Donating Organs
Rinpoche and an Australian woman who had known him for many years discussed her plans for donating her organs after death. The woman was quite elderly, and there was some doubt as to whether her organs would be eligible for transplant, but Rinpoche felt it would be excellent for her to die with the intention of giving her body to others.
Regarding how long you can leave the body after death, normally in Tibet, where it is cold and dry, you are able to keep the body for three days without problems. But if the body starts to smell immediately, it means the consciousness has left the body, and so you don’t need to keep the body after that. In the West, if a person dies at home, you have a choice: you don’t need to take the parts of the body to donate immediately. If the body is at home, there’s more opportunity to let some time pass. But even in the hospital, if somebody discussed the situation with the doctor, they could wait for ten minutes, fifteen minutes, for half an hour, one hour. They don’t have to take the organs immediately, right after the breath has stopped. They could wait for one hour or a couple of hours.
Then, without touching any part of the body, the first thing to touch is the crown. Pull the hair strongly and then put a po-wa pill on the crown. Po-wa pills contain Buddha’s relics, and relics from great enlightened beings and yogis, mixed with stone magnet or iron magnet. Apply it to the skin on the crown, and then the magnet pulls the consciousness out. If the consciousness leaves through the crown, it goes to the formless realms or to the pure land of Buddha. There are only these two ways. If the consciousness goes through the crown, it only goes to these two high realms. At that time, all bad karma becomes good karma. There is no bad karma at that time.
The relics of buddhas and yogis bless the mind, and the magnet pulls the consciousness to that point. Then, you can give the organs away. That is very, very good, because you know that they will be offered to others. It’s very good for the mind to keep it in a state of bodhicitta. It helps for that.
I don’t know what the minimum time is to be able to leave the body. It has to be arranged with a doctor. If it’s OK to leave it for one hour, then leave it for one hour. Twenty minutes, half an hour or one hour would be OK. If it’s OK to keep it longer, that’s fine. It depends what is the maximum time the doctor says one can wait, and still be able to donate the organs to others.
The important thing is that the breath has stopped. At that time, the body is still soft. It’s as if one were not dead, as if one were sleeping. Don’t touch any part of the body during this time. Just leave it. Then, whatever period of time the doctor says one can wait, just before that amount of time has passed, from when the breath has stopped, before the doctor does the operation, then pull the central hair at the crown and put the po-wa pill there.
There is special water from Mt. Kailash, Vajrayogini water, and anybody who drinks this, it is said, goes to a pure land, and so does anybody who washes in it. When you think you are dying, drink it. Make sure you ask the people who are looking after you to put the pill on your crown when your breath is just about to stop. If it’s possible to do it before the breath stops, that’s very good. There are also mani pills, which you can take at any time. You can take two every day, but when you think that death is happening, then at that time, crush them, put them in the blessed water, and then drink it.
If the body is still in a state of meditation after the breath has stopped, then, before the meditation is over, the people who are around can light incense and the incense makes the person stop their meditation. Then the consciousness leaves, and it is fine to move the body, after touching the crown and so on. That can be done if the doctor says that the body needs to be taken to be able to take the organs.