Maraṇasati

Maraṇasati (mindfulness of death, death awareness) is a Buddhist meditation practice of remembering (frequently keeping in mind) that death can strike at any time (AN 6.20), and that we should practice assiduously (appamada) and with urgency in every moment, even in the time it takes to draw one breath. Not being diligent every moment is called negligence by the Buddha (AN 6.19). In the earliest discourses of the Buddha, the term 'Maranasati' is only explicitly defined twice, in the two suttas AN 6.19 and AN 6.20.

Later Buddhist schools have expanded the meaning of 'maranasati' to include various visualization and contemplation techniques to meditate on the nature of death. The cultivation of Maranasati is said to be conducive to right effort, and also helpful in developing a sense of spiritual urgency (Saṃvega) and renunciation (Nekkhamma).

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