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

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THE PRACTICES FOR DYING 235he stopped: "Oh! I'm sorry, I almost forgot... this is my giftfor you!" He picked up the very bread <strong>and</strong> white scarf mygr<strong>and</strong>father had just <strong>of</strong>fered him, <strong>and</strong> gave them back to himas if they were a present.Often he used to sleep outside in the open air. One day, inthe precincts <strong>of</strong> the Dzogchen monastery, he passed away:with his dog by his side, right in the middle <strong>of</strong> the street, <strong>and</strong>in a pile <strong>of</strong> garbage. No one expected what happened next,but it was witnessed by many people. All around his bodyappeared a dazzling sphere <strong>of</strong> rainbow-colored light.It is said that "medium practitioners <strong>of</strong> middling capacity dielike wild animals or lions, on snow mountains, in mountain caves <strong>and</strong>empty valleys." <strong>The</strong>y can take care <strong>of</strong> themselves completely <strong>and</strong>prefer to go to deserted places <strong>and</strong> die quietly, without beingdisturbed or fussed over by friends <strong>and</strong> relatives.Accomplished practitioners such as these are reminded bythe master <strong>of</strong> the practices they would employ as theyapproach death. Here are two examples from the tradition <strong>of</strong>Dzogchen. In the first, practitioners are advised to lie down inthe "sleeping lion position." <strong>The</strong>n they are told to focus theirawareness in their eyes, <strong>and</strong> fix their gaze in the sky in front<strong>of</strong> them. Simply leaving their mind unaltered, they rest in thatstate, allowing their Rigpa to mix with the primordial space <strong>of</strong>truth. As the Ground Luminosity <strong>of</strong> death arises, they flowinto it quite naturally <strong>and</strong> attain enlightenment.But this is only possible for a person who has already stabilizedhis or her realization <strong>of</strong> the nature <strong>of</strong> mind through thepractice. For those who have not reached this level <strong>of</strong> perfection,<strong>and</strong> need a more formal method to focus on, there isanother practice: To visualize their consciousness as a whitesyllable "A," <strong>and</strong> eject it through the central channel <strong>and</strong> outthrough the crown <strong>of</strong> their heads into the buddha realm. This isa practice <strong>of</strong> phowa, the transference <strong>of</strong> consciousness, <strong>and</strong> it isthe method my master helped Lama Tseten do when he died.People who successfully accomplish either <strong>of</strong> these twopractices will still go through the physical processes <strong>of</strong> dying,it is said, but they will not go through the subsequent bardostates.PHOWA: THE TRANSFERENCEOF THE CONSCIOUSNESSNow that the bardo <strong>of</strong> dying dawns upon me,I will ab<strong>and</strong>on all grasping, yearning, <strong>and</strong> attachment,

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