4. Impermanence and Death

[WFGS pp. 92–93] 

This perfect human rebirth is extremely difficult to acquire and is extremely fragile. It’s selfish to be careless of aging; it shows a lack of care for the suffering of others, such as that of animals that are killed. Some people say animals are a gift from God to be eaten but they are unable to explain just what God is, saying such a thing is inexpressible in words. They also are indifferent to the suffering of animals because they think it natural for animals to kill each other. Such minds are like stone, seeing nothing.

Sickness can be the best medicine. We can use any of life’s illnesses or other problems as medicine to attain enlightenment. Using the mind is better than just relying on medicine. That doesn’t mean we should suffer, but while we are taking medicine, we can meditate on how our illness is the result of negative karma ripening. Then, having ascertained the fundamental cause of the sickness, we can cure it by not creating the negative action that was its cause. This is true Dharma practice. Through this method we better understand how to stop creating any more causes of suffering.

There’s nothing new in the treatment of sickness, in doctors, hospitals, drugs and so forth. We have all experienced these things countless times before. But renouncing worldly comforts and attaining high levels of realizations by purifying the obscurations—that is new. This is a whole new way of thinking and it’s difficult to generate a mind that accepts this because our ignorance is strong. But it’s very worthwhile to bear the difficulties experienced; such difficulties are temporary.

We should understand how death will definitely happen and how it could happen at any time. Having a useful fear of death should make us practice Dharma day and night, giving up the eight worldly dharmas.

Life is impermanent and transitory. From the very first moment of conception, we are constantly getting older. From one split second to the next, as the time has passed, we’ve missed the chance to attain higher realizations. From then until now our lives have been meaningless, wasted; we have been playing like children. Life decays as a flower, and we are never aware of it changing. Like a river, it changes every moment but looks the same. Because of continuity, rather than seeing its changes, we see it as permanent. Without pausing for a moment, life runs toward death; all the time death is getting closer and closer.

The nature of life is like this. From the moment it begins in our mother’s womb, our life begins running toward death, without pausing for even a split second. From the moment of conception to the time of death is like the snap of the fingers; it seems very quick. But we can only see this at the time of death, when we start to realize we are dying.

Then, there is so much suffering, so much worry. We realize we will never see our parents or our spouse and children again. We suffer as our experience of death continues. It becomes increasingly difficult to see and hear. The closer to death we get, the more we experience suffering visions. At that time, we think our life has finished in such a short time! We realize how brief this life was. No matter how we realize the brevity of our life, we still suffer and die with worry, overwhelmed with sadness.

We always believe that we’ll wake up tomorrow. Based on that, we make plans for breakfast. There is always that permanent feeling that we won’t die today. This is due to not realizing the nature of suffering. But one day, due to some karmic condition, death comes and the door to the suffering realms opens. Then, we have the thought that life has gone by like the snap of our fingers.

Why is there so much trouble at the time of death, why so much suffering? This suffering is a sure sign that we will take rebirth in one of the three lower realms. Before death, because the mind is unaware, we are lazy and don’t care. At death, the people around us weep, and this creates more suffering. Especially if we have created a lot of negative karma, the death time is horrible; we can experience great distress, like blood coming from our ears, our eyes and our nose. No matter how much we hold our parents or spouse, they are still powerless to help us. There might have been a chance before, but at the time of death there is none. No matter who we remember, nobody has any power to help us.

IMPERMANENCE

In The Foundation of All Good Qualities, Lama Tsongkhapa says,

This body and life are changing, like a water bubble;
Remember how quickly they perish and death comes.
After death, just like a shadow follows the body,
The results of black and white karma follow.

When I have found definite conviction in this,
Please bless me always to be conscientious
In abandoning even the slightest collection of shortcomings
And in accomplishing all virtuous deeds.¹

By realizing that life is as brief and perishable as a water bubble, we gain the determination to turn our back on worldly concerns and work for enlightenment, making it possible to attain the higher realizations. In this way, Lama Tsongkhapa became enlightened. Therefore, we should also have a mind that renounces the eight worldly dharmas. Just like a bubble, life bursts as easily and disappears. It is perishable and impermanent, momentary and trivial.

Our great guide, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, the one guide of all sentient beings, whose omniscient mind is free from all delusions, says this in the Great Play Sutra,

The three worlds are impermanent like an autumn cloud.
The birth and death of beings is like watching a dance.
The passage of life is like lightning in the sky.
It moves quickly, like a waterfall.²

Autumn is the most changeable season of the year. Changing every second and disappearing within a minute, we can’t locate a cloud in any definite place. This also applies to the three worlds, meaning the desire, form and formless realms, how sentient beings change so quickly, how quickly they die and how quickly they are reborn. In that, our life is exactly the same as an autumn cloud.

Such are the changes of our internal world and of the external world. The impermanence we see if we closely observe can also appear as the instructions of the guru, allowing us to make progress in our spiritual journey.

Since we woke in the morning, while everything has been constantly changing every second, due to our limited understanding, it feels as if nothing has changed. This is because we haven’t realized impermanence; we are unable to comprehend the momentary changing of all phenomena, how things grow older, decaying with each second, while becoming new at the same time. Distracted by other delusions, we are ignorant of this subtle impermanence and so we see things as unchanging, as permanent.

All the holy beings, the great meditators of old, regarded the meditation on impermanence as essential. Just as ordinary people regard money as important and always try to get more and more, the holy beings kept meditating on impermanence for their whole lives because they regarded it as vital. They saw that this was a practice greatly beneficial in gaining every level of realization and releasing them and all other beings from suffering and ignorance. Having achieved the realization of impermanence, the rest of their lives became meaningful and pure because their minds were protected from distraction. This allowed them to focus the mind completely. For us, even if we want to meditate for only five minutes, so many other thoughts arise in the mind. The mind takes us all around the world and we remember all kinds of objects we feel desire or anger for.

The realization that sees this life, this body and mind as impermanent, is vital to enable us to have even an hour’s undistracted meditation. And the realization of impermanence is the best offering to enlightened beings and to the Dharma. In The Great Nirvana Sutra, the Buddha says,

Among all the reapings, the autumn harvest is supreme.
Among all the tracks, the track of the elephant is supreme.
Among all the ideas, the idea of impermanence and death is supreme because with it
you eliminate all the attachment, ignorance, and pride of the three realms.³

While it’s good to make many offerings to hundreds of holy objects, there are immense benefits from meditating on impermanence in order to gain a realization of it. At the beginning, remembering impermanence obliges us to follow the Dharma, the only true method that clearly explains karma and gives every method to release us from suffering. The thought of impermanence also obliges us to create nothing but positive karma. This helps us greatly in seeing the absolute truth, the emptiness of ourselves and of every other being, of every existence and of the Buddha’s holy mind. In other words, it helps us attain enlightenment.

To fully realize the power of our own mind, we must realize impermanence. Without having the effortless thought that realizes the impermanent nature of things, no matter how much of our life we spend learning psychology, we can’t attain the realizations we need. This is why from beginningless time until now, we still have no idea what the mind is and, because of that, problems persist and will continue until the mind realizes its own true nature.

Without realizing the nature of our own mind, how can we understand the minds of others? Therefore, the best study is to try to make the mind recognize its own nature. Through this, we can easily understand the minds of others. First, we should become our own psychologist so that we can become a true psychologist to guide the minds of others. Unless we do this, it’s like trying to clean other people while having our hands covered in kaka.

All this depends on the realization of impermanence, so it’s very important to check the nature of our own impermanence. This is everybody’s responsibility, not just that of lamas and meditators living in the Himalayas. Why? Because all of us are suffering and wish to be free from suffering and the only way to do that is to realize impermanence, which must come before the realization of the causes of suffering. However, realizing impermanence is not simple.

Many think that the practice of Dharma is not their responsibility. They think that it’s for beggars, cripples and other “unfortunates.” Such people are ignorant of the nature of their life as well as of impermanence and suffering.

This practice is one of the things that makes the holy beings happy, without depending on friends, material comforts and other external needs. For instance, despite Milarepa living on nothing but nettles for years, he had no suffering and was happy, enjoying the importance of his practice. It’s the realization of impermanence that generated all the energy that he required to live for that time without depending on external things. Such a happy life, living in a cave on nettles without depending on other things, was not intuitive. He gradually attained realizations, and these made for a happy and uncomplicated life. Ordinary people lead a complicated, unhappy life that depends on external things, a life contrary to the yogis. These two are opposites: the yogis who developed practices bringing mental discipline and the ignorant beings whose “happiness” doesn’t arise from mental practices but from the acquisition of material possessions.

In the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, the bodhisattva Thogme Zangpo says,

Loved ones who have long kept company will part.
Wealth created with difficulty will be left behind.
Consciousness, the guest, will leave the guesthouse of the body.
Let go of this life—
This is the practice of bodhisattvas.⁴

There is much to be considered in this quotation, especially the analogy of the mind and body as guest and guesthouse. It shows how foolish it is to spend so much effort looking after the physical body, which is neither a permanent place nor belongs to “me.” Yet people spend their whole life working for money to support their physical body, which they only have to leave with great sorrow.

Ordinary people living within the eight worldly dharmas take so much care of this impermanent, trivial body by harming many other beings, both human and animal. Yet this body has to be left at death, causing suffering and giving no help at this inevitable time. Even if we are reborn human, we will have the same problems of having to take care of the body, experiencing harm and death. As long as ignorance is not cut off, we must take care of the physical body again and again and we must experience the same problems again and again.

The conclusion is this: if we don’t wish to have such a physical body that suffers, takes so much energy, and so forth, we must try to live in the essential practice of the Dharma so that we can reach enlightenment and be released from all suffering—including that of having a physical body—as quickly as possible.

OVERCOMING LAZINESS

Milarepa says,

Remembering death conquers laziness.
Any action done remembering impermanence
Becomes a Dharma action.

Laziness is the worst habit we can have, interfering with enlightenment and therefore with future happiness. It’s a greatest obstacle to happiness. One of the main antidotes to laziness is remembering death. While we are trapped in the eight worldly dharmas, our ignorance blocks us from creating actions that will bring about fortunate future lives or from escaping from samsara and attaining enlightenment. Remembering death stops actions that seek the comfort of this worldly life.

There are three types of laziness:

1. the laziness of discouragement 
2. the laziness of being attached to worldly affairs
3. the laziness of procrastination

The first is the laziness of discouragement that causes us to object to doing things with the excuse that we are unable to do them. This is the mind that thinks, “It’s beyond my capabilities.” The second is the worst form of laziness, the laziness of being attached to worldly affairs that is drawn to engage in negative actions of greed, hatred and ignorance, actions that distract the mind from Dharma practice. The third is the laziness of procrastination, the type of laziness that interferes with our wish to practice Dharma and causes us to waste time with distractions. This kind of laziness comes about as a result of lacking the understanding of the nature of samsara, the cause of suffering and the evolution of karma.

The less laziness we have, the fewer hindrances to meditation we will experience. Spending all day and night working for samsaric comforts is considered laziness from the Dharma point of view. Because we don’t remember our past sufferings or know those that lie ahead, we are lazy, and we work for ignorance and greed. Examples of this were clearly shown by the Buddha.

When we fully understand the suffering of others, we must help them as much as possible. We can’t become enlightened without seeing how others are suffering. Paradoxically, seeing others’ suffering also opens our eyes to beauty. Although there is suffering all around, as we purify our minds, we see more and more beauty, even in things we would have considered ugly before. In contrast, the “beauty” the ignorant mind sees only creates more ignorance. Everything depends on seeing the true nature of suffering. We don’t lose our appreciation of beauty by meditating on suffering; we only lose it through the increase of our ignorance.

The death meditation is a very useful practice to deal with the problem of attachment to a friend. Doing this doesn’t mean that friends can’t stay together. This meditation has nothing to do with the physical body; it’s purely to transform the mental attitude. To do it, we don’t even have to sit down and meditate. We can do this meditation in conjunction with whatever else we are doing, including talking to that friend. Asking, “Is the time of death definite?” is especially useful in this situation. It’s especially useful if we are physically attached to the friend. We can remember that their body is constantly changing and that every second they are closer to death. This is something that the attached mind never does; it believes in permanence. We can also imagine the same body turned inside out. Beauty doesn’t depend on the object.

DEATH IS DEFINITE

[WFGS pp. 94–96]

Shantideva says,

[4:16] Although today I am healthy, 
Well-nourished and unafflicted, 
Life is momentary and deceptive: 
The body is like an object on loan for but a minute.

[4:24] And if, having understood this,
I still foolishly continue to be slothful,
When the hour of death arrives
Tremendous grief will rear its head.

Among the methods to extend life, we can do pujas, make statues of certain aspects of the Buddha, do purification practices and so forth. Tibetan people consult astrologers or lamas to see how much longer they will live, especially if somebody is sick. If there is some danger of an untimely death, there are methods to stop it and extend the human life. Often the person would take ordination and become celibate.

Sometimes, families have bad luck. Their children die young, and they ask the lama to stop what is happening. They would give their existing child a new name and try to get them to lead the life of monk or a nun when they are old enough to take ordination. My family is like this. Many children died and it was observed that the last child, my sister, would also die, but she was able to overcome her life hindrances through particular practices.

But to really escape from suffering, rebirth and death, we must attain the fully renounced mind and realize emptiness. This depends on the realization of the perfect human rebirth and on belief in reincarnation. That is why we are working on these here.

We must understand the absolute truth of emptiness. It’s said,

All compounded things are impermanent.
Let all be well-equipped with heedfulness.

The highly realized pandit, Nagarjuna, says in Friendly Letter, 

With all its many risks, this life endures 
No more than windblown bubbles in a stream. 
How marvelous to breathe in and out again,
To fall asleep and then awake refreshed.⁵

As the water bubble is certain to burst, our lives are certain to end in death. No sentient being has ever escaped death. Nothing can stop death. No material possessions, wealth, servants, fame or any other thing can prevent us dying. No samsaric enjoyment can ever stop death. Even if we are treated like a god, we still must die.

Death is definite. We must remember that, as we must know that there can be great suffering at the time of death, something that nobody wants. Without consciously working on our mind, making it more positive, we can just naturally slip into increasingly negative ways, making our death a terrible time. We can have a peaceful death, but only with a peaceful, positive mind.

THE TIME OF DEATH IS INDEFINITE

We all have a particular lifespan when we are born, determined by our karma. When our karmic lifespan runs out, that lifetime ends.

We can also meet an untimely death at any time, even before our karmically determined lifespan has finished. We can die from so many causes, such as an accident or poisonous food, or even overeating.

Many of the great meditators through signs and omens knew that their death was coming days before they actually died. They could try to overcome life hindrances by checking the outer, inner and secret signs. There are long signs, which appear years and months ahead of time, and those that appear close to death. But even if they could delay their death, they still had to die later on.

In Precious Garland, Nagarjuna says,

Hence while in good health create foundations of doctrine
Immediately with all your wealth,
For you are living amidst the causes of death 
Like a lamp standing in a breeze.⁶

Just as a lamp’s flame can be easily blown out by a breeze, our human life is full of problems that threaten our life. Just as the flame is unstable, so too is our life.

Death is definite. Throughout the evolution of earth, not one samsaric being has existed forever. All beings have to die. There are more conditions harmful to life than support it. There are many living beings and non-living things that can harm us. Even the conditions we create to look after life may bring danger and death. This is easily seen. A son kills his father, a husband kills his wife, vehicles cause injury and death, food causes sickness and death. Because the body is so fragile, its elements become imbalanced and it’s easy to encounter suffering. Some beings even die in the mother’s womb.

We should think, “One day death will happen to me. If it happens to me now, do I know what will happen?” We should meditate on somebody else’s death if we can remember it, but the most important thing to do is to try and feel that that death is happening to us now. Do we know what to do when we die? Do we know where our karma will take us? After death, there are only two ways the mind can go—to the upper fortunate realms or the lower suffering realms. Which realm we are reborn in is decided by our karma, the result of our actions. We have no control as we die.

When we examine the state of our mind, it’s quite frightening. Even today, let alone throughout our life, have we created more positive karma or more negative karma? In all our previous lives have we created more positive or negative karma? If we are honest, I think the answer will certainly be that were we to die today, because we have created far less positive karma than negative karma, we would definitely go to the lower realms, where there is so much suffering.

No matter how much we might be suffering now, it is absolutely nothing compared to the suffering we will have to experience in the lower realms without any freedom at all. Now we suffer when we are given food we don’t like, but how will we stand it as a hungry ghost when we are unable to find even a scrap of food for hundreds of years? If we don’t desire suffering here, how will we feel when we experience suffering that is infinitely greater?

To avoid rebirth in these realms, we must die with a mind that has renounced negativity. This is work we must do now. We must prepare now for a higher rebirth and work toward the end of suffering. Even if we died in terrible conditions in our last life, when we meditate on death in this way, we can certainly purify our mind.

The reasons we practice the Dharma and meditate are the same reasons that we do things for this life—for happiness, not suffering. To cease the principal cause of suffering we need a method, and the Dharma gives it to us. We need the Dharma more than we need hospitals and doctors, because without ceasing the principal cause of suffering, no problem can be solved. We may think that when we have an illness, a hospital will cure it, and that will be the end, but that’s not true. Take T.B. for example. If T.B. is contracted when we are young, we may be cured, but it can still recur.

We may think that external factors are the principal cause of illness, like food, the environment and the elements, but no matter how we improve the environment or change the external conditions, the illness recurs or others come on. This proves that the external conditions are not the principal cause of suffering, that there must be something else that causes an illness to arise, some internal factor. In fact, the cause is in the mind, the delusions that obscure our mind, and those delusions are what we must destroy. We can’t do this with any external condition or material thing. Our negative mind states can only be ceased by other mental methods—by developing positive mental states that are antidotes to our delusions.

The fundamental cure for all negative mental states is the mind that wishes to attain enlightenment in order to free all beings from suffering, the mind called bodhicitta. This mind can root out the principal cause of suffering. Developing this positive mind is not intuitive; it must be explained by the right person and then practiced.  If we do this correctly, we can definitely develop the most positive of all minds and then definitely cease suffering. It all depends on receiving the Dharma and then practicing it in order to experience the positive results. That is why we need the Dharma more than anything in this life.

PREPARING FOR DEATH

There are many different signs that can show that death is approaching: outer, inner and secret signs, and the longer and shorter signs. This is something known to the great yogis. The outer signs are changes in the body, urination, and the breath. The inner signs are seeing different signs of catastrophe, especially in dreams. The secret signs are changes in sperm and menstruation.

One method to check up on the time of death is to check up on how the shadow of our clothes appears on a full moon day. This should be done on the first day of the month when the sky is very clear.

We begin by reciting a mantra one hundred and eight times, stand up, and then on the heart of the shadow write the letter OM. As we stand, we stretch out our arms and legs and stare without blinking until our eyes feel uncomfortable. Then, we suddenly look up into space. We will see the shape of our body, and that will show the different kinds of catastrophe with spirits, nagas and so forth, as well as the time of death, in dependence upon the shape of the body—if it is square and so on. If the body has no legs or hands missing, it means that no catastrophe will happen.

This can be done in the daytime or nighttime. The mantra is: OM AH U KO PARA HAKA RESHETE HUNG PE. After finishing, we should make seven prostrations in each direction to the holy beings and then recite the mantra. This kind of checking is for the long-term sign—a year or five years.

There is also a way to check up on the dangers of this life by means of the breath. Usually the breath works like this: on the first day of the Tibetan month, at dawn, the stronger breath comes from the left side for three days. After that, at the time of dawn the stronger breath comes from the right side for three days. Then it changes back. As it varies from this, we can observe it. When practitioners recognize the signs of death, they usually do pujas, although there are all kinds of different methods. Then they check up to see if the signs have stopped or not. If not, they do more pujas. These methods are used to check up on untimely death that is not dependent on karma.

The outer signs are easy to check up on. The most difficult is the secret closer sign. Slightly less difficult is the inner sign, which is a little more difficult than the outer sign. The death shown by the secret sign is extremely difficult to stop, that shown by the inner a little less difficult, and that shown by the outer is the least difficult to stop.

At the time of death, it is most useful if we have completely abandoned our attachment to our own body, friends, relatives, pleasures and possessions. Attachment to those things only causes great suffering at the time of death and starts us spiraling into the three lower realms. That is why it’s so important to overcome our attachments.

Tibetan Dharma practitioners have many ways to transfer the consciousness at the time of death. If we have no attachment to any of those things, we will be OK.

It’s very good to have the wish to be born in a pure land because from there we can receive oral teachings. All enjoyment in a pure land is completely pure, not a creation of the deluded mind. In a pure land, we take spontaneous rebirth in a lotus, so this kind of rebirth doesn’t depend on birth from parents. All the enjoyments in a pure land not only bring pure happiness, they also cause the understanding of Dharma to develop. Nothing that exists on this earth can compare in quality, even living things. In a pure land all things are spiritual, giving much pure pleasure and supporting development of realizations. The mind always receives teachings from the enlightened beings, who pray that many other sentient beings may be born in a pure land to receive teachings. In a pure land it is very easy to get out of samsara.

It’s important to try even now, before death, to understand how to die and what to do when death comes. Because we never wish to experience a suffering death, it’s important to not be lazy and to make arrangements before death comes.

The fuel that will take us to the pure land is the desire to be born there, similar to the craving at the time of death that takes us to the other realms. Rebirth as a human depends upon the desire to be reborn as a human at the time of death.

To renounce attachment, it’s important to start with meditation one [of Wish-fulfilling Golden Sun, the perfect human rebirth and impermanence and death] and continue through to meditation eight [the meditation on concentration]. The death meditation is especially useful. It’s very simple, easy to understand and very beneficial if we wish to quickly eliminate attachment.

The second part of the first meditation is on the impermanent nature of life and on death. When we realize this meditation, we can be born in a pure land or receive enlightenment. Otherwise, it’s impossible to escape from the suffering of the three lower realms. If we are not conscious of death coming, we have to suffer when it comes. This meditation is mainly to train the mind. We should use this method to overcome problems and prevent them from arising. Unless we do that, at the time of death the negative mind will be so large that we will suffer. This occurs due to lack of practice.

It’s most important to make what we have understood through our practice beneficial for ourselves and for others. Unless we use what we have understood, when we meet a problem it makes no sense. Our meditation would lack the insight to become meaningful and would be unable to reflect our mind back to us like a mirror. The benefits of meditation depend on how we use what we have meditated on, how it works within the mind, not on things written on paper. The purpose of meditation is to train our mind to become more aware.

As we realize the practice on the impermanence of life and death more deeply and profoundly, it’s definite we will be able to overcome momentary problems and remove negative minds such as attachment. Who creates the karma that keeps us in suffering? We do, so we are responsible.

Although we alone can overcome our ignorance, we have the help of the enlightened beings, through their teachings. If we had fallen into a hole and somebody above had let down a rope to help us out, unless we recognize it and hold onto the rope, we will continue suffering. The enlightened beings have shown us the path, so it is a matter of us holding to the method—like holding the rope—and lifting ourselves out of suffering. The more we practice purifying our negativities, which are the cause of our suffering, the stronger our essential practice of Dharma will be. That in itself is a great purification. Whatever we do for a living—a farm worker, an office worker, a businessperson or whatever—if our practice really purifies the mind, it’s the essential practice of Dharma.

Purifying our negative states of mind is the essential practice, no matter what religion we follow—Hinduism, Islam, Christianity or any other. As long as the actions of the religion can purify the mind, that is the essential practice of the Dharma. This is an internal transformation; it doesn’t come about by simply turning a prayer wheel or playing a damaru.⁷ Even killing another being in order to cut off the cause of suffering may be a true Dharma action but would only be so if we had incredible bodhicitta, where every action is solely for the benefit of others. While there is even one single self-cherishing thought, without wisdom, an action we might think of as a Dharma action is really only developing the negative mind.

Since we don’t want to suffer at the time of death or in our next life, it’s important to start training the mind well now with these practices. The mind has to be well fertilized through the practice of the basic meditations before we practice the different tantric deity meditations or the transference of consciousness at death. Just as wheels are essential features of a car, enabling it to take us to various places, the basic practices are the same; without them, we can’t progress along on the path.

RUNNING TOWARD DEATH

It’s insufficient just to recognize the fact that one day, in time, we will die. Everyone has this idea, not just those who practice Dharma, but this idea is not enough. It’s more important to understand that the time of our death is indefinite and that we could die at any moment, which will give us the determination to immediately fulfill the meaning of our perfect human rebirth.

The practitioners who sincerely live in the practice of the meditation on impermanence and death have a mind that is greatly concerned with the purification of negativity and the creation of positive karma, either for the purpose of achieving another perfect human rebirth or of attaining enlightenment. When we have the realization of both impermanence and death, we are much less concerned with this life and are working hard for the next life. Just as we would be rushing to the cinema if we were late for the film, heedless of any discomfort, in preparing for our death and our next life, we don’t care about worldly discomforts, such as not getting the best food or falling and being injured and so on. We are not so concerned with little problems such as itches, pains, lice and so forth, and we can spend more time concentrating on meditation, paying more attention to avoiding distraction and disturbances. What we are concerned about is not wasting this life, not missing this real opportunity to prepare for our future life and attain the goals of the cessation of samsara and enlightenment. This brings the result of less distraction and disturbance to our Dharma practice, making it more successful.

When we have a lot of concern for our physical comfort, we waste our time and have less time for meditation. This is because while we should be meditating, we are concerned with what is going on around us. Wrapped up in the external world, we have no sense of the impermanence of things and no thought of death.

If we were to see the importance of being aware of impermanence and death, we would realize that only the Dharma can help at the time of death, then, as a result, we see that our Dharma practice must be developed quickly. We are more concerned about our future lives than our current one, with the negative karma we have collected that will ensure future suffering. This gives us great impetus to not create any more negative karma and purify the negative karma on our mindstream. Our present situation becomes less important and our pleasures and momentary enjoyments become insignificant. The more we can see the importance of understanding impermanence, the fewer distractions there are to our Dharma practice.

It’s logical that we will have fewer problems than somebody who doesn’t live in this practice. They probably know that at some stage in the future they will die but subconsciously think that they will not die tomorrow. With no sense of impermanence, they have more concern for this worldly life than any possible suffering in some future life. While they continue to make preparations for this life alone, with the mind that they will continue to exist, their plans are very short-term, planning how they can be happy tomorrow or next month or next year and engaging in negative actions produced by greed and ignorance to fulfill their plans. Going around and around like this, their lives are extremely busy.

We shouldn’t be caught in the same spiral, chasing worldly happiness. We shouldn’t merely seek to make our temporal life comfortable, which is said to create negative karma because worldly concerns block any thought of future lives. Rather than helping us out of the cycle of suffering, chasing worldly goals inevitably creates attachment and anger and causes us to spiral further and further into the cycle of suffering called samsara and further and further from the ultimate goal.

It’s wrong to think that we shouldn’t make plans. Plans can be positive, like having Dharma practice as the goal, but we should be careful because they can also be negative, like having temporal comforts as the goal. Our Dharma plans should start from now, because the actual time of our death is indefinite. At least we should work more for the positive plan than the negative. The more we practice this meditation, the more effort we will make to stop future suffering. Just as a person who knows that their building is about to be demolished won’t spend much time redecorating it but instead make preparations to leave, in this way, we hurry to save our next life from suffering, unconcerned with this life’s temporal comforts.

There is a quote from one of the great masters:

Running toward death without the freedom of not running for even a second is the nature of samsaric life.

This is the nature of our samsaric lives. Unless we clearly see that the time of our death is indefinite, we will never pay any attention to this fact and never prepare for our death or create the positive karma that will ensure a good future life. Concerned only with our own worldly happiness now, we naturally create more negative karma than positive. This is due to the wrong concept of not checking up on the suffering of death or future lives.

Then, when death comes, all our freedom ends and our life is wasted. Here at Kopan, you are probably missing your life in the West at present, but the way you miss the West is nothing compared to how you will miss it at the time of your death. If we were to suddenly think at the time of our death that we now need to devote our life to meditation, it’s too late; there’s no longer any choice. Numberless beings have died in terrible suffering because they have not bothered to purify their minds before they died. Regret at the time of death is too late. This hasn’t been our experience—yet—but we’re well on the way. Death is getting closer with each second. At the time of death, without choice we will remember much of the negative karma we have created, causing us so much worry.

ATTACHMENT TO OUR BODY AND POSSESSIONS

At death, as we think, “I am really dying now,” we understand that we are leaving our relatives and friends, our possessions and our body. As we feel this, great attachment arises for the body and possessions, and we feel a terrible loss at the separation. We experience incredible fear and suffering. With the mind overwhelmed by this attachment, we take a lower rebirth, especially in the hell realm, having to experience utterly unbearable suffering for an unimaginable length of time. This attachment to our body and possessions keeps us continuously cycling from death to rebirth to death, on and on. Because of that, at the time of death our body and our possessions become our enemy.

This body that we feed and take so much care of is supposed to be a constant source of pleasure, never causing suffering. But in addition to bringing so much trouble during our life, at death it also causes great fear and suffering. At death, even the body becomes our enemy. It’s important to continue thinking like this—that the body will appear as our enemy at the time of death. Concentrating on this more and more, we can loosen the attachment to the body and possessions. As these attachments decrease, the suffering due to the body and possessions decreases proportionally.

The attachment we feel toward our body and possessions is like a sweet-talking person who acts as a friend but really aims to kill us. Until we realize their intention, they seem like our friend and we are attached to them. When we discover their plan, however, our attachment vanishes immediately. Knowing them and what they are going to do to us, we have no wish to indulge them anymore. We become wary of them, skeptical of everything they do. Knowing that the end of this relationship will only be our death, motivated by that fear, we do everything we can to avoid that suffering. Our body and possessions are the same as that sweet-talking friend. Therefore, we should meditate on the great disadvantages of our attachment to them and meditate on our death in order to cut the attachment that will cause us great suffering at that time.

The only education that schools and universities offer is how to take care of this short-lived body. No matter how much biology we study, we will never learn the true evolution of the mind. All that study can actually be a cause of great suffering, working so hard for that degree that will give us the money to pamper our body. The study of Dharma is the best thing we can do.

We have to go to so much trouble because we have this body. We get married for the desires of the body, not for the mind. Although marriage is supposed to be for life, we can be besieged with problems. Convincing ourselves after some time that we have the wrong partner, our marriage becomes like a prison. If we didn’t have this body, there would be no need for marriage. There would be no need to exhaust ourselves working to feed this body. 

We would have much less trouble with other beings. Because of this body, we need a house for it to live in. The first houses were built because the ancient ones started having sex; they became embarrassed at their behavior and made houses to hide in. Without the body there wouldn’t be all the sicknesses related to it. We would never get tired, buy food and prepare it; we wouldn’t make kaka and pipi.

Why do we continually take a body, life after life? Our present attachment to having a physical body creates the craving as we are dying that ensures we take another physical form, one caused by karma and delusions. This attachment is not to the particular future body we will take but to having a physical body; if we didn’t have such an attachment, we wouldn’t take this form. However, because the attachment is there, it plants the seed for rebirth in a human body at some future time. In this way, we can see that the body is the principal cause of our suffering. Meditating on this is a good way to eliminate attachment to the body.

A bodhisattva who has attained a direct realization of emptiness and who has achieved perfect peace is totally free from the negative mind and free to leave the form that they take at any time. Their form is not an uncontrolled one like ours; they can manifest in whatever way is most beneficial for all sentient beings. They don’t have the sorts of problems we do because their body is not the result of karma and delusions. Being free from greed, hatred and ignorance, they are free from karma and delusions. With such a holy body, there is no suffering, only infinite bliss.

On the other hand, there is no end to the harmful actions we do in order to take care of this body. We have been doing all our samsaric actions of eating, drinking, marrying, being reborn and so forth since beginningless rebirths. We think that everything is new, that each action to take care of the body is a novelty, but in fact none of these experiences are new; we have done them all countless times in the past. The only reason they seem new is that we have forgotten them. We think the people we meet are new, taking drugs is new, but none of these experiences are new; they are terribly old, they are beginningless.

Padmasambhava says,

The appearances of this life are like last night’s dream.
The meaningless works of this life are like ripples on water.⁸

All that we have done, from the time of birth until now, has passed like a dream, as quickly as last night’s dream. The experience of this life and the experience of that dream both exist only in the mind, and both have ended. This shows the impermanence of life, how quickly it goes. Therefore, we should practice the Dharma because all actions done to take care of this body are like ripples on a lake; they are meaningless, coming and going one after the other, giving no comfort. Everything we have enjoyed is like this.

It’s certainly OK to take care of our body if it is purely for the purpose of attaining enlightenment in order to help other sentient beings. In this case, it can’t be mixed up with the eight worldly dharmas. In order for this to be so, each action must be completely selfless, expecting nothing in return and having nothing to do with seeking happiness for self. Such an action would greatly delight all bodhisattvas, who would recognize a new friend in the world. Bodhisattvas are those whose only concern is the welfare of all sentient beings.

MEDITATING ON DEATH

If the mind is occupied with external distractions and not with the inner practice of the Dharma, we will experience great suffering at the time of death. The mind can’t take even a tiny hair from the body into the future life; it certainly can’t take numberless jewels. The more attached we are to our body and our possessions, the less we are conscious of how ignorant our mind is. And since it’s uncertain whether tomorrow or the next life will come first, yet it’s certain that the body and possessions will become enemies at the time of death if we are attached to them, from now on we must be skillful in not being attached to these things. We should train our life like that, instead of spending our life in the service of our enemies—the body, relatives and material possessions we are attached to, which only give trouble at the time of death.

In the next minute our future life could be here. When we meditate on death, we can visualize our own death, how the mind separates from the body like a hair pulled from the head. The purpose of this is to cut off the cause of suffering, the negative mind, and to protect us from suffering and especially from creating the negative karma that arises from attachment to the body, possessions and relatives.

We must remain aware and meditate at the time of death but if at that time our attachment arises and gets stronger, it obscures our view. In order to be able to continue meditating, we need a strong practice. There can be many fearful visions and so forth as we die, so we should practice during our life. To do so, we must understand what death is. It’s not like a butter lamp coming to an end.

This meditation is more useful than the most expensive medicine, containing so much understanding. It has the power to eliminate the negative karma we have created with our body, speech and mind by cutting attachment to the body, possessions and relatives, and through realizing the evolution of death, rebirth and suffering.

Generally, even to finish this first meditation takes a lot of time because there is so much that can be said. But it can also be finished in an hour, depending on the mind. Just as it takes a long time to flatten a rocky mountain, we have to work with the mind throughout many lives. This is not working with words alone but with the mind. The explanations can never be finished because they are related to many other subjects. Generally speaking, the explanation and understanding of the first part of the meditation couldn’t be completed in a year.

For the great ancient pandits and the present great yogis, the purpose of meditation is only to control and purify the negative mind, and not for physical comfort and worldly happiness.

In A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life Shantideva says,

[2:36–38] Just like a dream experience,
Whatever things I enjoy
Will become a memory.
Whatever has passed will not be seen again.

Even within this brief life
Many friends and foes have passed,
But whatever unbearable wrongdoing I committed for them
Remains ahead of me.

Thereby, through not having realized
That I shall suddenly vanish,
I committed so much wrong
Out of ignorance, lust and hate.

Life is so fleeting, lasting only a few months or a few years. When we think about the friends, relatives and possessions we have fought to obtain due to our partial mind, harming other beings in the process, we can ask, “Will they last; will they stay with me? Isn’t it definite that I shall have to leave them in time, maybe tomorrow? Isn’t it meaningless to relentlessly get angry with and fight the person who wants to take my possessions, harm my relatives, insult my friends, hurt my body?”  Every action that we do to protect these objects of our attachment creates negative karma. We should think that we might well die tonight, we just can’t know, so it’s meaningless to get angry and create negative karma to care for something that will last only a few hours. Some people even die while doing this. In order to take care of these very transient things, by creating the causes of so much suffering, such actions are very foolish.

Unless we meditate on the impermanence of life and on death, we won’t discover the suffering nature of these negative minds. Meditation doesn’t mean sitting in a particular posture and keeping very still; it’s to do with transforming the mind from negative to positive.

When we meditate on death, we should ask ourselves what we would do if we were to die at this moment. We have to be honest and assess the state of our mind. If at present our mind is more negative than positive, what would we experience as we are dying?

There are many methods to protect ourselves from suffering at the time of death, but they have to be practiced while we are alive. A mind of desire is a very disturbed one, extremely difficult to control. Because it will take a lot of training to overcome our attachment, we must practice diligently in this life. Unless we see death as suffering, we won’t be able to effectively practice and won’t be able to overcome suffering when we die. We have a choice now. At death, we can become our own enemy and cause great future suffering, or we can become our own perfect guide.

Without control at death, we will continue to be reborn in the six samsaric realms. When an insect lands on a spider’s web, who causes the problem? The web has not been created just for that particular fly—but the fly has the karma to fly into the web and become trapped. We also place ourselves in the web of samsara, creating negative karma and forever circling in cyclic existence. Countless trillions of problems arise from that. This has been explained by the Buddha. It was something he clearly saw with his omniscience and something that has been the experience of his followers.

These numberless problems all arise from lack of awareness of death. Being bored or lazy, feeling sleepy—all arise from not realizing that the actual time of death is indefinite, not having full belief in the next life, and not understanding the evolution of karma. The whole problem starts from this. Not knowing there is a method, we don’t try. Even if we remember to do something and practice the Dharma, we will be unable to effectively meditate.

We might put some effort into meditation but because we are lazy and only do it sometimes, we have little success. When we are careless in our Dharma practice, we can create a lot of negative karma. Then, at the time of death we will experience great fear. Therefore, thinking about death makes our human life very meaningful, allowing us to achieve realizations more quickly by not being obscured by worldly thoughts and negative minds.

The power of bodhicitta and of living in avoidance of the eight worldly dharmas comes from remembering death, how death is definite but the time of death is indefinite. All the great powers that are achieved by higher practices are founded in the death meditation. Even enlightenment is due to thinking about death.

Even at the beginning of the path, we should strive for the fully renounced mind. This is the first step. To attain renunciation, we must practice the avoidance of the eight worldly dharmas, which depends on understanding suffering. We need to see death and rebirth as suffering, which comes from having a fear of death. Without a great deal of contemplation on how its time is indefinite, the door will remain closed.

What creates the two different views that two people have toward one object? It depends on the different past karma each has created. It’s impossible for two people to have exactly the same view of one object. Is it possible to fully experience past and future lives, as past holy beings have experienced it? We won’t fully understand these subjects until we have fully purified our mind. The purpose of meditating on death is to build the practice and only create positive karma.

Unless we employ the methods shown by the Buddha, there is no possibility that the body can stop the sufferings of death or the problems that come after death.

BECAUSE WE CAN’T REMEMBER PAST LIVES DOES NOT DISPROVE THEM

Reasoning that there is no continuity of mind before or after this body because we have no personal experience of it or because it hasn’t been explained by scientists is illogical. If we reason in this way, then on the same grounds we should say that, because none of us fully sees how the mind came into the mother’s womb or how it suffered there, the mind can’t exist in her womb. It’s a completely dark subject. We don’t even remember our present life after our birth.

What caused us to enter the mother’s womb? Scientists explain the physical level, but there is no scientific explanation of the mental experience, the feelings in the womb, the feelings at birth or at death. Using only empirical knowledge, scientists don’t fully see the mental experiences of evolution in the womb or at death. Even their understanding of the growth of the fetus doesn’t come from their personal experience, just through instruments. They don’t see the mental continuity of life.

Unless we can fully explain the evolution of the mind in this life, how can we explain past and future lives? Based on this reasoning of not remembering, we should say that there was no mind in the womb and there is none at death, because there’s no experience of it. We should also say that the I doesn’t exist because we don’t see the I. Denying the true nature of ourselves because it wasn’t taught in school, we would become nonexistent. To be skeptical of past and future lives, we have to be skeptical about the mind too, because we don’t recognize what the mind is. And if we are skeptical about the mind in this way, we must be skeptical of everything we don’t see.

We must be skeptical of tomorrow’s existence, but this is where our skepticism falls. If we investigate, our definite assumption is that there will be a tomorrow and we will still exist tomorrow, and for many years to come. But if we are skeptical of these other subjects, we should be skeptical of that as well. We should be skeptical about not dying tomorrow. We are skeptical where we shouldn’t be and not skeptical where we should.

Although there is no logical reason for thinking tomorrow will happen using this kind of reasoning, our mind doesn’t have the power to fully see it. Here is something for our mind to be skeptical of, and yet we believe in our tomorrow. Why aren’t we skeptical of this belief? Whereas being skeptical of continuing to exist in this life definitely helps us escape from ignorance, the fear of death and all those sufferings, being skeptical of the past and future lives can only lead to ignorance and more suffering.

Without fully seeing mental evolution it’s extremely difficult to understand physical evolution. They are not one, but they are related to each other. That’s why the explanation in science books is incomplete. I’m talking about my own experience. Science doesn’t seem to have an explanation for the evolution of the original consciousness. It talks of life beginning in the ocean but if we explore what science says, much is speculation and theory and not only is the explanation of physical evolution limited, there is no explanation of the evolution of the mind. Without recognition of the mind, the explanation of evolution is incomplete.

Because scientists are limited to what they can measure with their instruments, they ignore the existence of other realms that are not easily seen, such as the hungry ghost and hell realms, realms that have been clearly explained by the enlightened beings, Because the buddhas have described them with their perfect knowledge, we can believe fully what they say. How can we verify that they are perfect beings who can fully see these natures and realms? Their realizations are perfect and what they see is correct because the methods to cease the beginningless sufferings that they have shown have been proved successful by the many other beings who have followed them. As these beings practiced the methods all the way up to enlightenment, they also saw and proved these things through their experiences. The numberless buddhas have explained and achieved the different level of realizations and numberless followers have proved this through experience.

STORIES OF GOOD DEATHS

Many Indian pandits could see more and more clearly as they achieved different levels of clairvoyance. This had nothing to do with machines but with the mind. This was also clearly proven by a great number of Tibetan yogis, who received the methods from the Indian pandits and experienced the same thing. So many beings were enlightened in India as well as in Tibet, such as Milarepa, whose story is of achieving realizations through his Dharma practice, being able to take many forms and so forth. Also, Lama Tsongkhapa and Lama Atisha, who had fantastic human lives, also proved the suffering of the different realms that we can’t see.

There were also many yogis who attained a vajra body through sutra and tantra practice. These methods prove that the enlightened beings’ experience was perfect. The purpose of Dharma practice is to transform the mind from negativity and cause us to experience realizations so that we can attain perfect peace. The Tibetan yogis gave the same explanations that Guru Shakyamuni Buddha had given. They greatly emphasized that we must take care of our karma. There have been so many highly realized incarnate lamas and yogis who have control of death and rebirth and who have bodhicitta. Wherever they can help sentient beings, they take birth in that place by choice. Unlike theirs, our births have been uncontrolled because we have been unconscious. We had feelings at birth but now we don’t remember them; nor do we remember the realms we were in before. This is because we are in the uncontrolled cycle of death and rebirth, under the power of karma and delusions.

I have no realizations. I don’t remember being in my mother’s womb, but many lamas living now have such remembrance. His Holiness the Dalai Lama could recognize his past servants and his past religious items.

People who carefully look after karma and practice tantra can die and be reborn freely since they have control of their delusions. In India, before they passed away many lamas meditated for twenty days or so, and when they died they remained in the lotus position, their bodies not decaying for some time while they remained in meditation. People wanted to be in the room where the body was because of the wonderful, blissful energy and the good smell.

There was also an aristocratic lady in Tibet who was always meditating and practicing the teachings of her guru. At the time of death, she had no fear; she made the correct prayers and sent her servant out, then after some time she passed away in a happy state of mind. Most of us spend our lives in distraction, being thoughtless of death, but then, at the time of death, we are terrified. From the Dharma point of view, being self-supporting only in this lifetime is not a wise way to be. If we are free at the time of death, we are really self-supporting. This lady took care of her karma. She meditated on suffering and had control over her death.

Just recently, a year or two ago, there was an ascetic meditator living down from our place. He was a very austere lama who had no attachment to samsaric existence. He had realized impermanence and the renounced mind, and his Dharma practice was pure. For a year before his death, he took the aspect of being sick many times, but if he heard that others were doing good things for the Dharma, he recovered. At the time of death, he was perfectly OK. One night he told the monk who was his servant not to worry, and at dawn he sent his servants out and poured out some tea, and then he died. After staying in meditation for a week, his mind left his body. He reincarnated in that area and was identified by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and many other lamas.

Before death, many lamas prophesize where they will take rebirth. Having control after death is not definite and doesn’t only depend on being ordained. At the time of death, we can become enlightened. Many lay people practiced like this, taking a fearless death on the instructions of their guru.

There was an Indian lady, a benefactor, who observed her karma and had deep devotion to her deity. She was taken care of by her son. They kept donkeys. She often went to the monastery and one day, when she returned from the monastery, after she thanked her son for taking care of her, she passed away without fear.

Those who closely observe their karma and meditate on impermanence are much happier at death time than during their lives because they have the confidence of the path. Most people, however, suffer at the time of death. Even the person who has killed many people will be OK if they can practice strong purification. Milarepa is an example of this.

There are many instances of reincarnation in the West, such as the soldier who was reborn as the son of the man who killed him. The best way to remember our past lives is through the clairvoyance obtained through the practice of meditation.

There are two kinds of incarnation, controlled and uncontrolled. As the above examples show, when the method practiced in this lifetime becomes effective at the time of death, we go through death fearlessly, with recognition and understanding. This shows that the method given by the Buddha is true. The way to check the enlightened beings is to check their method, to see whether or not it helps as explained.

When we understand the great realizations that the meditators have attained, we should be inspired to follow their methods because we also want to achieve realizations ourselves. The understanding of karma and of the other realms depends on our level of wisdom. Those with great intelligence and much positive karma can clearly see it after a brief explanation; for others it takes time and even a hundred pages of a text can’t explain it all. Ten people reading the same book will have ten different understandings of it. To understand these subjects and go on to attain realizations requires the support of not just an intelligent mind but having created sufficient merit and purified enough negativity. Without such help it’s very difficult.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE ORIGINAL HUMAN BEINGS

[WFGS p. 97]

The evolution of human beings depends on karma.

Although external existing phenomena such as mountains and trees come into existence through causes and conditions, they are not part of karma because they have no continuity of mind. The karma that is fundamental in everything we experience is a mental factor, something that only occurs in sentient beings. Whether we experience happiness or suffering is dependent on which karmic imprint ripens due to the various conditions we meet. This is something that nonliving things don’t experience.

All phenomena, living and nonliving, are empty of inherent existence and so depend on absolute truth. Something that is independent of absolute truth doesn’t exist. An independent phenomenon is a hallucination.

If we plant the seed of a lotus in dirty mud, it grows to bring forth a beautiful, perfectly clean flower. Before the flower blooms, its potential exists in the seed, although the flower doesn’t yet exist. Only the potential exists, and that produces the flower. The seed in the mud is not the flower but it has the power to bring it forth.

The nature of the mind is clear light and exists in every sentient being, making enlightenment possible. It’s called “clear light” because it’s not mixed with the obscurations of the negative mind. When the obscurations are purified, the nature of the mind becomes clear. At present, although our mind is not clear but obscured, the nature is the same. If I had been a tiger before, the nature of that mind and that of my present mind would be the same, although at the moment it’s not the same mind. This mind is a continuity of that one.

A human is a being not born in a nonhuman realm from the intermediate stage. Humans are those beings who can communicate and understand meaning and who live in one of the four continents that surround Mount Meru. We live in the southern continent.

The original humans came from the form and formless god realms. Beings in formless realms live only on consciousness, without form, feeling or cognition. Rebirth in this realm arises from meditating based on a dissatisfaction with the desire realm and with the material pleasures and suffering of the realm. These beings pass a long, unconscious life, like deep sleep.

THE EVOLUTION OF DEATH

[WFGS pp. 98–102]

In India, at the time of death the custom is for the body to be moved quickly, but this can be dangerous because the person may not be dead. If the heart area is touched, it may still be warm, even though the heat has left the other parts of the body. This indicates that the consciousness is still in the body.

This body is like the earth, composed of the four elements: fire, water, air and earth. During the death process, when the form aggregate decays, different visions occur. The chakras open at this time, but this usually occurs in an uncontrolled way. In meditation, the chakras can be opened using advanced meditative techniques, which can help us at the time of death.

Of the five wisdoms, the mirror-like wisdom is the power of the mind to perceive and remember objects, the ability to learn things and to understand meaning. With the first dissolution as we die, this wisdom dissolves.

We have five aggregates: form, feeling, discrimination, compositional factors and consciousness. Any mental experience that doesn’t exist within the aggregates of form, feeling, discrimination and consciousness is considered the aggregate of compositional factors. There are fifty-one mental factors, both positive and negative, and these include shyness, caution, ignorance, jealousy, pride and wisdom. Intention, one of the mental factors, is another way of describing karma.

The four mental aggregates are the link between the mind and the physical body. The experience of these five aggregates operating gives us the sense of self or the I. Without them, we would have no concept of a physical existence. The mental aggregates are not physical themselves but rather a form of knowing. While we, as humans, have five aggregates, the gods in the formless realms have only four.

As we progress toward enlightenment, our aggregates are gradually purified. At present, our aggregates are very impure, being caused by karma and delusions, but they can certainly become completely pure, which is the state of omniscience.

Nam shä means consciousness or mind in Tibetan. The first syllable, nam, literally means aspect, which refers to the appearances that are recognized—such as positing, “This is a flower,” and “This is space.” Shä means knowing, which refers to discrimination of sensation or perception. The Sanskrit translation of consciousness is vijnana. Sem means heart or mind, which is citta in Sanskrit. Yi also means sentience in Tibetan; the Sanskrit is manas.

Consciousness is the mind that recognizes the object. It continues after the death of the body, bearing all the karmic imprints from the limitless karmas we have created over beginningless lives. Our human consciousness is a property of the human rebirth. As the rebirth changes, so does the type of consciousness. At present, we aren’t aware of our entire consciousness. This will only happen when we attain enlightenment.

The visions that are experienced as we go through the various dissolutions as we die are also experienced by animals. What we are discussing here is the process of a “natural” death, which means a death not brought about by sudden, instantaneous conditions—such as a trauma, in which case there is no time for the process of the various visions, and the mind goes straight to the intermediate state or bardo.

As the death advances, we pass through various visions, with the appearance of mirages first, then smoke, sparks, and finally something like a spluttering candle, before we have the three visions that occur after the breath has stopped but before the consciousness leaves the body. They are the white vision, followed by the red vision and then the black vision. After the black vision, the clear light mind arises, which is the moment the consciousness leaves the dead body. That is our moment of death.

THE INTERMEDIATE STATE

From the clear light, the black vision arises again, followed by the red and the white. From this point the gross superstitions as well as the aggregates arise in dependence upon the realm we are to be reborn into. The visions, fears and suffering that we experience at the time of death are dependent on the rebirth we will take in our next life.

At death, the gross mind absorbs and the subtle mind and then the very subtle mind become manifest. The very subtle mind is always there, but we are not conscious of it because the gross mind overwhelms it. The very subtle mind that resides at the heart chakra is the seat of our buddha nature. In order to attain enlightenment, we have to eliminate both our gross minds with their gross obscurations and our subtle obscurations.

This very subtle mind doesn’t perceive gross objects such as flowers and so forth. These things are perceived by the gross mind. We experience the subtle mind at certain moments, such as when we sneeze or have an orgasm, but it’s so subtle that we almost never perceive it.

When the very subtle mind arises at the time of death, there is a vision of clear light. But unless we can recognize the other visions that appear before that, this vision is almost impossible to perceive.

The intermediate state body⁹ is not the subtle mind. Such a body is caused by the vehicle of the mind, the subtle wind. That is the principal cause of the intermediate body. Just as when we make a chair out of wood, we call it a chair, not wood, this is a subtle body, although caused by the subtle mind.

Due to karma, the intermediate state being doesn’t recognize their own dead body. They perceive it with great fear and have no desire to reenter it. The intermediate state being has a subtle karmic body that can travel anywhere it wishes simply by thinking about it.

It’s possible to attain enlightenment at the stage of vision of clear light, but this depends on being able to control our winds and bring them into the central channel. To achieve enlightenment in the intermediate state, we need to have completely purified ourselves, seeing ourselves in the completely purified form of the deity.

The yogi Ngagpo Chöpa had very high tantric attainments and could fly through the air surrounded by dakinis. However, as a result breaking samaya with guru, Naropa, he was unable to attain enlightenment in that lifetime, although he did after death. Having many psychic powers does not mean that we are free from delusions and released from the chain of karma and ignorance. Even some birds have psychic powers, such as vultures who can see a corpse behind a mountain, but this doesn’t mean that they are free from the cycle of samsara.

The nature of the subtle mind is impermanent. The subtle mind depends on causes, which means it changes. Although plants don’t have karma because they don’t have mind, the cause of change in a flower is the previous moment of the flower. The subtle mind possesses a vehicle, the subtle wind. In normal life, although we possess this subtle mind, we don’t perceive it. The very subtle body is the vehicle of the very subtle mind. We attain enlightenment through the perception of this very subtle mind.

Gross and subtle minds generally work like this. When the gross mind dissolves, the subtle mind becomes manifest. At that point, we can’t perceive gross objects because there are no gross superstitious minds to perceive them. At death, although the gross mind becomes unmanifest, it doesn’t disappear for good—only for as long as the subtle mind is manifest. It will only completely cease with the purification of the negative mind.

Each type of mind has its own vehicle: the gross mind has the gross winds and the subtle has the subtle winds. The gross winds abide in the two outer channels or nadis (right and left) that run either side of the central channel, a psychic energy channel that runs parallel to and just in front of the spinal cord. At present, our mind is uncontrolled, full of gross superstitions, because of the gross winds and gross superstitions that run through these channels. Thoughts travel through the right and left channels only, but don’t flow through the central channel because it’s blocked. Although the very subtle wind and mind abide at the center of the central channel, it’s inaccessible because of the blocks that stop our normal minds from flowing into it. This is the main problem we must purify.

All this explanation is just to give you an idea, to help you to recognize the visions when you meditate on them, and to make the visions beneficial as a method of purification. The white, red and black visions occur when the white and red drops that normally abide at the crown and the navel descend and rise to meet at the indestructible drop, which is like a sesame seed at the heart chakra. As they meet, the vision of sudden darkness, like a dark room, is experienced, and then when the seed opens, there is the vision of clear light as it splits. The vision of clear light is none of the other three visions. The white vision is like snow on the mountains and clear light is like the vision of early autumn dawn—complete emptiness and very clear, like the sky.

At this time during our meditation, we should take a little time to concentrate on this. This vision is the basic thing, so we have to make it beneficial, purifying ourselves by recognizing it through practice. Merely concentrating on that complete emptiness, however, doesn’t help a great deal. We need many other things as well, just as food can’t be cooked by merely boiling the water. This vision can be used to achieve higher realizations and to attain enlightenment. When our mind reaches the point of the vision of clear light, we should concentrate on it as being one with our own mind and think that this is the complete emptiness of the self-existent I that mistakenly appears independent. Concentrating on our selflessness without any other thought arising causes the clear light vision to become transcendental.

Now we are only training, but at the time of death the mind that does this is the subtle mind. If we haven’t trained our mind during our lifetime, we won’t recognize this. As we get more control with habituation, it becomes more likely that we will be able to control the mind at the time of death. We have a similar experience when we fall asleep, but due to our lack of control we don’t recognize it because of its brevity and subtlety. If we could control and recognize it and concentrate on it, it would be so much easier to control the mind as we die.

From this life, passing to the intermediate state is like passing from sleep into a dream state. We have to sleep because we are ignorant. While we are doing this practice, we shouldn’t allow other thoughts to arise, otherwise at death we won’t be able to recognize the visions.

The subtle mind can be pure or impure. It’s not the same as the absolute nature of the mind. The nature of the mind is not the mind; it’s interdependent with the mind but it’s not the mind itself. Like a mirror covered in kaka, the absolute nature of the mind is the mirror, not the kaka. A mirror that is clear and one that is covered with a little kaka both possess the absolute nature of mind, the absolute truth. The mirror is not inseparable from the kaka; the absolute nature of the mirror depends on the mirror itself. The absolute nature of the mind and the mirror are inseparable, but the kaka of the negative mind can be cleaned from the mirror. Just as the absolute nature of the mirror is inseparable from the mirror, the mind and its absolute nature are inseparable. As it says in the Heart Sutra, form is emptiness, emptiness is form.

The subtle mind doesn’t perceive gross objects as being different from the subject. The gross mind, however, differentiates between subject and object, and therefore has likes and dislikes. The gross mind has to be purified, after which the subtle mind, which sees no difference between subject and object, arises. Then, the subtle mind, which still has subtle obscurations, also has to be purified. Only then does it become omniscient.

The principal cause that traps us in suffering is the concept of the self-existent, independent I. When we attain buddhahood, we have no thought, “I am going to do this and that.” The action is instinctively done.

When we meditate on the clear light, we think of the complete emptiness of a self-existent, independent I. Then we think that this vision of emptiness is one with our mind. The vision is dependent on these two things. We should concentrate on these without letting other thoughts arise. Doing this can help a great deal in many ways, especially in tantric practice. If we train our mind in this practice, we will be able to use it at the time of death, to protect ourselves from suffering.

The concept of the self-existent I is a delusion; such an I exists nowhere. We need to explore this. Because such an I would be independent of the body and mind to exist, how could it possibly exist?  There is no such I that doesn’t depend on the body and mind. An independent I would be one that exists without depending on the creator, on the name—and there is no such I.

It is the complete emptiness of the self-existent I that makes the clear light vision usable in death. As long as there is mind, there is the subtle mind.

This is just a simple meditation to practice at the time of death. This practice is just a seed and according to our development, we can decorate this clear light vision with more and more things; we can make it rich. After we have purified the mind, we will be able to perceive the pure intrinsic nature of mind.

The consciousness leaves the body when the indestructible drop opens. At that time, it goes to its karmically determined realm. At present, we don’t have the control necessary to send the winds through the central channel. The purpose of deity yoga is to open the chakras and let the winds flow. The wind travels up the right and left channels and down the central channel. Until the visions at the time of death begin, the channels are blocked, tied at the chakras in knots. Some meditators can open the central channel before this, but it’s very difficult, requiring great mental focus derived from meditation. As the winds enter the central channel, the mind follows; the mind rides the wind like a person rides a horse.

In sexual intercourse, we feel ordinary happiness because the sperm touches the outside of the central channel, although it doesn’t enter. Were the sperm to enter the central channel, there would be great merit.

The wisest way to practice deity yoga is on the basis of bodhicitta, a fully renounced mind and with the realization of emptiness. We must have this foundation, otherwise the practice doesn’t fit our mind and it becomes poisonous. This is not the fault of the method but of lack of ability. Even though we might practice diligently, it takes a very long time to achieve results. Without having fully developed bodhicitta, practicing kundalini yoga where we play with the subtle winds, for example, doesn’t bring about the cessation of suffering or break the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

Even though we have not accomplished the practice of entering the subtle winds into the channels and so forth, if we live in the practice of these three realizations of bodhicitta, renunciation and emptiness, it helps a great deal to cease the cycle of suffering and it’s certain that we will never be reborn in the three lower realms. Without bodhicitta, death will be much more difficult, and it is extremely difficult to avoid an unfavorable rebirth.

If we have the basis of bodhicitta, renunciation and emptiness, we won’t have much difficulty with the higher tantric practices. They will help us to quickly purify and attain enlightenment. Tibetan yogis are not surprised to find people who can do kundalini yoga and open their chakras, but they are greatly surprised and pleased to find those who have attained the three realizations.

MEDITATION ON IMPERMANENCE: A SUMMARY

It’s important to note the titles of the outline when meditating. If you do this, the meditation becomes much shorter. The more often you meditate on a subject, the more powerful will be the mind that holds that subject. It’s the nature of the mind that it can be developed like this. It’s good to remember the quotations by using the titles. Then, you can expand the subject outside the meditation by reflecting on it and making observations. This is very effective for your mind.

First, meditate that the time of death is indefinite. Second, meditate on the different cooperative causes of death, such as starvation and so forth, and untimely death that arises due to external factors such as accidents, carelessness, and ignorance. Also meditate on natural death that occurs as the result of the end of your karmic lifespan. The most important thing to remember at this time is to check whether you have a deep sense of when you will die. And conclude that realistically it could be tonight or it could be tomorrow.

You should also meditate that at the time of death your possessions become the enemy. You have been constantly working to attain these things during your life, but why should you do this since none of them can help you at the time of death?

Then, if you can remember the quotation that states that the future life is more definite than tomorrow or the next hour, that quotation has great power. Just as you can’t take one single hair from this life into the next one, your possessions can’t help your mind in the future life.

Thinking in this way is for the sole purpose of training the mind, and especially for eliminating attachment. If you get angry because someone did something, as the anger suddenly arises like a geyser, check up like this, “I’m getting angry because I’m attached to temporal comforts. This life is impermanent, and the Buddha said that it is uncertain which will come first, tomorrow or the future life. Therefore, it is very silly to get angry with this person for such a short time, only creating the cause of suffering that only I will experience in the future life. Why should I be attached to possessions since they only cause me trouble at the time of death? Also, as my time of death is indefinite, why should I be attached to possessions even at this very moment?”

You should try to imagine how the mind will feel at the time of death–all alone, leaving your possessions and so forth to other people.

When a problem like anger, jealousy or pride arises you should think as outlined above. You should also consider the possibility of accidental death, such as a car accident and so forth.

The meditation on death has to be experienced through practice, not through books. If you experience this meditation through practice, you protect yourself. Then, if you are calm in a situation, the other person will become calm, whereas if you retaliate, they too will retaliate and then it only goes on and on. This is medicine created by your mind; you become your own psychiatrist or psychologist. It’s the same thing if you are attached to something—to food or another person, for example—you will never have peace in your mind. Being peaceful means being free, relaxed. The happiness that this meditation gives is very calm, loose and relaxed, like a very controlled person who is gentle. Otherwise, you will be uptight and unrelaxed, which is another form of pain.

If you continuously practice this basic meditation, as you check up and expand on it yourself, you will see the subject more and more clearly, and with that you will have more and more faith in it. Also, if you do the whole practice continuously, as the mind becomes well trained, the practice itself becomes shorter and shorter, taking an hour, then half an hour to complete.

To complete the death meditation, after the clear light vision, meditate on taking your place in the mother’s womb if you want to consider rebirth in the human realm, or meditate that you are taking rebirth in some other realm that you have visualized. The cycle of birth and rebirth goes around and around like that. Alternatively, you can stop at the point of meditating on the clear light vision.

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Notes

¹ Taken from FPMT Essential Prayer Book, p, 112, which can be found in the FPMT Catalogue. [Return to text]

² Taken from Lamrim Chenmo, vol. 1, p. 151. [Return to text]

³ Taken from Lamrim Chenmo, vol. 1, p. 147. [Return to text]

⁴ V. 4. Taken from The Thirty-Seven Practices of Bodhisattvas. [Return to text]

⁵ V. 55. Taken from Nagarjuna’s Letter to a Friend, p. 49. Translated by the Padmakara Translation Group. [Return to text]

⁶ V. 317. Taken from Hopkins’ Nagarjuna’s Precious Garland, p. 136. [Return to text]

⁷ A small hand drum used in tantric practice. [Return to text]

⁸ Taken from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Kathleen McDonald’s Wholesome Fear, p. 51. [Return to text]

⁹ The term actually used by Rinpoche (or those who transcribed the teaching) is “astral body,” a term often used by the hippie students who helped Rinpoche with his English. [Return to text]