The-Tibetan-Book-of-Living-and-Dying

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22 THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYING When you are strong and healthy, You never think of sickness coming, But it descends with sudden force Like a stroke of lightning. When involved in worldly things, You never think of death's approach; Quick it comes like thunder Crashing round your head 2 We need to shake ourselves sometimes and really ask: "What if I were to die tonight? What then?" We do not know whether we will wake up tomorrow, or where. If you breathe out and you cannot breathe in again, you are dead. It's as simple as that. As a Tibetan saying goes: "Tomorrow or the next life—which comes first, we never know." Some of the renowned contemplative masters of Tibet, when they went to bed at night, would empty their cups and leave them, upside down, by their bedside. They were never sure if they would wake up and need them in the morning. They even put their fires out at night, without bothering to keep the embers alight for the next day. Moment to moment, they lived with the possibility of imminent death. Near Jikmé Lingpa's hermitage was a pond, which he had great difficulty crossing. Some of his disciples offered to build him a bridge, but he replied: "What's the use? Who knows if I'll even be alive to sleep here tomorrow night?" Some masters try to wake us up to the fragility of life with even harsher images: They tell each of us to reflect on ourselves as a condemned prisoner taking our last walk from our cell, a fish struggling in the net, an animal lining up for its end in the slaughterhouse. Others encourage their students to imagine vivid scenarios of their own death, as part of a calm and structured contemplation: the sensations, the pain, the panic, the helplessness, the grief of their loved ones, the realization of what they have or have not done with their lives. Body lying flat on a last bed, Voices whispering a few last words, Mind watching a final memory glide past: When will that drama come for you? 3 It is important to reflect calmly, again and again, that death is real, and comes without warning. Don't be like the pigeon in the
IMPERMANENCE 23 Tibetan proverb. He spends all night fussing about, making his bed, and dawn comes up before he has even had time to go to sleep. As an important twelfth-century master, Drakpa Gyaltsen, said: "Human beings spend all their lives preparing, preparing, preparing ... Only to meet the next life unprepared." TAKING LIFE SERIOUSLY Perhaps it is only those who understand just how fragile life is who know how precious it is. Once when I was taking part in a conference in Britain, the participants were interviewed by the BBC. At the same time they talked to a woman who was actually dying. She was distraught with fear, because she had not really thought that death was real. Now she knew. She had just one message to those who would survive her: to take life, and death, seriously. Taking life seriously does not mean spending our whole lives meditating as if we were living in the mountains in the Himalayas or in the old days in Tibet. In the modern world, we have to work and earn our living, but we should not get entangled in a nine-to-five existence, where we live without any view of the deeper meaning of life. Our task is to strike a balance, to find a middle way, to learn not to overstretch ourselves with extraneous activities and preoccupations, but to simplify our lives more and more. The key to finding a happy balance in modem lives is simplicity. In Buddhism this is what is really meant by discipline. In Tibetan, the term for discipline is tsul trim. Tsui means "appropriate or just," and trim means "rule" or "way." So discipline is to do what is appropriate or just; that is, in an excessively complicated age, to simplify our lives. Peace of mind will come from this. You will have more time to pursue the things of the spirit and the knowledge that only spiritual truth can bring, which can help you face death. Sadly, this is something that few of us do. Maybe we should ask ourselves the question now: "What have I really achieved in my life?" By that I mean, how much have we really understood about life and death? I have been inspired by the reports that have appeared in the studies on the neardeath experience, like the books by my friend Kenneth Ring and others. A striking number of those who survive near-fatal accidents or a near-death experience describe a "panoramic life review." With uncanny vividness and accuracy, they relive the events of their lives. Sometimes they even live through the
Page 2 and 3: The Tibetan Book of Living and Dyin
Page 4 and 5: Contents Dedication Foreword, by Hi
Page 6 and 7: Foreword by His Holiness the Dalai
Page 8 and 9: Introduction to the Revised Edition
Page 10 and 11: INTRODUCTION xiii our attitudes tow
Page 12 and 13: Preface I WAS BORN IN TIBET, and I
Page 14 and 15: PREFACE xvii next to my master, on
Page 16 and 17: PART ONE Living
Page 18 and 19: 4 THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DY
Page 24 and 25: 10 THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND D
Page 42 and 43: THREE Reflection and Change WHEN I
Page 56 and 57: FOUR The Nature of Mind CONFINED IN
Page 84 and 85: Padmasambhava: "Looks Like Me/' Pad
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72 THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND D
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SIX Evolution, Karma, and Rebirth O
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100 THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND
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SEVEN Bardos and Other Realities BA
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TEN The Innermost Essence NO ONE CA
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PART TWO Dying
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FIFTEEN The Process of Dying IN THE
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SIXTEEN The Ground WE OFTEN HEAR ST
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THE GROUND 265 explain its sacred m
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THE GROUND 267 so, the more our hab
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THE GROUND 269 view our thoughts an
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THE GROUND 271 ning joke. We'd ask
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THE GROUND 273 do this: When we sta
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THE GROUND 275 Then something extra
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THE GROUND 277 May all of you who r
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INTRINSIC RADIANCE 279 are. Dharmat
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INTRINSIC RADIANCE 281 2. Union—T
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INTRINSIC RADIANCE 283 to the exper
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INTRINSIC RADIANCE 285 So the five
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INTRINSIC RADIANCE 287 At exactly t
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INTRINSIC RADIANCE 289 tice, so wit
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EIGHTEEN The Bardo of Becoming THE
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THE BARDO OF BECOMING 293 even for
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THE BARDO OF BECOMING 295 comes the
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THE BARDO OF BECOMING 297 The overw
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THE BARDO OF BECOMING 299 This is t
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THE BARDO OF BECOMING 301 Alas! the
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NINETEEN Helping After Death so OFT
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HELPING AFTER DEATH 305 you love ve
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HELPING AFTER DEATH 307 sponsor wor
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HELPING AFTER DEATH 309 Dead for th
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HELPING AFTER DEATH 311 cause, avar
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HELPING AFTER DEATH 313 stay in the
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HELPING AFTER DEATH 315 Remember to
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HELPING AFTER DEATH 317 dead person
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HELPING AFTER DEATH 319 and sparkli
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HELPING AFTER DEATH 321 people have
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TWENTY The Near-Death Experience: A
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THE NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE: A STAIRC
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PART FOUR Conclusion
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TWENTY-TWO Servants of Peace ONE OF
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Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö (18
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Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (1910-1991)
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Khandro Tsering Chödrön was the s
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QUESTIONS ABOUT DEATH 379 make rule
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ALLOWING DEATH TO HAPPEN QUESTIONS
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QUESTIONS ABOUT DEATH 383 According
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APPENDIX THREE Two Stories MY STUDE
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TWO STORIES 387 She tried to do as
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TWO STORIES 389 them a part of his
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TWO STORIES 391 You don't have to f
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APPENDIX FOUR Two Mantras The two m
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TWO MANTRAS 395 When the syllables
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TWO MANTRAS 397 hell realms, ascend
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PREFACE Notes 1. Rinyoche, a term o
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NOTES 401 6. Portia Nelson, quoted
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NOTES 403 am) I shall not live to s
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NOTES 405 8. From the Guru Yoga in
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NOTES 407 and treat all without bia
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NOTES 409 3. In Kalu Rinpoche, The
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NOTES 411 4. An answer given by His
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NOTES 413 3. Kalu Rinpoche, The Dha
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Selected Bibliography TRADITIONAL T
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SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 417 . Life at
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Acknowledgments IN THE TASK OF PRES
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 421 I am deeply gra
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 423 helping the dyi
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426 INDEX Bardo Tödrol Chenmo, See
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428 INDEX on merging of luminositie
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430 INDEX Jowo Rinpoche, 242, 243 J
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432 INDEX Né Dren, 310 Near-death
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434 INDEX finding master in, 132-34
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436 NOTES Francisco, 1986; First Sn
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Credits Cover design: Ross Carron D
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About the Publisher Australia Harpe
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