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

THE PRACTICES FOR DYING 239by even the slightest negative thought or hankering. In Tibetthey used to believe that phowa would be very difficult toaccomplish if there were any materials made of animal skinsor furs in the same room as the dying person. Finally, assmoking—or any kind of drug—has the effect of blocking thecentral channel, it will render the phowa more difficult."Even a great sinner," it is said, can be liberated at themoment of death if a realized and powerful master transfersthe person's consciousness into a buddha realm. And even ifthe dying person lacks merit and practice, and the master isnot completely successful in effecting the phowa, the mastercan still affect the dying person's future, and this practice canhelp him or her take rebirth in a higher realm. For a successfulphowa, however, the conditions do have to be perfect. Phowacan help a person with strong negative karma, but only if thatperson has a close and pure connection with the master whoperforms it, if he or she has faith in the teachings, and if he orshe has truly asked, from the heart, for purification.In an ideal setting in Tibet, members of the family wouldnormally invite many Lamas to come and do the phowa againand again, until the signs of accomplishment appeared. Theymight do it for hours on end, hundreds of times, or even thewhole day long. Some dying persons would take only one ortwo sessions of phowa to manifest a sign, whereas for othersnot even a whole day was enough. This, it goes without saying,depends very much on the karma of the person dying.In Tibet there were practitioners who, even though theywere not renowned for their practice, had special power toeffect the phowa, and the signs would readily appear. Thereare various signs in the dying person of a successful phowacarried out by a practitioner. Sometimes a bunch of hair fallsout near the fontanel, or a warmth or vapor is felt or seen torise from the crown of the head. In some exceptional cases,the masters or practitioners have been so powerful that whenthey uttered the syllable that effects the transference, everyonein the room would faint, or a piece of bone would fly off thedead person's skull as the consciousness was propelled outwith immense force. 8THE GRACE OF PRAYERAT THE MOMENT OF DEATHIn all religious traditions it is held that to die in a state ofprayer is enormously powerful. So what I hope you can do, as