The Moment of Our Death
- Apr 19
- 2 min read
"When we do phowa for the last time at the moment of our death, it's very important to have given up all clinging and attachments. We must let go of our belongings, our property, our family members, and even our own selfhood, what we think of as "me." We need to be ready for the new situation coming to us without holding back. This is mentioned in The Tibetan Book of the Dead, in the Root Verses of the Six Bardos. This is part of the cycle of Dzogchen teachings known as the Zhitro, discovered by the great fourteenth-century terton Karma Lingpa, referring to the forty-two peaceful and fifty-eight wrathful deities.* The prayer related to the bardo of the moment of death says,
"When the bardo of the moment of death is dawning upon me, may I abandon attachment and clinging to everything."
At that pivotal moment of transition, we need to strengthen our meditation by applying the teachings we've received in this lifetime. As practitioners, we've received many teachings. The moment of death is the time to really apply our practice by giving up all attachments and being ready to accept the coming new situation. Ideally, we'll be full of joy, appreciation, and wisdom, ready to move on to the unborn nature of the dharmakaya. That is what we have to do. The best way to transfer our consciousness is to do the dharmakaya phowa, in which we mingle our unborn awareness with the unborn nature of the dharmadhatu. Just being in that state, without any concept of a consciousness being transferred, is the best type of phowa.
Our bodies are illusory, magical. Many times, the teachings say that the body is merely rented-it's on loan from the four elements. When it's all used up, when your health has declined and the body has deteriorated, the body is no longer useful. So why cling to it? When it's time for our consciousness to move on, we need to be ready to go.
It's also the time to remember that the whole phenomenal world is magical. Not only is our body illusory, but the entire world is illusory. It's also impermanent. At the moment of death, the truth of impermanence comes knocking on the door of our awareness. We experience exactly what the teachings have been saying all along. We must accept this and see everything as an illusion. Our body is an illusion, our speech is an illusion, ahd our mind is an illusion. We are going from one illusion to another, so why be afraid? Why hold back and remain attached to something that's no longer of any use or benefit? At this point we want to be ready to return to the natural state."
Venerable Khenpo Rinpoches
Essential Journey of Life and Death: Volume 2
Using Dream Yoga and Phowa on the Path
Important: Dzogchen Practitioners Should Still Pray to Buddha Amitabha
How to Practice on Buddha Amitabha
Our 3rd grade class did a Christmas party and I pulled 25 Christmas bingo boards on Friday afternoon during prep.
Kids loved that the icons were actually varied instead of the same snowman repeated on every card like that other free site does.