Death practices

[mewtwo]

Anyone know of any good death practices? I am reading the tibetan book of the dead and gracefull exits.

 

Thanks

[Vajrahridaya]

[TzuJanLi]

Greetings..

 

It is possible to systematically shut-down the body's physical systems using intention.. it is necessary to have a trained spotter for the first several adventures into Death Meditation, someone who can revive you appropriately, without shocking you.. there is a place where all that's left is a thin energetic link to the physical body, barely noticeable, and.. the Life energy is expanded into the Cosmos, pulling away from the physical constraints.. it is here, if you can maintain this thin delicate balance, that you prepare for a departure with clarity and focus.. where you can experience grand interaction with the Cosmos prior to the final abandonment of the physical vehicle.. th process takes hours and requires a fairly disciplined preparation.. but, its worth the price of admission..

 

Be well..

Edited July 15, 2011 by TzuJanLi

[Vajrahridaya]

I forgot to mention this conscious dying practice of Vajrayana. Phowa

 

Chod is more of a practice to do pre-death. But, mastering Phowa has signs... it's all described in the article linked above.

Edited July 15, 2011 by Vajrahridaya

[Jetsun]

I have been practising a form of Chod meditation recently, which is about visualising you dead, chopping your body up and turning it into food to feed demons, there is a watered down version of it in the book 'Feeding your Demons' which is quite an easy book to get hold of.

 

The next step up is to go do the meditation in graveyards and morgues but I imagine that is more difficult in this day and age

Edited July 15, 2011 by Jetsun

[Harmonious Emptiness]

to paraphrase Bear Heart: "It's the last thing that anyone will ever do, so why not do it with honor and integrity."

 

I think it was in the Bagavad Gita that one's emotional/spiritual state at the time of transition will determine much of the outcome.

[thelerner]

This may be the 'lighter' side of death practices, sometimes I'll start my meditations with a series of negations. Its made death easier to contemplate.

 

I am not my body, I'm that which inhabits it.

I am not my thoughts, they flow through, like clouds in the sky.

I am not my emotions, I acknowledge them and let them pass like ripples in a pond.

I am not my past, that is old patterns I can choose to follow or not.

I am not my future, that is only projections that may or may not happen.

I am not family.

I am not my possessions.

I am breath and awareness.

[Vajrahridaya]

In meditation I got as far as breathing through the top of my head, no blood coming out though, but just actually feeling a hole open up in the top of my head and wind coming through, or air coming through a very small hole, my breath was still and I was being nourished by this breath. It was probably on another level or dimension as I don't think I actually have a hole in my head. I later read about Phowa practice, also during that time in meditation I'd go through this color tunnel and end up in Tushita heaven, filled with blissful pleasure, it was like I was there in another body, not aware of my body on Earth anymore, very lucid, very real. There's more to say, but... basically, this practice works, and these realms are quite real. I only read about it later, but for me, it's unquestionably true. When I came out of meditation I was kind of freaked out, feeling the top of my head for a hole, but I could feel it, a space there, anyway, my meditations got more... "high" you could say after that.

 

I definitely believe in the ability to transfer consciousness at death, even though, there is the Dzogchen perspective at the bottom which one should always be aware of even during such practices concerning the relativity of one's personal mind stream.

 

So...

 

From Wiki:

 

Phowa (Wylie: 'pho ba; also spelled Powa or Poa phonetically; Sanskrit: saṃkrānti) is a Vajrayāna Buddhist meditation practice. It may be described as "the practice of conscious dying", "transference of consciousness at the time of death", "mindstream transference", or “enlightenment without meditation” (Tib. ma-sgom sangs-rgyas).

 

Contents

 

1 Application of Phowa

2 Mark of Phowa practice

3 Lineages

4 In Dzogchen

 

1. Application of Phowa

 

The method can be applied at the moment of death to transfer one's consciousness through the top of the head directly into a Buddha-field of one’s choice. By so doing, one bypasses some of the typical experiences that are said to occur after death. Example destinations are Sukhāvatī, Abhirati, Ghanavyūha, Aṭakāvatī, Mount Potala, the Copper-Colored Mountain (Tib. Zangs-mdog dpal-ri), and Tuṣita;[2] the most popular is Sukhavati.[citation needed] Phowa is also performed by specialists (Tib. ’pho-’debs bla-ma) on the behalf of the deceased, as a post-mortem ritual.

 

2. Mark of Phowa practice

 

The mark of a successful Phowa practice is a small drop of blood directly from the center of the vertex. To demonstrate a successful practice traditionally a Kusha-grass was pushed into the small opening created in the fontanel.

 

3. Lineages

 

The main lineage of phowa is one of the Six yogas of Naropa, although other transmissions also exist. The chöd subsumes within its auspices aspects of phowa sadhana. Phowa is also the discipline that has developed the Tulku lineages within the Bonpo, Ngagpa, Mantrayana, and Vajrayana lineages.

 

The Kagyu phowa lineage is from the Six yogas of Naropa. Nāropa received it from the Indian mahāsiddha Tilopa and later passed it to his Tibetan disciple Marpa. Nāropa’s teachings describe a second method of ’pho-ba that entails the transference of one’s consciousness to another body (Tib. ’pho-ba grong-’jug). Milarepa’s query regarding these teachings forced Marpa to search for explanatory treatises on the subject among his Indian manuscripts, and, having found none, to return to India to obtain more scriptures.

 

The Drikung Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism is known for their phowa teachings. A major pilgrimage and cultural celebration is known in the Tibetan world as the Great Drikung Phowa (Tib. ’Bri-gung ’pho-ba chen-mo). This festival was traditionally held once in every twelve-year calendrical cycle, and its last observance took place in August 1992 in gTer-sgrom, Central Tibet, after a hiatus of 36 years due to a ban enforced by the Chinese authorities. His Eminence Choeje Ayang Rinpoche from Eastern Tibet belongs to the Drikung school and is an authority on Buddhist afterlife rituals; he gives teachings and initiations to the practice of phowa annually in Bodh Gaya, India.

 

Some lineages of phowa include a rite of incision, or opening of the sahasrara at the cranial zenith, to assist with transferral.

 

Lama Ole Nydahl is a teacher of this practice in the Western world. About ten times a year Lama Ole Nydahl transmits the practice worldwide. He learned Phowa from the Drikung Kagyu, his Eminence Choeje Ayang Rinpoche, and teaches a Phowa type which derives from the Longchen-Nyingthig-Tradition of the Nyingma tradition.

 

4. In Dzogchen

 

Shugchang, et al., in an exegesis of the Zhitro, discuss phowa in Dzogchen:

Phowa has many different meanings; in Tibetan it means "transferring consciousness." The highest form is known as the phowa of the dharmakaya which is meditation on the great perfection. When you do Dzogchen meditation, there's no need to transfer anything, because there's nothing to transfer, no place to transfer it, nor anyone to do it. That's the highest, and greatest phowa practice.

Edited July 15, 2011 by Vajrahridaya

[mewtwo]

so um would you guys say that phowa could be used to transfer someone conciousness into another body like same an astral body?

[Vajrahridaya]

so um would you guys say that phowa could be used to transfer someone conciousness into another body like same an astral body?

 

That's a different practice. But, the same basic principle. Yes, it is possible to do so.

 

The experience can raise compassion amazingly, or you can just get all ego tripped about the power. But, the person you transfer your consciousness into has to either be newly dead, or in a very receptive state, like in a meditative trance for instance.

[Vajrahridaya]

By the way, the other sharings here were also great, for preparation in life and death.

[TzuJanLi]

Greetings..

 

NDEs (Near Death Experiences) are excellent references for Death Meditations, but i do not suggest that as a goal.. NDE, as an unfortunate occurance, has the references to compare with a structured meditation.. It is my experience that understanding the process of transitioning out of the tangible existence, most commonly known as Death or Dying, is the same as training for anything we wish to do well.. as a faithful companion, which it is anyway, Death is an excellent counselor, revealing options unavailable to those that reject its companionship..

 

Be well..

[Vajrahridaya]

Greetings..

 

NDEs (Near Death Experiences) are excellent references for Death Meditations, but i do not suggest that as a goal.. NDE, as an unfortunate occurance, has the references to compare with a structured meditation.. It is my experience that understanding the process of transitioning out of the tangible existence, most commonly known as Death or Dying, is the same as training for anything we wish to do well.. as a faithful companion, which it is anyway, Death is an excellent counselor, revealing options unavailable to those that reject its companionship..

 

Be well..

 

So true.