Preparing for Death

My dear brothers and sisters,
This student's sudden death is a great teaching for all of us. This is the real teaching, instead of just reading a text or having someone tell us. This is actually showing us that death can happen to all of us any time, all of a sudden.

This is very important to understand, as it helps our development, that we may have missed out on because of the concept of permanence, thinking that I will live for many years. Thinking like this, we didn’t get time to practice or develop the mind on the path to enlightenment, due to the concept of permanence, and based on the self-cherishing thought and clinging to this life.

The most important thing in this life is Dharma, and what makes the whole life most meaningful is to live one’s life with bodhicitta. So, please continue to live your life with a bodhicitta motivation.

With thanks from my heart for all the work and service you all do for the teachings of our kind and compassionate Buddha Shakyamuni, for sentient beings, for Lama Yeshe, and for myself.

With much love and prayers...

Dear Ani Jean,
Your dream is so precise and clear. At the time of your death, you can arrange for people to be there as if it were your birthday. They can all celebrate, jumping up and down like they do at football games, cheering and waving their arms around, celebrating your leaving the body and going to the pure realms. On that day, you can arrange for the biggest Lama Chöpa tsog in New Zealand. Outside, all the sheep and animals can participate, but without sound.

It is good to think that your death will come even before next year, today or tomorrow. This is the right, healthy attitude, and to have the energy to make every day meaningful.

Love and prayers...

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.

Ven Roger:
Dear friends,
Lama Zopa Rinpoche receives many requests for prayers and help for people who are dying … the requests come every day. Very often people / students are not prepared for their own death or for that of those close to them—it comes even as a surprise or shock when it happens. It shouldn’t be, and Rinpoche is always trying to emphasize the need to be ready. Today an old student came to Rinpoche with a request about what to do because a relative is dying, so Rinpoche wanted to send this message out.

Rinpoche:
My very dear brothers and sisters,
There are so many unbelievable circumstances for death; it can happen at any time, especially as more diseases such as cancer seem to be increasing.

Some people are very happy at the time of death because of their good heart: they experience even death for the benefit of numberless suffering sentient beings, thinking that even at this time this is the best thing that they can do in their life. Other people are not so happy at the time of death, but are OK. Most people, however, are very unhappy at the time of death.

Irrespective of the conditions, such as cancer and so forth, the state of your mind is the actual cause of happiness and suffering, even at the time of death.

With much love and prayer,

Lama Zopa

Note: Lama Zopa Rinpoche has given extensive advice on preparing for death and caring for others at the time of death. Heart Advice for Death and Dying contains all of Rinpoche’s most essential advice, while Caring for the Dying is a short brochure with information that may be needed on short notice. For more information, please go to FPMT's Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and in particular, Death and Dying: Heart Advice and Practices.  

My very dear Venerable Jeanette,
Regarding the obstacles to your life, it is good for your children to know, but don’t make it sound heavy. Make them aware of the possibility so that they are prepared in their minds. When you talk to them make it lighter, so their minds can get used to the idea, and they aren’t shocked.

Here are the five powers; it is still a work in progress.

With much love and prayers...

Dear one,
I hope this is not too late. The very best is if you can give some idea of the subtle mind at the time of death, according to tantra, in the context of the evolution of the death process.

Generally, the best advice is to practice the good heart in life, ie bodhicitta. This purifies so much negative karma, even the very heavy ones, and stops us creating more negative karma. It is this negative karma that makes us fearful of death and makes the mind experience it in that way, especially the immeasurable suffering that arises later from that. It stops the suffering rebirths that arise from these negative actions.

The second thing is practicing living in morality, with precepts, taking the precepts from a spiritual master or in front of a holy object.

The essence is to accumulate merit and practice purification in everyday life in our relationships with sentient beings, serving others with a sincere heart, loving kindness, and compassion, doing hard work to benefit them, then making offerings to the Guru and Triple Gem.

In the lamrim it explains the four ways to accumulate powerful, extensive merit. It is good to attempt these in everyday life, while doing all the normal activities: eating, sleeping, walking, etc, rather than the actions being performed out of worldly desire (samsaric attachment).

It is very important to learn the five powers and to integrate them into our life. Also, it is important to learn the five powers to be practiced at death. [Find links to Practicing the Five Powers Near the Time of Death booklet in the FPMT Catalogue.] These are very special practices to achieve enlightenment quickly. They involve powa, the transference of consciousness at the time of death into the pure land. In the pure land one receives teachings on the Mahayana and Vajrayana, which enable one to achieve enlightenment in one lifetime. How effective the powa is depends on how well one practices the five powers at death. This depends on how well one does the general practices during one’s life.

If one becomes accomplished in powa and receives the signs of accomplishment, then this can be the best public service—liberating others and helping them at the time of death.

I am just trying to give you the essence, and some clarity. I have tried to condense it all.

Much love...