Preparing for Death

Familiarize yourself with Practicing the Five Powers Near the Time of Death.

The following is information from Rinpoche about the materials that you have received.

Small bag with precious pill powder: This is a very, very special pill crushed into powder. Take a little each day. It contains thousands of special relics and blessed pills.

Chung nga: These are pills for naga harm, which is a condition for cancer. Take five pills each day.

Namgyalma protection: Wear this around your neck at all times. Try not to sleep against the mantra and take it off when you bathe.  When you sleep, just keep it beside you on bedside table.

Prayer wheel to be worn around neck: The prayer wheel contains millions of mantras. You may turn it from time to time. Take it off when you sleep and also when bathing. Whoever is looking after you at the time of death can place the prayer wheel to the crown of your head.

Colored protection square: You can wear this around your neck. Use the string from the mani pills to tie it around your neck. Do not sleep against it, and take off when you bathe.

Mani pills: These are blessed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and thousands of monks. Take a few of these each day.

Packet of pills: Contains Guru Rinpoche pills that came from the Maratika cave in Nepal where Guru Rinpoche achieved immorality. Take one pill each day

If you are taking strong Western medicine, take all the various precious and blessed pills at a different time. That means not at the same time as the Western medicine.

Prayer wheel visualization: When turning the prayer wheel, visualize brilliant light coming from the prayer wheel, which is the holy mind of Chenrezig, the Compassion Buddha. Concentrate on that light purifying the cancer, the naga harm which is the condition for cancer, and the negative karma. After turning the prayer wheel for a while, visualize and feel strongly that the naga harm and cancer is completely purified. Then, visualize light coming from the prayer wheel to all sentient beings, purifying them of all naga harm, cancer and other sicknesses.

My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling one, 
I am very sorry for the very long delay in replying to your email. It comes out very good for your long life to recite Buddha Amitayus mantra 100,000 times.

In Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand in the section on the Seven-Point Mind Training practice, there is one practice, a whole lifetime of practice, integrated into the five powers, so try to learn these, study these. [See Liberation, pp. 612–16.] Also read Practicing the Five Powers at the Time of Death. Think of these five powers and try to understand how important it is to practice these five powers as a lifetime practice, integrating your lifetime practice and the five powers at deathtime. We have to plan, to practice that way for when the death comes. Death can come any day for any of us, and so many people even today in the world die unexpectedly.

Do prostrations every day by reciting the Thirty-five Buddhas. Concentration is important; if you have no concentration then it just becomes physical exercise but does not become Dharma. To become Dharma the motivation to do prostrations has to become Dharma, so it’s not for the happiness of this life or our future lives in samsara. The practice has to be done with renunciation of samsara, so it becomes the cause of liberation from samsara and doesn’t become the cause of samsara. It should also be done with bodhicitta, so each prostration becomes the cause of enlightenment for sentient beings, to free the numberless sentient beings from each realm from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment. You can see now how it is most important to do each prostration with bodhicitta as much as possible. Also with emptiness. The easy way to mention is that you are doing prostrations in a dream. This means you see you are doing prostrations, but they are not truly existing from their own side. So like that, like an illusion.

Please make your life most meaningful with the thought of bodhicitta day and night.

With much love and prayers ...

[Note: Rinpoche also advised lamrim meditation and preliminary practices, not listed here.] 

My most dear, most kind, most precious, most wish-fulfilling one,
I am very sorry it took so long to reply to your email. I checked your life and according to my observation this year is good; next year maybe you will have some difficulties, either sickness or something, then the year after that there are more obstacles, it’s looking bad.

I am sure you have heard in the Lamrim Chenmo, Lama Tsongkhapa’s lamrim, that it is very good to think, “I am going to die.” If we think about that, we practice Dharma and make preparation for death, then even if death doesn’t happen, it is good because we have prepared for death. Even if death doesn’t happen, this helps.

I also advise the five powers, which integrate a whole lifetime of practice. The five powers are in Liberation in the Palm of your Hand, and you should learn them as your main practice. This topic is in the section on thought transformation after bodhicitta [Liberation, pp. 560–63]. Please put effort in this practice, which becomes real Dharma practice according to Mahayana and becomes the foundation for practicing tantra. [See also FPMT eBook: Practicing the Five Powers Near the Time of Death.]

If you are familiar with self-initiation, there is elaborate and short self-initiation. If you are not familiar with it, you can discuss with other students who have experience. If not, then at the end of the day do Vajrasattva practice, one mala or half a mala or at least 21 mantras, with the remedy of the four opponent powers. That becomes powerful purification, not only to purify that day’s negative karma, but also the past life’s negative karma and the negative karma and obscurations collected since beginningless rebirth.

When you do prostrations by reciting the Confession of a Bodhisattva’s Downfalls to the Thirty-five Buddhas mindfully, even just reciting the names mindfully, this purifies so many eons of negative karma—not years but eons of negative karma. There is one buddha, Glorified Flower, who purifies 100,000 eons of negative karma. Reciting the Thirty-five Buddhas’ names is unbelievably powerful. In the life story of Lama Tsongkhapa it does not mention Vajrasattva so much but the Thirty-five Buddhas. Lama Tsongkhapa did 700,000 prostrations by reciting the Thirty-five Buddhas’ names, then rainfalls of realizations came. If you can, do this practice three times a day—in the morning, afternoon and evening—and if not, then do the prostrations by reciting the Confession to the Thirty-five Buddhas in the morning. That is unbelievable.

Whatever commitments you have taken from Lama during initiations, try to follow them if you can, for example, the Six-Session Guru Yoga, which has a long, middle and short version. Also for other commitments there are long and short versions.

The Guhyasamaja root tantra text came out good for you to recite if you can. If not every day, then recite it from time to time.

Try to go to bed with a comfortable mind after purifying with Vajrasattva and if possible recite the Thirty-five Buddhas practice one time and then if you can, do one dedication, for example, the King of Prayers or Lama Tsongkhapa’s Prayer for the Beginning, Middle and End of Practice. From the Eight Prayers, do one of them. You can do a different one each day. You can try this, it is very good, but it’s very important when you recite the prayer to pray mindfully, because this plants a seed in your mind.

If you can, do the King of Prayers and one other prayer. This means always reciting the King of Prayers and then a second prayer, and in this way you can change the second prayer each day. If this is difficult, then just recite one prayer. By reciting the King of Prayers, this causes you to be reborn in Amitabha’s pure land.

This is my advice. The other important thing is to live your life with the motivation for others as much as possible. Thank you very much.

With much love and prayers,

Lama Zopa

P.S. You don’t need to be afraid. We are Buddhist and we are so lucky. We have found the most worthwhile object, the perfectly qualified object to guide us: Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. If we take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha they definitely guide us, and we don’t need to fear the lower realms. By taking refuge there is no need to be afraid of death, especially if we are practicing bodhicitta.

Especially with bodhicitta—even if there is no realization but the effortful motivation of bodhicitta—that is the best way to die for sentient beings. Take the death of all sentient beings on yourself and experience it for sentient beings so that they can be free from death and have ultimate happiness in dharmakaya.

Visualize Vajrayogini on the crown of your head and yourself as Vajrayogini, with a hollow tube running from the secret organ up to the crown. At your heart, the size of a mustard seed, visualize yourself as Vajrayogini.

Then visualize a very fine thread of red light going from Vajrayogini on the crown of your head down to Vajrayogini in the mustard seed [at your heart.]

That red light hooks Vajrayogini in the mustard seed, and Vajrayogini comes up, which immediately brings you up into the heart of Vajrayogini [on your crown.]

Then you hear all the dakinis and dakas doing prayers and songs, and you meditate on bliss and voidness.

My most dear, most kind, most precious, wish-fulfilling one,
Thank you very much from the heart for all the positive things you did in this life, especially making the prayer wheel and all those things. All the positive things that you did with your body, speech and mind were for the benefit of sentient beings, so I appreciate that very much. You should rejoice in all that. By doing that all your past negative karmas are purified, already purified, think that.

Don’t think about any other things; don’t worry about any other things, just think about Amitabha’s pure land. Rely on Guru Amitabha, just to be born there for sentient beings, only think that. Attached is a picture of Amitabha’s pure land, so look at this a lot, often.

Don’t worry, only think about Amitabha Buddha and to be born there in the pure land. If you make requests to Amitabha, without doubt Amitabha will guide you there. Just think this.

Think that all your negative karma is purified. Nectar comes from Guru Amitabha and purifies the negative karma, so it is gone. Think that you are totally relying on Guru Amitabha.

If you go there, in the next life you will be able to benefit unbelievable numberless sentient beings and you will never be reborn in the lower realms. [You will become] a bodhisattva, then after one life you will become enlightened.

Thank you very much. As you know, we all have to die soon.

I have also made prayers for you.

With much love and prayers ...

My most dear, most kind, most precious, most wish-fulfilling one,
Thank you very much your kind letter.

Yes, you are supposed to die soon, however I might die before that, we can't really say. Sometimes people are dying in the hospital and the people who come to see them think that they themselves are healthy, but in the end they die before the sick person in hospital, so it often happens like that.

Please remember the advice I gave you before, keep thinking that, if it was Guru Vajrayogini, then just that. Think even the place where you are is Guru Vajrayogini’s holy place, Dagpa Khachö.

Every day think that Guru Vajrayogini is above your crown and there is a pipe or beam coming down and reaching close to your navel, then inside that is your consciousness, the size of mustard seed. It's like cotton, extremely light, so it can easily fly up at any time to Vajrayogini's heart, which is above your crown.

There is a red beam emitted from Guru Vajrayogini’s heart and this red beam is sent down, is coming down the tube of light to your heart; it is like a small spoon [which hooks] the consciousness abiding in your heart. The consciousness is light like cotton, so at any time it can shoot up to Guru Vajrayogini above your crown. It is ready to shoot up at any time.

Feel oneness with Guru Vajrayogini, the dharmakaya, transcendental wisdom of great bliss, non-dual with emptiness, like skies of bliss, feel that. Then as Vajrayogini shoots up and goes straight to Vajrayogini’s pure land, Dagpa Khachö, the dakas and dakinis do prostrations and offer music and chanting for you, and you abide in the lotus receiving teachings from Guru Vajrayogini.

With much love and prayers ...