Discernment of Sound as an Object of Perception by Consciousness Before Awakening and Before Death

Q: I keep a recorder playing the sacred name of Amitabha Buddha near my sleeping area. One day, while in a drowsy state, I heard a sound. At that moment, I knew in my mind that it was the sound of chanting the sacred name of Amitabha Buddha. I tried hard to listen, but I couldn't discern the sound clearly. After a while, when I became a bit more awake, I could then recognize that it was indeed the sound of the sacred name of Amitabha Buddha being played.

Please explain how this should be understood. When I was drowsy, I only heard the sound, which indicates that my ear consciousness received the auditory object (sound-dust), but my mind consciousness was not sufficiently clear to discern the mental object (dharma-dust), even though I thought I was quite awake at the time?

Does this mean that when a person is nearing death, it's similar? The mind consciousness is already rather unclear, making it difficult to discern what the chanting group is reciting, or even rendering one unable to hear the chanting group's sound at all.

A: Part of the mind consciousness was already awake, but the ear consciousness had not yet fully manifested. Consequently, the sound heard was indistinct. Furthermore, just before fully awakening, the manas (mind-root) can also hear the sound of Buddha recitation. However, the manas often cannot discern it clearly and may even misperceive or become confused in its cognition. Yet, because one frequently hears the sound of Buddha recitation, the manas becomes very familiar with it and thus does not misperceive, though its cognition remains unclear.

When the mind consciousness is fully awake, it is easy to locate the manas. The mental activity just before awakening belongs to the manas, making it easy to locate the manas then as well. However, the mind consciousness requires recollection and retrospection, and its faculty of knowing is relatively weaker at that stage.

When a person is nearing death, due to the disintegration of the Four Great Elements (earth, water, fire, wind) and the decomposition of the body faculty, the suffering is particularly intense. Consequently, the mind consciousness has little mental energy or capacity left to discern the arising mental objects (dharma-dust), so the perceived dharma-dust becomes indistinct. Moreover, because the subtle sense organs (indriyas) are disintegrating along with the Four Great Elements, the external six dusts (objects of the senses) transmitted into the internal six dusts within the subtle sense organs become progressively fewer and increasingly blurred. As a result, what the mind consciousness perceives becomes progressively weaker and less clear.

However, if one has practiced diligently in ordinary times, possessing deep roots of goodness and abundant merit and virtue, one will receive the Buddha's power and blessings. The mind will not be confused, enabling rebirth in the Pure Land or rebirth in a favorable realm.