Expert: Justin Choo - 11/13/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hello,

I refer to your answer to a reader on the Last Thought. May I know the Sutta from where this Buddha's teaching is taken?

Thank you.

ANSWER: Hi Tio,

Honestly, I didn't know the relevent sutta before you asked.  The "problem" in learning Buddhism, especially through listening to Buddhist talks and reading books is that more often than not, the relevent suttas are not given.  Many like me, learned from different sources and quite often they did  not quote the relevent suttas.  I won't be surprised that many speakers did not even know the relevent suttas, just like me!  We learned from the different sources and we just pass down what we learned without knowing the relevent suttas.

However with the internet, this "problem" is easilly solved.  So I spent some time searching the internet for the answer.  The best place to search for suttas is at www.accesstoinsight.org.

From there I found one particular sutta which I think is relevent for your query.  The sutta is called Maha-kammavibhanga Sutta: The Great Exposition of Kamma.  You can read this @
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.136.nymo.html


For quick reference, I "copy and paste" the introduction 3rd paragraph:

"The minds of people are complex and they make many different kinds of kamma even in one lifetime, some of which may influence the last moment when kamma is made before death, which in turn is the basis for the next life."

Then you can find the relevent information on paragraph 18:

"18. (iv) "Now there is the person who has abstained from killing living beings here... has had right view. And on the dissolution of the body, after death, he reappears in the states of deprivation, in an unhappy destination, in perdition, in hell. [12] But (perhaps) the evil kamma producing his suffering was done by him earlier, or the evil kamma producing his suffering was done by him later, or wrong view was undertaken and completed by him at the time of his death. And that was why, on the dissolution of the body, after death, he reappeared in the states of deprivation, in an unhappy destination, in perdition, in hell. But since he has abstained from killing living beings here... has had right view, he will feel the result of that here and now, or in his next rebirth, or in some subsequent existence."


Hope this helps.

Take care.

Justin Choo



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Mr. Choo,

Thank you.
The relevant sentence is "wrong view was undertaken and completed by him at the time of his death".

Have you heard of the Human Organ Transplant Act? This allows the doctor to remove some organs from a victim who dies from accident and use it to save another life. One can opt out of this. I know of Buddhists who opted out because they don't want to feel the pain of being cut, hence feel anger, in case their consciousness have not left the body, and therefore will reborn in an unhappy state. I have been wondering about the source of this belief and its accuracy. Thank you for pointing out the source although I still find it inconclusive. I guess no one really knows for sure the every working of the Law of Cause and Effect.

By the way, the idea about this 'last thought' can also be found in the Bhagavad Gita.

Thank you again.



Thank you.

Answer
Hi Tio,

There are some differences in interpretation regarding the body of a person who has just died.  The Mahayanas insist that the body should not be disturbed for a few hours following death.  In Theravada interpretation, as far as I understand, when a person dies, rebirth takes place immediately, which means there is nothing left in the dead body, except the "dead body".

About the relevent suttas regarding last thought moment, I am sure there are others.

Justin Choo.