四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔 3.322

3.322

The records say: When people are on the verge of death in India, regardless of whether monastics, laity, or relatives, they watch over them at their side, and while their faculties and consciousness are not yet destroyed, they chant and read out the wholesome actions they have cultivated throughout their lives, aiming to make the sick person’s inner heart joyful so that he does not worry about the journey ahead, whereupon he attains correct mindfulness without distraction, and is therefore born in a good place. The *Mahāprajñāpāramitā-upadeśa* and sūtras state: If one performs good from birth but has an unwholesome thought at the verge of death, one is born in the evil destinies; if one creates evil from birth but has a wholesome thought at the verge of death, one is born in heaven. It is asked: How can a brief moment at the verge of death surpass a lifetime of actions? The answer is: Because it penetrates decisively, and because discarding the matters of all faculties is urgent, it can immediately evoke suffering or pleasure! It is necessary to arrange a separate place. Thus the *Five Hundred Questions* states: In the past, a bhikṣu was attached to a bronze bowl; upon dying, he became a hungry ghost. When the saṃgha divided the belongings, he came seeking the bowl; his body was exceedingly large, like a black cloud. One who had attained the path returned the bowl to him; having obtained it, he licked it with his tongue, put it down on the ground, and left. The bhikṣus took it, but it was exceedingly foul; they recast it into a vessel, but it was still too foul to be used. There was also a bhikṣu who loved a robe and, dying, became a magically born snake, and so on, as told previously. Therefore, it is essential that one be moved to another place.