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Death and Dying: Practices and Resources
Practices, Advice, and Services | Books and Study Programs | Obituaries
Lama Zopa Rinpoche recommends various practices to perform when someone is dying or has died. However, the most essential practices to do are:
- The Array of Sukhavati Pure Land: A Concise Mahayana Sutra | PDF | Audio
This sutra can be recited three times and then tap the sutra on the head of the dying person three times - The Eight Prayers | PDF
A collection of prayers which is commonly recited in the gelug monastic communities for the recently deceased - Helping Yourself and Others Die Happily: Instructions and Practices for the Time of Death | PDF
- King of Prayers | PDF | Audio
- Liberation Tools to Help the Dying and Deceased | PDF
- Medicine Buddha Practices
- Rinchen Tsugtor Chen: Holy Name and Commentary | PDF | Audio
During the 2010 Light of the Path retreat, Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised that this verse is the very first thing to recite in a person or animal’s ear when they are dying or dead. - Recite OṂ MAṆI PADME HỤ̄M and Request to Chenrezig | PDF | Audio
- Additional Practices to Benefit the Deceased: Advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche | PDF
- Amitabha Pure Land Prayers | PDF | Audio
- Benefits of Medicine Buddha Mantra and Practice by Lama Zopa Rinpoche
- Blessing Medicine
- Holy Objects to Place on the Body at the Time of Death | PDF
- The Jangwa Practice Associated with the Medicine Guru [Buddha] Entitled Freeing the Wretched from the Chasm | PDF
- Liberation Card for a Dying Person | Chinese | English | French | Spanish
- Liberation Cloth – to place on the body of the dying and deceased | PDF
- Mantras to place on the body of someone who is dying or has died | PDF
- Nyung Na: The Means of Achievement of the Eleven-Face Great Compassionate One | PDF
- Recitations for the Time of Death | Audio
- Recitations for Alleviating Pain | Audio
- Sur Ritual | PDF
- Sur – Aroma Charity for Spirits | German | Spanish
Mantras
- Collections:
- Individual (some of these mantras are contained in the “Collections” above):
- Kunrig Mantra | PDF | Audio
- Lotus Pinnacle of Amoghapasha Mantra | PDF | Audio
- Mantra from the Sutra of Great Liberation | PDF | Audio
- Milarepa Mantra | Audio
- Mitrugpa Mantra | PDF | Audio
- Namgyalma mantras | PDF | Audio | Video | Card | Benefits
- Sarvanivaranaviskhambhin – The Exalted Zung Called “Eliminating Obscurations”
Contains the mantra to be recited every day to not have pain at the time of death | PDF
- Advice to a Person Who Is Dying
- Rejoice before Dying
- Making preparations at the place where a person is dying
*Additional information and advice is available to FPMT centers, projects, and services in the Death and Dying Resources section of the FPMT Affiliates Area.
Prayers for the Sick
To request prayers for someone who is sick please email and mention the sick person’s full name. The Sangha at Rinpoche’s house will dedicate for them during regular animal liberation practices and daily when making long life tsa tsas. If you would like to make a donation for this service please go to the Animal Liberation Fund and Stupa Fund.
Prayer Services for People Who Have Passed Away in the Past 49 Days
You can request prayers for people who have passed away in the past 49 days. The names of people who have recently passed away are given to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, FPMT sangha communities, and individual Buddhist practitioners with a request for their prayers. You can also subscribe to the prayer list so that you can contribute your own prayers to those who have died in the past 49 days.
Pujas and Prayer Services at Kopan Monastery
Kopan Monastery offers free prayer services as well as opportunities to sponsor pujas for those who are dying or have passed away.
Jangwa Ritual
The following FPMT centers offer jangwa pujas to benefit the dead, please contact them directly for more information:
- Amitabha Buddhist Centre Singapore
- Chokyi Gyaltsen Center Penang, Malaysia
- Dorje Chang Institute Auckland, New Zealand
- Jinsiu Farlin Taipei, Taiwan
- Kopan Monastery Kathmandu, Nepal
- Land of Medicine Buddha Soquel, USA
- Losang Dragpa Centre Selangor, Malaysia
- Mahayana Buddhist Association (Cham Tse Ling) Hong Kong
- Potowa Center Tangerang, Indonesia
- Rinchen Jangsem Ling Retreat Centre Triang, Malaysia
There are also many FPMT hospice services that help provide end of life care for those in need.
Books and Study Programs
Further resources are available to learn how to prepare for your own death, and how to help others who are dying.
Books and Reading Materials
- Heart Advice for Death and Dying – This book contains essential advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche for preparing for the time of death and leading a fulfilling life.
- How to Enjoy Death: Preparing to Meet Life’s Final Challenge without Fear – a practical book to inform students of how to help loved ones have a beneficial death, compiled from years of Rinpoche’s teachings and has been lovingly edited by Venerable Robina Courtin.
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How to Face Death without Fear: A Handbook by Lama Zopa Rinpoche – This well-structured handbook by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and edited by Ven. Robina Courtin sets out how to help others before, during, and after death.
- How to Help Your Loved Ones Enjoy Death and Go Happily to Their Next Rebirth: A Handbook by Lama Zopa Rinpoche – This PDF document, which is available free of charge, is an early draft of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s book How to Face Death without Fear.
- How to Make Your Possessions Most Meaningful at the Time of Death – In this PDF document, which was created as an insert for the book Heart Advice for Death and Dying, Lama Zopa Rinpoche sets out how to use our money so as to create merit that will bring us happiness and good conditions for Dharma practice in future lives.
- Life, Death and After Death – Understand the death process and train on how to deal with it so that when the time of crisis arrives you will know what is going on.
- Meeting Death with Wisdom: A Mandala Ebook on Death & Dying – This is a collection of teachings, advice, stories, and interviews drawn from Mandala magazine’s archive that takes a look at how both high lamas and ordinary students have experienced the death and dying process.
- Practicing the Five Powers Near the Time of Death – Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s commentary on integrating the five powers into one lifetime as the best preparation for the happiest death (also available in Heart Practices for Death and Dying)
- Sleeping, Dreaming, and Dying – An account of a historic dialogue between leading Western scientists and the Dalai Lama revolving around three key moments of consciousness—sleep, dreams, and death.
- Wholesome Fear: Transforming Your Anxiety About Impermanence and Death – A condensed and edited version of the book Heart Advice for Death and Dying by Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
FPMT Education Programs
- Heart Advice for Death and Dying
An FPMT introductory course available online and in some FPMT centers. The course provides practical instructions for the time of death to anyone who is interested in learning about death and dying from the Tibetan Buddhist perspective. - Discovering Buddhism, Module 5. Death and Rebirth
An FPMT foundational-level course available online and in many centers. It explores life, death, and rebirth and the nature of mind. Students learn to use the fear of death to overcome the fear of death. They discover how to use the certainty and imminence of death to enhance their quality of life.
Obituaries
We invite you to visit our Obituaries page to read obituaries of teachers and community members. You can also submit an obituary for someone in the FPMT community that has passed away recently.
Visit our Distributing FPMT Education Materials page for information about our distributing, licensing and copyright guidelines.