Right Thoughts at the Last Moment. Buddhism and Deathbed Practices in Early Medieval Japan.
Honolulu. University of Hawai'i Press. 2016. Stock ID #172517 "Buddhists across Asia have often aspired to die with a clear and focused mind, as the historical Buddha himself is said to have done. This book explores how the ideal of dying with right mindfulness was appropriated, disseminated, and transformed in premodern Japan, focusing on the late tenth through early fourteenth centuries. When referring to this item please quote stockid 172517.
Colour plates, frontispiece illustration, xviii + 597pp, notes, glossary, bibliography, index, 23.5 x 16cm. Head of spine somewhat bumped, otherwise a very good hardback copy in dustjacket.
By concentrating one's thoughts on the Buddha in one's last moments, it was said even an ignorant and sinful person could escape the cycle of deluded rebirth and achieve birth in a buddha's pure land, where liberation would be assured. Conversely, the slightest mental distraction at that final juncture could send even a devout practitioner tumbling down into the hells or other miserable rebirth realms. The ideal of mindful death thus generated both hope and anxiety and created a demand for ritual specialists who could act as religious guides at the deathbed...
Enlivened by cogent examples, this study draws on a wealth of sources including ritual instructions, hagiographies, doctrinal writings, didactic tales, courtier diaries, historical records, letters, and relevant art historical material to explore the interplay of doctrinal ideals and on-the-ground practice." (Publisher's description).
Price: $75.00 AU