At a lottery draw you would have probably come across a drum filled with little balls marked with numbers. As the drum is turned round and round, there is no way of telling which ball will drop out of the outlet. In the same way out of the multitude of kammas, we cannot tell which one of them will have the chance to produce the next life. We have accumulated so many good and bad kammic actions. Any one has the chance to produce its effect at life's end. For any ordinary person, nothing is definite. Only for a sotāpanna, we can be sure because the door to apāya or the woeful states is closed to that person.
At the time of dying some mental state will take over our mind, turning it black or white. If it is akusala's influence, the mind darkens. Then the next life becomes black. If it is white, the next life will also become white. For someone whose livelihood used to be killing animals with guns and dogs, near death he can dream that he is tracking an animal with the dogs and using his gun. What will be his feeling then? It is not a peaceful one, no? Dying with that mind is terrible for the next life.
Yet nothing can be sure. It is not certain if we had committed a killing (or break precepts), we will fall into apāya. In Myanmar there is a story of a hunter who was nevertheless reborn as a human. Some offer big dāna and build big temples, observe sila. Yet at death they are reborn in a woeful state.
It is the last object we receive just before death which is decisive. It could be due to past kamma which is renewed at this point in time. Besides renewed kamma, there is immediately accumulated kamma. This new kamma is performed just prior to death. For example a friend brings flowers to us. Seeing these flowers as the last image we pass away. We could hear chanting as the last object received before death.
At one time when the Buddha was teaching the Dhamma near a lake, a frog jumped up to listen. Though it could not understand, it could understand that the sound conveyed, not ill-will, but compassion. Just by listening, it acquired a pure and peaceful mind. A cowherd passing by accidentally stabbed it with his staff. The frog died and was reborn as a deity due to its pure mind. He saw that he was a frog in his previous life. Immediately he went to see the Buddha, requesting Him to preach the Dhamma to him. As the deity listened he became a sotāpanna.
Queen Mallika, wife of King Kosala, was reborn in Avici hell for a short period because near death she became unhappy, regretting that she had once deceived the king.
Then there was a monk during the Buddha's lifetime who received new robes from his sister. He kept them nearby intending to wear them the next morning. During the night he fell sick and passed away, with a mind wanting to wear these robes. So he was reborn a louse there despite his practice of meditation for over 50 years.
The new kamma carried out prior to death is asanna or death proximate kamma and it is possible to have the object changed, that is, if there is no weighty (garuka) kamma standing in the way. So this period is crucial
"Where did you put the bank books?" This sort of question should not be asked. Neither should the dying person be questioned: "Who do you wish to give the ring to?" or "In which pawn-shop are they kept?" If such questions are raised, then that person is off the straight road to a peaceful death.
There is a story of a good-hearted lady who observed sila, and would always offer water to travellers. Unfortunately for the old lady, the sight of her sons and daughters crying at the bedside made her unhappy. Though she had done a lot of dāna in her life, she was said to have been reborn as a ghost.
Changing the kamma before death Asanna kamma gives its effect in the next life if it is carried out near death. It is like an aged person seated near the door entrance of the bus (of death). He exits first, not the others seated further away. In the same way, since it happens just before death, asanna kamma is given priority.
Venerable Sona of Anuradhapura had a father who had been a hunter. In his old age he was persuaded by his son to become a monk. Near death the old man had fearful dreams of being chased by dogs. He was shouting, "Please save me! Many dogs are coming after me!" Venerable Sona knew that he would be reborn in the woeful states. So he carried the old man to the pagoda to offer flowers and candles. He told the dying man to worship the Buddha and not to be frightened now that he was in a safe place. The old man's dream changed. He now saw beautiful deities coming as he passed away. So he was reborn in the deity world.
There is a story in a commentary from Sri Lanka about a fisherman who was near death. An arahant visited him out of compassion and saw that at death he would be reborn in apāya.
So the arahant asked the dying man to take the Three Refuges and Five Precepts. Though he was in pain, the man agreed and repeated after the monk. After saying "Sangham saranam gacchami," he died. Reborn as an earth deity, he was very happy to have been saved from apāya. The deity approached the monk and told him if he had administered the five precepts, his rebirth would have been in a higher deity world.
Nonetheless as long as the person did not eradicate kilesas (mental defilements) as a sotāpanna, this was only a temporary escape. The door to the woeful states would always be open for him.
Part-2
Sayadow Dr NandmalaBhivimansa
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