When seized by the End-maker
    as you abandon the human state,
what's truly your own?
What do you take along when you go?
What follows behind you
    like a shadow
    that never leaves?

    Both the merit & evil
    that you as a mortal
    perform here:
that's      what's truly your own,
        what you take along when you go;
that's      what follows behind you
    like a shadow
    that never leaves.

So do what is admirable,
as an accumulation
    for the future life.
Deeds of merit are the support for beings
    when they arise
    in the other world.