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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Y2K" data-source="post: 2658093" data-attributes="member: 35049">CAUSES OF DEATHNOW LET US see what the Abhidhamma has to say about death and rebirth. Death comes about because of one of the following causes:through the expiration of the life-span;through the expiration of the productive kammic force;through the expiration of both;through the intervention of a destructive kamma.           To elaborate, certain realms of existence have definite life spans, e.g. the heavenly realms. When a deity’s (deva’s) life reaches the age limit of that particular plane of existence, he will have to die even though the productive kammic force sustaining his life may not have been exhausted. In the human realm, this should be understood as death in advanced old age due to natural causes. But when the kamma sustaining life expends its force, death will also take place even though the normal life-span has not yet expired.         Death can also occur through the simultaneous expiration of both the life-span and productive kamma. A powerful destructive kamma can also cause death by cutting off the force of the life-sustaining kamma prematurely even though the normal life-span may not be expired. Examples of this are violent deaths and deaths due to sicknesses.DYING PERCEPTIONSTo those who are dying, the kamma about to determine rebirth manifests itself in one of four ways through any of the six-sense doors asA kamma (a good or evil deed performed earlier during the same lifetime) that is to produce rebirth in the next existence. For example, a kind person with spiritual inclinations may remember the act of making a donation to an Old Folks’ Home, refraining from buying pirated computer software, or practising meditation in an intensive retreat; whereas an unscrupulous person may remember how he or she schemed to murder a relative in order to inherit some property, embezzled funds held in trust for the Saïgha [Community of Theravada Buddhist monks], or committed adultery with a neighbour’s spouse;A sign of kamma, i.e. an object or image associated with the good or evil deed that is about to determine rebirth, or an instrument used to perform it. For example, a devout person may see the image of a monk or pagoda, a physician may see the image of a stethoscope, a butcher may hear the squeals of slaughtered pigs, a social worker may feel the touch of the poor child he or she had assisted, a contractor may see the image of the undersized iron bars that were used to cheat his or her employer;A sign of destiny, i.e. a symbol of the realm into which the dying person is about to be reborn. For example, a person heading for a heavenly rebirth may hear celestial music, a person heading for the animal kingdom may see forests or fields, a person heading for a rebirth in hell may feel the heat of infernal fire, a person heading for a ghostly realm may see a ghost coming to take him or her away;Apart from these three manifestations, there is yet another alternative. The kamma that is to produce rebirth in the next existence does not appear as a memory image of something that was previously done, but appears to the mind door as if it were being done at that very moment just before death. For example, the dying person may feel as though she is actually quarrelling with her husband, although the quarrel occurred many years ago.DEATH AND REBIRTHThereafter, attending to the object thus presented, the stream of consciousness continually flows, inclining mostly towards the state into which one is to be reborn. Then, either at the end of a cognitive process or at the dissolution of bhavanga, the death citta arises and ceases. Within this terminal process the kammic cittas, by reason of their weakness, occur for only five mind-moments. This process lacks original productive kammic potency, but acts rather as the channel for the past kamma that has assumed the rebirthgenerative function. At the time of death, kamma-born kalapas no longer arise starting with the presence sub-moment of the seventeenth citta preceding the death citta. Kamma-born kalapas that arose earlier occur until the death citta and then cease together with it. Following that, the kalapas born of citta and nutriment come to a cessation. Then the body remains a mass of inanimate material phenomena born of temperature and continues as such until the corpse is reduced to dust. Immediately following the dissolution of the death citta, there arises in a new existence the rebirth-linking citta, having thesame object as that in the final cognitive process of the previous life. This rebirth citta is a resultant citta produced by the kamma responsible for the objects apprehended during the final, but crucial, moments of consciousness prior to death. Simultaneous with its arising, this same kamma produces kalapas which set off a chain reaction by generating more kalapas born of the internal fire-element and nutriment and thereafter by combination with the external fire-element and nutriment. In the meantime, the cittas following the rebirth-citta will also start to produce kalapas, all this leading eventually to an intricate mass of kalapas arising and passing away which can be identified as a foetus, or the spontaneous body of the new being (hell being, spirit, deva, or brahma). The rebirth-linking citta is followed by sixteen bhavanga cittas. Then a mind-door cognitive process occurs in which the seven kammic cittas develop an attachment to the new existence. These cittas take for object the rebirth citta. When this process ends, the bhavanga again arises and perishes, and continues thus whenever there is no intervention of a cognitive process. In this way the stream of consciousness flows on from birth till death, and from death to new birth, “revolving like the wheel of a cart” (see Diagram 7 for a graphic explanation).This is a microscopic view of death and rebirth according to the Abhidhamma model. Even if one cannot thoroughly understand the sequence of the cittas and kalapas involved in this transitional process, one need not be unduly anxious. While the above explanation clarifies the Theravada assertion that rebirth occurs immediately after death, it is not essential for understanding the principles of skilful dying, which will bediscussed in the following chapters.</blockquote>

Verification: Dahaya deken beduwama keeyada?

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