35 (Day) Notes | Pattakamma Sutta (AN 4.61) | Sutta Study @ Buddhist Maha Vihara, Brickfields | Bhante Dr. G. Chandima

 

A lay person's final wish is to be reborn in a better place. However, how a person spends the last moment (last thought) determines their next existence. As a result, we are all expected to constantly monitor/observe our thoughts. It is essential to vigilantly monitor our thoughts to determine whether or not they contain and sustain kusala.The question now is how to prepare for having a skillful (kusala) thinking in the last moment. Do we know when it will be our last moment? We do not know. Then there's the question of how to prepare for the final moment. Thinking skillfully (kusala) all the time is the best way to have a skilled (kusala) thought in last moment. So our last moment will be one day of cultivating such skillful (kusala) thinking.

1. Why did the Buddha encourage laypeople to be concerned about a good rebirth?

2. How many destinations are there for a person to be reborn?

3. How can we understand Bhava Taṇhā (craving-to-be) and wish to be reborn in a better place?

4. Are there any complex ideas about the final moment and rebirth in the suttas? If so, what suttas give rise to those thoughts?

5. What is the possibility of being reborn as a human after living a human life?

6. What is the likelihood of a human rebirth following a life spent in hell or as an animal?