How to LIVE if we're sure we'll die?

(Buddhism Podcast) When death comes, what truly matters? | Buddhist Wisdom

Some are as if dead already

Things can wait. What's the rush?

Heedlessness (Pāli pamada, Sanskrit pramāda, Tibetan bakmepa) is a Buddhist term translated as "heedlessness," "carelessness," "negligence," and so on. In the Mahayana tradition, pramāda is defined to not apply oneself earnestly and carefully to adopting a wholesome attitude and abandoning unwholesome actions. More

The heedful do not die*

I'll do what can be done right now.

Heedfulness (Pāli appamāda, Sanskrit apramāda, Tibetan Wylie bag yod pa) is a Buddhist term translated as "diligence," "conscientious," "concern," "vigilance," and so on. It is defined as taking great care concerning what should be adopted and what should be avoided [1, 2].

In the Theravada Pāli canon, a vast collection of the historical Buddha's earliest teachings, the term appamāda is very significant. The essence of its meaning cannot be captured with a single English word. "Heedfulness," "diligence," and "conscientiousness" all capture certain aspects of appamāda. It is identified as one of the 11 virtuous mental factors in the Mahayana Abhidharma teachings. More

• *One will never again die when one gets off of the samsaric cycle of endless "wandering on" of rebirths chasing fulfillment that is not to be found.
• Nirvana is "the deathless" (amata, amrita, ambrosia)



Watch my death-defying jump against nature!

• The Four Right Efforts: (1) The effort to prevent harmful, unskillful things that have not yet arisen. (2) The effort to abandon harmful, unskillful things that have already arisen. (3) The effort to promote the arising of skillful things that have not yet arisen. (4) The effort to maintain, develop, and bring to culmination skillful things that have already arisen.

Five Recollections (Upajjhatthana Sutta)

What did the historical Buddha teach?

Here are two English translations and the original Pali text of the "Five Recollections," remembrances, or contemplations:

1. I am sure to become old; I cannot avoid aging.
   I am subject to aging, have not gone beyond aging.
2. I am sure to become ill; I cannot avoid illness.
   I am subject to illness, have not gone beyond illness.
3. I am sure to die; I cannot avoid death.
   I am subject to death, have not gone beyond death.
4. I am subject to separation and loss and to be parted from all that is dear and loved by me.
   I will grow different, separate from all that is meaningful and appealing to me.
5. I am the owner of my actions (karma), heir of my actions, actions are the womb (from which I have sprung and will be reborn), actions are my relations, actions are my protection. Whatever actions I do, skillful or unskillful, of these I shall be the heir [2].
   I am the owner of my actions, heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator. Whatever I do, wholesome or unwholesome, to that will I fall heir [3].

Cultivate all eight factors of the Path

The Buddha advised, "These are the five facts to often reflect on, whether one is a woman or a man, a layperson or a monastic" [5].

Since the Buddha redefined karma as "intention" (cetana, the decisive intent underlying a deed or action) in the Nibbedhika Sutta, intention or intentionally-committed actions may be better translations of "karma" in the fifth recollection. More

What 'God' do nontheistic Buddhists pray to?

SEE VIDEO: (Buddha's Wisdom) If Buddhism has no God... who are they praying to?

If Buddhism has no God, who are Buddhists praying to?

(Buddha's Wisdom) 🔍 IF THERE'S NO BUDDHIST GOD, WHO GETS ALL THESE PRAYERS?

The Buddha with gods Sakka and Brahma

Buddhism famously teaches that there is no "creator God." Yet, Buddhist temples across Asia overflow with [what sounds like] prayers, chants, offerings, and devotion.

From bodhisattvas and buddhas to spirits, protectors, and ancestors, this video explores whom Buddhists are actually praying to—if anyone—and why [petitionary] prayer never disappeared from Buddhism.

Discover how Buddhist "prayer" works in the absence of a supreme deity and why this "godless" religion created one of the most elaborate spiritual support systems ever conceived.

• [NOTE: Theists are sure there's a God; atheists are sure there is not; agnostics say they do not know and remain on the fence. But nontheists are different. They say, "Whether there is a God or is not a God, we must still concern ourselves with our own enlightenment and liberation/salvation." No one else, not even "God," can do it for us. We must develop calm and insight, study and practice, to awaken from this illusory samsara or Wheel of Suffering and Rebirth.]

DISCOVER:

• Why Buddhism rejected [an all-powerful, all-knowing, omnipresent] creator God but preserved devotion
• Why [Mahayana] Buddhism has multiple buddhas instead of one God...and what each one specializes in
• The bodhisattvas who postponed enlightenment just to help all living beings (and millions pray to them daily)
• The terrifying wrathful protectors (guardian deities) who guard Buddhism with fangs and flames
• How Buddhism absorbed local spirits, gods, and ancestors without losing its core philosophy
• Why the three Buddhist schools (Theravāda, Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna) solve this paradox differently
• How this ancient system still explains modern meditation, ritual, and faith

📿 If this changed understanding of Buddhist devotion, subscribe to Buddha's Wisdom for more deep explorations into Buddhism's most fascinating mysteries and apparent contradictions.

TIMESTAMPS

• 00:00 If Buddhism has no God
• 01:31 The core confusion: No God yet prayer everywhere
• 06:50 Chapter 1: The Buddha specialists (Shakyamuni, Amitābha, Medicine Buddha, Guanyin)
• 14:55 Chapter 2: The Bodhisattva Help Desk—compassion incarnate
• 21:53 Chapter 3: Protectors, Gods, and spiritual security
• 27:40 Chapter 4: Where Buddhism meets local spirits and ancestors
• 34:48 Chapter 5: Human bridges—the power of dead masters
• 41:48 Chapter 6: Theravāda, Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna Buddhism — three different solutions
• 50:12 Chapter 7: How all the layers work together
• 54:45 Chapter 8: Why this still matters today
• 56:17 What 'prayer' really cultivates

📚 SOURCES AND FURTHER READING:

Primary Buddhist texts:

• The Pāli canon (Tipiṭaka) - the Buddha's final words on self-reliance
• Lotus Sutra (Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra) - foundation of bodhisattva devotion
• Pure Land Sutras (Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtras) - Amitābha Buddha and rebirth in [his western] Pure Land
• Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thödol) - death and intermediate states between lifetimes
• Platform Sutra - Zen Buddhism's approach to "sudden enlightenment"

Scholarly resources:

• Buddhism Without Beliefs by Stephen Batchelor
• The Bodhisattva Ideal in Buddhism by Sangharakshita  
• Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations by Paul Williams
• Tantric Buddhism in East Asia by Richard Payne
• The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism by Robert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr.
• Popular Buddhism in Sri Lanka by Michael Ames (folk religion integration)
• The Cult of the Book of the Dead in Tibet by Bryan J. Cuevas

Academic articles:

• "The Concept of the Bodhisattva in Early Buddhism" - Buddhist Studies Review
• "Wrathful Deities in Vajrayana Buddhism" - Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies
• "Pure Land Buddhism in China" - Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies

Historical context:

• The Buddhist Conquest of China by Erik Zürcher (syncretism examples)
• Buddhism and Society in Thailand by Tambiah (spirit house integration)
• The Making of Buddhist Modernism by David McMahan

📱 Join community: Instagram (buddhaswizdom), Facebook (buddhaswizdom), X (BuddhasWizdom), Spotify (open.spotify.com...), TikTok (buddhas.wisdom)

☕ Support the channel: buymeacoffee.com/buddhaswisdom

#Buddhism #BuddhistPrayer #NoGod #Buddha #Bodhisattva #PureLand #Meditation #Spirituality #ReligionExplained #BuddhasWisdom #BuddhismExplained #MahayānaBuddhism #TheravādaBuddhism #VajrayānaBuddhism #Avalokiteśvara #GreenTara #BuddhistDeities #ComparativeReligion

• Buddha's Wisdom, Jan. 8, 2026; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Why practice Recollection of Death?

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I am become Death (on TV)

"Recollection of death" (maranānussati) is one of the ten recollections treated in detail in the Path of Purification (Vis.M. VIII):

The Buddha taught: ''Recollection of death, developed and frequently practiced, yields great reward, great blessing, has deathlessness (amata) as its goal and objective. But how may such recollection be developed?

"As soon as the day declines, as the night vanishes and the day is breaking, the meditator reflects:

I'm indestructible and strong.

One reflects, "Truly, there are many possibilities for me to die: I may be bitten by a serpent or be stung by a scorpion or a centipede, and thereby I may lose this life. This would be an obstacle for me. Or I may stumble and fall to the ground, or the food I eat may not agree with my health. Or [the humors] bile, phlegm, and piercing gases [bodily winds] may become disturbed. Humans or ghosts may attack me, and I may lose my life. This would be an obstacle for me."

Then a meditator considers thus: "Are there still to be found in me unsubdued unskillful, unwholesome things which, if I should die today or tonight, might lead me to greater suffering?"

Now, if one understands that this is the case, one should use one's utmost resolution, determination, energy (viriya), effort, endeavor, steadfastness, attentiveness, and clear-mindedness (sati-sampajanna) in order to overcome these harmful, unwholesome things" (A VIII, 74).

What does the Path of Purification advise?

Redford's children die tragically

In the Path of Purification (Vis.M. VIII) it is said: "One who wishes to develop this meditation should retreat to solitude [a private, quiet place], and while living secluded one should wisely reflect: 'Death will come to me! The vital energy will be cut off!' Or [recall,] 'Death! Death!'

"To one who does not wisely reflect, sorrow may arise by thinking about [recalling] the death of a loved one, just as it does to a mother while thinking of the death of a beloved child.

"Again, by reflecting on the death of a disliked person, joy [schadenfreude] may arise -- just as enemies while thinking about the death of their enemies.

"Through thinking about the death of a neutral (indifferent) person, however, no emotion will arise, just as none arises in a worker whose work consists of cremating dead bodies at the sight of a dead body.

"By reflecting on one's own death fright may arise...just as at the sight of a murderer with drawn sword one becomes filled with terror.

Death, be not proud.

"Therefore, whenever seeing here or there slain or other dead [formerly living] beings, one should reflect on the death of such deceased persons who once lived in happiness.

One should rouse one's attentiveness, emotion, and knowledge and consider thus: 'Death will come, and so on.

Only in one who considers in this way, will the Five Hindrances (nīvarana) be repressed. Through the idea of death, attention becomes steadfast, and the exercise reaches [meditative] neighborhood-concentration (upacāra-samādhi).

According to the Path of Purification (Vis.M. VIII), one may also reflect on death in the following various ways:

• One may think of Death [personified] as a murderer with a drawn sword standing in front of oneself;
• or one may bear in mind that all happiness ends in death;
• or that even the mightiest beings on this earth are subject to death;
• or that we must share this body with all innumerable worms and other tiny beings [microbes] residing throughout the intestines and tissues;
• or that life is something dependent on in-and-out breathing, and bound up with it; or that life continues only as long as the elements, food, breath, etc. are properly performing their functions; or that nobody knows when, where, and under what circumstances, death will take place, and what kind of fate we have to expect after death; or, that life is very short and limited. As it is said: 'Short, indeed, is this life of men, limited, fleeting, full or woe and torment; it is just like a dewdrop that vanishes as soon as the sun rises; like a water-bubble; like a furrow drawn in the water; like a torrent dragging everything along and never standing still; like cattle for slaughter that every moment look death in the face" (A. VII, 74).

Path of Purification (Nyanamoli)

The meditator devoted to this recollection of death is at all times indefatigable and gains the realization of disgust with regard to all forms [31 planes] of existence, gives up delight in [samsara, endless rebirth], detests evil [that traps one in experiencing the results of miserable karma], does not hoard up things, is free from stinginess with regard to the necessities of life.

1. And the realization of [radical] impermanence (anicca) becomes familiar.
2. And through pursuing it, the idea of disappointment (dukkha).
3. And the impersonal (anattā) nature of all things becomes present to one....

Free from fear and bewilderment will one pass away at death. And should that person not yet realize the Deathless State [full enlightenment, nirvana, arahantship] in this lifetime, one will at the dissolution of the body attain to a happy course of existence (Vis.M. VIII).

• See Buddhist Reflections on Death by V. F. Gunaratna (Wheel 102/103)
• Buddhism and Death by M.Q.C. Walshe (Wheel 260)
• Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary, maranānussati based on Path of Purification (Vis.M. VIII), edited by Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Walking on water, high cost of eggs

O, Sea Spirit, we were shipwrecked! - Thank the Dragon King for saving you, Good Man.

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Silanisamsa Jataka: Noble friendship [and the high cost of eggs]

How to get rid of predators stealing your eggs

(Jat 190) The Buddha told this story at Jetavana, the Jeta's Grove Hermitage, about a virtuous lay follower. One evening, when this faithful disciple came to the bank of the Aciravati River on his way to Jetavana to hear the Buddha, there was no boat at the landing stage.

• 

  The Buddha is best noble friend

  [What is "noble" friendship (kalyāṇa-mittatā) in Buddhism? The greatest thing about a "noble" (enlightened) friend, whether a layperson as in this case or a monastic, is the opportunity to HEAR the Dhamma, the Buddha's Teachings that lead to enlightenment and nirvana. They speak of it when they speak, though often pleased just with quietude and noble silence, are just by their being fine examples of good conduct, virtuous, uplifting (although capable of misconduct and even immorality until they reach the stage of arahant even if the popular misconception is that a stream-enterer immediately becomes morally flawless and of perfect conduct, never mind what the Ratana Sutta has to say about it). The Noble Sangha (lit., "community of enlightened beings"), which includes every being attained at least to the stage of stream-entry or possibly even the two preliminary stages (saddhanusari and dhammanusari), is one of the "Three Treasures" (ti-ratana) or Jewels, the ultimate guides for beings subject to suffering (disappointment in this unending Cycle of Rebirth, which can be brought to an end (nirodha) but never ends by itself). There are by this reckoning seven such "noble ones." However, Ven. Upatissa's Path of Freedom has more details on the three types of stream-enterers (the sattakkhattu-parama facing as many as seven more rebirths, the kolaṅkola or "passing from one noble family to another" is the stream-enterer who may be reborn fewer times and travel from teacher or school until settling down with the right one and reaching nibbana, and the eka-biji or "one-seeder" or "germinating only once more" stream-enterer, each weakening the further fetters binding one to ignorance and the Wheel of Becoming or Cycle of Rebirth, see AN 9.12), which is more helpful than the standard condensed Path of Purification enumeration of just four stages of enlightenment/awakening.]
• [The Threefold Training that leads to enlightenment]
• [There are cankers, corruptions, biases to overcome]

The ferrymen had pulled their boats onto the far shore and themselves gone to hear the Buddha. However, the disciple's mind was so full of delightful thoughts of the Buddha that even though he walked into the river, his feet did not sink below the surface: He walked on water, going across as if on dry land.

But when he noticed the waves as he reached the middle of the river, his ecstasy subsided and his feet began to sink. Then as soon as he again focused his mind on the qualities of the Buddha, his feet rose and he was able to continue walking joyously over the water.

When he arrived at Jetavana, he paid his respects to the Teacher and took a seat respectfully to one side.

"Good layman," the Buddha said, addressing the disciple, "I hope you had no mishap on your way."

"Venerable sir," the disciple replied, "while coming here, I was so absorbed in thoughts of the Buddha that, when I came to the river, I was able to walk on water and cross it as though it were solid."

"Friend," the Blessed One said, "you are not the only one who has been protected in this way. In olden days, virtuous laymen were shipwrecked in mid-ocean and saved themselves by remembering the virtues of the Buddha." At the man's request, the Buddha then told this story of the past.

Story of the past: Jataka

It's not a sutra, Homer, it's a jataka. - Shut up, Flanders! *Whisper* I'll be back for those eggs.

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This ship is going to sink, friend.

Long, long ago, at the time of the Buddha Kassapa [3], a lay [stream-enterer] disciple who had already entered the path [reached the first stage of enlightenment] booked passage on a ship with his friend, a rich barber.

The rich barber's wife asked the disciple to look after her husband. But a week after it left port, the ship sank in the middle of the ocean.

The two friends saved themselves by holding on to a plank of wood and were eventually cast up on the shore of a deserted island rookery.

Famished, the foolish barber raided egg nests, killed birds, slaughtered and cooked them, offering a share of his bloody meal to the Buddha's disciple.

Farmer trying to steal the mother chicken's babies/eggs goes viral

The wise go for guidance to the Buddha.

"No thank you," the disciple answered, "I'm fine" [not wishing to encourage the foolish barber in his defilements or unskillful karma]. He thought to himself, "In this desolate place, there is no help [guidance] for us here except the Three Jewels [the Buddha, Dhamma, and noble Sangha]."

As he sat meditating on the Three Jewels, a naga (reptilian, dragon, CDs) king who had been reborn on that island magically transformed himself into a beautiful ship filled with the seven precious things [4]. Its three masts were made of sapphire, the planks and anchor of gold, and the ropes of silver.

The naga king transforms into a ship to save the good man

The helmsman, who was a sea spirit, stood on the deck and yelled, "Passengers for Jambudipa [earth, subcontinent, or India] now boarding for immediate passage!"

"Yes," the virtuous lay disciple called back, "that's where we're bound!"

"Then come aboard," the sea spirit invited.

The virtuous layman climbed aboard the beautiful ship and turned to call his friend the foolish barber.

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(The Simpsons) Stealing to kill and devour mother and their offspring

"You may come," the sea spirit declared "but he may not."

"Why not?" the disciple asked.

"He is no follower of the pure life," answered the sea spirit. "I brought this ship for you, but not for him."

"If that's the case," the virtuous layman announced, "then all the gifts I have given, all the virtues [restraints and exertions] I have practiced, all the powers I have developed — I give the fruit of all of them to him!"

"Thank you, Master!" cried his friend the barber.

"Very well," relented the sea spirit, "now I can take both of you aboard."

List of the Buddha's rebirth tales or Jataka Stories (Wiki)

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The ship carried the two men across the sea and up the Ganges River that pours into it. After depositing them safely at their home in Baranasi [the holy ancient city of Varanasi/Benares], the sea spirit used his magic power to create enormous wealth for both of them. Then, poising himself mid-air, he instructed them and their friends:

"Keep company with the wise and good. If this barber had not been in the company of this virtuous layperson, he would have perished in the middle of the ocean."

• 

  McDharma's: Can the US get Beyond Meat?

  [Taking eggs from nests, killing birds to survive, the foolish barber was engaged in things that make sense to worldlings even though they are very unskillful karma capable of bringing one to ruin, storing up unwholesome deeds avoided by the wise who neither encourage nor engage in them. That is the high cost of eating eggs, bloody handed, eating babies (bird fetuses), depriving them of life. Who would eat the womb of a woman with the excuse, "No, this womb was not a baby yet because sperm hadn't impregnated it"? The same people eat eggs with blood, indicating the eggs were fertilized and ready to produce a baby chick. Similarly, people eat murdered chicken-mothers, hens who lay eggs, and their rooster partners, calling them "poultry," ignoring that they are sentient beings, conscious entities killed to keep human-ghouls fed on corpses. Going vegan/vegetarian might be a better and more compassionate, environmentally-conscious option.]

Finally, the sea spirit returned to his own abode, taking the naga king with him.

Having finished this recounting of the past, the Buddha identified the rebirth (jataka) and taught the Dhamma, after which the virtuous layperson listening to him entered the fruit of the second path [reached the second stage of enlightenment].

"On that occasion [in that past life]," the Buddha said, "that disciple attained full enlightenment (arahantship). Sariputta was the naga king, and I myself was the sea spirit." Source

• List of Jatakas (Buddhist Rebirth Stories)
• Ken and Visakha Kawasaki (trans), Jataka Tales of the Buddha: Part III retold by the Kawasakis; edited by Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly

Dalai Lama, Buddhist pilgrimage India/Nepal

The 14th Dalai Lama goes on a pilgrimage to the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, India, in 2023

On the Path of the Buddha: Buddhist Pilgrimage in North India and Nepal

(Phillip Lucas) This educational video follows the path of Buddhist pilgrims from around the world as they visit Lumbini, Nepal, the traditional site thought to be where Prince Siddhartha (the Buddha-to-be) was born.

Then it is on to "Enlightenment Grove" or Bodh Gaya in Bihar (Vihara), India, the site of Prince Siddhartha's great awakening or enlightenment (maha bodhi).

Then it is on to Sarnath, India, the site of the Buddha's first sutra or sermon, where he made five converts of wandering ascetics who previously accompanied him on his spiritual quest.

Then it is on to the ancient royal city of Rajgir, India, the site of Vulture's Peak, the hill where the Buddha delivered several famous sutras.

Then it is on to Vaishali, India, where the Buddha first accepted females into the Buddhist Order of Nuns (Bhikkhuni Sangha).

Finally, it is on to Kushinagar, India, the site of the Buddha's final nirvana, the culmination of his long journey through samsara (the Wheel of Life and Death).

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Dharma Punx event: The Five Remembrances

Mary Stancavage* (AgainstTheStream.org); Seth Auberon, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

1. I am subject to aging; aging is unavoidable.
2. I am subject to illness; illness is unavoidable.
3. I am subject to death; death is unavoidable.
4. I will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to me.
5. I am the owner of my own actions (karma)...and live dependent on my actions. Whatever I do, for good or for ill, to that will I fall heir.

Bringing Home the Dharma

The Buddha offered us (humans and devas) these Five Remembrances [like the Recollections] as a way of reconnecting to our mortality, potential for enlightenment, and as an antidote to our incessant clinging.

• FREE: Five Remembrances Meditation (Yoga Journal)

However, we are unused to thinking about such things. Denial of them is much more common, particularly in American culture.

We often encounter fear when we do bring them to mind and begin to ponder them.

These won't happen to me! I'm a rebel.

So in this daylong we will spend some time together sitting with our own impermanence and begin our journey towards embracing it by contemplating these recollections and our own response to them.

There will be sitting and walking meditation, Dharma talks, and conversation. It is suitable for all levels of practitioners.

• Five Remembrances Daylong
• Saturday, August 19, 2017 10:00 am-4:30 pm
• 4300 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90029
• Info. on parking around the Melrose Center
• COST: sliding scale: $35-$75 in addition to an offering of dana to the teacher.
• Scholarships and work-study are available. No one is ever turned away for lack of fund.
• More info or to register

*Mary Stancavage has practiced meditation, yoga, and cultivated a spiritual practice for over 30 years. She began studying with Against the Stream (ATS) Founder Noah Levine in 2005, and in 2009 completed his first teacher training program. She currently serves as director of Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society. In January 2016 she became executive director of the Mind Body Awareness Project.  She has taught meditation at [drug] recovery centers in Los Angeles, has co-facilitated Year-to-Live groups since 2008, and has a weekly class at ATS. She completed the Buddhist Chaplaincy Program at the Sati Center and served as volunteer chaplain at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. Mary sits on the board of the Buddhist Insight Network and CLUE-LA. In addition, she has a Master's degree from UCLA and has worked as an archaeologist in the Middle East.

Mahayana: Devotion to the Buddha (Conze)

Edward Conze (trans.), Buddhist Texts Through the Ages (Oxford: Bruno Cassirer, Ltd., 1954) via Mircea Eliade, "From Primitives to Zen"; CC Liu, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Devotees line up to place flowers on the altar before the Buddha, the Buddha's Birthday Vesak celebration, El Monte, Los Angeles, California (Gordon Milcham/flickr.com)

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("Shikshasamuccaya," 299-301 ["Avalokana Sutra"])

Post-blast vigil Hindu temple, Thailand (AP)

Verily, for countless aeons one is not reborn blind or lame if, after one has decided to win enlightenment, one venerates a stupa [reliquary, burial mound of an fully enlightened person] of the Teacher.

Firm in strength and vigor, a heroic person [spiritual warrior], firm in courage, speedily one wins fortune after one has circumambulated a stupa.

One who in this last age [kali yuga], this dreadful age, reveres a stupa, greater is the merit than if for hundreds of thousands of nayutas of kotis [see Large numbers of India] of aeons one has honored a similar number of buddhas. For the Buddha is pre-eminent, unequalled, most worthy of offerings, one who has traveled along the noblest pre-eminent way.
 

Celestial deva, Thailand (Thadsak Ylngskul/flickr)

One who [pays homage] to this Chief of Humans has the best and unequalled reward. Passing from here, among humans, one goes to the heavenly World of the Thirty-Three, and there one obtains a brilliant palace [vehicle, platform, ship, vimana] made of jewels.

If one here [on earth] gives a pointed tower [to top a rest stop for wandering ascetics], one will there [in the sensual Heaven of the Thirty-Three] be waited upon by apsaras [nymphs].

If one places a garland on a stupa, one will be reborn among the Thirty-Three. And there one gets a celestial lotus-pond, full of excellent water, with a floor of golden sand, bestrewn with vaidurya and crystal.

And when one has enjoyed that celestial delight and completed that lifespan there, the wise person, passing from the deva-world, becomes a human of wealth.
 
In hundreds of thousands of nayutas of kotis of births one will everywhere be honored after one has placed a garland on a [Buddhist] shrine. When one has given but a strip of cloth to the Liberator of the world, to the Protector, all one's aims will prosper, both among devas and among humans.

One keeps out of the inferior and unlucky states of existence and is not reborn in them. When one has made a bower of garlands over the relics of the Liberator of the world, one becomes a powerful ruler with a loyal retinue.

One of the Mahayana Buddhas, a god, glorious Amitabha of the western Pure Land, just like the historical Buddha Gautama said he wasn't (Mig_T_One/flickr.com)

 
One is dear and cherished, honored and praised by devas and nagas and the wise people in this world. Wherever that heroic person is reborn, glorious with merit's glory, there one's family is honored, country, and town.

Listen to me telling you of one's advantages if one takes a speck of incense finer than a mustard seed and burns it at the shrines of the Enlightened One:

Serene in heart one forsakes all obstructions and all taints; in whichever region one is, there one is full of merit, altogether full of health, firm in intelligence, and alert, one averts sorrow, and one goes one's way, dear and pleasant to many people.

If one should gain a kingdom, one honors the supreme Jina [arhat, spiritual hero], a wise universal monarch of great might, golden colored, adorned with marks [of merit], with body that emits a pleasant odor in all worlds. At birth already one receives the best of clothes, finest garments, heavenly, superb, well made.
 
One is blessed with a beautiful body when one has clothed the Liberator's shrines with robes. It is because one has honored with robes at the shrines of the unequalled Liberators that here in this world one's body becomes unequalled and armored with the 32 [major] marks. More