Skip to main content

All EBT sutta references to maraṇa-s-sati 💀, death-remembering

AN 6.19 and AN 6.20 are really the only two suttas that fully explain the practice of maraṇa-s-sati, and use that name maraṇa-s-sati  explicitly. The practice itself though, is a frequent theme in the suttas, but it's not easy to identify and track them all since they're referred to tangentially or indirectly, often not having the word marana anywhere in there at all in those passages.

So here I set out to gather all of those references. Help me complete the collection.

maraṇa-s-sati 💀 = death-remembering

‘appamattā viharissāma, tikkhaṃ maraṇassatiṃ bhāvessāma āsavānaṃ khayāyā’ti. (AN 6.19)1. Never forget, remembering to assiduously practice ☸Dharma for arahantship every moment, giving it everything you got, for the time it takes for one breath, or the time it takes to eat one mouthful of food. If you get sidetracked or forget to be assiduous (ap-pamāda), the Buddha calls that negligence (pamāda). (AN 6.19).
2. Remembering, not forgetting that fatal accidents can strike at any moment, so practice the ☸Dharma assiduously every moment. Doing this correctly, will activate the 7sb☀️ sequence producing virtuous-mirth (mudita/pamojja) and rapture (pīti). (AN 6.20).
4👑☸ → STED → maraṇa-s-sati 💀🧟     sati 🐘   (⤴)

maraṇa-s-sati 💀🧟



new refs found:

SN 4.9
“Appamāyu manussānaṃ,
“The life of humans is short,
hīḷeyya naṃ suporiso;
and a good person scorns it.
Careyyādittasīsova,
They should live as though their head was on fire,
natthi maccussa nāgamo”ti.
for Death comes for everyone.”    

SN 4.10
“Appamidaṃ, bhikkhave, manussānaṃ āyu.
“monks, the life span of humans is short.
Gamanīyo samparāyo, kattabbaṃ kusalaṃ, caritabbaṃ brahmacariyaṃ.
You must go to the next life. So you should do what is skillful, you should practice the spiritual life.
Natthi jātassa amaraṇaṃ.
No-one born is immortal.
Yo, bhikkhave, ciraṃ jīvati, so vassasataṃ appaṃ vā bhiyyo”ti.
A long life is a hundred years or a little more.”
Atha kho māro pāpimā yena bhagavā tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā bhagavantaṃ gāthāya ajjhabhāsi:
Then Māra the Wicked went up to the Buddha and addressed him in verse:
“Nāccayanti ahorattā,
“The days and nights don’t rush by,
Jīvitaṃ nūparujjhati;
and life isn’t cut short.
Āyu anupariyāyati maccānaṃ,
The life of mortals keeps rolling on,
Nemīva rathakubbaran”ti.
like a chariot’s rim around the hub.”
“Accayanti ahorattā,
“The days and nights rush by,
jīvitaṃ uparujjhati;
and then life is cut short.
Āyu khīyati maccānaṃ,
The life of mortals wastes away,
kunnadīnaṃva odakan”ti.
like the water in tiny streams.”    


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Lucid24.org: What's new?

Link to lucid24.org home page :    4👑☸   Remember, you may have to click the refresh button on your web browser navigation bar at to get updated website. 2025 12-16 2025-12 December: Major update on look and feel of Lucid24.org 2024 9-17 Lots of new stuff in the last 2 and a half years.  Too many to list. Main one justifying new blog entry, is redesign of home page. Before, it was designed to please me, super dense with everything in one master control panel. I've redesigned it to be friendly to newbies and everyone really. Clear structure, more use of space.  At someone's request, I added a lucid24.org google site search at top of home page. 2022 4-14 Major update to lucid24.org, easy navigation of suttas, quicklink: the ramifications 4-2 new feature lucid24.org sutta quick link 3-28 A new translation of SN 38.16, and first jhāna is a lot easier than you think 🔗📝notes related to Jhāna force and J.A.S.I. effect AN 9.36, MN 64, MN 111: How does Ajahn Brahm an...

AN 9.36, MN 64, MN 111: How does Ajahn Brahm and Sujato's "Jhāna" work here?

What these 3 suttas have in common, AN 9.36, MN 64, MN 111, is the very interesting feature of explicitly describing doing vipassana, while one is in the jhāna and the first 3 formless attainments. LBT (late buddhist text) apologists, as well as Sujato, Brahm, claim that the suttas describe a jhāna where one enters a disembodied, frozen state, where vipassana is impossible until one emerges from that 'jhāna'.  Since Sujato translated all the suttas, let's take a look at what he translated, and how it supports his interpretation of 'jhāna'.  AN 9.36: Jhānasutta—Bhikkhu Sujato (suttacentral.net) ‘The first absorption is a basis for ending the defilements.’ ‘Paṭhamampāhaṁ,   bhikkhave,   jhānaṁ   nissāya   āsavānaṁ   khayaṁ   vadāmī’ti,   iti   kho   panetaṁ   vuttaṁ. That’s what I said, but why did I say it? Kiñcetaṁ   paṭicca   vuttaṁ? Take a mendicant who, q uite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskill...

Pāḷi and Sanskrit definition of Viveka

  'Viveka', Sanskrit dictionary Primary meaning is ‘discrimination’. Other meanings:  (1) true knowledge,  (2) discretion,  (3) right judgement,  (4) the faculty of distinguishing and classifying things according to their real properties’. Wikipedia (sanskrit dictionary entry 'viveka') Viveka (Sanskrit: विवेक, romanized: viveka) is a Sanskrit and Pali term translated into English as discernment or discrimination.[1] According to Rao and Paranjpe, viveka can be explained more fully as: Sense of discrimination; wisdom; discrimination between the real and the unreal, between the self and the non-self, between the permanent and the impermanent; discriminative inquiry; right intuitive discrimination; ever present discrimination between the transient and the permanent.[2]: 348  The Vivekachudamani is an eighth-century Sanskrit poem in dialogue form that addresses the development of viveka. Within the Vedanta tradition, there is also a concept of vichara which is one t...