacred image and bid them gaze upon it.

Then urge the sick person to take refuge;

Through this, they behold the Buddha’s radiant light.

Explanation: As previously instructed, bring sutras and sacred images to the sick person, clearly write down the title of the sutra and the name of the figure represented by the image, and then read them aloud to the sick person. Next, ask the sick person to open their eyes and look, help them remain alert, and invite a virtuous person to read and recite Mahayana scriptures and offer praises. Hang banners and canopies, scatter flowers everywhere before their eyes, perfume their nostrils with incense, always speak good words, and convey no evil tidings.

As death approaches, the sick person sees many dreadful visions appear and may be unable to maintain firm resolve and dispel them. Therefore, the caregiver must skillfully devise ways to exhort and guide the person, so that wholesome thought follows wholesome thought in every ksana without interruption. Through the power of this merit, the sick person may form the aspiration to be reborn in the Pure Land.

The Mahaprajnaparamita Treatise records: “One who performed wholesome deeds while alive but gives rise to an evil thought near death will immediately be born in an evil realm. One who created evil karma while alive but gives rise to a wholesome thought near death will be born in a heavenly realm.”

The Vimalakirti Sutra records: “Recall the merit one has cultivated and be mindful of a life of purity.”

The Sutra on Mindfulness of the True Dharma records: “If a precept-observing person serves a sick person who has broken the precepts, seeking no recompense and never becoming weary at heart, then at death that person will be born in the [177b] Heaven of Universal Light and freely enjoy the five objects of sensual desire.”

Furthermore, the Treatise on Rebirth records: “If good men and good women cultivate the five gates of mindfulness to ultimate accomplishment, they will be reborn in the Land of Ultimate Bliss and behold Amitabha Buddha.

The five gates are: worship, praise, aspiration, contemplation, and dedication of merit.”

The Sutra on Rebirth According to One’s Vows records: “The Buddha told Bodhisattva Universal Vastness: If men or women of the four assemblies, when the day of death approaches, aspire to be born in a Buddha-land of the ten directions, their relatives should first bathe their bodies, dress them in clean garments, burn various kinds of fragrant incense, hang banners and canopies, praise the Three Jewels, read and recite scriptures, and explain to the sick person the Dharma through causes, conditions, and parables.

They should also use skillful words to expound the scriptures’ subtle meaning, explaining that all conditioned phenomena are suffering and empty, have no true reality, and arise through the provisional combination of the four great elements. The body is like a plantain tree, without any solid core; it is also like a flash of lightning and cannot endure for long. Thus, they should explain that the physical body cannot remain youthful forever and will inevitably decay.

Only by sincerely and diligently training in the Way can one escape suffering and see all one’s rightful aspirations fulfilled.”

XXIX.6. The End of Life

The four great elements are vessels containing poison, filled with impurities; the six thieves are a band of deranged masters, constantly craving external objects. Beings never have a day when they swim against the current of birth and death, but instead keep turning with its cycle. Some are even reluctant to give away a piece of cloth to benefit sentient beings and refuse to forgo a single meal to provide food for others.

Thus, they remain submerged in birth and death and cling firmly to conditioned dharmas. Because of this, the Buddhas knit their brows and bodhisattvas shed tears. I humbly reflect that when the parents of wealthy, eminent, and honored people in the world pass away, they arrange elaborate funeral rites, slaughter many living beings, gather their relatives, and hold banquets for officials and guests.

Merely to seek present fame, they disregard karmic causes; or, fearing the ridicule of outsiders, they fail to act in accordance with the true Dharma. Consequently, when the father dies, these deeds heap further guilt and suffering upon him; when the mother passes away, they add still more misery. Thus, they continue wandering through the three realms and remain endlessly within the six paths.

Truly, the four lower destinies are easy to enter, yet difficult to escape even after ten thousand kalpas. How grievous for the departed spirits of loving mothers and revered fathers! How lamentable that unfilial children repay them with evil deeds!

During a prolonged drought, one surely hopes for soaking rain; when epidemics abound, one must rely upon the medicine of a skilled physician. Since one’s parents were ordinary beings, how could they have avoided creating evil karma? Unless the causes of their offenses are extinguished, their karmic retribution will be difficult to remove; unless they rely upon supreme merit and virtue, how can the fruit of happiness be attained? If, as death approaches, they vow that their bodies be laid to rest in the Sitavana charnel ground, hoping thereby to relieve birds and beasts from hunger and thirst, and that their wealth be used to cultivate merit, they will avoid incurring debts in future lives.

[177c] In the Sutra of the Twelve Categories of Birth and Death, the Buddha taught that there are twelve categories of the deceased:

1. No Remainder: an arhat who no longer has any attachment.

2. Having Crossed Over: an anagamin who will not be born again.

3. Having Remainder: a sakrdagamin who will be born once more after death.

4. Training in Crossing Over: a srotapanna who has perceived the principle of the Way.

5. Without Deception: one progressing toward the stage of the eight kinds of noble persons.

6. Joyful: one who practices with single-minded concentration.

7. Again and Again: one who has broken the precepts.

8. Regret: an ordinary being.

9. Untimely Death: a person who suffers in loneliness.

10. Bound by Attachment: an animal.

11. Scorched and Burned: a sentient being in hell.

12. Hunger and Thirst: a hungry ghost.

Bhiksus should clearly understand these matters and must not be heedless.

Furthermore, the Pure Land Samadhi Sutra records: “When people who have created wholesome or evil karma are to be born in heaven or fall into hell, each will have someone come to receive them as death approaches. When they are about to die, they see those who have come to welcome them. Those destined to be born in heaven see devas holding celestial garments and playing music as they come to receive them.

Those destined to be born in another realm see noble persons speaking kind words. Those who have created evil karma and are to fall into hell see soldiers wielding swords, spears, and halberds surrounding them. The visions seen by each person differ.

At that time, they are unable to speak and simply undergo the corresponding retribution according to the karma they have created. The law of heaven is impartial and wrongs no one; beings are judged according to the karma they have created.”

The Avatamsaka Sutra records: “When a person is about to die, the intermediate-state body appears. If that person has created evil karma, they will see themselves suffering in the three evil realms, or see King Yama holding various weapons, seizing offenders and leading them away, or hear anguished groans of pain. If that person has created wholesome karma, they will see extraordinary things such as celestial palaces and brilliantly adorned celestial maidens playing together in delight.”

The Sutra of Parables in the Dhammapada records: “Long ago, the Buddha was staying at Jetavana Monastery, teaching the Dharma to devas and humans. At that time, a householder lived beside the road near the monastery. He was extremely wealthy and possessed countless riches, but had only one son, who had just turned twenty and had been married for less than seven days.

The husband and wife loved each other dearly. In the third month of spring, they wished to visit the garden behind their house to admire the scenery and stroll about. In that garden stood a large jujube tree covered with beautiful blossoms.

The wife wanted some of its flowers, but there was no one to pick them for her, so her husband climbed the tree. He had only stepped onto a small branch when it broke, and he fell to the ground and died. The householder’s entire family came running.

The householder wailed and wept bitterly, fainting for a long while before regaining consciousness. Everyone who heard him was heartbroken. After the body had been prepared and placed in the coffin, they brought it home, yet [178a] everyone continued weeping without cease.

At that time, the Blessed One, pitying them for their delusion, went to inquire after them and offer consolation. When the householder’s family saw the Buddha, they were overcome with grief. They bowed at his feet and told him of all their suffering.

The Buddha said:

– Cease your weeping! Compose your minds and listen to the Dharma! All things are impermanent and cannot endure. Where there is birth, there is death, and offenses and merits follow one another. The death of this son has caused people in three places to weep and grieve beyond restraint. Ultimately, whose son is he? Who are his parents?

The Blessed One then spoke this verse:

Life is like a flower or ripened fruit,

Ever in fear of falling;

Once born, one must undergo suffering—

Who is there that does not die?

From the beginning, delighting in sensual desire,

One seeks to enter a womb;

Taking on a body is like a flash of lightning,

Changing day and night without pause.

This body is a thing destined for death;

The spirit is originally without form.

When the body dies, one is born again;

Offenses and merits are never lost.

Before and after, there is not merely one lifetime;

Because delusion and craving endure so long,

One personally undergoes suffering and joy;

The body dies, but the spirit is not extinguished.

After hearing the verse, the householder’s mind opened to understanding and he ceased to grieve. Kneeling, he addressed the Buddha:

– Blessed One! What offense did this child commit in a former life that, though healthy and strong, he has now died so young? I beseech the Blessed One to teach me!

The Buddha said:

– Long ago, a child carrying a bow and arrows went to play near a sacred tree. Three other people stood nearby watching. A sparrow was perched in the tree, and the child wanted to shoot it. The other three encouraged him, saying, ‘If you can hit that bird, you will be the finest child in the world.’ Delighted by these words, he drew his bow and shot. The arrow struck the bird, and it died. The three people laughed together, joining in the child’s delight, and then each went their separate way. Over many kalpas of birth and death, wherever they were born, they came together and underwent retribution. Of those three people, one possessed merit and now dwells in a celestial realm; one lives beneath the sea as a dragon king; and the other is now none other than you, the householder. Previously, this child was born in heaven as the celestial being’s son, but eventually fell from a tree and died. He was then born beneath the sea as the dragon king’s son, but immediately after birth was seized and devoured by the king of the golden-winged garuda birds. Today, those in all three places are weeping in anguish beyond description. Because these three people encouraged the child’s delight in a former life, they must now undergo such retribution.

The Blessed One then spoke this verse:

Consciousness goes into the three realms;

Good and evil bring birth in three places.

[178b] Coming and going in obscurity,

The places of birth are like echoes.

The Desire, Form, and Formless Realms

All arise from causes in former lives.

Planting a cause is like forming an image;

Experiencing its fruit is like the image’s shadow.

After hearing the Buddha speak this verse, the householder’s mind opened to understanding. His entire family rejoiced, and they attained the fruit of stream-entry.”

The Dharmaguptaka Vinaya records: “At that time, for the benefit of sentient beings approaching death, the Blessed One spoke this verse:

All things shall return to emptiness;

Whatever rises high must fall.

Where there is birth, there must be death;

Body and life are both impermanent.

Countless sentient beings fall,

For all conditioned things are thus.

Throughout all worlds,

All must undergo aging and death.

For sentient beings, this is the constant law:

Life after life, all must die.

According to the karma they have created,

Offenses and merits each bear their fruits.

Evil karma leads one down to the hells;

Wholesome karma brings birth in heaven.

The pure and noble are born in favorable realms

And attain uncontaminated nirvana.”

XXIX. 7. Escorting the Deceased

Explanation: Birth and death revolve without departing from conventional truth. Although monastics earnestly seek the supreme path, segmented birth and death is difficult to end, and transformational birth and death has not yet been eliminated. They therefore continue to wander through the three realms and revolve in accordance with worldly convention. Even life and death depend upon the four great elements within and external conditions without. When death approaches, the dying person should be placed in a suitable location. The funeral rites are explained fully below.

Regarding the deceased, they should be laid with the head facing south or north. The hun and po souls are not the same; this will now be explained only briefly.

The “Evolution of Rites” chapter of the Book of Rites records: “The corporeal po descends, while conscious vital energy rises. Therefore, the dead are laid with their heads facing north, while the living sleep with their heads facing south.”

The “Single Victim at the Border Sacrifices” chapter of the Book of Rites records: “The hun vital energy rises to heaven, while the bodily po returns to the earth. Sacrificial offerings are therefore made in conformity with the principles of yin and yang.”

The “Meaning of Sacrifices” chapter of the Book of Rites records: “Vital energy is the spirit that fills the body; the hun is the ghostly essence that pervades the physical form.”

The seventh year of Duke Zhao of Lu in the Zuo Commentary records: “Zichan said to Zhao Jingzi: When a human being is born, that which first takes form is called the po. After the po has arisen, its yang vital energy dwelling within the body is called the hun. When people consume abundant fine food, their hun and po become strong, and thus their vital essence and spirit attain clarity. When ordinary men or women suffer wrongful deaths, their hun and po may attach themselves to others and exert their power. How much more so when they drift homeless through empty space?”

[178c] The Huainanzi[3] says: “The vital energy of heaven is the hun, and the vital energy of earth is the po.”

The Po asked the Hun:

– What does the Way take as its substance? Is it formless or does it possess form?

The Hun replied:

– It possesses form. If it were formless, why would there be any need to ask? I have encountered it: when I looked, I could not see its form; when I listened intently, there was no sound. This is called darkness and obscurity. ‘Darkness and obscurity’ is spoken as an analogy for the Way, but it is not the Way itself.

Question: Since it is known that the Hun and Po are different, why do people today use the deceased person’s clothing to summon the hun after death, rather than saying that they summon the po?

Answer: The hun is the spiritual soul, while the po is the corpse. Therefore, the Book of Rites records: “When a person has just died, a garment they habitually wore while alive is spread out. Because the hun has already departed from the body, that garment is carried away to summon the hun, so that the hun will recognize its own garment and return to enter the po. If the hun returns and enters the po, the corpse’s mouth will move; if the hun does not return to enter the po, its mouth will not move. According to this principle, it is called summoning the hun, not summoning the po.”

The Essential Record of Funeral and Mourning Attire records: When Duke Ai of Lu was burying his father, Confucius asked:

– Will you not prepare a garment for summoning the hun?

Duke Ai of Lu replied:

– This spirit-summoning garment originated with Bá Đào. When Bá Đào journeyed to Mount Kinh, he froze to death along the way. His friend, Dương Giác Ai, came to bring his body back for burial and, grieving that his spirit was cold, devised the spirit garment. While my father was alive, he wore brocade and silk; when he died, he was still fully clothed. What need was there for a spirit garment?

Question: Why must the deceased’s full name be written on the streamer?

Answer: The spirit-summoning streamer is placed in the northwest so that the spirit may recognize its own name, find its way back to the dark chamber, and enter the corporeal soul, or enter the inner chamber. All kinds of food are arranged therein as offerings. Because the living and the dead differ, what they perceive as darkness and light is not the same. Ghosts and spirits eat in darkness, while the living eat in the light. Therefore, the food is wrapped in many layers of grass matting and placed in the inner chamber in the southwest.

According to Indian custom, there are four ways of disposing of a dead body:

1. Set it adrift with the current (water burial).

2. Burn it with fire (cremation).

3. Bury it beneath the earth (earth burial).

4. Leave the corpse in the forest (forest burial).

The Five-Part Vinaya states: “If the body is cremated, it must be placed upon stone. It must not be burned on grassy ground, for fear of harming insects.”

The Four-Part Vinaya states: “The Tathagata and a wheel-turning sage-king are both to be cremated. For all others, one of the remaining methods is used.”

The Five-Part Vinaya states: “The body should be buried. (According to the king’s law, corpses may not be abandoned in the forest. Moreover, it is feared that cremation during the summer may harm insects; therefore, the body must be buried.) In places where no such difficulty exists, it is also permitted to consign the body to water or leave it in the forest.”

The Four-Part Vinaya and the Five Hundred Questions state: “If one sees a stupa or shrine dedicated to the Tathagata, or the tomb of a member of the fivefold ordained assembly who was senior to oneself, one must visit it and pay homage according to the deceased’s number of rains retreats. Whenever laypeople see a stupa belonging to any member of the fivefold ordained assembly, whether senior or junior, [179a] they must reverently bow their heads in homage.”

Explanation: Knowing this, when a monastic or layperson sees that the parents of a monk have passed away, or when an outsider comes to pay respects, if that person was junior to the deceased, they should go to the coffin and perform the customary rites; then they should offer condolences and comfort to the children, and afterward approach the venerable monk to express sympathy, offer condolences, and bow in homage. Yet one also sees deluded laypeople acting wrongly and successively teaching others that they must not bow to the departed spirits of their parents, paternal uncles, maternal uncles, or relatives.

They say: “I have received the precepts, while those people are now ghosts and spirits; therefore, I do not bow to them, for fear of breaking the precepts.” This does not accord with the Buddha’s intent; instead, it incurs the offense of ignorance.

Consider this: our teachers and patriarchs nurture our Dharma body and wisdom-life. Our parents, uncles, and elders nurture our physical bodies; through our mother’s milk, we grow and become human beings. When we reflect upon this kindness, lofty as heaven and difficult to repay, we realize that it must be repaid over many lifetimes; how could it be fully repaid in a single life? Some people fail to honor this kindness and instead give rise to arrogance, following the example of base and foolish people. How could they ever become filial children?

The Blessed One, the highest of sages, personally helped carry the golden coffin of his royal father. How much more should we, ignorant ordinary beings, refrain from constantly giving rise to indolence and pride? Therefore, the Nirvana Sutra states: “Knowing gratitude is the foundation of great compassion. Those who do not recognize kindness and gratitude are worse than beasts and birds.”

Furthermore, the Sutra of King Suddhodana’s Nirvana states: “At that time, King Suddhodana was in the land of the Sakyas. Gravely ill and nearing the end of his life, he wished to see the Blessed One, Nanda, and the others. At that time, the Blessed One was on Mount Grdhrakuta near the city of Rajagrha, fifty yojanas from the royal palace.

On Vulture Peak, through his purified divine ear, the Blessed One knew his royal father’s thoughts and immediately flew through the air with Ananda and the others to reach him. Upon arriving, he placed his hand on the king’s forehead and comforted him, then expounded the Maha Pala Jataka for him. After hearing it, the king immediately attained the state of an anagamin.

The king took the Buddha’s hand and placed it over his own heart. The Buddha again taught the Dharma to him, and the king immediately attained arhatship.

Impermanence suddenly arrived. The king neared the end of his life and soon passed into the next existence. At the time of the cremation, the Buddha, Nanda, and the others stood reverently at the head of the coffin, while Ananda and Rahula stood to one side.

At that time, Ananda knelt and said to the Buddha:

– Blessed One! Please allow me to carry my uncle’s golden coffin!

Rahula said:

– Blessed One! Please allow me to carry my grandfather’s golden coffin!

The Buddha consoled them, saying: ‘People in later ages will mostly be cruel and wicked and will not repay the kindness of their parents in raising them. For the sake of those unfilial beings, I shall establish this teaching of transformation; therefore, the Tathagata wishes personally to carry the golden coffin of his royal father.’ At that very moment, the three-thousandfold great-thousand world-system shook in six ways, and all the mountains rose and sank like boats bobbing upon the waves.

At that time, all the devas, nagas, ghosts, and spirits came to attend the funeral, [179b] wailing in grief. The Four Heavenly Kings led hundreds of thousands of kotis of ghosts and spirits to attend the funeral and said to the Buddha:

– The Tathagata has given rise to great loving-kindness and compassion and, out of pity for beings in later ages who will be unfilial toward their parents, wishes personally to carry the golden coffin of his royal father!

The Four Heavenly Kings again said to the Buddha:

– Blessed One! We are your disciples. By following you and hearing the Dharma, we attained the fruit of stream-entry. Therefore, you should allow us to carry the golden coffin of your royal father.

The Buddha consented. The Four Heavenly Kings then transformed themselves into human beings and carried the golden coffin away, while all the people wailed in grief. The Blessed One carried an incense burner and walked ahead to the cremation ground. At the same time, he sent one thousand arhats to an island in the open sea to obtain various fragrant woods, such as ox-head sandalwood, and bring them back for the cremation of his royal father.

At that time, the Buddha taught:

– All conditioned phenomena are suffering, empty, and impermanent. They are like reflections in a mirror or the moon in the water; all are illusory transformations.

When the cremation was complete, the kings of the various countries each took five hundred jars of milk and poured them upon the pyre to extinguish the fire. After the fire had been extinguished, they vied with one another to gather the remains and place them in a vajra casket. They then erected a stupa there for veneration and hung banners, streamers, and jeweled canopies as offerings.

The Buddha told the assembly:

– King Suddhodana was a pure man and has been reborn in the Pure Abodes.”

Furthermore, the Sutra of the Buddha’s Mother’s Nirvana states: “The bhiksuni Mahaprajapati was the Buddha’s maternal aunt and foster mother. Unable to bear witnessing the Buddha’s passing into nirvana, she wished to enter nirvana before him. Together with five hundred ‘women who had cast off hunger’ (‘women who had cast off hunger’ means bhiksunis.

In his commentary on the Dharma Mirror Sutra, Kang Senghui explained: Ordinary beings greedily cling to the six sense objects, like gluttons who never know satisfaction. The noble ones have now severed the mind of craving and eliminated the hunger and thirst of the six sense faculties; therefore, ordained women are called ‘those who have cast off hunger.’), she stroked the Buddha’s feet with her hands, circumambulated him three times, bowed her head in homage, and withdrew.

Mahaprajapati then manifested transformations through her spiritual powers. She naturally disappeared from her seat, afterward came forth from the east, remained suspended in midair, and displayed eighteen kinds of spiritual transformations. She manifested likewise in the eight directions, above, and below, emitting brilliant light that illuminated all dark places and reached the heavenly realms.

The five hundred bhiksunis manifested transformations in the same manner, and together they entered nirvana before the Buddha.”

At that time, the Buddha advised the families in the village to prepare five hundred carts to carry the coffins and five hundred carts to carry various kinds of fragrant wood, sesame oil, flowers, and incense, and to perform fine music as offerings. All ordinary and holy beings who witnessed this were moved to tears. After the cremation was completed, the bhiksus brought the relics to the Buddha.

At that time, from each of the four directions, two hundred and fifty arhats flew there by means of supernatural powers. They bowed their heads at the Buddha’s feet and then went to the place where the relics had been enshrined. After the one thousand bhiksus had taken their seats, the Buddha told Ananda to place the relics in an alms bowl and then put it into His hands.

Venerable Ananda obeyed. The Buddha said to the bhiksus:

– These relics formerly belonged to a defiled, violent, wicked, foolish, jealous, scheming, and deceitful body that disrupted the Way and ruined virtue. Now My maternal aunt has completely cast off these faults, practiced the conduct of a great person, attained the fruit of arhatship, and realized the mind that is originally empty. How truly courageous she was!

Having said this, the Buddha instructed that a stupa be built as an offering.”

[179c] The Ekottarika Agama records: “The Buddha told Ananda and Rahula:

– Carry the bodily remains of Mahaprajapati here; I Myself shall make offerings to her.

At that time, Sakra, Lord of the Devas, and the Four Heavenly Kings came before the Buddha and said:

– Please do not trouble Yourself; we shall make the offerings!

The Buddha said:

– Enough, enough! Why is this? Because parents give birth to their children and confer many benefits upon them. Their kindness in nurturing, nursing, carrying, and holding them is profound, and we must repay it. When the mothers of the Buddhas of the past and future entered extinction, those Buddhas all cremated them and made offerings to their relics.

At that time, Vaisravana, the Heavenly King, ordered spirits to go to the sandalwood forest, bring back wood, and pile it in an open field. The Buddha, Ananda, Rahula, and Nanda each lifted one leg of the bier and flew through the air to the cremation ground. With His own hands, the Buddha placed sandalwood upon the body of the bhiksuni Mahaprajapati.

The Buddha taught:

– There are four kinds of persons for whom stupas should be built as offerings: a Buddha, a pratyekabuddha, an arhat who has exhausted the outflows, and a Wheel-Turning Sage King. This is because all four teach and transform sentient beings by means of the ten wholesome deeds.

At that time, the people requested the relics and built stupas themselves as offerings.”

The Samyukta Agama records: “The Buddha’s maternal aunt Mahaprajapati was Nanda’s mother.”

Furthermore, the Ekottarika Agama records: “Among the four assemblies of disciples, eight persons were distinguished as the first and last to attain the Way:

– Bhiksus:

1. The first to attain the Way was the bhiksu Kaundinya, who was skilled in teaching and transforming sentient beings and never departed from dignified conduct.

2. The last to attain the Way was Subhadra, who attained the Way on the day when the Buddha was about to enter nirvana.

– Bhiksunis:

3. The first to attain the Way was the bhiksuni Mahaprajapati.

4. The last to attain the Way was the bhiksuni Dhara-Kumi-Guo.

– Upasakas:

5. The first to attain the Way was a male merchant.

6. The last to attain the Way was Kusi-Namala.

– Upasikas:

7. The first to attain the Way was the woman Nanba.

8. The last to attain the Way was the upasika Lamba.”

XXIX.8. Taking Birth

While a person is alive, the eight consciousnesses sustain the body; at death, the four great elements disperse. Even if one lives for a hundred years, one must ultimately die, revolving through the three realms and wandering without cease. Therefore, a sutra records: “Whatever has a beginning will have an end; wherever there is birth, there will certainly be cessation.” The Dharma taught by the Buddha cannot be false; it can be seen with the eyes and touched with the hands. Therefore, this section briefly presents six approaches:

The first approach: When a person is about to die, by examining whether the parts of the body are warm or cold, one can know whether that person will receive retribution and take birth in a good or evil realm in the next life.

[180a] The Yogacarabhumi Treatise records: “Sentient beings are neither matter nor mind. Their provisional bodies, whether large or small, are all alike in this respect, but death may occur quickly or slowly. The treatise masters maintain that when a person who has performed wholesome deeds dies, if the body is found to become cold from the soles of the feet upward to the navel, while the area above the navel remains warm and only afterward loses all warmth, that person will be reborn in the human realm.

If the body is found to become cold from below upward, while the head and face remain warm and only afterward lose all warmth, that person will be reborn in a heavenly realm. For those who have performed evil deeds, the sequence is reversed. If the body is found to become cold from the top of the head downward, while the waist remains warm and only afterward loses all warmth, that person will fall into the realm of hungry ghosts.

If the cold descends from above while the knees remain warm, that person will be reborn as an animal after death. If warmth remains only from the knees down to the feet, that person will fall into hell after death. When one beyond training enters nirvana, warmth remains at the heart or at the crown of the head.”

Therefore, the Yogacarabhumi Treatise records: “The kalala is the first place upon which consciousness depends; it is also called the physical heart. When consciousness first enters and takes birth, it comes to this place, and it is also the final place from which consciousness departs the living body.”

Explanation: According to the Yogacarabhumi Treatise, because wholesome karma causes birth in higher realms, if the cold in a dying person’s body gradually rises from below to the heart, this is called “upward relinquishment.” Because unwholesome karma causes birth in lower realms, if the cold descends from above to the heart, this is called “downward relinquishment.”

According to the Abhidharmakosa Treatise: “In which part of the body does consciousness cease when an ordinary person dies? There are two cases. If a person dies all at once, the faculties and consciousness cease simultaneously. If a person dies progressively, part by part, it is as stated in this verse:

If a person dies gradually,

From the feet upward to the navel,

Reaching the heart, consciousness ceases;

Lower realms, human and heavenly realms, and the unborn.

The treatise explains: If a dying person is to take birth in an evil realm or among human beings, the limbs die successively from above downward; as for an arhat, consciousness comes to an end at the heart. Other schools also say that consciousness ceases at the crown of the head. Why? Because the bodily faculty and consciousness both cease simultaneously at the crown of the head. When an ordinary person dies, the body is like a few drops of water poured upon a hot stone: the water gradually dries up, after which the stone gradually becomes cold. In the same way, consciousness and the bodily faculty successively cease at the feet and at the other limbs.”

Explanation: The Abhidharmakosa Treatise states: “According to the view of the Lesser Vehicle, when a person dies, the body and consciousness both cease in various parts of the body. According to the Mahayana, the body and the fundamental consciousness both cease in various parts of the body.”

The second approach: The manner of taking birth.

The Abhidharmakosa Treatise records: “In order to proceed to the realm in which one must take birth, the intermediate-state body arises. Through the power of karma from the previous life, even when very far away, a sentient being’s visual faculty can perceive the appropriate place of birth. There, the intermediate-state being sees its future father and mother engaged in intercourse.

If the intermediate-state being is to become a son, it immediately gives rise toward the mother to the sexual desire of a man; if it is to become a daughter, it immediately gives rise toward the father to the sexual desire of a woman. At the same time, it also gives rise to anger. [180b] Because these two inverted states of mind arise, the intermediate-state being desires to go to the place of birth, wishing to possess everything there as its own.

When this impure intention arises, it has already entered the womb. It immediately becomes joyful and attaches itself there to take birth. From this moment, the sentient being’s body of five skandhas becomes firmly united, and the intermediate-state body immediately ceases.

Only then is this called taking birth.”

If the fetus is male, it remains by the left flank, crouching against it with its face turned toward the mother’s back. If the fetus is female, it rests against the right flank with its face turned toward the mother’s abdomen. If the fetus is neither male nor female, it takes birth according to its type of desire. Its position in the womb is likewise determined. All beings in the intermediate state are alike in having the faculties of either a male or a female fully present. Therefore, whether male or female, after taking birth in the womb, the being gradually grows there and may sometimes become a paṇḍaka. The manner in which beings take birth among the womb-born and egg-born is also like this.

If a being is to take birth among the moisture-born, merely delighting in an odor causes it to be born there. Whether that odor is clean or foul is experienced according to the karma created in a previous life. If the being is spontaneously born, it takes birth wherever it delights to be.

Why, then, do beings in the hells delight in those places? Because their minds are inverted, these beings constantly perceive freezing winds and icy rain tormenting their bodies. When they see the hellfires blazing fiercely, they delight in them and wish to draw near and touch them; therefore, they take birth in hell. Other beings perceive their bodies scorched by hot winds and flames, suffering piercing and unbearable pain. When they see the frozen hells, they regard them as exceedingly cool and refreshing and delight in touching them; therefore, they are born there.

Among the womb-born and egg-born, a being takes birth when its parents engage in intercourse. The spontaneously born and moisture-born do not depend upon the father’s semen and the mother’s blood to form their bodies, and therefore require no intercourse. A moisture-born being merely delights in smelling an odor and is immediately born there. According to its wholesome or unwholesome karma, it delights in smelling either a clean or a foul odor. A spontaneously born being merely delights in the place to which it is going.

Although hell is a place of suffering, sinful beings nevertheless delight in taking birth there. Why? If they did not delight in it, they would not take birth there.

The treatise states: Whatever karma was created in a previous life, one now generally attracts a corresponding retribution and takes birth accordingly. A being in the intermediate state delights in seeing itself in such circumstances and sees the beings there as being like itself; therefore, it takes birth in that place. The ancient masters of the treatises explained:

Suppose that at the age of thirty, people create the karma of killing by spreading nets and surrounding beings to capture them. While doing this, they certainly have companions. Because of this karma, they incur the retribution of falling into hell. After death, their bodies in the intermediate state perceive themselves spreading traps and surrounding beings just as they did thirty years before. This is what is meant by “circumstances.”

The beings in the intermediate state also see their former companions and their former activities exactly as before. When they perceive the realm of hell, they seem to see their old fishing companions at rivers and lakes, as in former days, all streaming into that place together. They consequently give rise to delight and thus take birth there.

It should further be clearly understood that [180c], although many kinds of karma may have been created in the past, a single karma is sufficient to draw a being down into hell. If one created such karma at the age of twenty or thirty, then after death, the body in the intermediate state perceives itself creating that karma at the age of twenty or thirty, just as before, and also sees the beings in hell as being of the same age as itself. Because their ages appear alike, the being develops attachment to that place and immediately goes there to take birth. It is through such delight that one proceeds to take birth. This is the explanation given by the Sautrāntika masters.[4]

Furthermore, the Yogācārabhūmi Treatise records: “If a person of little merit is to be born into an impoverished and lowly family, then at death and at the moment of entering the womb, that person hears confused and discordant sounds and mistakenly perceives entering dense groves of bamboo, reeds, and grasses. If a person of abundant merit is to be born into a wealthy, noble, and powerful family, that person then hears beautiful, clear, and pleasing sounds and mistakenly perceives agreeable scenes appearing, as though ascending into magnificent palaces.”

The Abhidharmakośa Treatise records: “If a person approaching the end of life gives rise to wrong views, that person falls into hell, taking previous unwholesome karma as the cause and wrong views as the condition. One master of the treatises said: ‘All unwholesome dharmas are causes of hell. Apart from these unwholesome dharmas, there are other evil dharmas that are causes of birth among hungry ghosts or animals.’”

Furthermore, because one created much evil karma in the past, one falls into the animal realm. Those of excessive lust are born as pigeons, sparrows, or mandarin ducks. Those with much anger are born as cobras or scorpions. Those with much delusion are born as pigs, goats, bees, or shellfish. Those with much arrogance are born as lions, tigers, or wolves. Those whose minds are excessively restless and given to jesting are born as monkeys or apes. Those who are miserly and jealous are born as starving dogs. If some residual wholesome merit remains, then although they are born among animals, they still experience a little happiness.

Although the two kinds of karma committed by body and speech are governed by the mind, verbal karma brings extremely grave retribution. For example, if one reviles or despises others, comparing them to monkeys or apes, one will immediately be born as a monkey or ape. Or one may revile others as being greedy like crows, having voices like barking dogs or braying donkeys, being stupid like pigs or goats, walking like camels, being conceited like elephants, fierce like wild buffaloes, lustful like sparrows, timid like wildcats, or sycophantic like foxes.

Evil deeds such as these all bring retribution in accordance with verbal karma. Yet their source lies in the three poisons, of which craving is the most severe. It draws along all other karma, just as when one takes hold of one end of a piece of cloth, all the remaining parts follow.”

The Mahāprajñāpāramitā Treatise records: “If craving is not brought to an end, one takes birth according to that craving. Therefore, all four modes of birth arise from craving. As it is said, those of excessive lust are born as sparrows, while those excessively greedy for flavors are born in cesspits.

Furthermore, because of sensual craving, beings are born through wombs or eggs. Because of craving to smell odors, they take bodies among the moisture-born. When, through attachment to a place of delight, one creates deeply weighty karma, one takes a body among the spontaneously born.

If the mind greatly delights in creating sinful karma, then at death one mistakenly perceives the realm of hell [181a] and is immediately born there spontaneously. If the mind delights in creating profound and abundant merit, one attains spontaneous birth in the heavenly realms.”

Therefore, the Satyasiddhi Treatise records: “If the roots are not completely removed, the tree continues to live; if the root of craving is not entirely eradicated, the tree of suffering will forever remain.”

The Yogācārabhūmi Treatise records: “What is birth? Because attachment to self has arisen continuously, and because since beginningless time one has delighted in and been perfumed by the causes of conceptual proliferation and by pure or impure karmic causes, that initial basis, through the increasing power of these two causes, produces from the seed[5] a continuously arising body in the intermediate state, matured through karma, in that place.

Death and birth occur simultaneously, like the two equally balanced ends of a scale. This body in the intermediate state is endowed with all the faculties. For those who have created evil karma, the color of the intermediate-state body resembles the shadow of a black goat or the darkness of night.

For those who have created wholesome karma, the color of the intermediate-state body shines like white cloth or like a light in the darkness of night.”

The Abhidharmakośa Treatise records: “This body in the intermediate state is endowed with the five faculties and cannot be obstructed even by vajra and similar substances. For example, a frog may take birth within the vajra layer beneath Mount Sumeru. The intermediate-state body possesses subtle material form, and vajra cannot obstruct it. Only one who possesses the divine eye can see this.

Another account heard from others is cited as evidence. It was once heard that someone said: ‘When an iron bar is heated and broken open, a worm will be found inside.’

The Third Section: The Length and Brevity of the Lifespan.

The Abhidharmakośa states: “If the intermediate-state being has not yet determined where it will take birth, it may be born among another species within that realm. For example, buffaloes mate in summer, dogs in autumn, bears in winter, and horses in spring, while other animals, such as foxes, do not have a fixed season. If a being is destined to take birth as a buffalo but it is not summer, it will be born as a fox; if it is destined to take birth as a dog but it is not autumn, it will be born as a fox.”

Furthermore, the Abhidharmakośa masters offer four differing explanations:

1. Immediately after death, the intermediate-state being takes birth.

2. If it still retains an intermediate-state body after forty-nine days, there is thereafter no fixed limit of time.

3. If, within forty-nine days, the causes and conditions for taking birth are not yet complete, the intermediate-state being must die and be reborn many times; thereafter, there is no fixed limit of time.

4. The intermediate-state being takes birth according to conditions; even if many kalpas pass, it does not perish.

According to a fifth theory, the Yogācārabhūmi states: “If the intermediate-state being lacks sufficient conditions to take birth, it lives for no more than seven days, after which it dies and is reborn, continuing in this way until forty-nine days have elapsed. After that point, the intermediate-state being will certainly obtain the conditions for taking birth.”

This fifth theory differs from the preceding four.

The Fourth Section: The Speed or Slowness of Supernormal Powers

The Abhidharmakośa states: “This intermediate-state being travels through empty space. When a person dies, if the intermediate-state being is to take birth in one among innumerable worlds, [181b] it arrives there in but an instant. While the supernormal powers of those of the Two Vehicles cannot yet pass beyond a single world, the intermediate-state being has already passed beyond immeasurable worlds. Because this is determined by the power of karma, even the Buddha’s supernormal powers cannot prevent it from taking birth or cause it to take birth in another realm of existence.”

The statement that the intermediate-state being is faster than supernormal powers refers to the supernormal powers of those of the Two Vehicles and ordinary beings.

The Vibhāṣā states: “Supernormal locomotion is faster; this refers to the Buddha’s supernormal powers.”

The Fifth Section: Intermediate-State Beings Do Not All See One Another in the Same Way

The Abhidharmakośa states: “Intermediate-state beings that are to be born in the same realm will certainly see one another. A person possessing the purified divine eye who, through cultivating the Four Noble Truths, has attained knowledge of the path category will see where an intermediate-state being is to take birth. One whose divine eye was obtained as a karmic reward will not see it, because the material form of an intermediate-state being is extremely subtle.”

The Sarvāstivāda school states: “Intermediate-state beings that are both to take birth in the human realm will see one another. This is certain. Yet they cannot see intermediate-state beings belonging to other realms. A practitioner who possesses the divine eye associated with knowledge of the path category can see intermediate-state beings. The divine eye obtained as a karmic reward, however, cannot see intermediate-state beings, because their form is subtler than other kinds of material form.”

The Saṃmitīya school states: “Intermediate-state beings of the heavenly realm can see the intermediate-state beings of all five realms. Intermediate-state beings of the human realm can see those of the four lower realms, but not those of the heavenly realm. In this manner, each successively lower realm is unable to see those of the higher realms, until the intermediate-state beings of hell, which cannot see those of the four higher realms and can see only the intermediate-state beings of hell.”

The Sixth Section: The Size of the Intermediate-State Body

The Abhidharmakośa states: “An intermediate-state being resembles a child six or seven years old, but possesses acute understanding. The intermediate-state body of a bodhisattva resembles a strong young man and is complete with all the major and minor marks. Therefore, although bearing an intermediate-state body, when he enters the womb his light illuminates ten thousand koṭis of Jambudvīpa worlds.”

XXIX.9. Sacrificial Offerings

I have humbly heard: Gold and jade differ in value, yet everyone regards them as treasures. The teachings of Laozi and Confucius differ, yet all people follow them. Can it be that, because Confucius was born in our country, we wish to honor him as our teacher, while, because the Buddha came from a distant land, we are inclined to forsake him? This matter is extremely pressing; therefore, I set forth what is right and wrong, light and darkness, without deciding the matter on my own.

After Confucius passed away, his image was carved and enshrined for a thousand years in ancestral temples; for the Buddha, sacred stupas were erected to be reverenced for ten thousand generations. This was intended so that, upon seeing the likeness, people would remember, and upon seeing the image, they would turn their minds back. Honoring one’s teacher and remaining loyal to one’s sovereign share the same principle.

Ding Lan even bound a sash around himself and reverently served a wooden image of his mother. Akṣayamati removed his jeweled necklace and presented it as an offering to the stupa of the Buddha Prabhūtaratna. When we investigate the dim and distant affairs of antiquity and recall that far-off beginning, there were indeed very many who followed such practices, yet none went beyond this underlying principle.

Furthermore, an examination of the Book of Rites shows: [181c] “The Son of Heaven has seven ancestral temples; the feudal lords have five; and the great officers, ministers, and scholars each have temples according to their rank. Heaven is called the divine, and thus Heaven is sacrificed to upon a round mound. Earth is called the terrestrial spirit, and thus Earth is sacrificed to upon a square marsh.

Human beings are called ghosts after death, and thus offerings are made to them in ancestral temples. Dragons render service by bringing rain, while oxen render service by pulling the plow. Therefore, images of them are erected in villages, marketplaces, beneath trees, and at city gates.

How much more so the Buddha, who is the teacher of the Three Realms and the parent of the four kinds of birth, whose majestic virtue is revered by myriads of millions and whose lofty observance of the precepts serves as a model for sentient beings. Thus, all good people turn toward him, as a hundred rivers all flow into the great ocean; his brilliant radiance encompasses all, as the sun and moon shine amid the stars. The land of the Yuezhi preserved his posthumous likeness; the kingdom of Magadha retained the ashes of his body.

His relics were widely distributed, and stupas were built for their veneration at Jetavana Monastery. Through these, sages and worthies obtained great merit, and the honored and eminent gained peace and security.”

The Dīrgha Āgama states: “In all the houses of the people, along the streets and alleys, beside the boundaries of fields, at slaughterhouses and marketplaces, and even upon mountains and hills, there are ghosts and spirits. These ghosts and spirits are all named after the places where they dwell.

Whenever a human being is born, a ghost or spirit follows and guards that person. When people are about to die, the ghosts and spirits seize their vital essence. Whether one person or hundreds of thousands of people commit the ten evil deeds, only one ghost or spirit follows and guards them; but a person who performs the ten wholesome deeds is like the ruler of a country, protected by hundreds of thousands.”

The Sūtra of Analogies of the Ten Directions states: “All the ghosts and spirits between heaven and earth know whether the end of a person’s lifespan and the results of their offenses and merits are imminent or have not yet arrived. Yet they cannot prolong a person’s life or cause that person to die, nor can they make a person wealthy and honored or poor and miserable. They merely seek to induce people to commit evil and violate the precept against killing.

Then, when a person’s merit declines, they cause that person to become deranged and speak of offenses and merits, inducing people to arrange sacrificial rites and make offerings to them.” (It should therefore be understood that, if one merely knows how to make offerings to ghosts and spirits while seeking blessings in this life and the future, they will be difficult to obtain.)

The Lalitavistara Sūtra states: “At that time, Kāśyapa addressed the Buddha in verse:

Recalling the sacrificial rites I performed,

Throughout the course of eighty years,

I worshiped the gods of wind, fire, and water,

The sun and moon, the mountains and rivers.

Neither by night nor day was I negligent,

And my mind considered nothing else.

Yet in the end I obtained nothing;

Only upon meeting the Buddha did I find peace.”

The Saṃyukta-Ratna-Piṭaka Sūtra states: “Long ago, there was a brahmin who worshiped and made offerings day and night at a temple dedicated to a deva.

The deva asked:

– What do you wish to seek?

The brahmin replied:

– I now wish to become the master of this temple dedicated to the deva.

The deva said:

– Over there is a herd of buffaloes. Go and ask the one at the very front.

[182a] The brahmin immediately went and asked:

– How do you feel now? Are you suffering or happy?

The ox replied:

– I suffer greatly! Both sides of my body are always painfully chafed, my back is injured, and I must wear a yoke and pull heavily laden carts, without any time to rest.

The brahmin asked again:

– Why did you come to have this ox body?

The ox replied:

– In the past, I was the keeper of a temple dedicated to a deity and arbitrarily took the temple’s property for my own use. Therefore, after my life ended, I fell into an ox body and now endure much suffering.

After hearing this, the brahmin returned to the former place. The deity then asked:

– Do you still wish to be the keeper of a temple dedicated to a deity?

The brahmin replied:

– Now that I understand what it entails, I truly dare not do so anymore!

The deity said:

– Those who do good or evil will themselves receive the corresponding retribution.

Having heard this, the brahmin immediately repented of his offenses, cultivated wholesome practices, and corrected his former wrongs.”

The Sutra of the Miscellaneous Treasury of Precious Things records: “Long ago, there was an old man whose household was very wealthy. Because he wished to eat meat, he devised a lie. Pointing to a tree at the edge of a field, he told his children:

– Our family is wealthy today entirely because of the beneficent virtue of the deity of this tree. You should now take a goat from the herd, slaughter it, and offer it in sacrifice.

At that time, his children obeyed him. They immediately killed a goat as an offering of gratitude and erected a shrine to the deity at the foot of the tree. Later, when the father’s life ended, he was reborn, according to the karma he had created, among his own herd of goats. When the children later wished to make another offering to the tree deity, they caught a goat to slaughter, and it happened to be the very goat into which their father had been reborn. Just before it was killed, the goat wailed and said, ‘There is no deity in this tree! In the past, because I wanted to eat meat, I lied and told you to make an offering so that we could eat it together. Now I alone must bear the consequences and repay the offenses of my former life.’

At that time, an arhat who was passing by on alms round saw that the father of these people had died and fallen into a goat body. The arhat then enabled the householders to borrow his divine eye and see for themselves. When they learned that the goat was indeed their father, they were overwhelmed with anguish. They immediately cut down that sacred tree, repented of their offenses, cultivated merit, and never again killed living beings.”

The Sutra on the Precepts for Upasakas records: “The Buddha taught:

– Some claim that if a child cultivates wholesome practices while the father commits evil deeds, then because the child cultivates wholesome practices, the father will not fall into the three evil destinies. This is incorrect. Why? Because the three kinds of karma—of body, speech, and mind—are distinct for each person. If the father dies and falls into the realm of hungry ghosts, and the child performs meritorious deeds for him, the father will receive that merit. If that person has been reborn in a heavenly realm, he no longer thinks of things belonging to the human world. Why? Because the heavenly realm is already replete with wondrous precious things. If he has fallen into hell and is undergoing its many sufferings, he has no leisure to think of anything and therefore cannot receive that merit. [182b] The same is true if he is reborn as a human or an animal.

Why is it that only hungry ghosts can receive it? Because their former greed, stinginess, and attachment caused them to fall into the realm of hungry ghosts. Yet, after taking birth as hungry ghosts, they often regret their former offenses and constantly think about and wish to receive sustenance; therefore, they can receive it. If the person for whom merit is sought has already been reborn in another destiny, but that person’s relatives remain fallen among the hungry ghosts, they can all receive it. Therefore, the wise should encourage people to perform meritorious deeds for hungry ghosts.” (The essential meaning of the Sutra on the Contemplation of the True Dharma is the same as this.)

Someone asked:

– If offerings are made, who receives them?

Answer: Wherever an offering is made, the ghosts and spirits dwelling there receive it. If it is near a forest, the tree spirits there receive it. The same applies to offerings made at houses, rivers, streams, wells, mountains, forests, hills, and mounds. Those making the offerings also gain merit. Why? Because they cause the recipients to give rise to joyful minds. Through the merit and virtue of making these offerings, their lives and possessions are protected.

To say that one gains merit by killing living beings as sacrificial offerings is incorrect. Why? Because no one in the world has ever seen someone sow the seeds of the eranda tree[6] and obtain sandalwood trees. It is impossible to gain merit and virtue by taking the lives of living beings.

If one wishes to make offerings, one should offer incense, flowers, fruit, milk, and butter. If one performs meritorious deeds for the deceased, there are three appropriate times: the first month in spring, the fifth month in summer, and the ninth month in autumn.

If one gives others necessities such as dwellings, bedding, medicines, gardens, groves, ponds, wells, elephants, horses, oxen, and goats, then after one’s life ends, one will receive merit. Merit arises in accordance with how long or briefly the donated objects remain in use. Merit follows that person as a shadow follows the body.

Some claim: After death, everything is lost. This is incorrect. Why? Objects that decay and can no longer be used will disappear sooner or later, but the end of bodily life is not total extinction.

The Vibhasa Treatise records: “When meritorious deeds are performed for hungry ghosts, the hungry ghosts obtain food and drink, while our own bodies also gain additional benefit. It is as when a malodorous person becomes fragrant or an ugly person becomes beautiful.”

The Sutra on the Precepts for Upasakas further records: “The food and drink of the various kinds of hungry ghosts are not the same. Some consume pus and blood, while others consume filthy excrement. Yet when offerings are made to them, all the donated things turn into delicious food. If hungry ghosts have been reborn in other places, when their relatives make offerings for them, through the power of their karma those hungry ghosts know it from afar and give rise to joyful minds. Or, if they have been reborn in their own homes and are undergoing painful retributions, when their relatives make offerings for them, the hungry ghosts see this themselves and therefore give rise to joy.”

[182c] The Vibhasa Treatise records: “Some people seek wealth through unlawful means, and after acquiring it, they cling to it greedily and begrudge giving any to their own relatives, much less to outsiders. Because they have no mind of generosity, when their lives end, they fall into the realm of hungry ghosts and dwell in filthy cesspits beside their former homes. When their relatives learn of this, they are deeply distressed and think, ‘That person amassed possessions but dared not spend them personally, nor did he give them to others.’ Because of their distress, they wish to invite relatives, friends, wise persons, sramanas, and brahmins and make offerings of food and drink to them.

At that time, when the hungry ghost sees the possessions being given away by his relatives, he regards them as his own and thinks, ‘I accumulated these possessions, and now they are being given to others.’ He becomes very joyful and gives rise to reverence and faith in the field of merit. If he has been reborn in another destiny, he cannot receive it. Even if the deceased does not receive the merit, those who cultivate and create merit for the deceased will gain many benefits, just as those who give rise to loving-kindness themselves gain merit.”

The Treatise on the Great Prajnaparamita records: “It is like a person who gives rise to loving-kindness and compassion, keeps living beings in mind, and wishes them all to be happy. Although those living beings may not thereby attain happiness, the person who holds them in mind nevertheless gains exceedingly great merit. If a person does not delight in generosity, then even if that person is reborn in a heavenly realm or attains the fruit of sainthood, that person may still lack clothing, food, and drink.”

The Sutra on the Precepts for Upasakas records: “Although a person who observes the precepts may attain the fruit of arhatship, if that person does not delight in generosity, that person still cannot avoid the painful hardship of hunger and thirst. If one delights in generosity, then even if one falls into the realms of hungry ghosts or animals, one will often have sufficient food.”

The Sutra of Unprecedented Events records: “A king asked the Buddha:

– My late royal predecessor served non-Buddhist paths and often practiced generosity in order to seek the blessings of the Brahma heaven. In which heavenly realm was my late royal predecessor reborn through such merit?”

The Buddha replied:

– The former king is now undergoing the retribution of falling into hell. Why is this? Because the former king gave alms at inappropriate times, did not encounter a spiritual friend, and lacked skillful means. Therefore, although he cultivated and created merit, he still could not escape his offenses; nevertheless, the merit of that giving was not lost. Only after the king has finished undergoing punishment will he enjoy its blessings. Thus, one should know that offenses and merit do not intermingle. The former king committed five evil karmas and therefore fell into hell: first, he was arrogant and jealous, and punished offenses without considering whether they were grave or slight, having no mind of patience; second, he greedily coveted wealth and precious objects and rendered judgments unfairly, causing all under heaven to resent him; third, he delighted in amusement and hunting, bringing hardship upon the people and harming the lives of sentient beings; fourth, he was infatuated with women, growing weary of the old upon obtaining the new and bestowing favor unfairly, thereby causing everyone to harbor resentment; fifth, he broke the precepts.”

Taking this passage as evidence, we know that worshiping false teachings and cultivating merit bring forth different wholesome and unwholesome results, and that the retributions of suffering and happiness do not intermingle. How could those of keen faculties, extensive learning, and right faith in the Three Jewels incur painful retribution?

[183a] The Sutra of the Samadhi of Sole Nonexistence states: “Good man! One who wishes to seek the Way and cultivate meditation must first put an end to deluded thoughts. The reason people living in the world cultivate yet fail to attain the Way is that, while sitting in meditation, their minds are filled with discursive thoughts. When one thought passes, another arrives; in a single day and night, as many as eight hundred forty million thoughts arise, thought after thought without ceasing. Thinking a single wholesome thought brings good retribution, while giving rise to a single evil thought brings bad retribution, just as an echo answers a sound and a shadow follows a form. Therefore, good and evil, offenses and merit, are each distinct.”

The Madhyama Agama Sutra states: “When relatives practice giving and make offerings on behalf of the deceased, if the deceased has been born among hungry ghosts, they can receive them; but if they have been born in other destinies, they cannot. This is because beings in each realm have different foods by which they sustain their lives. If the relative has not been born among hungry ghosts, the giver nevertheless gains merit. Even after the giver dies and takes birth within the six destinies, the merit of the gift always follows that person. It is through the merit of observing the precepts that one attains human birth, but one must certainly rely upon other merits for assistance.”

The Sutra on Rebirth According to One’s Vows states: “When merit is made on behalf of the deceased, of the seven parts of merit, the deceased receives one part, while the remaining six parts belong to the person making merit.”

The Abhiseka Sutra states: “Ananda asked the Buddha:

– If a deceased person is taken into a remote mountain or a mausoleum is built for burial, does that person’s spirit remain there?

The Buddha replied:

– It both does and does not. If, while alive, the person did not plant roots of goodness and did not know the Three Jewels, yet neither performed good deeds to enjoy blessings nor committed evil deeds to suffer calamity, and furthermore had no spiritual friend to make merit on their behalf, then the spirit remains within the mausoleum, not yet having a place in which to take birth. Therefore, I say that the spirit is there.

If, while alive, the person created abundant wholesome merit and diligently cultivated the Way, they may be born in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three to enjoy blessings, or be born into a wealthy and noble family in the human world. Wherever they take birth in accordance with their karma, it is therefore said that they are not there. Or, while alive, the person may have worshiped false teachings, disbelieved the true Dharma, sustained a livelihood contrary to the true Dharma, flattered others, and deceived people; consequently, they fall among hungry ghosts or animals and undergo suffering, or pass through many kalpas in hell. Therefore, it is said that they are not within the mausoleum.

Or, while the body and bones have not yet decomposed, the spirit remains. When the bones decay, the spirit immediately departs and no longer has the power to bring calamity or bestow blessings upon others. As for a spirit that has not yet departed, suppose a person, while alive, did not create merit but instead committed false and evil deeds and practiced flattery.

After death, that person may fall into the state of a ghost or spirit, or become the spirit of a tree or some other object, unable to enjoy heavenly blessings and not accepted by the hells. Thus, although dead, that person continues to wander through villages, [183b] without food, alarming people and manifesting strange forms that cause them fear, or relying upon demons and false teachers to procure offerings. Seeking blessings and hoping for longevity, people in their delusion and wrong views kill sentient beings as sacrificial offerings.

When they die, they will fall into the three evil destinies of hell beings, hungry ghosts, and animals, with no day of release. How, then, could one not be cautious?

If someone in a household is approaching the end of life, their relatives should burn incense, keep lamps continuously lit, hang banners and jeweled canopies upon the pillars of monasteries and stupas, and read and recite Buddhist sutras for twenty-one days. Why? Because the intermediate-state body of the deceased is as small as a child, and their offenses and merit have not yet been determined.

Their relatives should therefore cultivate merit on their behalf, praying that the consciousness of the deceased may be born in one of the immeasurable lands throughout the ten directions. Through this merit, the person will certainly attain rebirth there. Although the person created much evil karma while alive and should have fallen into the eight difficulties, through the merit of lighting lamps and hanging banners, they gain liberation.

Or the deceased may have vowed to be born to parents in a distant place, but their rebirth is delayed. Through the merit of lighting lamps and hanging banners, they quickly attain rebirth and will no longer be born within the eight difficulties. After the child has been born, the parents should cultivate and create merit for the child. The child will not be harmed by demons, ghosts, or monstrous beings, and the family lineage will also become wealthy and noble. Therefore, one should cultivate the meritorious and wholesome deeds of lighting lamps and hanging banners.

Furthermore, when a member of the fourfold assembly is approaching death or has already died, on that day the relatives should make yellow banners and hang them from trees, enabling the deceased to obtain merit, leave behind the sufferings of the eight difficulties, and be born in the pure lands of the Buddhas throughout the ten directions. By hanging banners and jeweled canopies as offerings, one will attain the fulfillment of one’s wishes and ultimately accomplish the fruit of bodhi.

The banners turn in the wind until they disintegrate into dust. When the wind scatters the dust everywhere, the resulting merit is immeasurable. When a banner first begins to flutter, the karmic reward is to become a wheel-turning sage king; and as the wind blows until the banner disintegrates into dust and scatters away, the karmic reward is to become a lesser king. Furthermore, one should light forty lamps to illuminate every dark place, so that suffering sentient beings may all see one another by this light. Through the merit of this assistance, all sentient beings bring their suffering to an end.”

The Sutra of the Samadhi of the Pure Land records: “On the eight royal days[7], Lord Shakra and the thirty-two guardian officials, the Four Guardian Heavenly Kings, the Registrar of Lifespans, the Registrar of Records, Great King Yama, and the messengers of the Eight Kings make their rounds everywhere. On the fifteenth and thirtieth days of each month, the four heavenly kings submit reports of everyone’s good and evil deeds for judgment.

At the same time, the hells also dispatch lesser kings to patrol everywhere and record the names of those who commit offenses. If an offense is committed before a fasting day of the eight royal days, and that person has abundant merit, the person will be rescued, remain safe and unharmed, and, by virtue of that great merit, receive a pardon. If, after a fasting day of the eight royal days, the person repeatedly commits many offenses, that person’s lifespan will be reduced; the name will be recorded, and the hour, day, month, and year of death will be determined, after which the person will be taken down to hell.

Following the written records, the King of Hell immediately orders the record-keeping demons of hell to search for the names of those people. [183c] The demons of hell have no compassion; therefore, even before a person’s appointed day of death, they incite that person to commit evil, causing life to end swiftly. Those with abundant merit have their lifespans further extended; the heavens dispatch benevolent spirits to protect them and at the same time send an order down to hell to erase every record of their offenses.

They are spared from death and permitted to live, and after death they are reborn in the heavenly realm.”

The Sutra of the Samadhi of Contemplating the Buddha records: “At that time, the spirits of the wilderness addressed the Buddha:

– We habitually eat the flesh of sentient beings. Now that you instruct us not to kill, what shall we eat?

The Buddha told the king of the spirits:

– So long as you do not kill sentient beings, I shall instruct my disciples to make offerings to you. Until the Buddha-Dharma disappears, through my spiritual power you shall have your fill.

Upon hearing this, the king of the spirits rejoiced greatly and immediately undertook and upheld the Buddha’s five precepts. Therefore, the Nirvana Sutra records: ‘The Buddha instructed his shravaka disciples that they must set aside a portion of their food for the spirits dwelling in desolate places.’

Furthermore, the Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom records: ‘When spirits are given even a little food and drink, that food and drink can multiply, enabling them to have their fill.’

The Sutra of Parables records: “The Buddha and Ananda were walking along a riverbank when they saw five hundred hungry ghosts singing as they went; they also saw several hundred good people passing by in tears and lamentation.

At that time, Ananda addressed the Buddha:

– World-Honored One! Why are the hungry ghosts singing and dancing, while those people are weeping?

The Buddha replied:

– Because the families, children, and relatives of those hungry ghosts have performed meritorious deeds on their behalf, they have attained liberation, and therefore they sing and dance. But the families, children, and relatives of those good people concern themselves only with killing and create no merit or virtue. In the future, they will continually be tormented by the great fires of hell, and therefore they weep.”

The Sutra of the Karmic Retribution of Past Vows records: “Long ago, there was a very wealthy brahmin couple whose possessions were beyond measure, but they had no child to inherit them. As death drew near, they said to each other: ‘Each of us shall swallow money to serve as provisions.’ According to the custom of that country, the dead were not buried but merely left beneath a tree. Each of them swallowed fifty gold coins, and when their bodies decomposed, the coins were exposed.

At that time, a worthy man of the country happened to pass by and saw them. Moved to tears and grieving over their greed and miserliness, he took the money and used it to perform meritorious deeds. He invited the Buddha and the Sangha, used all the money to purchase food, arranged it before the Buddha as an offering, proclaimed the couple’s names, and made vows on their behalf.

At that time, the miserly brahmin couple were suffering among the hungry ghosts. Because the worthy man had invited the fourfold assembly and made offerings, they were reborn in the heavenly realm. Once reborn in the heavenly realm, they immediately attained the heavenly eye and learned of the meritorious deed that had been performed.

They then flew down from the heavenly realm, transformed themselves into a youth, and became a donor who supported the Sangha.

The Buddha taught that this youth was a true donor. When the Buddha expounded the Dharma to the youth, he immediately perceived the principle of the Way, and so too did the worthy man. Rejoicing, the members of the Sangha were all also reborn in the heavenly realm.”

The Sutra of a Hundred Parables records: “Long ago, a group of merchants wished to go out to sea in search of treasure and therefore needed a guide. They found a guide and set out together. When they reached a wilderness, there [184a] stood a shrine dedicated to a deity. To pass through, they had to kill a person as a sacrifice. At that time, the merchants considered the matter together and said: ‘We are all close companions, so how could we kill one another? Only this guide among us can be used as a sacrifice to the deity.’ Thereupon, they killed the guide and sacrificed him to the deity. After making the sacrifice, they lost their way at sea and did not know which direction to take. They suffered greatly, and in the end they all died.

All people in the world are likewise. If they wish to voyage across the sea in search of precious jewels, they must cultivate the ten wholesome actions as their guide. Conversely, if they do not uphold the ten wholesome actions, there will never be a day when they escape the boundless course of birth and death; they must continue wandering through the three lower realms and endure suffering forever. They are like those merchants who wished to venture upon the great sea but killed their guide, and thus did not know the way to shore and ultimately met disaster and died.

The verse says:

The great house is but an inn;

Bearing karma, one is surely swept away.

One pays no heed to the jade casket,

Nor has any need of the golden terrace!

Echoes travel to distant places;

Mossy shadows cling to the pine’s body.

How could one preserve the ten recollections,

When one merely pursues the four conditions?

Illusion fashions myriad forms,

Skillfully transforming into many bodies.

Fools contend over self and others;

How could they not take these as real?

The deluded bind their doubts ever tighter;

The wise know the body to be an illusion.

Rising and sinking, suffering and joy differ;

In vain they make offerings and lament to the blue heavens.

Notes:

[1] The four inversions (四顛倒; Skt. viparyāsa): ordinary beings do not know the true characteristics of the realm of delusion. Thus, they grasp the impermanence of the world as permanent, suffering as happiness, non-self as self, and impurity as purity.

[2] The ten enmeshments (十纏): ten kinds of afflictions that arise in dependence upon greed, anger, and delusion, correspond to a defiled mind, generate evil conduct, and bind sentient beings within birth and death. They are shamelessness, lack of moral dread, jealousy, stinginess, regret, drowsiness, restlessness, torpor, wrath, and concealment.

[3] Huainanzi 淮南子 (Ch.: Lü Lan, Lü Buwei): a general of the Qin dynasty.

[4] The Sautrantika school 經部 (also called the Sutra Measure school): one of the eighteen schools of the Hinayana. Four hundred years after the Buddha’s nirvana, members of the Sarvastivada school took only the sutras as authoritative.

[5] Seed 種子 (Skt. bīja): a seed possessing the capacity to produce all conditioned and unconditioned dharmas, whether with or without outflows. It is the primary cause and condition of conditioned dharmas, the essential entity of causes and conditions. According to the Consciousness-Only school, these are the seeds within the alaya consciousness.

[6] Yilan 伊蘭 (Skt. eraṇḍa): a kind of plant belonging to the ginger family that grows in southern India. Its outward appearance somewhat resembles a reed; its stem is hard, its leaves are long like swords, and its principal leaves are arranged in parallel. Its flowers are cap-shaped, white, and downy. Its fruit is egg-shaped, with horizontal markings on the rind. Its seeds are ash-gray and intensely fragrant, resembling turmeric and ginger, and are used medicinally.

[7] The eight royal days (八王日): eight days, namely, the Beginning of Spring, the Spring Equinox, the Beginning of Summer, the Summer Solstice, the Beginning of Autumn, the Autumn Equinox, the Beginning of Winter, and the Winter Solstice. These eight days mark the transitions of the deities and of yin and yang between heaven and earth; therefore, those who observe the fasting precepts gain longevity and receive benefits.