ABSTRACT
Kouduo richao records that, on March 15, 1636, the local converts in Yongchun gathered to discuss the establishment of the Shengmu hui 聖母會 (Association of the Holy Mother, i.e., Sodality of Mary). While reading the statutes, Aleni asked the converts whether they had understood the meaning of the word shanzhong 善 終 (good death). He then delivered a homily on this concept,
A good death can make up for the wrong deeds of a lifetime, but good deeds cannot make up for a death that is not good. So you’d better “carefully attend to this end”! How will the end be? It is like a bridge. When man departs from life and goes into death, he passes from this world into that world, and [on that bridge] he always can stumble. How to avoid this? Only by doing some practice beforehand. By practicing walking you can escape from danger; by practicing literary composition you can ensure that your essay will be fine; by practicing learning [how to die] death will lose its terror. Therefore I say: learning the Way of the Lord of Heaven is nothing else but learning how to die.1
