Powa: Transference of Consciousness at the Time of Death

By Lama Thubten Yeshe
Dharamsala, India, March 1981 (Archive #196)

A lightly edited transcript of teachings given in March 1981 at Tushita Meditation Centre, Dharamsala, India. Originally published as a transcript by Wisdom Publications. You can also listen to more teachings on this topic here.

Visit the FPMT Catalogue to find Amitabha Phowa, a meditation practice for transferring the consciousness to Amitabha's pure realm, This practice was composed by Lama Yeshe in February 1981 at Tushita Meditation Centre, Dharamsala.

Sixth Discourse: 6th March

As we recite the preliminary prayers of this powa practice we should try to be very mindful of their meaning. For example, you should think deeply about what is meant by the prayer of refuge and bodhicitta. Taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha is completely different from the worldly kind of refuge we take in our regular daily lives. Looking for satisfaction in hamburgers and pizza and taking ultimate refuge in them is an obvious source of great disappointment, yet people who are not fortunate enough to find true objects of refuge act like this all the time. Therefore, it is very important to remember the characteristics of the Three Jewels of refuge and generate strong devotion towards them. We already have a certain degree of confidence in the Three Jewels and some understanding of how they can truly lead us to liberation, and thus we are very fortunate.

The verses for the generation of bodhicitta tell us to dedicate all our merits to the attainment of enlightenment for the sake of others. This includes the merit of any virtuous action we perform—speaking soothingly to others, listening sympathetically in silence while they tell us their troubles, or meditating together with Dharma brothers and sisters in order to give them clear, compassionate energy—and the merit we generate can be dedicated towards the enlightenment of all sentient beings. Thus there are many different ways in which merit can be created, and an essential aspect of all Mahayana practice is to dedicate whatever positive activity we have done to the ultimate benefit of others. To be totally dedicated to others in this way is not easy, but despite its being difficult it is the most meaningful way to live your life. The more you become familiar with this altruistic attitude, the deeper it becomes. Thus it is extremely worthwhile. You should feel very happy that you have had the extreme fortune of meeting with such a comfortable and practical path as the Mahayana—deep, profound and limitless.

Anything you do with a big mind to benefit others is itself a solution to the problems of your narrow mind. In addition it is important to generate the Mahayana prayer, `For the rest of my life I shall dedicate the energy of my body, speech and mind to benefit other beings as much as possible. It makes no difference to me where or in what circumstances I shall live; may I benefit others as much as possible wherever I am; and may I especially use my energies to show the three principal paths to others."

One of Je Tsongkhapa's disciples praised him by saying that even the movement of his breath was beneficial to others, not to mention the obvious benefit of his teachings and so forth. In the same way, we can pray that any movement of our own mental and physical energy may also prove ultimately beneficial to others. It is by praying in this way that the actual ability to help others comes about. By putting our minds in this direction through dedication, we come to experience the desired result naturally. All the beneficial deeds of Shakyamuni Buddha—coming to this Earth, giving teachings, leading his disciples to arhatship and enlightenment and so forth—were done completely effortlessly and spontaneously as the result of his previous dedication.

For all of these reasons, then, we should send forth sincere prayers constantly. Some people, however, have the wrong idea about praying. They think prayers must be made in a very formal manner with great seriousness and heaviness. But this is not true. Prayer can be and should be done in a completely relaxed state of mind. The thought that is prepared to go anywhere or do anything, as long as it is of benefit to others, is the true mind of prayer. Repeating such thoughts in your mind over and over again under all circumstances is extremely powerful. Therefore, you should always ask yourself, "What does it matter what time it is or where I am, what is the best way I can help as many beings as possible?"

Some people may have doubts about these powa practices. They may wonder, "I don't know who Amitabha Buddha is; I don't know whether his pure land really exists or not; and I don't understand how these practices are beneficial." In fact, these practices are highly beneficial. Even if you are not successful in transferring your consciousness, at least you have developed a strongly positive attitude. This attitude itself counteracts the power of negativity. At the time of death, whatever karma is the strongest—either positive or negative—propels us into our next rebirth. Therefore, if we can reduce our negativity, die with a calm mind and induce our consciousness to leave through the mahamudra door, at the very least we can avoid rebirth in one of the three lower, miserable realms. That is good enough.

We have briefly mentioned that there are certain signs indicating the approach of death and others indicating that the powa practices have been successful. The explanations that follow have been extracted from a text written by the great mahasiddha Pabongka Rinpoche, in which these signs are discussed in detail.

First, what are the signs that your powa training has been successful? The first is that your body becomes light, because your mind, which controls your body, has been gathered together through the force of concentration. The greater the control you have over your mind the more you can do with your body anything you want. Ordinarily, the heaviness of body we experience is the direct result of having a heavy mind. Therefore, it is obvious that when we train our mind through these powa practices that our body will also feel lighter and more manageable.

The next sign is that your digestion improves. There is an obvious connection between your mind and your stomach—even Western psychologists say that when your mind is upset your stomach also feels tight and cramped. Ulcers, cancer and the like are all the result of a stressed mind. Merely sitting in the proper meditation posture and relaxing can help cure you of many of the diseases that trouble your body.

Other signs include an increase of heat energy in the body, moisture coming from the head, the appearance of an aperture at the crown, increased headaches and dizziness, itching or swelling at the top of the head and so forth. These are some of the signs indicating successful practice.

As for the signs of approaching death, there are many, and they are observed in various ways, such as checking your shadow by the light of the sun or the moon, noting signs in your dreams and spotting changes in your pattern of breathing. To employ the first method, stand with the sun or moon at your back and look at the heart region of your shadow. After contemplating this for a while, look up into space and see what kind of after-image you see. If your body image is complete, you are in no danger of dying soon. However, if your head is missing it means that you will die in a month. Also, your right hand missing indicates that your son will die, and your left missing means that perhaps your wife will die. If it looks as though a dagger is stuck into your body, it also means that you will die in a month's time.

If the discharge from your sexual organ is blackish or reversed that is, if blood comes from a man and sperm from a woman—it also means that death will come in one month. If you press against your eye and do not see light, cup your hand over your ear and do not hear a whirring sound, or put your arm vertically in front of your face and it seems to disappear, these are all further signs that you will die in a month. If your feet and eyes hurt simultaneously, you may die in three months. If you cannot see the tip of your tongue when you stick it out as far as you can, death will come in half a month. If the sound in your nostrils disappears, death will come in three months. If there is pain coming from your feet up to your navel, death will come in six months. If your he nostrils flatten, you will die in a week. If black spots appear on your tongue, you will die that night. If your nails lose their pink color, or your teeth dry, death will come in six months. Death will come after three days if your feet and heart area remain dry after bathing. If your stream of urine turns to the left, death will come in six months. If your navel suddenly protrudes, death will come after five days. If you can no longer see the tip of your nose, death will come after five months. If someone looks into your eyes and fails to see a reflection, you will die within two weeks.

Some of the signs just mentioned deal with rather long periods of time. In such cases death can be averted or postponed through meditation. Therefore, the signs just given are not certain, and changes in your pattern of breathing give a much more accurate indication of when you will die. Depending upon the month and the day, if your breath leaves your body mainly through one nostril it is a sign that death will come in a specific number of years.

It is also said that if a piece of dirt suddenly comes out of the center of your eye, death will come in six months. Other dangerous signs include seeing a rainbow at night, seeing shooting stars in the daytime, seeing lightning in the south when there are no clouds in the sky, seeing water-fowl and crows and peacocks uncharacteristically sharing the same space, seeing two moons or two suns, and seeing houses appear miraculously at the tops of trees or mountains. Other such signs include suddenly encountering creatures with terrifying forms, experiencing sudden shivers, repeatedly falling down, vomiting, seeing your feces as gold or silver-colored, inexplicably being unable to see stars at night or the light of the sun or the moon, seeing your body a different color, feeling moonlight to be hot and sunlight to be cold, involuntarily shaking and so forth.

There are other signs of death that are quite commonly seen. Sometimes a person who has been sick for a very long time suddenly appears to be vibrant and even youthful. Though we may say to him, "Now it looks as though you'll live forever," in fact the sudden change in his appearance probably means it is time for him to go. This happens to many people. It is also said that if your uvula remains insensitive for five days, the signs of death will come in fifteen nights, and if your shadow moves but your body doesn't, you will die in four months' time.

Signs of death may appear in your dreams as well. In general, dreams can be intuitive, in response to momentary influences or some other cause, and we should realize that they cannot be trusted. It is often hard to figure out just what, if anything, they mean. Just as our everyday moods fluctuate uncontrollably, so do our dreams, and in meditation retreat this can be especially true. For all these reasons, then, it is not easy to give an accurate interpretation of the signs of death as they appear in dreams, but here are a couple, just to give you an idea of the many signs that are listed in the scriptural texts: it is said that seeing red flowers in your dreams or riding a donkey while facing backwards are both inauspicious signs.

So although dreams are generally untrustworthy, I still think it is possible for us to interpret them skillfully. If, for instance, you have a particular question to ask, it is possible to receive the answer in a dream: before going to sleep, make strong requests to your guru or the meditational deity to whom you feel closest, praying for them to answer your question that night. If you do this sincerely and with great devotion, you may be surprised by what you find; I think you will definitely receive a sign in your dreams, but you need very strong dedication and determination. If you have faith in Chenrezig, for example, you should meditate upon him very strongly, remembering his characteristic quality of enlightened compassion. Then pose the question and pray for an answer in your dreams. If your sincerity is clear and powerful the answer will come, but unfortunately our faith is often too weak for the necessary connection to be made.

I am very happy to have met all you people, all you Dharma brothers and sisters. Although I am not a qualified teacher or a great practitioner, at least I have some devotion. Furthermore, I am not expecting that you will be able to go to Amitabha's pure land as a result of this short course; my only wish is that you Westerners become convinced of the value of the Buddhadharma. If you become convinced that through the power of your mind and meditation you can achieve anything, then I will be satisfied; I am not a buddha, so I certainly do not expect you to become buddhas after only a few days' practice. Or, if before coming to this course you felt inadequate but now believe that you can do something positive with your life, then I think this course will have been successful. If these powa teachings have lessened your fear of dying or the guilt you had from committing negative actions, that is good enough. At least there you have some control over going to the three lower realms. Then you can enjoy your life.

My whole point is that you should enjoy your life. If you do, then your Dharma practices are better; but if you don't, there is no way to practice anything worthwhile. Shakyamuni Buddha's method of teaching the path to enlightenment leads from one state of happiness to another. Thus the point is to become happier, gain more control and become more liberated day by day.

As for the future, you can continue this practice by doing an occasional retreat and you can also practice every day. If you are doing powa as part of your daily practice, it is not always necessary to recite the mantras HIC and KAAH; you can do this meditation silently, simply employing the power of concentration and visualization.

My conclusion is that we should all be very happy. We are so fortunate; there is no reason to worry. Just keep in mind, "My main practice is the three principal paths to enlightenment. In particular, I should develop renunciation and not remain stuck to any sense object or to any idea." Be blissful and enjoy your life; do not let yourself become obsessed with anything. Determine to use the rest of your life to benefit others as much as possible. It is not necessary to subject yourself to suffering, but you should have the attitude that you will happily bear any experience, as long as it benefits others. As for meditation on emptiness, just keep an eye on your everyday life and observe how you surround yourself with incredible projections. Also remember that whether you do powa or not, if you have compassion in general and the three principal paths in particular, you already have the best method of transferring your consciousness. The best way to lead your life and to be happy is by giving the best possible vibrations to others. Instead of being angry, uptight, guilty or upset with yourself you should try to be happy with both yourself and others.

So now let us practice a little bit and then do the dedication. Thank you.