Sūtras About Death
Explore sutras addressing death and the afterlife, providing guidance on understanding and accepting mortality. These texts offer profound insights into the nature of death, rebirth, and the Buddhist perspective on the end of life.
Toh
83
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48
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Kangyur
Discourses
Heap of Jewels
The Questions of Bhadrapāla the Merchant
Bhadrapālaśreṣṭhiparipṛcchā
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ཚོང་དཔོན་བཟང་སྐྱོང་གིས་ཞུས་པ།
In The Questions of Bhadrapāla the Merchant, the Buddha’s principal interlocutor is a wealthy merchant who asks him to explain what consciousness is, and what happens to it when one dies and is reborn. In his characterization of consciousness, the Buddha relies heavily on the use of analogies drawn from nature. The sūtra also reflects common cultural beliefs of ancient India, such as spirit possession. In addition, it presents graphic and vividly contrasting descriptions of rebirth in the realms of the gods for those who have lived meritorious lives and in the realms of hell for those who lack merit.
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Toh
122
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2
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Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
The Sūtra on Wisdom at the Hour of Death
Atyayajñānasūtra
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འདའ་ཀ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་མདོ།
While the Buddha is residing in the Akaniṣṭha realm, the bodhisattva mahāsattva Ākāśagarbha asks him how a bodhisattva should view the mind at the point of dying. The Buddha replies that when death comes a bodhisattva should develop the wisdom at the hour of death. He explains that a bodhisattva should cultivate a clear understanding of the nonexistence of entities, great compassion, nonapprehension, nonattachment, and a clear understanding that, since wisdom is the realization of one’s own mind, the Buddha should not be sought elsewhere.
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Toh
308
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20
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Kangyur
Discourses
General Sūtra Section
Questions Regarding Death and Transmigration
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ཚེ་འཕོ་བ་ཇི་ལྟར་འགྱུར་བ་ཞུས་པ།
Questions Regarding Death and Transmigration contains explanations of Buddhist views on the nature of life and death, and a number of philosophical arguments against non-Buddhist conceptions, notably some based broadly on the Vedas. The sūtra is set in the town of Kapilavastu at the time of the funeral of a young man of the Śākya clan. King Śuddhodana wonders about the validity of the ritual offerings being made for the deceased by the family and asks the Buddha seven questions about current beliefs on death and the afterlife.
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Toh
503
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51
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Kangyur
Tantra
Action tantras
The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Seven Thus-Gone Ones
Puṣpakūṭadhāraṇī
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དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་བདུན་གྱི་སྔོན་གྱི་སྨོན་ལམ་གྱི་ཁྱད་པར་རྒྱས་པ།
The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Seven Thus-Gone Ones opens in Vaiśālī, where the Buddha Śākyamuni is seated with a saṅgha of eight thousand monks, thirty-six thousand bodhisattvas, and a large gathering of gods, spirit beings, and humans. As Śākyamuni concludes his teaching, the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī rises from his seat and requests that the Buddha give a Dharma teaching that will benefit all the human and nonhuman beings who are present in the assembly.
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Toh
504
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20
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Kangyur
Tantra
Action tantras
The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Blessed Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabha
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བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས་སྨན་གྱི་བླ་བཻ་ཌུརྱའི་འོད་གྱི་སྨོན་ལམ་གྱི་ཁྱད་པར་རྒྱས་པ།
The Detailed Account of the Previous Aspirations of the Blessed Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabha centers on the figure commonly known as the Medicine Buddha. The text opens in Vaiśālī, where the Buddha Śākyamuni is seated with a large retinue of human and divine beings.
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