A Happy and Peaceful Death

My very dear, most precious, most kind and wish-fulfilling one,
As I always mention, we have gone through the death process numberless times. Not only that, we have experienced so much suffering without end and there is no pleasure we haven’t experienced, even though we don’t remember it. Of course we don’t even remember coming from our mother’s womb.

Until we are free from karma and delusion, we will continue to reincarnate in samsara and experience the suffering of samsara, again and again without end, until we actualize the path of seeing—the ultimate wisdom directly seeing phenomena.

So please focus one-pointedly on Amitabha and the mantra with the short prayer. Recite this as much as possible. Keep your mind on Amitabha, and your friends can chant this for you also.

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you have done in this life—your service, everything, every single mantra you have recited, all you have done for sentient beings, the ants, the sloths, and so forth.

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you have offered to Lama Yeshe and myself. I really, really appreciate it. Thank you.

Please rejoice in all this, in all you have done. There is so much for you to rejoice in.

Please read and become familiar with Practicing the Five Powers Near the Time of Death. This is so, so, so important.

These two recitations should be done for you:

• Golden Light Sutra: five times.
• Chanting the Names of Manjushri (Tib: Jampel Tsenjö): four times, by the Kopan Lama Gyupas.

Recite the Amitabha mantra as much as you can, seeing the deity as one with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and your gurus. Recite the mantra and one line that goes with it.

As much as you can, try not to be attached to anyone or anything, family, friends, possessions etc., and even to your own body, especially your body. Practice this.

With much love and prayer ...

You worked for me at Lawudo for many years, so now you don’t have to worry about the other people working for you. You don’t have to worry, it is extremely worthwhile; you worked very hard for many years, so now you can be completely happy.

You should always think that being in Lawudo is exactly the same as being in Amitabha’s pure land. Think that you are already in Amitabha’s pure land and you are with Amitabha Buddha all the time; you are in the lotus in Amitabha’s pure land and there is always Amitabha Buddha giving teachings next to you. So you should always think that as much as possible. You don’t have to worry about anything. You don’t have to worry about anything.

My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling one,
Please read Practicing the Five Powers Near the Time of Death. Not only read, but really try to understand it.

Regarding your question: it’s OK that you haven’t finished the practices. Focus now on practicing rejoicing, doing a mala of rejoicing in yourself, your own merit, and also a mala rejoicing in others, in all sentient beings’ merit. When you rejoice in all your merit, this means all your past, present and future merit. Then, the second one is all sentient beings’ past, present and future merit. The third is numberless buddhas’ and bodhisattvas’ merit – all their past, present and future merit. Rejoice!

Do one mala of rejoicing for each or even three malas for each one. Do them not only in the morning, but, if you can, also do them in the afternoon and evening time. You can do it like that three times a day or at least two times a day or at least once a day.

You mentioned you were reciting Migtsema mantra (Lama Tsongkhapa’s mantra). When you are doing this, do the whole Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga with a lamrim prayer, such as Foundation of All Good Qualities.

Don’t worry about not completing the other practices, but try to keep any commitments you have taken from initiations.

The other most essential practice at this time is reciting the names of the Thirty-five Buddhas and Vajrasattva practice. Pay more attention now to purifying negative karma collected from beginningless rebirths from having broken pratimoksha, bodhisattva and tantric vows (if you have taken them). It is so important to purify and the Thirty-five Buddhas are very powerful. You can just have your hands in the mudra of prostration and then, if you have received the initiation, visualize your body as Thousand-arm Chenrezig. Your body as the deity then fills the whole earth, with numberless Chenrezigs doing prostrations to the merit field. However many there are [in the merit field], this is all one’s root guru. With that awareness, recite the names.

It’s very, very important, for this as well as for Vajrasattva practice, to do it with the four opponent powers; then it becomes very powerful purification. Without doing it with the four opponent powers, then the practice is not so powerful.

In regard to rejoicing: without merit, there is no success, no happiness. There’s no enlightenment, the ultimate happiness, liberation from samsara, but also there’s not even temporary happiness in this life and the next life. Therefore, the merit is so precious, unbelievably precious. Think, “I have collected merit from beginningless rebirths up to now.” Rejoice in how wonderful it is! How wonderful it is! Rejoicing means your mind feels happy.

You have to know that this human rebirth comes about just one time and this opportunity to rejoice comes almost just one time. Rejoice in the collected merit. It is also extremely rare, so rejoice in all the collected merit from beginningless rebirths up to now so that your mind feels happy. Think, “How wonderful it is! How wonderful!”

The first time, when you rejoice in all the merit collected from beginningless rebirths up to now, it doubles. When you rejoice the second time, the merit is multiplied by four. The third time, it is multiplied by eight. All the merit collected from beginningless rebirths up to now—wow, wow, wow! So amazing! When you do one mala, can you imagine? When you do two malas or three malas? Wow, wow, wow, amazing, amazing, amazing! Many people may not know how the practice of rejoicing is so important. Even most Buddhist people may not know. Even those who practice Mahayana teachings may not know how important it is.

Lama Tsongkhapa said that to collect merit, the best practice is rejoicing. This was in Lama Tsongkhapa’s Hymns of Experience of the Path.

When you rejoice in your own merit, it is like this. So, normally, in daily life, we should rejoice, then we are able to collect more merit. During the second time, when you rejoice in other sentient beings’ merit, by rejoicing in the merit of those whose level of mind is lower than yours, you collect double the merit. If your level of mind is the same as theirs, then you collect the same amount of merit. If their level of mind is higher than yours, then however much merit is collected by them, you get half.

For example, I used to explain to people that there is the Maitreya Project that would be 50 stories high if it were built. And there would be not just that large statue, but there would be many statues inside and so many statues outside. If somebody comes along and rejoices in the merit and if that person’s level of mind is higher than ours, then that person collects double the merit. So however much merit we collect, that person collects double the merit. If that person has the same level of mind and then she rejoices, she gets the same merit as we get having built the main statue and all the other statues. If her level of mind is lower than ours, then that person collects half the merit that we collect having built the statue.

For example, if one who doesn’t have bodhicitta rejoices in one bodhisattva, one gets half of the merit that bodhisattva collects in one day in that one second of rejoicing. Without rejoicing, if you are going to try and collect that much merit, it takes 13,000 years. This is according to Dechen Pabongka Rinpoche in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. So, by rejoicing for one second—even if you don’t have bodhicitta—you collect so much merit. It’s unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable!

There are numberless sentient beings whose level of mind is lower than yours, numberless sentient beings whose level of mind is the same as yours, and numberless sentient beings whose level of mind is higher than yours. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! When you rejoice, so much merit is collected so quickly and that means more purification; it means quicker freedom from the oceans of samsaric sufferings—not only from cancer—but from the oceans of samsaric sufferings and delusion and karma, and quicker achievement of peerless happiness, the total cessation of all the obscurations and completion of all the realizations: full enlightenment.

Learning Dharma is so important, in order to know how to practice Dharma. I am only talking about rejoicing, explaining how to practice. It is so, so important. For example, there could be one person who lives 100 years—even a Buddhist who relies on Buddha, Dharma, Sangha and practices the Mahayana teachings—but who doesn’t know about the important practice of rejoicing. However, even if you only live one day but know how to practice rejoicing—wow, wow, wow! The merit collected in that day is so precious. It’s unbelievable, unbelievable, most unbelievable—like skies filled with a billion dollars, filled with wish-granting jewels. It’s more than that. Skies filled with gold, filled with wish-granting jewels, is nothing compared to the merit created. It is unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable. Can you imagine? Merely owning gold, wish-granting jewels and zillions of dollars cannot help you to be free from the oceans of samsaric sufferings.

Please think about this and read this over and over so that you are really familiar with it.

With much love and prayers...

My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling one,
You are a most fortunate American practitioner. When I read your letter about all the retreat you did in the early times, I was so surprised. That was probably the most retreat among all the students in the FPMT. I was most surprised how many retreats you did. Amazing, amazing, amazing, most amazing !

So I have the hugest rejoicing. Thanks for all your practice and what you tried. You did so much practice, and then I suggested you become a monk and you finally became a monk. That is really good.

Yes, I think your plan is good and I pray for success. Also you pray, to Medicine Buddha, to Tara and so forth.

Your visualization of me as Vajradhara is your practice, but I am just ordinary person. However, I will pray for your wishes to succeed.

With much love and prayers...

My very dear one,
Thank you very much for your email. Please put effort into doing Medicine Buddha practice. If you recite Medicine Buddha’s name mantra every day, you won’t be reborn in the lower realms. In this way, you don’t have to be afraid of death—this practice takes care of this life. As Buddha told Ananda, even an animal hearing Medicine Buddha’s name won’t be reborn in the lower realms. It is also very powerful when reciting prayers to remember Medicine Buddha. You must remember Medicine Buddha. By reciting Medicine Buddha’s name, you receive the benefit of all the prayers that Medicine Buddha made in the past, and all your prayers will succeed.

If you want a very peaceful death and you want to have a happy rebirth in your next life—without mentioning liberation or enlightenment for sentient beings—you must do Medicine Buddha practice. Besides that, this practice is also extremely important if you want to be successful. Recite all seven names if possible. If not, recite at least one name. If possible, recite one mala.

I will send you a picture of Medicine Buddha. Look at Medicine Buddha and see nectar coming out from his heart, purifying your body, speech, and mind. Think that it purifies mainly you, then your family members, and then all sentient beings. If there is someone you want to pray for, who is sick or has died, concentrate specifically on that person, and then all sentient beings. This is very good. This way you don’t have to worry about having a clear visualization. You just look at the picture and imagine that it is real.

Do the same with the Thirty-five Buddhas. Don’t worry, the main thing is to have faith.

Before going to bed, you can recite long or short Vajrasattva mantras, 28 times, to purify negative karma. If we create one negative karma today and don’t purify it, it doubles tomorrow, then triples the next day, and so on. After a year, one negative karma grows to the size of the earth. Therefore, if you recite Vajrasattva mantras, you stop the negative karma from multiplying. Not only do you purify all the negative karma created today, this week, this month, this life, but all your negative karma created since beginningless rebirths is purified. We have negative karmas from beginningless rebirths. This means we will experience so much suffering again and again without end. You should think that your situation is like an emergency and it is urgent that you do Vajrasattva purification. It is a billion times greater an emergency and more urgent to purify negative karma than it is to rush to hospital if you have a heart attack or an injury.

These are my comments for your practice. Because we spend so much time eating, drinking and doing other things, not making time for practice means you don’t love yourself. Doing practice is the best for everything—for your health, long life, good rebirth, liberation from samsara, enlightenment—everything. To be able to offer perfect happiness to other sentient beings is what will really help others. If you don’t do that, it is due to your anger and attachment, ego, and working just for yourself. That only harms you. That is not the way to benefit yourself. That is the way to harm others and to block your ability to liberate others and bring them to enlightenment. This attitude even interferes with communication with others.

If you really love yourself, then you should cherish others. Let go of the ego, because the ego is a great obstacle to happiness. Renunciation of samsara is also a way to love yourself, and so are bodhicitta and emptiness, and practicing morality. Living according to lay vows is a good way to take care of yourself and love yourself.

You should also do the following practices:

• Complete three nyung näs for your health.
• If you are asked to have an operation, do not have it.
• Have a puja Betraying the Death [Tib: chi lu] performed for you. Ask Geshe Lama Konchok to do it for you. Next year, you should also do this puja again.
• Pray very strongly to Medicine Buddha and recite more Medicine Buddha mantras every day for your health.
• Take at least two long-life initiations
• Make 3,000 long-life tsa tsas to pacify obstacles to your life, dedicating them to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and to all the holy beings who are in this world to benefit others.

I don’t know how to say how sorry I am, and how fantastic it is, that you have found this disease.

As a Dharma practitioner, it may be good to read the book Transforming Problems, if you think there is a need, and also to read talks I gave about thought transformation, of utilizing sicknesses on the path as a means of bringing happiness to all sentient beings, including bringing them to enlightenment. In this way, you use your sickness to practice bodhicitta, which means experiencing the illness on behalf of all sentient beings. So, you can do these things to make basic preparations. These are the most important methods. Try to use them as much as possible. Think that this is your best retreat, one hundred times more powerful than years of doing Vajrasattva retreat with a self-centered mind, with a comfortable life, and so forth. That is because, here, the fundamental practice is that you are giving your life to other sentient beings. You give your happiness to other sentient beings, and experience their sufferings yourself. The foundation of this practice is bodhicitta, exchanging self with others. So, study and practice every day, and remember as much as possible the practice of the five powers* near the time of death.

It is very important, too, that you remember those stories about the benefits of bodhicitta, about the benefits of generating great compassion. For example, remember how Asanga was able to see Maitreya Buddha only after he made a sacrifice. He was unable to see Maitreya just by doing retreat. He could see Maitreya only when he learned to appreciate great compassion, giving up his life for a wounded dog.

Then there was the disciple of the yogi Ngagpo Chöpa, who sacrificed himself by touching and carrying the female leper, whose body was totally blackened and ugly, filled with leprosy and pus. Then, as he was carrying her across a river, he was able to see that the leper woman was Vajrayogini. She took him to the pure land Kechara, in the same human body, which means that he became enlightened there.

There is also a story about when the Buddha was born in the hell realms, where he was pulling a carriage with another hell being. This is the very first time he generated great compassion. At that time, he thought of pulling the carriage by himself alone, thinking, why let the other person suffer? They were pulling the carriage over iron ground that was oneness with fire. So, he let the other hell being go free and pulled the carriage by himself and took on all the suffering. As soon as he did that, the karma guardians hit him on the head with a hammer. Immediately, his consciousness was transferred to Tushita pure land.

These are all the benefits of bodhicitta, of sacrificing one’s life for others, even for just one other sentient being. This is how to become enlightened very quickly, by sacrificing one’s life for one sentient being.

It is good to read the stories of the past lives of Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, how for three countless great eons he practiced charity—especially charity—and morality, patience, and the other perfections. He offered charity to others so many times, offering his eyes, limbs, even his whole body.

There is also a story about his practice of patience, and how he practiced charity by offering his body to ants. There was a king who came to look for his wife in the forest. He found his wife in the same area as the Buddha, who was a bodhisattva in that lifetime. The king got upset with the bodhisattva and asked him, “What are you doing?” The bodhisattva replied, “I’m meditating.” However, the king got angry and cut off one of the bodhisattva’s limbs. Then the king repeated his question and the bodhisattva answered the same way, so the king cut off another of his limbs. This went on until the king had cut off all four of the bodhisattva’s limbs. Then only his torso was left. When the people found him, they threw the rest of his body away, saying what was the use of that. But even then, the bodhisattva offered what was left of his body to the ants.

There is an incredibly inspiring lama, Je Drom Gonpa, who had a hermitage very high on the mountain above Sera Je monastery. He had a guru, Atsaya, from whom he received teachings on bodhicitta, and so was able to realize bodhicitta. One day, he saw his guru in the forest on the mountain. He was alone reading a text and making the thumbs-up sign with one of his hands.

“What are you doing?” Je Drom Gonpa asked.

“Reading the Buddha’s past life stories,” his guru replied. He was giving the thumbs-up sign to Guru Shakyamuni Buddha to show how very worthwhile it is to be a human being. The Buddha made it worthwhile to take a human body. You can also ask Geshe-la to tell you more stories of this kind to inspire you.

Other things you can do are the Namgyalma mantra, not only for a long life but for powerful purification. Other people can do Medicine Buddha practice for you. They can also recite Amitayus’ mantra for you. Visualize nectar flowing from Buddha Amitayus and entering your body and mind, purifying all obscurations and obstacles to life, diseases, spirit harms, and so forth, and filling your body with the nectar of immortality. While they are doing this for you, they can also do it for others, for all the other beings with cancer, life obstacles, for those people who do good things for others, and for those beings who change their minds from harming others to helping others. They can also pray for their own long life. Other people can do group practices or can do them individually.

Also, since you have been doing Vajrayogini practice, Vajrayogini is a very important solution for your life situation at this critical point. Vajrayogini becomes the most precious thing for you. You should do the self-initiation once a week, if you cannot do it every day.

Other people can help you. Other Sangha or lay people can come and pray with you. Or if you wish to practice alone, that is OK too. You can invite anyone that you like, anyone that you feel comfortable with. You can also invite Geshe-la to practice it from time to time with other people. Then, Geshe-la can do the chanting in Tibetan. It is very good that way. Also, if Khensur Rinpoche is visiting the area, you can invite him to do Vajrayogini practice with you.

During the Vajrayogini self-initiation, you can take shortcuts. You can leave out the long prayers at the point where you make extensive offerings and just do the mantra of the offerings. You don’t need to recite the prayer. The most important part is after completing the sadhana, when you take the vows. This is the key thing, reviving your vows and making them pure, and then there is introducing the secret Vajrayogini. Even if you don’t do that part, you can do the last part where it says “now the four initiations.” You can do this sometimes. You can do any version, according to your convenience. Put more effort into this, on the basis of bodhicitta practice. You can also take the Vajrayogini initiation, if you feel like it, from Geshe Tashi Tsering. As different types of dreams occur, we can check which practices you should do, as they can change.

Your main refuge should be dying with bodhicitta, experiencing the suffering of the deaths of all sentient beings. Also, regarding karma, keep on praying that whatever suffering sentient beings have, may it ripen on you. Using your breathing, meditate on their specific sufferings.

When, according to your dreams and your physical health, it is time to die, maybe it would be better for you to lie down in the lion position, like Guru Shakyamuni Buddha did when passing away into the sorrowless state. This helps the mind to be transferred into virtue more easily. It reminds you of Buddha, and so also leaves a positive imprint. It is easier to stop attachment, anger, and so forth. You can lie down like that, unless you prefer to sit. Generally, it is better to die in the lion position, as the Buddha did.

Then, you should ask people to put Lama Tsongkhapa’s lamrim text on your pillow at your head. This also helps prevent you from falling into the lower realms. During this time it is up to you whether you wish to be quiet, or if you want Geshe-la and others to come and recite prayers, for example, Vajrayogini practice or Medicine Buddha, and so forth.

So, go ahead, enjoy your death. Make the best use of it. Take the greatest profit from it. Like the most successful business person in the world, become a billionaire. I will pray for you. Don’t worry. You met His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Yeshe, and many other great bodhisattvas. You met Mahayana Buddhism. You heard complete teachings on the complete path, and specialized in the quickest path to enlightenment. You have prepared so much, done lots of meditation on the lamrim, and benefited lots of people. Rejoice in this many times every day.

It might also be possible for you to recover; but as a Dharma practitioner, the best psychology is to decide every day, “I am going to die today.” That is the best practice.

I want to say thank you very much for everything, for your own practice and your help benefiting so many people and the organization, as well as your service for Lama and myself, and for your prayers. Thank you very much.

Since there has been a strong karmic connection between us, we may meet somewhere. Please enjoy good luck.
With much love and prayers...

* The five powers are the power of the white seed, the power of the attitude, the power of blaming the one, the power of prayer, and the power of training. See The Moment of Death in Rinpoche's Online Advice Book for more details.