Transference of Consciousness at the Time of
Death
Lama Thubten Yeshe |
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Sixth Discourse: 6th March
As we recite the preliminary prayers of this po-wa
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 Tsong Khapa'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 po-wa 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 po-wa
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 po-wa 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 po-wa
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 po-wa 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 po-wa 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
po-wa 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. |
