Journeying Skillfully from Life to Life

Ven. Pende Hawter, the ex-director of the Karuna Hospice Service in Brisbane, Australia, interviewed several lamas in Dharamsala, India, in May 1990 about the process of dying, death and rebirth. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche, Garje Khamtul Rinpoche and Geshe Lamrimpa answered his questions.

How to benefit the dying?

What is the best way that we can help people who are dying or who have just died?

Garje Khamtul Rinpoche: For those who are dying or have just died the best practice is to bring out the compassion in yourself, because as long as you have compassion you can always do something for the other person. You must not feel that because the person has a certain disease you are going to catch it, or that the person is dirty, or anything like that. You must not feel these things. You must try to remove all this from yourself and develop as much compassion as possible. According to Buddhism we believe that all sentient beings have been our parents in past lives, so we must always remember this and do as much as possible for them.

When you are sure that the person is going to die, then out of this great compassion that you have developed you can sit by the person’s side and recite the names of the various Buddhas such as Shakyamuni Buddha, the Thirty-five Buddhas and so on. If you can do this with a lot of compassion then it helps the dying person.

Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche: There are two types of people we should consider here. The first is a person who for some time has had a religious faith and, secondly, a person who does not have a specific religious faith. If a person has faith in Buddhism, for example, then we can enunciate to them when they are dying the things they have learned to trust and take refuge in.

For a person who does not have a specific religious faith, the best thing to tell them is to try to have good thoughts rather than bad ones. When a person is dying and in great trouble there is great benefit in trying to get them to feel a bit better, a bit happier, to turn their mind to good thoughts.

I will elaborate on how to help these two types of people. For a person who already has faith in Buddhism we can bring to their mind a remembrance of the things they rely on, their refuge. We can remind them about bodhicitta, about equanimity, about stabilizing the mind in meditative concentration, etc. These things are very beneficial for a Buddhist. For a person who does not have a specific religion like Buddhism, we can advise them to think, “May everybody be happy, may all living beings please be happy, may every living being please somehow be freed from their misery.” These sorts of ideas, general ideas of wishing well to others, are very helpful.

For a Buddhist who is about to pass away it can be very beneficial to gently remind them of the qualities of the Buddha, to encourage them to bring to mind the form of the Buddha, to put a picture of the Buddha in their room, etc. These things can have great benefit and can cause the person to take rebirth in a fine place. You can also say prayers in their presence.

After the person has died it is very important not to disturb the body immediately, especially in the case of an adept. This is because a person has a gross or rougher consciousness, or mind, and a more subtle consciousness. Although the gross consciousness has left the body the subtle consciousness remains in the body for some time after the breathing has stopped. For a person who has practiced meditation, this is a time when they can be doing things; but even for a non-practitioner it is important not to disturb them too much just after death. Even though they are not able to do anything with their subtle consciousness, it should nevertheless not be upset.

Geshe Lamrimpa: Generally speaking, when it is definite that the person is going to die, it is very important to comply with their wishes. If they usually have a lot of anger we should do what we can to stop anger from arising, to keep them peaceful and calm. Excessive movements and noise around that person should be avoided. If they do get angry then someone they like should gently and indirectly try and find out by talking to them what they are angry about and then try to remove whatever it is that is making them angry. This will greatly help the dying person. Seeing that they are going to die anyway, whatever they want should be given to them.

Similarly if they have a lot of attachment and clinging to their relatives, partner and parents, we need to assess whether it is better to allow them to visit or to keep them away. In this way efforts should be made to stop the person’s attachment and clinging. However, if they are definitely going to die we should give them whatever food they are attached to in order to keep their mind happy, even if the food doesn’t help their condition. But of course we must not give them poisonous or life-threatening foods.

If we try to give Dharma advice to the dying person but they don’t want to listen to it, it may cause them to want to be in a place where there is no Dharma. If they do think that way then in the next life they would have no interest in Dharma.

Similarly, with food and drink, if the dying person doesn’t feel like eating or drinking, but we, through wanting to help, keep pushing them to do so, they may develop the wish to be in a place where no-one is asking them to eat. This would cause them to be reborn in the hungry ghost realm. Conversely, if they have a great desire to eat but we don’t give them anything, this again causes them to be born in the hungry ghost realm.

If they are a person who believes in helping others and has helped others in this life, we should remind them of the help they have given others and congratulate them on this. If their mind is made joyful, this will help them attain a happy rebirth.

If we carry out the dying person’s wishes, their mind will be satisfied. If this prevents the arising of attachment, clinging, anger and other impure minds, this will help to stop a bad rebirth and to attain a good rebirth.

For someone who likes Dharma and has experience of Dharma practices it will be beneficial to give that person Dharma advice such as the following ten remembrances taught by the Buddha:

1. One should not generate a mind that is attached to the pleasures of this life. One should try and avoid attachment towards one’s parents and those one is close to by remembering that whoever is born must die and whenever people meet they must later separate. At the time of death one must leave everything behind. One should also not be attached to one’s body because at the time of death one also has to leave one’s body. Similarly, one should not be attached to various objects such as food, clothing and one’s house, because one also has to leave all these things behind.

2. One should generate a mind of love and compassion towards all sentient beings.

3. One should completely let go of all resentments and enmity, otherwise this will harm one in the future.

4. Any vows one has received during empowerments (initiations) that have degenerated or been broken, and any other transgressions of morality, should be purified before dying.

5. One should generate the strong aspiration that in all of one’s future lifetimes one will uphold the Buddha’s precepts of correct morality and ethics. There is great benefit in this.

6. One should feel that through expressing regret one has completely purified all the negative actions that one has committed or caused others to commit during one’s lifetime so that none remain in the mind. This will also help to gain rebirth in a good place.

7. One should remember the virtuous deeds that one has done during one’s life and also the virtuous deeds that one has caused others to do. One should reflect repeatedly on the good things that one has done during one’s life, and think how this will be of benefit in the future.

8. One should think that one now has to go on to the next life but that is nothing to be frightened of because ultimately after birth one has to die and after death one will be reborn.

9. It is also beneficial to reflect that everything that has come from causes and conditions has the nature of change and that all compounded phenomena are impermanent. Thinking in this way will stop one developing lung (wind) diseases.

10. One should also reflect that all phenomena are without self and that going beyond sorrow (nirvana) is peaceful and virtuous.

These are the ten remembrances taught by the Buddha in The Discourse Sutras. For a Dharma practitioner these instructions should be slowly explained, but they should not be given to someone who is not a practitioner or who has no interest in Dharma.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche: The best way to help a dying person is with actions and words that are motivated by compassion. However, if the person has no faith in the Buddhist teachings, there is not much point in trying to advise them according to Buddhist practices.

The merit of offering butter lamps can greatly help even a person with some karmic obstacles.

It is good to request a qualified lama to perform powa (transference of consciousness) for the dying person. When carried out by a highly accomplished being who has realized the ultimate nature, transference of consciousness can bring to a Buddha field the consciousness of someone who has even committed the most serious negative wrongdoings, such as the five wrongdoings that precipitate one immediately to the lowest realms. This power comes from the truth of the realization of emptiness.

Whether individuals who practice transference of consciousness for themselves succeed or not depends entirely on the quality of their concentration and their level of practice.

Transference of consciousness practice done on its own may shorten life, which is why one concludes it with a longevity practice. When lamas give the live-transference of consciousness to old people some time before their death, they always conclude with a longevity blessing. Some teachers say that transference of consciousness should be performed in the interval between the stopping of the outer breath and the inner breath. Others say that it can also be performed at any time up to many years after and that it will always benefit the being wherever their consciousness is, whether in the intermediate state (bardo) or reborn in one of the six realms

Revival is impossible from the moment the chika bardo has occurred. The consciousness leaves the body before the arising of the ground luminosity.

According to the Vinaya, it is said that one should cremate the body as soon as possible after death. According to the tantras, in particular according to the Karling Shitro teachings, it says that one should not move the body for three days after death.

For someone who is dying with a great deal of fear and anguish and is very frightened of dying, what is the best way to help them overcome this fear?

Garje Khamtul Rinpoche: As well as reciting the names of the different Buddhas you must also tell the person that, because they are dying, they will be seeing different illusions, different visions. They will feel that something very difficult is happening and so they have this great fear. You must assure them again and again that what they are seeing and feeling is not real, it is just an illusion. And you must also give them things like mani pills, the holy pills of the great lamas. This will also help them.

If the person is not a Buddhist, say they are a Christian, or someone who is not accepting of Buddhism, are these practices still appropriate or are there other methods that we could use?

Garje Khamtul Rinpoche: For a person who does not believe in or know anything about Buddhism, then just giving them mani pills and so forth would not make any difference. So the best thing for such a person would be to assure them that what they are feeling and seeing is just an illusion, like a dream. It is like when you have a dream you experience things but it is not actually happening. So for the dying person also it is like this.

Is it okay to reduce the pain of the dying?

For people with severe pain, is it wise to give injections or medication to reduce the pain that may have the side-effect of lowering the level of consciousness or clouding the mind?

Geshe Lamrimpa: This is not advisable for Dharma practitioners, but for ordinary people who are not thinking about Dharma it can be of some benefit. Even if a person has a lot of pain when he is dying, as he enters the death process this pain will dissolve and he will be able to think more deeply. If pain-killing injections, etc. are given then it causes a type of madness in the mind and it makes it more difficult to think clearly.

So is it better then for Dharma practitioners to take as little medication as possible?

Geshe Lamrimpa: It is best if Dharma practitioners can avoid having pain-killing injections. I also think that it would be a great nuisance, if I was dying, to have an intravenous bottle hanging on either side of me!

Garje Khamtul Rinpoche: I personally feel that giving injections and medications, etc. would not make much difference to the consciousness. For example, when a person has an operation they are given different sedatives and seem almost dead so that while the operation is going on they do not feel any pain. But once the operation is finished then they are again back to normal and nothing has happened to their mind or anything like that. So I personally feel that it would make no difference. In fact by relieving the pain it would give relaxation to the person’s mind.

Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche: There is no blanket answer here. You have to look at the individual person. If a person is in excruciating pain, then to somehow relieve them of that pain is obviously a good thing. However, if the person has a tremendous spirit or a tremendous capability, who can bear the pain and bear up under it and keep a clarity of what is happening to them, then to give that person a soporific which takes away that clarity is maybe not the thing to do. So it completely depends on the person. For the person who has the capability to remain with a knowledge of what is happening and not just be made more vegetable-like, if they can bear up to it then it is obviously better to leave them. But if the pain is excruciating then it is obviously better to alleviate it. So one has to look at each specific case.

If a person with Buddhist or meditational practices begins to experience pain when they first come into the hospice or hospital it can be very helpful to employ practices such as: bringing to mind that the pain has arisen because of certain causes and conditions, karma; remember various mind training ideas that can really strengthen and build up the mind, like convincing themselves that they are capable of bearing all sorts of difficulties. If the person has done these sorts of practices before, we can try to nudge them in that direction, awaken these thoughts within them. Then they are able to find a way to laugh at things that would ordinarily be excruciatingly difficult to bear.

What about the person who has never had the opportunity of doing such practices? This person can be told things such as, that whether they believe in a religion or not, everybody at a certain point is going to get these horrible pains, the pains of dying, etc. No matter what a person believes, they are going to get these pains so there is no point in being tied up in them and worried by them; it is better to try to distance themselves from them and to see that just like everybody else it is happening to them too.

Even a person with no religious training can probably get their mind around the idea (at times at least) that if they are upset it is not making the pain go away, it is not giving any relief. So because it has to be experienced anyway, they should try not to be upset or get tied up in it. It can also be tremendously beneficial to repeat prayers such as, “May this excruciating pain never happen to anybody else,” or “If this pain ever happens to anybody else may they quickly be relieved of it.” Even if a person has never been religious in their life before, these sorts of prayers can help greatly.

When does the consciousness leave the body?

In the West the usual signs of death are when the breathing and heart have stopped. But, in Buddhist terms, how long is it before the consciousness leaves the body after these things have occurred?

Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche: There are probably two types of people that can be identified here. The first type is somebody like a young child or someone who has been wasting away for a long period of time, a person who has had a long gradual process leading to death. In this sort of case the subtle mind or consciousness probably won’t remain in the body very long, perhaps only for a day or so.

The second type is somebody who has quite a strong body, who has been in quite good health, and dies rather more quickly. For this type of person the subtle mind or consciousness can stay for as long as three days.

Another sort of death is that of a sudden, violent death. An example would be the case of two people fighting and one of them is killed and dies suddenly. In terms of the length of time the consciousness remains in the body of such a person we would put this type of case in the first category, that is, a person who has undergone a long slide into death, with the subtle consciousness leaving fairly quickly. In general then, people will fit into one of these two categories, those whose subtle consciousness remains for a shorter time and those whose subtle consciousness remains for a longer time.

Geshe Lamrimpa: When the breath and heart have stopped it indicates that the gross consciousness has dissolved, but there are cases where the subtle consciousness has stayed in the body for a week or even a month after that. Mostly it takes three or four days for the subtle consciousness to leave the body, during which time the body does not decompose or smell.

Garje Khamtul Rinpoche: It is not definite that in an ordinary person the consciousness stays in the body for three days and then leaves. In some people it stays longer and in others it stays for a shorter time. There are many examples amongst the Tibetan lamas. You must have heard about His Holiness Ling Rinpoche, the senior tutor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who stayed in meditation about a week after dying. In my home town there was a lama who stayed in meditation for three weeks after he died.

Is this quicker for people with serious diseases like cancer or AIDS, or for people who die in an accident or very quickly?

Garje Khamtul Rinpoche: This is not very certain. It does not really depend on things such as whether they die by accident or of a very harmful disease like cancer. I feel that it is related to some previous karmic actions. For example, people who have been meditating on dzogchen or bodhicitta or anything like this, after death they seem to meditate on emptiness and their consciousness remains longer in their body, even though they do not have any direct attachment to their body.

How can you tell when the consciousness has left the body? What are the signs of the consciousness leaving the body?

Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche: We can again discuss this in terms of the two types of persons. For the moment we will put aside the type of person whose mind or subtle consciousness leaves almost immediately after death and we will discuss the type of person whose mind may remain in the body for as long as three days. It is said that just before the subtle consciousness leaves the body is becomes enclosed in a smaller and smaller dimension and that dimension is said to be defined by a red and white sphere. When the red and white sphere enclosing the mind comes apart, the subtle consciousness is let free and this is indicated by a small amount of blood coming from the nose and a white fluid from the lower part of the body (the sexual organ).

However, you sometimes find people in which there is no sign of any blood or fluid from the lower part of the body. Usually this does occur and it is the sign that the final death has occurred, that is, the subtle consciousness has left the body. These signs will be seen in a person undergoing a slow process of dying. Remember that there are two types of death you are going to see and I am not talking here about the person who dies suddenly.

Geshe Lamrimpa: For most people, other than those who are ravaged by serious disease, when the subtle consciousness leaves the body drops of fluid will come from the nose and the sexual organ. In men the white “enlightenment mind” drops, called white bodhicitta, come from the nose and the red drops, red bodhicitta, come from the sexual organ, but this is reversed in women.

Someone who is with the dead person will be aware of a momentary (and probably faint) smell when the subtle consciousness leaves the body. His Holiness the Dalai Lama had discussions with a well-known Western doctor-scientist who said that scientific tests had revealed that when the subtle consciousness was thought to leave the body, smoke was observed to leave the body simultaneously, albeit briefly. These tests were done by enclosing the dying person in a glass tube and subjecting the body to careful analysis.

The drops happen with most people, but not in those who are ravaged by serious disease. But the body is often disposed of before the drops appear, so in these cases the drops are not seen. In Tibet, it was customary to keep the body for up to seven days before disposal (mostly three or four days), in order to give the subtle consciousness time to leave. During this time various services (pujas) and prayers were recited.

So they did not dispose of or move the body for three to seven days?

Geshe Lamrimpa: This would be the case for those with experience, but inexperienced people would be less careful about moving the body around.

Garje Khamtul Rinpoche: You can tell when the consciousness leaves the body from the appearance of the body. When the consciousness is still in the body you do not really feel that the person is dead. The person still seems very wholesome and you do not feel uneasy to look at them or anything like that. But once the consciousness leaves the body then you feel very uneasy looking at that person. The body starts to smell and you believe that the person has died. You think of them as a dead body and not as a person. So you can tell from the body itself when the consciousness has left it.

The [experience of the drops] is not found in all people. It is only found in very few people. In these people, when the consciousness leaves the body those fluids come out from the nostrils and the sexual organ. There was a high lama who died and when the consciousness left his body the two fluids started pouring out of his nostrils, one a white fluid and the other a red fluid.

So this does not happen with everybody, it is not a reliable sign of the consciousness leaving?

Garje Khamtul Rinpoche: At the time when the person is dead, just before the consciousness leaves the body, the [white and red drops] come into contact. At that time when they join together there is an experience of blankness, when the person loses consciousness. After that they separate and the consciousness leaves the body and it is at this time that the red and white fluid should come out from everybody. I feel that it is extraordinary that it only comes out with some people.

Is it true that, until the consciousness leaves, the body does not smell or show signs of decay?

Garje Khamtul Rinpoche: It is true that as long as the consciousness is within the body it does not smell. But once the consciousness leaves the body then the body starts to smell. And then the natural fluids start to dry up and the body looks very dry and you no longer think of the body as a person.

When a person dies but the subtle consciousness is still in the body, what feeling does that person have if their body is touched?

Geshe Lamrimpa: They will not feel anything; when the gross consciousness has dissolved the person can no longer experience feelings. When the highly realized lamas and Dharma practitioners pass away, while their subtle consciousness remains in their body they can stay sitting in a state of meditation with their body remaining straight and motionless. Then when the subtle consciousness leaves, their body immediately slumps down.

When the Tibetans first came to India many of the monks and old people stayed at a place called Buxa, which was like a monastery where Buddhist philosophy was taught. At one time two of the monks had a fight and one of them was killed. After this many of the local Indians and Indian officials were very critical, saying that the Tibetan monks were bad for fighting and killing. Later on a high lama, Gyari Rinpoche from Ganden Monastery in Tibet, passed away and stayed in a state of meditation for seven days. The Indians were called in to see this lama and when they tried to move the body by pulling the bedclothes, etc., the body remained upright and firm. There was also no smell from the body. After this, their attitude changed greatly towards the monks and they stopped being critical and they let the monks do whatever they wished to do.

At the time when the gross consciousness is dissolving, the skin seems to dry up and shrink around the nose, mouth and forehead, and the body becomes weaker. But when the gross consciousness has absorbed to the subtle consciousness and the practitioner is sitting in meditation, the body gets better and the appearance more interactive.

What effect does it have on the consciousness if the body is touched or moved before the consciousness leaves the body? For example, often in a hospital, after the person’s breathing and heart have stopped, various procedures are done on the body. Does this interfere with consciousness?

Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche: Firstly, if the person was an adept with some sort of meditational abilities, they are trying to remain with a gentle sort of concentration at this point. If we shake the person violently at this stage it will disturb that concentration. Moreover, at this point the only conscious element is an extremely subtle consciousness, which does not see things that are ordinarily apparent. There is a certain amount of pain and anxiety associated with that subtle state. To suddenly upset the person at this time is not going to help them at all. So as I said previously, it is better not to disturb the person at this time.

It goes without saying that if you were dealing with a yogi who had just died, you would obviously not go up and start disturbing that person. But even in an ordinary person it is possible that their mind or subtle consciousness may not leave their body for up to three days. If a person is asleep and you shake them vigorously they will immediately wake up, so it is like that.

So if we can possibly avoid disturbing the dead person for a while, then this is obviously the best thing to do. That is why there is a tradition in Tibet for the helpers of a dying person, even if that person is not a great yogi or yogini, to avoid disturbing the body for as long as three days. And if the body has to be moved, they would do so very gently and carefully, not violently or suddenly. This tradition has come about in Tibet to avoid disturbing the mind of the dead person.

In addition, if we have to remove the sheets and mattress, etc., from the bed of the person who has just died, we should do so slowly and gently so as not to disturb the person’s mind. Similarly, if a person dies with their eyes open there is a tradition to close the eyes, and if there is an unpleasant expression on the face it is common to smooth out the skin to make the face look more pleasant. These things should also be done with gentle and slow movements to avoid disturbing the mind of the person who has just died. If a person has died with their eyes and mouth wide open and somebody then comes into the room to pay their last respects, that person may be taken aback and frightened. So to avoid this happening and so as not to disturb the atmosphere in the room, it is advisable to close the person’s eyes and mouth to make them look better.

Everybody has their own burial habits, and in Tibet we had ours. The tradition in Tibet was for the body to be taken away for disposal after three days. To facilitate this, the arms and legs would be bent into the flexed position. Because the weather could be cold, if the person’s arms and legs were outstretched when they died it could be rather difficult to get them into that flexed position. So slowly slowly over the three days you would make sure you could work them up into that position so that you would be okay when it was time for the body to be taken away. I doubt if there is much need for that where you all come from!

Is it beneficial to touch or stimulate the crown of the dying or dead person, in particular just when they die?

Garje Khamtul Rinpoche: When a person dies, the first place you should touch is the crown and then the consciousness will leave from there. After that you can touch them anywhere.

According to Buddhist philosophy, when a person dies and the person sitting next to the body has a very strong connection with, or relationship to, the dead person, then the consciousness of the dead person is likely to enter into that person who is sitting next to the body. So the first thing to do after a person dies is to touch their crown, the area that Je Tsong Khapa called “the Golden Gate.” You have to touch this area and if the consciousness leaves by this path then the person is likely to have a very good rebirth, either in a Buddha-field or in any of the good rebirths.

But if the consciousness leaves from any of the lower parts of the body, from the navel downwards, then the person will have a very bad rebirth. For example, if the consciousness leaves from the sexual organ or from the navel then the person will take rebirth as a hungry ghost, or as a hell-being or an animal. So Tibetans have the belief that the consciousness should not be allowed to leave from the navel downwards. Because of this we never touch the body from the navel downwards, nor should a person sit next to that part of the body. Anybody who is sitting next to the body should be sitting somewhere around the person’s head and shoulders, that is, the upper part of the body.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche: Touching the crown of the dying person is known as the “transference of consciousness of means.” It is not simply a matter of touching the person’s crown; as a means to trigger or enhance the meditative transference of consciousness, one should measure eight finger breadths back from the normal hair line — the place where the hair line is or was before one started losing one’s hair! — and pull out one hair from that spot. If there is no hair left, one should tap the skin of the crown several times with the forefinger by first blocking the forefinger with the thumb and then suddenly releasing it. This technique often helps the fluids to come out from the crown, the sign that the transference of consciousness has been successful.

Geshe Lamrimpa: If the dying person has accomplished transference of consciousness then it is very helpful to touch their crown at the time of death because the consciousness would transfer upwards. Otherwise it is not very helpful. For a transference of consciousness practitioner, when someone with consecrated sands pulls the hair on the dying person’s crown, the hair will come out. Buddhist texts say that when the consciousness is transferred upwards in this way the dying person will be reborn in the formless realm.

How long does the consciousness stay in the intermediate state before it takes rebirth?

After the consciousness has left the body and enters the intermediate state between this life and the next, how long is it before it takes rebirth in another body?

Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche: The longest amount of time that a person can stay in the disembodied or newly embodied state (the intermediate state) is seven weeks, forty-nine days. If, say, a person is going to be reborn as a human being again, the longest they will stay in that disembodied state of a human is for seven weeks. After each seven days the intermediate state being dies and is reborn as another intermediate state being. The shortest time a person can stay in such a state is for just a few seconds – they get reborn almost immediately.

So why do beings undergo this process of minor deaths and rebirths in this ghost-like intermediate state? The reason is that if the person’s karma is going to cause them to be reborn as an animal or as a human being or whatever, they also have to have a certain set of conditions met in order to find themselves in such a state in the future. An analogy would be somebody who is going to travel from here, Dharamsala, to Delhi. They are going to go, but cannot actually go until the condition of the ticket is ready. Some people may have to wait a day or two until they can get a ticket, so it is like that.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche: Forty-nine days is the general duration for most people, but some people can wander in the intermediate state for much longer than this, even up to several years. A lama who performs the transference of consciousness and accomplishes virtuous deeds for the sake of these intermediate state beings can free them from that indeterminate state.

Normally one should give the “pointing out” instruction while the dying person can still hear, even faintly. However, it is said that the consciousness in the intermediate state has the faculty to hear or perceive the reading of the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

The consciousness of a baby who dies before birth, at birth or in infancy, goes through the different intermediate states again and takes another existence. The same meritorious actions can be performed as those that are usually performed for the dead (for example, Vajrasattva ceremonies or recitations, offering butter lamps, purification of the bones, etc.)

The consciousness of a fetus that has aborted goes through the different intermediate states in the same way. As well as the meritorious acts usually performed for the dead (as described above), the parents, if they realize the negativity of their act and feel regret, should do extensive confession and reparation practices, such practices as reciting 100,000 times the hundred-syllable mantra of Vajrasattva, offering many butter lamps and saving the lives of many animals that are going to be killed or slaughtered, such as fish, game birds, etc., by buying them and setting them free.

Geshe Lamrimpa: There is nothing definite about the duration. If a person is to take rebirth in a formless realm they go there directly without passing through the intermediate state. But generally a person can stay in the intermediate state for any period up to forty-nine days; some remain for one day, some for four days, some for seven days, etc. During this period the intermediate state being dies and another is reborn, and this can keep happening for up to forty-nine days, that is, seven cycles of seven days.

Garje Khamtul Rinpoche: For some people the maximum period of intermediate state is seven weeks and the minimum is three days. Most people stay in the intermediate state for three or four weeks, mostly four weeks. Those who stay the longest in the intermediate state or intermediate stage are the different spirits that we call ghosts. They were not able to give up their previous body and they are not able to enter into the next body, so they stay in the intermediate state for ages, years.

Not everybody enters this intermediate stage. There are some people who attain enlightenment directly when they die and do not have to go into the intermediate stage. These are people who have mastered their minds by practicing a lot in their lifetime on practices such as bodhicitta and dzogchen.

There are others who have committed the worst actions such as killing their parents or other sentient beings, and such people go directly into hell without going through the intermediate stage. Whether or not a person goes into the intermediate stage depends on the individual. For example, if a person in the intermediate stage realizes that they are dead and thinks about his rebirth, then for them the intermediate stage seems like a dream or an illusion and they do not realize that they are dead, so for such a person it takes longer to be reborn.

What is the Buddhist view of suicide?

What is the Buddhist view of suicide?

Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche: It is a great fault for a Buddhist to kill themselves. Why is this so? Because all living beings are important and to hurt or destroy any living being, oneself include, is wrong. Suicide is usually the result of anger. Just as anger directed towards others can lead to their being killed, which is a great fault, so to hurt or kill oneself is also wrong. For a non-Buddhist, it is the same. As I mentioned, all living beings are important and to harm somebody or something that is important is considered wrong.

An analogy would be the case of someone who has a new motor car. If the person is a Buddhist and they get into a ferocious rage an completely wreck this new car, then that is wrong. It is wrong because to be completely overcome by anger and as a result of this to completely destroy something like that is not considered worthy of a religious mind. But even if the person is not a Buddhist it is still absurd because it would have taken them so long to get that money together and they would have had to work so hard to get such an excellent car.

Even if a person is not religious, it is still absolutely wrong and absurd to just completely throw all that money away. So in the same way, whether a person is religious or not, it is still absolutely wrong and silly for a person to kill themselves.

So we have to think about how we can help these people who are experiencing this tremendous suffering and hardship. Within such a condition of tremendous upset and hardship people can indeed kill themselves, such as by hanging themselves or by doing other terrible things. If over a period of time we can introduce them to ideas about how their mind is working, then we can really be of tremendous benefit to them and help them out of the difficulties they find themselves in.

Garje Khamtul Rinpoche: Buddhism says that committing suicide is one of the worst things a person can do. It is seen as a very negative thing because by committing suicide, a person makes it very difficult to take rebirth; it takes a long time to take rebirth. But not only this, according to the Nyingma tradition there are more than a hundred gods and goddesses constituting the body, so committing suicide is like killing them all at the same time. And Buddhists also believe that under each hair of our body there are thousands of bacteria, etc., so when we kill ourselves, all of these are destroyed at the same time.

Geshe Lamrimpa: The Buddhist view is that suicide is a very negative action and accumulates the causes to take rebirth in a lower realm. In terms of karma it doesn’t become a completed action path; it doesn’t become an action definitely to experience the consequence, so all the causes and conditions for a bad rebirth are not there.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche: When someone commits suicide, the consciousness of that person has to follow its negative karma and often some harmful spirit possesses the lha (vital force) of the person. To counteract this a powerful lama must perform fire ceremonies and other rituals. Ordinary practitioners may perform sur offering, which will help too.

During the Vietnam war many of the Buddhist monks immolated themselves, apparently with the motivation of bringing attention to the suffering in Vietnam. Was this a negative action by these monks?

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche: Self-immolation seems utterly contrary to Buddhist ways.

Geshe Lamrimpa: Bodhisattvas are permitted to do some actions that for ordinary people are regarded as negative. But the Hinayana or lesser vehicle texts do not have these exceptions, so suicide would always be regarded as a negative action in this tradition. If you analyze more closely, then the motivation of these monks was virtuous but the action was non-virtuous, so there is a mixture of black and white.

In one of the sutras of the Buddhist canon there is the story of a novice monk and a woman who demanded to have sex with him. On the one hand he knew that having sex with her would be breaking his vows, but on the other hand he knew that if he refused she would tell many people that he was acting improperly anyway. So to resolve this situation without breaking his morality he decided to kill himself. He agreed to her request and told her to wait for a moment and then he went into his room and slit his throat. Before dying he prostrated three times to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and said that out of respect to them and to preserve his morality he would kill himself and abandon his body. So it says in this sutra that this was a virtuous action. If the Vietnamese monks had a good motivation their action would be regarded as virtuous.

Garje Khamtul Rinpoche: The Buddhist monks who burned themselves did it for their country, for the good of the people, etc. So in one way they have helped people, they have helped the country, but even then it is still seen as a very negative act.

What is the Buddhist view of ending a dying person’s life prematurely, or sooner than it would otherwise have happened, at the dying person’s request, in order to stop their mental or physical suffering, either by not giving them treatment, like taking them off a machine, or by actively ending their life by giving them medicine?

Garje Khamtul Rinpoche: In this case you are doing it purely for the benefit of the other person, to decrease his pain. On the one hand it is done with good motivation but on the other hand it is a very rash action because killing is one of the worst crimes. So although the pain is very great, instead of killing the person you could try giving some kind of sedative to make that person unconscious for some time. This is because killing is one of the worst crimes and it is also very difficult to get this human body. The other person may also regard his body as very precious.

Geshe Lamrimpa: One should continue to give medicine to sustain the person’s life. If the dying person feels angry or has other negative states of mind and has a lot of difficulties then it may not seem beneficial for him to continue living, but to give medicine to shorten his life is not appropriate.

Sometimes it is the person’s wish to die.

Geshe Lamrimpa: A person may feel that they cannot bear the suffering they are experiencing now, in this life, and therefore want to end that suffering, but they are unable to foresee the suffering they may have to endure in the next life. So even if they have a lot of pain, a lot of suffering, and want to be free from that pain, they may actually be heading for a worse state than that, such as the Extremely Tormented Realm, a hell realm. So it is better to have the determination to endure any pain or suffering that they have now and to live as long as possible. Personally, I would consider it better to have continual intense pain without being able to die, but I don’t know what is actually better or worse.

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche: To use life-support machinery when a person has no chance of recovery is pointless. It is far better to let the person die naturally in a peaceful atmosphere and perform Dharma deeds for their sake.

When a machine is being used an there is no hope of recovery, it is not a crime to stop it since there is no way that the person can survive and one is simply prolonging their life artificially.

To give an injection to reduce the pain is certainly advisable for ordinary people. Whether a Dharma practitioner is able to put up with the pain and use it as a meditation to take upon themselves the suffering of others depends upon the level of their practice. There is no rule that suits everyone.

Active euthanasia is not acceptable as it is the same as killing someone. In essence, in no way should one speed up the death of a person, but neither should one forcibly try to prolong a person’s life through machines that replace the normal function of organs when the person is totally incurable and in the process of dying. This of course does not apply to machines such as pacemakers and other artificial organs that can allow a very sick person to live an almost normal life.

Is it good to donate your organs?

In the West it is quite common for people, after they die, to donate their organs, such as their eyes or kidneys, to help others live. In terms of its effect on one’s own consciousness, is this practice to be recommended or not?

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche: Organ donation is a very good thing to do, because the motivation comes from a genuine wish to benefit others and does not harm in any way the consciousness as it leaves the body. On the contrary, it accumulates good karma.

Garje Khamtul Rinpoche: If a person wants to donate any organs of their body then they do so after death, not before, so I don’t feel that would make much difference to the consciousness. In one way it is very good that they are donating the organs to somebody, that somebody is benefiting by it, so I personally feel that it would not make much difference to the consciousness.

Is this still the case if the organs are removed for donation before the consciousness has left the body?

Garje Khamtul Rinpoche: As I said before, the consciousness leaves the body wherever you touch it, so, for example, if you touch the crown then the consciousness leaves the body from that point. Once the consciousness has left the body you can take any organ and it makes no difference to the consciousness.

What about freezing the body after it dies (cryonics)?

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche: This is utterly meaningless.

How to prepare for one’s own death?

What is the best way to prepare for one’s own death?

Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche: The best way to prepare for one’s own death is to practice Dharma during one’s whole life.

Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche: So again one has to think about two sorts of people, the person who has spent some time in their earlier life familiarizing themselves with religious practices and the person who has not done anything like that.

For the first sort of person, the one who is already familiar with religious meditational practices, when they see that their death is approaching, this is the time to turn the mind to religious practices.

For the other sort of person, the one who has not thought much about religious things at all in their life, they should try and get hold of that which is the heart of religion. And what is the heart of religion? It is to be kind, to think well of others, to hope that good comes to others in their lives. These are the essential things in any religious practice, and if a person who has never before thought about those things can somehow do so, then this is the best thing they can do to prepare for death.

The person with some knowledge of religion from before will enjoy listening to stories about the Buddha’s excellent qualities, what they did for others and so forth, and this will bring joy to their mind. For the other sort of person, it can make them feel good and bring joy to their mind to tell them how certain people have helped others, how somebody did something nice for somebody else, etc. So those are the two ways to prepare for death.

An analogy could be the case of someone who is planning a plane trip. Now everybody knows that you can get into some serious trouble on a plane because it might go down, so the person needs to get a parachute. But once the plane has gone down and they have parachuted to earth they need to have thought about what they will eat, so they need to get themselves a little food to prepare a little care package. If they have also organized some food for their friends on the plane, then that is even better, as they will be happy at that time too. But the main thing the person needs to prepare for all this is some money. Without money there is nothing they can do. If the person is on a train and they need something they can get it from the station but when they are on an airplane, up in the air, if they have not brought everything with them, they cannot rush outside and buy it. The difference is that with a plane they have got to get ready before they take off because once they are up there, there is not a lot they can do.

What I am saying, in other words, is that dying is a situation where a person needs to have prepared beforehand because you can’t get it together while you are in the middle of it.

Garje Khamtul Rinpoche: Like going to a dentist, it is something that cannot be avoided, it has to happen ultimately, so it is best for us to know in the beginning what it feels like to be dead. To know this we must consult a lama who has a knowledge of such things, who has knowledge of death. We must consult him and then he can tell us what it feels like when a person is dead, the different states a person goes into when they die. When you have this knowledge within you then you do not really have fear of death and this helps a lot.

Geshe Lamrimpa: If a person is preparing only for the purpose of attaining a happy rebirth they have to give up the 10 non-virtuous actions as well as purifying the non-virtuous actions they have done in the past, through expressing regret and making determination not to repeat them in the future. This is the general explanation for all sentient beings. For a fully ordained person or a bodhisattva or a tantric practitioner, they have to purify all pledges, or vows, that have been broken.

On top of that, to have wealth in the next life a person needs to practice generosity; to have happiness they need to practice morality; to have many admirers and great splendor they need to practice patience (“by patience one will have luster”). The practice of each of the Six Perfections of the bodhisattva will bring the four fruits, or results.

In general, if we keep purifying all of our negativities and dedicate all of our virtues, our merits, this becomes very powerful. When it comes time for us to die, the force of the dedicated merits will vitalize the virtuous actions and one will have a happy rebirth. If the dying person prepares like this it will be very helpful.

In Buddhism there are certain death meditations such as thinking about death and actually rehearsing the death process. Is it beneficial to do these meditations?

Garje Khamtul Rinpoche: According to Tibetan Buddhist philosophy this practice of rehearsing death, becoming familiar with the different processes a person goes through when they die, is very beneficial. In this the person must be aware of the different signs that occur during the death process such as the diminishing of the five senses (hearing, sight, etc.), the gradual dissolution of the five inner elements (the flesh, the bones, etc.), and of the outer elements (fire, earth, water, etc.).

We must also realize that when we take birth it is due to the fusion of the father’s sperm, the mother’s blood and your own mind. And again at the time of death it is the fusion of these three. This is also something that one must know, so according to Buddhist philosophy this practice of rehearsing death is very important.

Altruism is the heart of Buddhism.

In the West in recent years there has been a rapid development of the hospice movement for the care of the dying. Do you think that we can be of benefit to those who are dying?

Garje Khamtul Rinpoche: I feel that this hospice movement is very good because the people they serve know that they are going to die, so as long as they remain alive it is best to do something, as much as we can, for them. It is like when you travel in an airplane you know that you are just traveling in space and it feels unreal. But when you have all the facilities around you, all the air hostesses running up and down giving you things, then you feel as if you are at home, you feel very happy about it. So I feel that this hospice movement is very good.

Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche: Firstly, it is certain that hospices, these hospitals made specifically for people who are facing the end of their lives, are beneficial at this present time. Hospitals generally are greatly beneficial but these hospices offer an additional benefit.

This idea of going into hospitals or places specifically made for the dying comes about within the context of thinking about ourselves and others and seeing that our responsibility to other people is extremely great, that they are incredibly important because they have been very kind to us in past lives as our parents. It is within this context that you are in the situation of going into hospitals, trying to do what you can for these people who are facing tremendous hardship and suffering as they die, as they are in the throes of death.

If you can somehow get across to others that it is this thought that has motivated you and, more than anything else, get across the realization that being upset does help, not to think of others and to bear up by seeing the importance of others. To bear up in such a manner that a person does not allow their concern with themselves to completely affect his mental state and that regardless of the hardships that a person has to bear, the importance that they are giving to others is such that it somehow diminishes the importance of what is happening to themselves and gives them an inner strength. If you can somehow impart that to others, then indeed the benefit of this whole project, this whole idea that you are undertaking, will be great.

So finally then, the heart of Buddhism is the altruistic thought to do the most helpful things for others, that is, bodhicitta. The essence of this bodhicitta is that the importance we give to our own affairs in life, the importance we continually give to ourselves doing okay and the lack of concern for others, is reversed. What becomes our major concern is that others are doing well and are able to bear up in life and that the concern we give to our own personal well-being is diminished. And this is what is happening here; you are attempting to go into hospitals and places for the dying motivated by the thought that the well-being of these people, how they are doing, is incredibly important. That seems to me to be a real way of practicing this bodhicitta. To try and generate this in your mind is excellent and what you are doing is helping that to happen, so from the bottom of my heart I say thank you very much.

Incidentally, you should not think that you are alone in this work. Since what you are doing comes out of the whole presentation of a religious meditational path, then Buddhas and bodhisattvas and holy beings are certainly backing you up in this.

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