{"collection":"Anguttara Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_an8.74/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_an8.74","id":"suttacentral_an8.74","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/an8.74/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Anguttara Nikaya","Early Buddhist Texts"],"text":"At one time the Buddha was staying at \u00d1\u0101tika in the brick house. There the Buddha addressed the mendicants: \u201cMendicants, when mindfulness of death is developed and cultivated it\u2019s very fruitful and beneficial. It has freedom from death as its objective and culmination. And how is mindfulness of death developed and cultivated to be very fruitful and beneficial, with freedom from death as its objective and culmination? As day passes by and night draws close, a mendicant reflects: \u2018I might die of many causes. A snake might bite me, or a scorpion or centipede might sting me. And if I died from that it would be an obstacle to my progress. Or I might stumble off a cliff, or get food poisoning, or suffer a disturbance of bile, phlegm, or piercing winds. Or I might be attacked by humans or non-humans. And if I died from that it would be an obstacle to my progress.\u2019 That mendicant should reflect: \u2018Are there any bad, unskillful qualities that I haven\u2019t given up, which might be an obstacle to my progress if I die tonight?\u2019 Suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that there are such bad, unskillful qualities. Then in order to give them up they should apply extraordinary enthusiasm, effort, zeal, vigor, perseverance, mindfulness, and situational awareness. Suppose your clothes or head were on fire. In order to extinguish it, you\u2019d apply extraordinary enthusiasm, effort, zeal, vigor, perseverance, mindfulness, and situational awareness. In the same way, in order to give up those bad, unskillful qualities, that mendicant should apply extraordinary enthusiasm \u2026 But suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that there are no such bad, unskillful qualities. Then that mendicant should meditate with rapture and joy, training day and night in skillful qualities. Or else, as night passes by and day draws close, a mendicant reflects: \u2018I might die of many causes. A snake might bite me, or a scorpion or centipede might sting me. And if I died from that it would be an obstacle to my progress. Or I might stumble off a cliff, or get food poisoning, or suffer a disturbance of bile, phlegm, or piercing winds. Or I might be attacked by humans or non-humans. And if I died from that it would be an obstacle to my progress.\u2019 That mendicant should reflect: \u2018Are there any bad, unskillful qualities that I haven\u2019t given up, which might be an obstacle to my progress if I die today?\u2019 Suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that there are such bad, unskillful qualities. Then in order to give them up they should apply extraordinary enthusiasm, effort, zeal, vigor, perseverance, mindfulness, and situational awareness. Suppose your clothes or head were on fire. In order to extinguish it, you\u2019d apply extraordinary enthusiasm, effort, zeal, vigor, perseverance, mindfulness, and situational awareness. In the same way, in order to give up those bad, unskillful qualities, that mendicant should apply extraordinary enthusiasm \u2026 But suppose that, upon checking, a mendicant knows that there are no such bad, unskillful qualities. Then that mendicant should meditate with rapture and joy, training day and night in skillful qualities. Mindfulness of death, when developed and cultivated in this way, is very fruitful and beneficial. It has freedom from death as its objective and culmination.\u201d","title":"Mindfulness of Death (2nd)","tradition":"Anguttara Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":546}