Death comes for all, and it is natural.

Death is the crossroads to our future.

We must handle it with the strength of meditation experiences.

In this section we look at the process of dying and ways of handling death when it comes. (In Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth, Tulku Thondup includes the insights and experiences of several delogs who experienced the passage of dying and returned to tell about it.)

With the onset of the “fatal sickness” – the illness, injury, or other event that causes death – we enter the passage of dying.

In the course of the dying process, the elements that constitute the body, senses, and mental perceptions will all dissolve.

For accomplished meditators, the passage of dying concludes with the arising of the ultimate nature.

For ordinary people, it ends with the cessation of breathing and falling into the unconsciousness of death.

Although most people will undergo the experiences of the dying process more or less as described below, fully accomplished meditators may not need to do so.

When we are about to die, with meditative power we can unite our intrinsic awareness, which is the true nature of our mind, with the union of the ultimate sphere and wisdom, which is buddhahood.

If we can realize and maintain this union, we have attained buddhahood.

If we cannot, then through the meditation of phowa we can transfer our mind to a pure land of the Buddhas to take rebirth there.

The Process of Dying

As we enter the passage of dying, consciousness gradually disassociates from the physical body as the elements that make up the body start to dissolve. First the vital energies of our body become disarrayed, and then we go through the dissolution of our physical elements and mental perceptions [various texts use different terms and classifications for the dissolutions of the process of dying, and also for the ultimate nature, though their essential meaning is the same].

What Should We Do When Dying?

How should ordinary people handle these dissolution stages?

First, we must try to realize that we are in the process of dying.

We should try to take the experiences of dissolution as peacefully as possible, without panicking.

We should try to remember that all the transitional appearances and experiences are reflections of our own mind and emotions, like dreams.

We should not be attached to them, get irritated by them, or be afraid of them.

Rather, we should see and feel everything as the path of our spiritual journey.

Anchoring ourselves in calmness, we should peacefully let any situation come and go.

We should remember to employ any spiritual approach or experience with which we have been acquainted in our lifetime. The spiritual approaches with which we are familiar will be more effective and easier for us to rely on.

We should remember our source of blessings, such as buddhas, masters, positive mental objects, teachings, and meditation experiences, and use those experiences and memories as our spiritual supports.

Try to remember your own spiritual practices and all your spiritual experiences and energies, and unite with them.

To unite with them means to feel that the buddhas, teachers, and deities are present with you all the time and that they are protecting and guiding you.

From them, let the light of peace, openness, strength, and joy come to you, fill you, and transform your body into a rainbow-like light-body emitting blessings of peace, joy, and strength.

Then try to relax in that spiritual body, again and again, throughout the dying process.

We must repeatedly remind ourselves: “I must stay with my spiritual experience.”

Such a message makes a great impact and in fact helps us remember the experiences even on the difficult journey of dying.

If we stay with our experience, our journey along the road of dying will be smoother and will lead us to a pure land or to a rebirth that is peaceful, joyful, and healthy.

If we experienced the true nature of the mind while we were alive, we must try to remember to remain in the awareness of that nature.

Whatever occurs, try to see all happenings as merely the expression of that nature, instead of running after and grasping at thoughts and experiences with attachment or hatred.

If we have been introduced to and trained in the ultimate nature of the mind and its luminous visions, then this is the time to remain in that experience.

This is also the time for meditators to remind us of the experiences that we are going through.

Longchen Rabjam advises:

In the process of dying, the physical elements will be dissolved.

You will witness wobbling, fuzzy, and blurry illusions.

Then earth, water, fire, air, and space [of your body] will be dissolved.

The functioning of your sense faculties will cease.

At that time, you should remind yourself:

“Now I am dying, but there is no need to worry.”

Then just look at:

“What is death?” “Who is dying?” “Where does dying exist?”

Dying is a mere [sign of] returning your four borrowed inanimate elements [to themselves].

The intrinsic awareness [of your mind] has no birth or death.

In the state of original purity, dying is [the union of] emptiness and intrinsic awareness, the natural mode of the Ultimate Body [dharmakaya].

Just look at: “What is death?” “Who is dying?” “Where does dying exist?”

As dying exists nowhere, it is absolutely unreal.

Generate courage and confidence in this [understanding].

Jigme Lingpa writes that in the process of dying, the best thing to do is relax naturally in the ultimate nature.

The next best thing is to transfer your consciousness to a pure land.

At a minimum, seek the refuge of the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the embodiment of enlightenment; the Dharma, the truth he expounded; and the Sangha, the community of followers of the Dharma.

Pray to your spiritual teacher, and unite your mind with his or her enlightened mind.

Guru Rinpoche advises us to practice, to pray not to get attached to anything at the time of death, to remember the teachings, and to meditate on merging the ultimate nature of our minds with the ultimate sphere:

When the “passage of dying” is dawning upon me,

Abandoning attachment to and grasping at anything,

I will focus on the clear instructions without wavering,

And transfer my unborn intrinsic awareness [true nature of the mind] to the state of the ultimate sphere.

These instructions of great masters on dying and death are crucial points to remember and apply, not just during the passage of dying but also during all of life’s four transitional passages, including this current life.

Source: Based on Thondup, Tulku. Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth: A Tibetan Buddhist Guidebook. Shambhala. Kindle Edition.

by