Part 15 (1/2)

If tears flow uncontrollably from the eyes, This is called the 'impediment', And it indicates that one may die after five days.

If the right or left cheek sags inwards, This is called the 'cutting off of the intervening muscle', And it indicates that [one may die] after one day.

If the upper and lower teeth become locked, This is called the 'blockage of the path of the elements', And it indicates that one may die after two and a half days.

If a black spot appears on the tongue, It is certain that one will die after two days.

If the ears lie flat against the head, This is called the 'blockage of the stairway of the ears', And it indicates that one may die within half a day.

If the xiphoid of the chest sags inward, This is called the 'rupture of the support of the water element', And it indicates that one may die after two weeks.

If the hands shake for a prolonged time, when standing or sitting, One should know that one may quickly die.

Other signs of [near] death should also be examined in the following way: At noon one should face towards the south, Placing the elbows on the knees, Whereupon, lifting up one's hand, One should place [the wrist] at the point between the eyebrows, And focus both eyes upon one's hand.

[The image of the arm] will appear very thin, and if it then vanishes, This is called the 'severing of the bond between atmosphere and earth', And it indicates that one may die after nineteen days.

[Or else, one should position oneself at sunrise] with a pool or pond to the east, And stand up and gaze at the surface of a wall towards the west.

Two superimposed shadows will appear, one above the other, And if the upper shadow disappears, This is called the 'fall of a rider on a white lioness from the slopes of Mount Sumeru', And it indicates that one may die after fifteen and a half days.

[Alternatively, one should examine irregularities in one's urine specimen]:27 In the morning after a night when one has not engaged in s.e.xual intercourse, Drunk alcohol, or talked excessively, One should fill a clay container with one's [first] urine, at sunrise, and examine it.

If [the urine] has a bluish or reddish vapour which then disappears, This is called the 'vanis.h.i.+ng of the froth of the ocean', And it indicates that one will certainly die after nine days.

If the vapour is blackish and putrid, [This indicates that] one will die after one day.

If the vapour is red and spotted, one may die after nine [days].

[Alternatively], one should defecate at sunrise, And if no vapour arises from [the faeces], This is called the 'ceasing of monks' smoke in the cities of the earth element', And it indicates that one may die after nine days.

[Further], if, when the [closed] eyes are pressed, no circles of light appear, This is called the 'setting of the unchanging sun at the summit of Mount Sumeru',28 And it indicates that one may die after three or seven days.

[Further], if, when the ears are cupped with the fingers, The humming sound which is [normally] present is absent, This is called the 'interruption of the natural sound of the dkins from within Mount Sumeru',29 And it indicates that one may die after seven or thirteen days.

[Alternatively], on a morning when the sun is s.h.i.+ning, One should turn one's back to the sun, And if no evaporation [is seen to] rise from the crown of one's shadow, This is called the 'rupturing of the Wish-granting Tree from the Summit of Mount Sumeru',30 And it indicates that one may die after five days.

[Also], if a single tuft of hair exceptionally rises upwards from the posterior fontanelles, This is called 'the black lord of death, one-legged Yavati, arising as an enemy against the Wish-granting Tree',31 And it indicates that one may die after seven days.

Whichever of these [signs of] death occur, They indicate the specific time-frame [of impending death].

Therefore, upon the occurrence of such [signs], the Ritual Deception of Death should be performed three times.

If this is carried out [successfully], untimely death will be averted.

One should [therefore] exert oneself and persevere in [applying] the practical instructions, As [taught] in the Natural Liberation of Fear through the Ritual Deception of Death.

But if the ritual deception does not take effect, Despite being performed on three occasions, Death is definite, for one's lifespan is at its end.

MISCELLANEOUS SIGNS OF DEATH32.

Here follows the presentation of the miscellaneous signs of death.

Regardless of whether one is sick or healthy, If one cannot see the point of the nose with the eyes, One may die after five months.

If one cannot see the tip of one's own tongue, One may die after three days even if one is not sick.

If, when one gazes at the surface of a clear mirror, One cannot see with one's left eye, one may die after seven months.

[Usually], when one breathes into the palm of one's own hand [from close by], it will feel warm, And when one does so [from a distance] it will feel cold, But if these [sensations] are reversed, One should know that one might die after ten days.

If, when one looks for one's reflection in a vessel filled with water, No reflections, images, or the like, are apparent, This too is a sign of death.

If, when bathing, water does not cling to the area around the heart, Or if the water dries out [quickly] around the heart, this may indicate death.

It is [also] said that if no sound is emitted when one snaps the fingers, this may indicate death; And if the anklebones protrude from the legs, It is said that one may die after one month.

[Furthermore], it is said that if one leaves no footprints in soft earth, this may indicate death, And if one becomes weaker after having eaten nutritious food, And if one's shadow changes [its shape unnaturally], this too may indicate death.

When lice and nits [suddenly] gather or leave, this may indicate death.

If a former temperament, peaceful or wrathful, is reversed, And if a former pattern of behaviour, good or bad, changes, These too are signs indicative of a person's death.

If one's image reflected in water or in a mirror lacks a head or limbs, This too may be a sign of death.

If there is a retraction of the p.e.n.i.s and protrusion of the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es, or vice versa, If a previously unheard pulmonary wheezing sound occurs, And if one cannot sense the smell of a dying b.u.t.ter lamp, These are said to be signs that one will certainly die [imminently].

In addition to such signs, the following may also occur: A turbid confusion and darkening of normal consciousness, A loss of one's former appet.i.te, Embarra.s.sment and incapacity in undertaking virtuous acts, A [restless] urge to leave, and an inability to stay in one place, Discomfort in bed and inability to fall asleep, Recurring amnesia and disorientation, Recurring memories of one's former kindred, and the desire to be with them [again], Death wishes and the desire to commit suicide, The desire to roam and travel alone, without companions, Inertia, faintheartedness, and character changes, Poor physique and the convergence of many different illnesses, Dreams which are disturbed and recurringly negative, The welling up of powerful mental anxiety, Impious behaviour, which does not avoid the five poisonous, dissonant mental states, Lack of clarity and loss of faith in the [sublime] instructions, And incontinence or constant secretion of generative fluids.

Such are the [miscellaneous] signs that death is near.

Examine and scrutinise them with awareness!

Then, [if the time of death has arrived], The transference of consciousness should be performed!33

SIGNS OF EXTREMELY NEAR DEATH.

Now follows the presentation of the signs of extremely near death: The five sense faculties dissolve sequentially, And as a sign of this [imminent] demise of the sense faculties, One will be unable to digest food and drink, and one may vomit.