The Importance of the Moment of Death Chapter2
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Be that as it may, you say in this letter that his complexion was whiter than it had been in life and that he didn’t lose his looks.
T’ien-t’ai says, “Pure white represents the realm of heavenly beings.”4 Great Perfection of Wisdom says, “Those whose faces are pink and white, and whose features retain their proper shape, are reborn in the realm of heavenly beings.”5 The record regarding the death of the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai reads, “His countenance was fair.”6 The record about the death of the Tripitaka Master Hsüan-tsang reads, “His countenance was fair.”7 A standard that identifies the sacred teachings of the Buddha’s entire lifetime is the teaching that “those who have performed evil deeds will remain in the six paths of existence, and those who have performed good deeds will be reborn in the four noble worlds.”8
Judging from these passages of proof from the texts and this actual proof, I would say that your husband has surely been reborn in the realm of heavenly beings.
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Background
Nichiren Daishonin wrote this letter on the fourteenth day of the seventh month in 1278 to comfort and encourage the lay nun Myōhō, whose husband had just passed away earlier that month. Myōhō lived at Okamiya in Suruga Province. The Daishonin reiterates her report that her husband chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo to the very end of his life, and that after death his complexion was fair and he retained his looks, and he assures her that one’s appearance at the moment of death may be seen as a sign of the state of one’s life after death. That is why, he notes, he began his Buddhist studies in order to learn about death before any other matter. He reassures Myōhō that her husband’s bright appearance signifies that the evil deeds of his past existences have changed into the seeds of Buddhahood. And in conclusion, he encourages her that since she is the wife of such a man, naturally the Lotus Sutra’s teaching of women’s ability to attain Buddhahood will apply to her as well.
Notes
4. In his Great Concentration and Insight T’ien-t’ai quotes this passage as a statement from the Meditation on the Correct Teaching Sutra.
5. This passage is not found in the extant edition of Great Perfection of Wisdom.
6. Source unknown.
7. The Biography of the Tripitaka Master of Ta-tz’u-en-ssu Temple. “The Tripitaka Master of Ta-tz’u-en-ssu Temple” refers to Hsüan-tsang.
8. Source unknown.