WHAT BUDDHISTS BELIEVE
Dying Moment
~ Ven. K Sri Dhammananda
There are three types of consciousness (Viññana) functioning at the moment of death in a person: rebirth-linking consciousness (patisandhi- citta), the current of passive consciousness or the current of life-continuum (bhavanga) and consciousness disconnecting the present life (cuti-citta). At the last moment of a person’s present life the patisandhi-citta or rebirth-linking consciousness arises, having the three signs as its objects. The patisandhi-citta remains in the course of cognition for five faint thought-moments or Javana and then sinks down into bhavanga. At the end of bhavanga the cuti-citta arises,disconnecting the present life and sinks down into bhavanga. At this very moment comes the end of the present life. At the end of that bhavanga another patisandhi-citta rises up in the next life and from this very moment the new life begins.
This is the process of death and rebirth according to Buddhism, and only in Buddhism is the process of these natural phenomena found explained in minute and exact detail.
A Buddhist faces death not as a crisis in life but as a normal event, for he or she knows that whoever is born must suffer, 'decay', and ultimately die. Or, as someone so aptly puts it, 'Everyone is born with the certificate of death at birth.’ If we could all look at death in such an intelligent and rational way, we would not cling to life so tenaciously.
After He was released from Samsara at the moment of Enlightenment, the Buddha declared :
‘Ayamantima jati natthidani punabbhavo’
This is my final birth and there is no more rebirth for me.
(DHAMMA CAKKA SUTTA)
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