A Garland in the Tushita Heaven

In a warm room in the city of Savatthi, candlelight flickered across the gaunt face of an elderly lay devotee. He lay on his sickbed, his breathing faint, yet his eyes still shone with faith. All his life he had lived virtuously, helping the poor travelers who came to the city, and he regularly made offerings to the monks. He had fourteen children, and he had taught every one of them to do good deeds, taking turns making offerings.

As old age weakened him, he knew in advance the day he would pass away. He called his children to him and said:

"Three days from now, I will die. Before I go, I wish to hear the monks chant a sutra, so that I may depart amid the sound of the chanting."

His children went to tell the Buddha, who sent monks to chant for him. When the Sangha arrived, he lay on his bed with his palms joined in reverence. They asked which sutra he wished to hear. He said:

"I have often heard the World-Honored One praise the sutra on the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, the loftiest and most true path to enlightenment. Please chant that sutra for me."

The monks began to chant. The steady, blended voices rose through the room. He closed his eyes and steadied his mind. Suddenly, he saw the entire sky open above him, radiant and bright, with no ceiling remaining. Chariots of celestial beings from various heavenly realms flew in and hovered in midair, calling out eagerly:

"Please board our chariot and come with us to the Trayastrimsa Heaven!"

"Please come to the Heaven of the Four Great Kings!"

"Please come to the Tushita Heaven!"

He could no longer hear the chanting—only the voices of the celestial beings inviting him. He opened his mouth and said:

"Please be quiet for a moment!"

The chanting monks heard this and stopped. Thinking he was not yet ready to die, they paused, bowed in farewell, and left. His children, sorrowful, asked:

"Father, why did you ask the monks to stop chanting?"

"I did not ask the monks to stop. I asked the celestial beings to stop!"

"What celestial beings?"

He then told them what he had seen. Then he asked his children:

"Among those heavenly realms, in which one is the Buddha teaching the Dharma?"

"Father, the World-Honored One has said that in the Tushita Heaven, the bodhisattva Maitreya is teaching the Dharma."

"Then I wish to go to the Tushita Heaven. Take a garland and throw it into the air, with the aspiration that it attach itself to the chariot bound for the Tushita Heaven."

His son half understood, but did as his father asked. He took the garland and threw it upward. Miraculously, the garland did not fall but hung suspended in midair, as if resting upon something invisible. Everyone was astonished. The devotee smiled, closed his eyes, and passed away. At that very moment, a sweet fragrance filled the air, a gentle light enveloped everything, and then slowly faded away.

When the monks returned to the monastery, they told the Buddha:

"World-Honored One, we were only halfway through the chanting when he asked us to stop. He must not have been ready to go."

The Buddha said:

"It was not so. He was not asking you to stop, but asking the celestial beings to quiet down. He has now been reborn in the Tushita Heaven."

The Buddha then spoke this verse: "Happy is this life, and happier still the life to come. The virtuous, full of happiness, harvest the sweet fruit of what they have sown."

The Meaning of the Story

The story of this devotee is a testament to the karmic law of cause and effect (karmic law) working in a beautiful way. Those who live virtuously, who know how to help others, make offerings, and cultivate themselves, will meet their final moments in peace and joy, welcomed by celestial beings into a favorable realm. This life is joyful, and the next is more joyful still. Let us live well, do good deeds, and cultivate the mind and heart, so that we may have as beautiful an ending as this devotee in the story.

Compiled from a dharma talk by Venerable Thich Chan Quang.