My dear Jane and Jim,
I am very sorry that our very dear ex-director and student passed away. You should not worry. In my divination, some days before he passed away, it came out positive that he will have a good rebirth. He offered service and was very devoted, sincere, and kind-hearted. He was an easygoing person, and offered service for many years to sentient beings and to the teachings of Buddha, as director of the center.

I wanted to let you know that I made prayers to guide him after hearing that he had passed away. I recited the short 100,000-verse Prajnaparamita teachings a few times, and also tried to do po-wa. We also made 30 tsa-tsas of the three types of deities. That came out very beneficial for his future rebirth, and we also made three stupas and Mitukpa tsa-tsas for him. After sojong, Chöden Rinpoche, Geshe Ngawang Drakpa, all the Sangha members in the area (about 30) and I recited the King of Prayers, the Lama Tsongkhapa prayer and Maitreya Buddha prayer, and dedicated them to him.

In case you are worried or missing him, you should recollect that we all, those of us who are not free from samsara, have to die. Since we are born, we have to die, because we are under the control of delusion and karma until we are free from samsara. This is the nature of life. Even this whole earth, which looks so permanent to us, will become nonexistent. It decays, and then after some time will become non-existent. There will be space where the earth used to be. Nothing that is a causative phenomenon lasts. It changes and decays, not only from moment to moment, but even within each moment.

What will benefit him is if you perform positive actions in your daily life with a good heart, with the thought of benefiting others: with compassion and loving kindness. By living your life with this pure motivation and good heart, your actions become virtuous, even if you don’t perform any extra positive actions. From these virtuous actions, you collect merit, and you can dedicate those merits, offering them to him, for him to have a good rebirth. Dedicate them for him not only to achieve just temporal happiness, but most importantly for him to be freed as quickly as possible from samsara, from the cycle of birth and death, and to achieve enlightenment in the quickest way possible.

Remember him by performing more positive actions for others, such as giving generously to others and living in morality by abstaining from harming others and harming oneself. For his benefit, try to practice patience when somebody treats you badly, or insults you or shows disrespect toward you. If you at least manage not to get angry, that means you don’t harm others. Even when you practice patience or try to stop the thought of harming others when it comes, dedicate that to him If you can, think that this is also for the happiness and benefit of all sentient beings, who, like him, also want happiness and do not want suffering. Dedicate in this way however many positive actions you are able to perform each day. At least, when there is a danger of anger arising, stop that and practice patience or compassion. And when you start to have negative thoughts, which are harmful to others, like ill will, jealousy and so on, try to stop that and practice their antidotes.

On top of this, benefit others as much as possible, with a sincere heart, in your daily life. Whether it is a small or big help to others, this will make your own life of better quality. It will make your mind healthier, and that means having a healthier body and longer life, and you will have inner peace and happiness. However much more you are able to practice positive things, and perform good deeds, there will be that much less suffering for you when you pass away. There will be less of a problem or no problem, so you will have a happier death, a peaceful death, very pleasant and inspiring for others. You will give courage to other people to practice Dharma, meditate, and to do positive things, so you will have a very happy ending to your life.

Your husband’s passing away is a reminder to us how precious our human lives are, and for us to practice harder and more purely.

With much love and prayers...