Dharma Roadside Dialogue. Wisdom at the Hour of Death.

Saturday May 31, 2025  at 1:30 pm East coast time (EST),  7:30 pm European time (CET).

The intent of these sessions is be to facilitate a lively exchange on how to  apply in daily situations our understanding of the key points of the Buddha-Dharma.

Join us for a 90mn session of questions and answers by clicking this link:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88203132402

This month topic will be:

The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Wisdom at the Hour of Death.”

འཕགས་པ་འདའ་ཀ་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

’phags pa ’da’ ka ye shes zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo

The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Wisdom at the Hour of Death”

Āryātyayajñānanāmamahāyānasūtra

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas!

Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was residing in the palace of the king of the gods in the Akaniṣṭha realm, and was teaching the Dharma to the entire assembly there.

The bodhisattva mahāsattva Ākāśagarbha paid homage to the Blessed One and asked, “Blessed One, how is the mind to be viewed for a bodhisattva at the point of dying?”

The Blessed One replied, “Ākāśagarbha, a bodhisattva, when the time comes to die, should cultivate wisdom at the hour of death. Wisdom at the hour of death is as follows:

“All phenomena are naturally pure. So, one should cultivate the clear understanding that there are no entities

“All phenomena are subsumed within the mind of enlightenment. So, one should cultivate the clear understanding of great compassion.

“All phenomena are naturally luminous. So, one should cultivate the clear understanding of nonapprehension.

“All entities are impermanent. So, one should cultivate the clear understanding of non-attachment to anything whatsoever.

“When one realizes mind, this is wisdom. So, one should cultivate the clear understanding of not seeking the Buddha elsewhere.”

The Blessed One then spoke the following verses:

“Since all phenomena are naturally pure,

One should cultivate the clear understanding that there are no entities.

“Since all phenomena are connected with the enlightened mind,

One should cultivate the clear understanding of great compassion.

“Since all phenomena are naturally luminous,

One should cultivate the clear understanding of nonapprehension.

“Since all entities are impermanent,

One should cultivate the clear understanding of non-attachment.

“Since the mind is the cause for the arising of wisdom,

Do not look for the Buddha elsewhere.”

After the Blessed One had spoken, the whole assembly, including the bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha and others, were overjoyed and full of praise for the Buddha’s words.

This concludes The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “Wisdom at the Hour of Death.”