The Five Remembrances
The Buddha named five facts everyone should reflect on often (AN 5.57): that we age, sicken, die, and are parted from all we love — and that our own actions are the ground we stand on. Read slowly, they are not morbid but freeing. This is a gentle, private contemplation through them, one at a time. It’s offered as reflection, not therapy.
Five things to reflect on, gently and often.
In the Upajjhatthana Sutta, the Buddha names five facts everyone — not only monks — should keep quietly in view. Read quickly they can sound bleak; read slowly they are closer to a clearing of the air. They are not meant to frighten, but to free: when we stop expecting to be exempt, we cling less, love more honestly, and live with more care.
Take them one at a time. Let a slow breath fall between each.
A private contemplation, not therapy. Nothing is saved or sent.
Why face death on purpose?
Much of our suffering, the tradition suggests, comes from quietly pretending that we and those we love are exceptions to a law that binds everyone. Letting that pretence go is the beginning of a steadier peace. The first four remembrances tell the truth about impermanence; the fifth returns us, kindly, to the one thing we can actually shape — how we live today.
Worth naming plainly: AN 5.57 itself never uses the word maraṇasati. It simply calls these five subjects to be reviewed often, by anyone — “a woman or a man, a layperson or a renunciate” (trans. Bhikkhu Sujato). Mindfulness of death is the named practice the canon develops elsewhere, in discourses where the Buddha says that, developed and cultivated, it is “very fruitful and beneficial” (AN 6.19). We keep that word at the head of this page because it is the familiar name for reflection of this kind — but the five lines it paces are AN 5.57’s own.
Go deeper: Buddhism and death, impermanence, and what happens after death. If you are grieving, see our grief companion; to settle, the breathing pacer. All our free tools.
Frequently asked questions
What are the Five Remembrances?
They are five facts the Buddha said everyone should reflect on often, from the Upajjhatthana Sutta (AN 5.57): that we are subject to aging, to illness, and to death; that we will be parted from all that is dear to us; and that we are the owners and heirs of our own actions (kamma). The first four meet impermanence honestly; the fifth turns us back toward how we live now.
Isn't reflecting on death morbid?
It is meant to do the opposite. The point is not to dwell in dread but to stop pretending we are exempt from what binds everyone. Met gently and often, mortality becomes a teacher rather than a fear: we cling a little less, love more honestly, and use our time with more care. Mindfulness of death — maranasati — is a related practice with discourses of its own: in AN 6.19 the Buddha says that, developed and cultivated, it is 'very fruitful and beneficial' (trans. Bhikkhu Sujato). AN 5.57 never uses that word; it simply asks that these five subjects be reviewed often.
Is this tool therapy or medical advice?
No. It is a contemplative reflection offered for understanding, not a substitute for professional care. If you are facing serious illness, the end of life, or the loss of someone you love, please lean on real human support — doctors, hospice and palliative teams, and grief counsellors. These teachings are meant to sit beside that care, never to replace it.
How often should I reflect on them?
The Buddha's word is simply 'often.' Many people use the Five Remembrances as a short daily contemplation — a calm minute in the morning or evening. There is no need to force a feeling; reading them slowly and letting a breath fall between each is enough.
Where does this come from?
From the Upajjhatthana Sutta ('Subjects for Contemplation'), the 57th discourse in the Book of Fives of the Anguttara Nikaya (AN 5.57), in the Pali Canon. The five lines here are quoted from Thanissaro Bhikkhu's translation as published at Access to Insight; SuttaCentral's Pali edition, translated by Bhikkhu Sujato, titles the same discourse 'Subjects for Regular Reviewing' and words them differently — 'I am liable to grow old, I am not exempt from old age' — without changing their sense.
Sources
- Upajjhatthana Sutta (AN 5.57), 'Subjects for Contemplation' — Access to Insight (trans. Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu; BCBS edition, ©1997; PTS A iii 71) — the five lines this reflection paces, quoted in that edition's wording
- Abhiṇhapaccavekkhitabbaṭhāna Sutta (AN 5.57), 'Subjects for Regular Reviewing' — SuttaCentral (trans. Bhikkhu Sujato) — the same discourse in the CC0 Pali edition, where the five read 'I am liable to grow old, I am not exempt from old age' and so on
- Paṭhamamaraṇassati Sutta (AN 6.19), 'Mindfulness of Death (1st)' — SuttaCentral (trans. Bhikkhu Sujato) — where maraṇasati is named and called 'very fruitful and beneficial'; cited for the page's framing, not for the five lines