Exemplary Death

Premodern Japanese hagiographies called ōjōden provide a model of ideal death. Persons who are to be born in Pure Land withdraw before dying to a separate room or chapel (mujōin), which helped separate them from worldly attachments (and also protected the living from death pollution). There they lie or sit upright before a buddha image and pass away calmly, chanting the nenbutsu, the Lotus Sutra, or other holy invocations. Afterward, marvelous signs manifest, such as purple clouds or unearthly music. Such signs both inspired and were shaped by Buddhist art and liturgical performances. Since survivors could not know whether the deceased had died with a focused mind or not, conformity to this model was the standard by which a good death was judged as such. Exemplary death was both the cause for achieving birth in the Pure Land and the “proof” that it had been achieved.