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Arunas Antanaitas, photo courtesy of Arunas’ Facebook page.
Arunas Antanaitas, 62, passed away peacefully on Vesak, May 5, 2023 in Dundas, Ontario, Canada, of cancer.
Arunas had embarked on his cancer journey 17 months prior with grace, dignity, and a contagiously positive outlook. His last days were filled with prayers, surrounded by his loved ones. Arunas will be remembered for his compassion, love of conversation, propensity for playfulness, and unwavering desire to help others.
Arunas served as the center director for Lama Yeshe Ling, seeing the center transform from a meeting place in his and Sharon’s basement studio to hosting our resident teacher Geshe Sonam Ngodrup (Geshe Sega) and Tibetan language interpreter Venerable Jamyang Khedrup. Our community supported Arunas in his wish to serve as director until his last breath, with Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s last advice to Arunas being for him to rejoice in his having served Rinpoche in this way. During his illness, Arunas was able to fulfill all of Rinpoche’s advice, along with the support of our community. For example, Geshe Sonam conveyed the Amitayus Long Life initiation, we did many group recitations of the long life sutra, and an animal liberation. A month earlier, Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Delek taught at Lama Yeshe Ling and conferred the initiation into Arunas’ main practice. Khensur Rinpoche remarked that he was impressed that Arunas attended every event despite it being so very clear that Arunas was very weak and in pain.
In one of the last letters to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Arunas asked if Rinpoche agreed with the doctor’s view that he had now become ‘palliative’. Rinpoche’s reply was: “a good practitioner is always palliative”. Arunas had discussed and coached his family and the hospice staff about the Buddhist view and practice of dying, and everyone was supportive of how he wished to die. They found a hospice that supported leaving his body undisturbed for three days. At the hospice, Geshe Sonam and Khedrup came to visit, as well as fellow practitioners several times coming together to meditate and pray. Moments after Arunas’ last breath, Geshe la, Khedrup la, and a small group of sangha and family performed the Guru Puja, with Geshe la leading us in visualizing Arunas receiving the four initiations, and the dissolution of the guru in the heart.
One of the palliative care nurses mentioned that everyone she had cared for there was afraid of death, as was she. It was remarkable for her to observe that Arunas was not afraid, and neither were the people around him. Arunas wanted to live longer, and he did everything possible to do so, for he had more he wanted to offer. It is sad that this good person is no longer with us here. However we know this isn’t the end, and we pray that Arunas finds the way to manifest again as a good person, to connect very early with the Dharma, and continue his path of service to the guru for the benefit of beings.
Please pray that Arunas may never ever be reborn in the lower realms, may he be immediately born in a pure land where he can be enlightened or to receive a perfect human body, meet the Mahayana teachings and meet a perfectly qualified guru and by only pleasing the guru’s mind, achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible. More advice from Lama Zopa Ripoche on death and dying is available, see Death and Dying: Practices and Resources (fpmt.org/death/).
To read more obituaries from the international FPMT mandala, and to find information on submission guidelines, please visit our new Obituaries page (fpmt.org/media/obituaries/).