Discernment of Sound as a Dharma Object by Consciousness Before Waking and Before Death

Question: I have always kept a player broadcasting the holy name of Amitābha Buddha in the place where I sleep. One day, while I was sleeping in a drowsy haze, I heard the sound. At that moment, my mind knew it was the sound of chanting the holy name of Amitābha Buddha. I tried hard to listen, but I could not make out the sound. After a while, I became a bit more awake, and at that point I could again discern that it was the sound of the broadcast of Amitābha Buddha's holy name.

May I ask how this should be understood? When I was in a drowsy sleep, I only heard the sound, which shows that my ear consciousness received the sound-dust, but my mind consciousness was not awake enough to discern the mental dust (dharma-dust) — although at that time I myself felt quite awake?

Does this mean that when a person is near death, it is also like this — the mind consciousness is already rather unclear, hardly able to discern what the recitation-assistance group is chanting, or perhaps unable to hear the sound of their recitation at all?

Answer: When the mind consciousness has awakened only partially and the ear consciousness has not yet manifested, the sound heard is vague and indistinct. Moreover, just before fully waking, the manas can also hear the sound of Buddha recitation, but the manas often cannot discern it clearly and may become confused in its discrimination. However, because it has frequently heard the sound of Buddha recitation, the manas is very familiar with it, so it will not become confused in its discrimination, though its discernment is still unclear.

When the mind consciousness is awake, it is easy to locate the manas. The mental activity just before fully waking belongs to the manas, so the manas is also easy to locate, but the mind consciousness needs to recollect and reflect, and its capacity to know is relatively weak.

When a person is near death, because the four great elements disintegrate and the body faculty breaks down, there is intense suffering; therefore the mind consciousness does not have much mental energy or vigor to discern the mental dust of the sounds that appear, and the mental dust it knows is vague. Furthermore, because of the disintegration of the four great elements of the supreme faculty (indriya), the inner six dusts transmitted into the supreme faculty from the outer six dusts become fewer and fewer, increasingly vague and indistinct, so what the mind consciousness perceives becomes weaker and weaker, less and less clear.

However, if one's practice is effective in ordinary times, with deep roots of goodness and deep merit, one will receive the blessing of the Buddha's power, the mind will not become confused, and one will be able to be reborn [in the Pure Land], or be reborn in a good destination.