Right Thoughts at the Last Moment: Buddhism and Deathbed Practices in Medieval Japan

Right Thoughts at the Last Moment: Buddhism and Deathbed Practices in Medieval Japan

Audio recording of a lecture given by Jacqueline Stone on April 4, 2025 as part of the Dean's Lecture & Concert Series. The Dean's Office has provided this description of the event: "Premodern Japanese believed that one's dying thoughts could determine one's postmortem fate. Even a sinful person, by dying with a mind calmly focused on the Buddha, could be reborn in a 'pure land,' where one's enlightenment would be assured. Conversely, a stray distracted thought 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 generated both hope and anxiety and created a demand for ritual specialists to serve as religious guides at the deathbed, contributing to Buddhist preeminence in matters of death management."

Santa Fe, NM

2025-04-04

Meem Library has been given permission to make this item available online.

sound

mp3

English

SF_StoneJ_Right_Thoughts_At_The_Last_Moment_2024-04-04

M4A

00:57:16