I spoke about Death Meditation in more detail
Apr 1, 2010
Our Kechara House’s signboard…
(By Tsem Rinpoche)
Last night Kechara House was having a wonderful Dzambala Puja where 100,000 mantras were recited. Many people have learned to do the Dzambala water offering practice and are very enthusiastic about it.
Having seen them on, I decided on a last minute to go give a talk.
Our Beautiful Dzambala Chapel in Kechara House.
Offerings on the Central shrine to Dzambala, Tsongkapa and Three Jewels.
The sacred water ritual/practice of the Great Venerable Dzambala.
After the Dzambala puja I gave a dharma talk on:
1. Death meditation in more detail as I felt people are ready.
2. Why we should do this meditation and the benefits. How to see if one’s death meditation is heading in the right direction. I will have Beng Kooi of E-division to attach the talk here with a link. You can write to Beng Kooi about in case it doesn’t come or at least a snippet of it within a week. Hehehe… a global reminder to Beng Kooi…
Basically if one does the death meditation consistently you will have many positive results such as:
Always enthusiastic for dharma work, practice, learning and thinking.
Less depression, feeling of loneliness and having no purpose.
Easier to change one’s negative habits to positive ones.
More harmony among loved ones arise.
Easier to forgive and let go of past wrongs.
Easier to move ahead, plan and execute.
Positive attitudes resulting in good speech and pleasant body language arises easily.
A sense of urgency to do more meaningful activities in your life and with your life.
Those are some of the benefits from the meditation/contemplation I spoke about last night at KH. You can listen to it when Beng Kooi has uploaded it.
I also spoke about Building the largest Lama Tsongkapa statue in the world and what we are going to put inside. A semi indoor huge Dzambala statue. Why the name change of KWPC from TKL and also what learnings we are going to have up there.
The reason to get involved with this great project. Below are some pictures from last night’s talk.
I have also asked my Liaisons to form committees to engage in the following to collect merit for KWPC and our personal lives as a group together.
They will be doing collectively:
1. 500,000 Dzambala mantras
2. 100,000 Dzambala water offerings
3. This will be done with together with the Dzambala sadhana.
4. We will invite a Dzambala statue and offered many crystals on his holy body to be placed for this retreat and invite again for future retreats also.
After Dzambala or simultaneously, as they will engage in Setrap practice collectively:
1. 1,000,000 (one million) Setrap mantras will be recited, 100,000 black teas (serkym) will be offered to Setrap along with his puja.
These wonderful practices will be done in near future for the merit collecting act of making Kechara World Peace Centre or KWPC arise. All these wonderful, powerful and positive pujas will be done in Kechara House. Time and dates to be confirmed, so you should be on the email or sms list to be informed. The pujas are my personal recommendations for our group. These pujas will benefit the individual very much for their own lives.
Garlands of flowers with offerings will be made to Dzambala daily during this special group retreat. Who can join in? Anybody!!
It was a lovely evening of Pujas, prayers, meditations and I was very happy to give a dharma talk last night to the group.
Much Care,
Tsem Rinpoche
Other thoughts below:
Death is so final. Even if we reincarnate back, the life as we know it or how others knows us is gone forever. Most of the time, we don’t even remember that life again once we are back.
It is so important not to lie, cheat, hurt and give pain to the ppl around you or to anyone. Life’s short and it is hard to make up for th wrongs that we do, so why even do it? Make it the best with the ppl around you always. It makes the short time we have available have some sort of meaning.
Death, the meditation of it, the thought of it and the fear of it always motivated me to not hurt others, to give, be generous and to let go. Just let go. It has kept me in the dharma all these years.
Sometimes when something really frustrates me to no end, I think about my mortality and death, and I lighten up to the point of being able to think things through with some sanity.
Death has been my strongest motivation to try something even knowing I might fail. I don’t want to fail. The fear of failing can be paralyzing. But then when I contemplate how many years I’ve wasted, I figure what is there to lose? Only death makes me lose everything, so what is there to be afraid of? Just go ahead and try it out.
When I am insecure, I contemplate how many years I have left to live, and not knowing that, makes me let go.
When I am upset with someone or a situation, I really just think, does it matter if I was going to die today? Is it such a big deal after all? Would I be upset if I was going to die today?? Then again my mind releases whatever upsets me. it doesn’t release all the way, but enough to not be some wrapped up that I can’t do anything else.
Death meditation makes you face the biggest challenge in life, your own mortality. Once you can handle that, all the other challenges become small. And your fear of them start to lose hold on you.
Tsem Rinpoche
Transcript for the video Meditation on Death
It’s very nice for all of us to get together and learn the Dharma, do prayers, do some pujas. Some of us are here out of the highest motivation to gain unexcelled enlightenment for others; some of us are here for mediocre motivation, which is to gain happier, this life and future life; and some of us are here for the lowest scope motivation, which is to just have business and family and problems immediately cleared. Whether our motivation is of the lowest scope, medium scope or the highest scope, the fact is it’s all still Dharma. Why is it still Dharma? (00:45 – Tibetan) meaning it still is classified within the Lam Rim as acceptable motivation. Let me repeat, it is still classified in the Lam Rim as acceptable motivation. So hence, if our motivation is the lowest scope, medium scope, highest scope – it’s ok. The point is that we have a scope and that’s very good.
Now, how long can we all get together at this centre and do prayers and learn and share? Maybe if some of the founding people, the women and men and myself, if we die, or something happens, then the centre collapses. Then everything we’ve done is forgotten and it’s gone. And one day I will die. One day you will die and one day the people that work very close to me will die. And that’s a very hard-core fact of Buddhism. No matter how much we avoid that thought, it is just denial and the more we deny, the less we do spiritual practice. The more we accept the truth, the more we will do spiritual practice. Hence, death is the first chapter within the consolidated teachings of the Buddha, written by the king of Dharma Tsongkhapa, which is impermanence and death. And the reason that is so important and it’s on the first chapter is: Do you find yourself having difficulty changing your habits? Do you find yourself having difficulty choosing Dharma work over secular? Do you have problems choosing Dharma motivation over secular? Do you have problems and you find yourself lazy, unmotivated, unable to change? Do you find yourself falling into old habits? Do you see the years passing by and your mind doesn’t change? Do you see your knowledge in Dharma growing but your practice and your mind doesn’t transform much? Well if you want to know the secret, the key to changing is the meditation on death; the mediation on impermanence. To read that chapter over and to meditate on that chapter. Why? If you have actualised the meditation on death, if you have realised the meditation on death – you will be very kind. You will want to work in the Dharma. You will want to be of benefit to others. You will want to do Dharma work and you will transform yourself and change yourself. Do you know why? Because you know that ultimately we all have to go.
Those of us who have a chance to work in the Dharma, those of us who have a chance to work in Kechara, who have a chance to work in Dharma organisations, you are very fortunate, you are very lucky and you have a lot of merits. Those of us who do not work in the Dharma, for whatever reasons, or run away from Dharma work, it shows how selfish your mind is; how you have not learned the Dharma. It shows how little merit you have and it’s like – you’re hungry, people give you gold, you throw the gold away and you grab on to a rock. Simple. So later, definitely you’ll have problems. Definitely you’ll have difficulties. Definitely.
So therefore, how much Dharma you do, how much you transform your mind, how much your mind changes, how much you can change your old habits, is 100% dependent on meditation of death and impermanence. 100%. You know people come to me “I can’t change, I’m still attached, I still need to have fun, I still need to go out”. You can, but how much of it you do and how much you transform, is dependent on your meditation on death. People say “How do I meditate on death?” Very easy. You read the Lam Rim. But if you want a synopsis, if you want a synopsis, you can think in categories…you can think in categories. By environmentally, how many causes are there that could take my life away. Example: a tsunami, an earthquake, a fire, a drowning. Last week in Singapore, one Ganden monk drowned; he’s 17 – he’s dead. Last week. From Ganden monastery he went to Singapore to do pujas, they took him on a trip to…by the ocean, he doesn’t know how to swim – he drowned. He’s a monk. His time is here. He’s 17 years old. The whole monastery did prayers for him, I found out today. The whole monastery. He’s a monk. Even the Buddhas and protectors couldn’t protect him when the time for death came. He’s 17. So do not think everything is permanent.
Now, environmentally, how many causes can there be for you death. You meditate on category by category. By sickness, how can you die very easily? From an accident, a car accident, walking accident – any type of accident – eating the wrong food. One day you’re walking nice, the next day you’re limping; one day you’re fit, the next day you’re rivelled up in pain. By your body, how easy it is for you to die. How many times have we heard the person was ok, the next day they’re dead? How many times have you said in your life, “That person’s so young – she’s so young”? Nothing can stop it.
By your body, by your…by environmental factors, you can think. By accidents, you can think. And you think about it individually. Then when you have died, if you choose to be cremated, or if you choose to be buried – your choice – if you choose to be buried you visual yourself, your body dying. You visualise first, your ears go off; you can’t hear anymore. The feelings go off; you can’t feel anymore. You visualise your mouth becoming very dry; you can’t taste and move anymore – you cannot move your tongue anymore. Then you visualise your body organs stop to function and your blood stop to move. You visualise your heart stopping. Then you visualise finally, your eyes closing and all light is gone; you can’t see anything around you, you fall in total darkness. And you’re under still, quite darkness. Even the people around you, that’s crying, cannot help you. Your friends cannot help you, your jewellery cannot help you, your name, your position, your power, who you are, cannot help you. If you do that visualisation correctly – you will change. And then you visualise yourself, your family coming in, your friends coming in, washing your body. You visualise them dressing it, you visualise them putting it inside a coffin, you visualise yourself inside a coffin. You don’t visualise yourself looking at a coffin; you visualise yourself in the coffin looking out. You visualise the people crying, you visualise what’s going to happen to you next – the funeral. You visualise they take you to the ground, you visualise they lower you into the ground, they cover you for the last time then you visualise the dirt being thrown onto your body. Just visualise it. Not quickly – in detail. In detail.
This is what the Holy Monks of Cambodia, Burma and Thailand do. They do that in front of a skull, in their Wats; in their temples. Tibet, same. Tibetan monks do it in a cemetery. Same. Because it all comes from Buddha’s teachings. Then you visualise the dirt on top of the coffin falling on your face and you see the sunlight disappearing, disappearing, disappearing. Then you visualise the earth being stamped down. Solid. Hard. And then you’re in the box. You visualise yourself not moving, no breathing, no talking, no communication. You will never be dug out again. You will never come out of that box again. You will never, ever move again. And all the ugly things you did in your life will come back to you now; all the good things you’ve done in your life will come back to you now. Now, your statues, your church, your temple, your family, your money, your anger, your reputation, your ego, you failure, your loss, your winning, your complete sense of ‘I’ – is gone.
So those of you who are sneaky, bad temper, created problems for yourself, for your friends, for the people who care about you, for your family – now your time has come. Those of you who have been goody-goodies, praying, doing mantras, being all holy-shmoly – your time has come. Now your karma will judge you. No one can reach in there and help you. It is not like you have an accident and then three, four months later you’re repaired and come out of hospital and crutches – you’re ok. It’s not like you have cancer, you go for chemotherapy – you’re ok. It’s not like you had a car accident and you break your nose and they fix it – you are in the ground and you are gone. Your son, your family, your friends, your mother, your wife, your husband, your lover, your brother, you’re gay, you’re straight – everything is gone. Everything is gone.
And if you meditate on that every single day, no matter what age you are, you’ll be a better daughter, you’ll be a better son, you’ll be a better lover, you’ll be a better human being, because the point of that mediation is not to put you down or make you depressed, the point of that meditation is to make you realise the truth and your end. You see, if you make people meditate on karma, some people believe and some people don’t. If you tell people to meditate on God and God will punish you, some people believe and some people don’t. But who doesn’t believe in death. The Buddha (is) one step higher than meditating on God or Karma. The Buddha taught us to meditate on death. Because no one in this room, not even an insane person could deny your end, my end, our end – death. No one can deny it. So when you meditate on God, sometimes it works, sometimes it don’t. When you meditate on karma, sometimes you believe – when in you’re in a good mood; when you’re in a bad mood, you don’t believe. But on death you cannot.
Some people think, well I’m too young to meditate on death. Wrong! Because in fact, when you are very young you should meditate on it, so the rest of your life you’ll be good people. Some people say, “I’m too old to meditate”. That’s exactly why you should meditate on it, because you’re so old. You wanna spend the rest of your life doing what you’ve been doing your whole life wasting time? Some people say, “Well, I’m not old, I’m not young”. That’s exactly why you should because you know what? You’re not old and you’re not young, so get started. Death meditation can fit a Christian; death meditation can fit a Taoist; death meditation can fit a Buddhist; death meditation can fit an Atheist, because you’re trying to become a better human being by letting yourself know how much time is not left.
If you’re not doing that meditation every single day, then you’ll be lazy. You wanna go to bed at a certain time; you don’t like it when people disturb you; Dharma work is hard; you want to have good food; you want to have good fun; you don’t have time to help; you can’t commit; you can’t change yourself – you’re gonna keep complaining about that. When people tell you they keep complaining they can’t change, they can’t transform, they don’t know, they don’t understand, when people keep saying that, you know I think to myself – they didn’t do their home work. Imagine if I walked in here and said to you guys, “You know what? I’m tired of Dharma. I don’t have time for Dharma. I’m going to disrobe and pick out some pretty people and go out to have a good time”. Oh. Imagine if I come and say that you. Imagine if I say to you guys, “But I can’t change myself”. Imagine if I say that to all of you. Imagine if you say to me. “You do Dharma” “Oh no, I quit Dharma work and I’m gonna go work in a movie studio…I’m gonna go work in McDonalds…I’m gonna work in my Auntie’s plumbing factory.” You say, “Why Rinpoche?” “Oh, because Dharma work is hard. I need to experience life and find myself”. Imagine if I told you all that, than none of you be here. So, how come you say that and I’m still here? How come you say that and you’re still here?
So imagine, let’s turn the whole scenario around and Rinpoche tells you all the things you’ve been telling Rinpoche: “Oh, but I’m not ready!” How about if Rinpoche commits to a department and then tells you that, “Oh, I’m sorry, I want to have some kids and I want to raise my kids and I need to put them through college, so I’ll do Dharma when I’m older”. How would you feel? Oh I can’t get along with that person at that department, I don’t like that person so I quit. How would you like it if I tell you that? You know if I was to quit ‘cause I don’t get along with you, I would have quit a long time ago. I don’t get along with you guys. You guys are very difficult, moody people. I don’t get along with you. So imagine if I was to quit because I have commitments. I can go out there and get myself a wife, a one that looks…let’s put it this way: one level below Vajrayogini. And do you think my kids will grow up looking like you guys? No. I won’t have kids. Thank you. They’re gonna be gorgeous. They’re not gonna be bald and tall and from some weird European country. And when I have a kid, I’m gonna have one straight one, one gay one, one lesbian one, one in-between one – one everything. Just add it to the world, make it more colourful. Well I can say all that too, can’t I.
I can say to you, ”But I don’t get along”. Imagine Rinpoche tells you, “I don’t get along, that’s why I don’t wanna do it”, or “I quit”. Imagine if you have to come and counsel me, “But Rinpoche, you’ve been in Dharma for 30 years, maybe you should change”. “But I can’t, I don’t understand”. How would you like that? How about if Rinpoche comes to you with divination, “Oh I went to a Taoist temple, I got twenty foos, how do I get rid of it?” Imagine if Rinpoche went on a skiing trip and broke my leg and found myself by breaking my leg. Well how come, no offence to anyone, but how come you can act like that and I can’t? You guys are unfair. Let me get to the point, the point is this: I’m not the greatest monk and I’m not the greatest teacher and I’m not the most knowledgeable and I’m not the best, that’s for sure. But I have meditated on death and I have thought about death, and I contemplate on death, almost every single day. That’s why I am still a monk and I will remain one. That’s why I’m doing Dharma work, that’s why I want to do Dharma all the way. Not because I’m a Rinpoche, not because I’m a miracle maker, not because I’m a Buddha, not because I have powers, not because I’m advanced. I’m just like you. I meditated on death. I am just like you. Look, in my hay-day, nobody in this room can compare to my beauty, nobody. Nobody in this room can compare to my beauty in my hay-day. You are too fat, too short, too dark, too white, too ugly, too skinny, too…I don’t know what. But even in my hay-day I was doing Dharma, let me tell you why: because I meditated on death.
What am I trying to tell everybody here? I am not different than you and don’t make me different. I am not a Buddha and I don’t have super-natural powers and I’m not attained and I can’t fly. You see, you’re not here because I can fly or I’m miraculous; you’re here because the Dharma I teach you makes sense. And I’m trying to practice Dharma, so therefore, you’re here for that. So, if you do the same as me, don’t you think other people will be attracted to you also? Or attracted to the Dharma? Cause there’s no difference between me and you. Hence, because I thought about death, because I meditated on death – from the age of twelve and thirteen/fourteen I meditated on death, til now – I became a monk, I did Dharma work. And there are times I like to run away and there are times I like to split; there are times I like to just pack-up and leave, but when I think about death, I continue. I’m a stingy person, but when I think about death, I rather give.
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Thank you for posting this Rinpoche. While I understand fully the point you made about death, I was also looking for the death meditation practice. I may be confused but is there a link to a separate video to teach me how to do the death meditation practice/chanting? Is the a mantra chanting?
Dear Gerrard,
Thanks for your question. There is no chanting practice/mantra chanting death meditation. Death Meditation is a comtemplational / visualised practice used to change our mind so that we live our lives from understanding death and impermenance, so that we make the most of our lives spiritually speaking, as well as helping us to let go of trauma, emotional issues and improving our relationships with others.
A more in-depth death meditation can be found in the Lamrim teachings. It is know as Nine-Point Death meditation, but the one taught by Tsem Rinpoche in this article is a very good death meditation to start off with. Hope this helps. Thank you.
Well, the practice of death meditation is a common practice in many Buddhist lineages. Everything that belongs to us is left behind at the time of death. By training our mind in death and impermanence, we can avert our attraction to the appearances of this life. If we think about death , it will motivates us to repair relationships and forgive in life. With preparation we can help others at death-time. The time of death is uncertain and there is no fixed lifespan in our world. At the time of death what’s really important is the Dharma practice. We learn, practice Dharma and putting it into action is the best choice we made before death. We are fortunate to have a chance to work in the Dharma and learning death meditation to prepare ourselves as the moment will come any time.
Thank you Rinpoche for this great teachings with folded hands.
Frankly, when I first read the title is sound scary. After few years of learning Dharma,I realised what Rinpoche taught is really important in our life. Rinpoche is very kind to leave this teaching for us to practice so when our time come, at least we are not afraid as we have been practicing Death Meditation
Thank you very much Rinpoche with folded hand and bow on your lotus feet
When we come to think about death. There is nothing we can’t let go, nothing can be hold on tightly; for death will tear everything apart. We always live life like we never end. Which is not the truth, the truth we all dying and the timing of dying is unknown.
It is lucky that Rinpoche have taught us to do death meditation. We can do death meditation so that our attachment could be lesser and self center or ego could be lesser. After all, when we truly experience death, we know all is gone. What we craving now is gone either we are ready or not. Is just vanished.
Through death meditation, we become kind to people around us. No matter they are stranger, lover or friend, because when time to die, we still depends on other to help us to put us into coffin, to be kind to our body etc. So why hate, why cant we let go of who is friend who is enemy. It doesn’t matter anymore when we die.
When we think of death, we become brave and we have courage to do things we always think it cant be done. Because nothing in this world can lets us feel fear than we are dying. Nothing stop us from trying to achieve what we want in this life. Just experience it while we are breathing. Live life to fullest
Come to think about it, when we think everything is impermanent, then everything can be possible and impossible depends on how we work on it. Nothing is impossible, is our mind are so fixated with our comfort zone that refuse to move on.
Thank you Rinpoche for always giving us many methods to help us to relesase from the grab of our own create karma.
With holded hand, bowing to Rinpoche’s lotus feet
Freon
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you for sharing this dharma sharing vidoe. I have learnt that meditation on death is a very important practice that we can do to remind us on impermanence and the truth of death. This precious human life that we have now is very fragile. It is more fragile that we think. As Rinpoche said, what separates us from being alive and bardo is just one final breath. It is due to our ego that we have this wrong perception that we will live forever. We would argue that we do not have this kind of mindset, but our action says otherwise. By enjoying samsaric pleasure and not pursuing spiritual attainments, we are telling ourselves indirectly that we are not afraid of death.
By doing this meditation, we will be able to let our ego down. We will thinking of others more and not always ME, ME, ME ! Our actions and mindset will change definitely. Being aware of death is not morbid at all because it is the truth that everyone will have to face one day. If saying being aware of dying someday is negative and morbid thinking, does it mean that if we are aware that we will be hungry again after a meal is negative thinking too? Of course not, because it is the truth. This is life.
Humbly,
Chris
People say Buddhism is morbid because of its focus on death but I beg to differ. Buddhism to me is highly realistic and pragmatic, and leaves no room for denial. It is not a case of morbidity that we contemplate on death, but a case of accepting what is to come and looking at how we want to prepare for it. It is only through understanding death that we begin to appreciate our life, and make full use of it.
It is denial and our wilful ignornace of death that leads to our suffering. We think we have time to do the things we want to do, but in fact we don’t because although death is certain, the moment of it is not. Let’s not talk about spiritual – if we examine death meditation from a non-religious point-of-view, it is logical to see why such a meditation is beneficial and why denial of death is not constructive behaviour.
It is said that the strongest emotion at the time of death is regret for all the things we could have done, and all the opportunities we missed. But doesn’t it make sense that if we are always aware of our mortality, that we would never miss opportunities and so there will be no room for regret at the moment of our death?
So it’s like what Rinpoche wrote: “Death has been my strongest motivation to try something even knowing I might fail. I don’t want to fail. The fear of failing can be paralyzing. But then when I contemplate how many years I’ve wasted, I figure what is there to lose? Only death makes me lose everything, so what is there to be afraid of? Just go ahead and try it out.”
It’s funny therefore because actually, people who insist they aren’t spiritual, if they view death in this way, they naturally become spiritual. True spirituality isn’t bogged down by jargon and dogma; true spirituality is universally relevant and beneficial, and free from labels (and again, another reason why I love Buddhism – you don’t need to identify as a Buddhist to experience the benefits of the teachings). From a spiritual point-of-view, denial of death is a waste of time because when we deny death, we waste the time that could’ve been spent trying to understand how we can make the best use of our life.
How can we make the best use of our life, if we don’t acknowledge that we don’t have very much time left? How much time DO we have before the end of our lives? And do we want to fill it with all of the things other people do, do we want to be regular Joes? There’s nothing wrong with regular Joe but how come some people can accomplish so much more than us with their 24 hours a day, 52 weeks a year, 80 years a lifetime?
How come people with the same amount of time as us, can develop happiness and suffer so much less than well, us? For those who subscribe to the Buddhist teachings, it’s because of Dharma. As Rinpoche says, you will never see a depressed older monk because they have spent years contemplating death and therefore truly appreciating the preciousness of human life, and making the best use of it with their practice.
Death is a great equaliser because it doesn’t matter how rich or poor you are, how beautiful or ugly, how short or tall, how fat or skinny, how young or old you are. When the moment of our death arrives, we all go the same ugly way whether you are 17 and healthy like the monk Rinpoche mentioned in the teaching, or 90 years old and hooked up to a dialysis machine. Your practice and its results are the only things you can take with you when death tightens its cold grip of you. Whatever nasty or good experiences you had when you’re alive, disappears with you at the time of death but if you understand death, there are things you can develop while you’re alive, that you can actually take with you. And we develop these qualities via Dharma practice.
By the way, looking at the photos, I just want to say that it’s a real testament of the qualities of Rinpoche as a teacher to make so fun and enjoyable a teaching on something that’s supposed to be morbid.
Rinpoche talk is profound and clear, In samsara world we still keep the evil thought , ” I will not going to die today ” we still attached with so many materials , pleasure and exploiting our health.
Whenever we are insecure, upset with someone, we blame and keep asking why but no solution and depress . Rinpoche has give us a big antidote – Death meditation, When you are going to die today , is this all affect us much ? such a big deal after all? Would I be still upset if I was going to die today??
Death meditation makes us let go all the unnecessary thoughts, all the fear will be overcome and we will be clear why we are here for this life, for money? house ? partner ? enjoyment ? That is not the real happiness ultimately, it drag us to the deepest depress eventually.
We shall overcome all attachment, take out the fear and live in the path of liberation whereby the inner peace , the real happiness are all come from within.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing on death meditation. Death meditation was the first form of meditation I tried (for a person who never meditated before) after an audience with Rinpoche where Rinpoche described the process briefly. Rinpoche also shared that death meditation can be done for other people in our lives (besides ourselves), so one day, I decided to meditate on my fathers death.
At the point in my life, I was fighting and quarreling with my father too often and it had a negative impact on our relationship and also my view of myself. I regretted each time I lost my temper with my dad who was a pretty good dad for that matter.
So, I decided, why not. That 15 minutes of death meditation changed my relationship with my dad. I learnt to understand him and listen with an open heart. I stopped picking fights and began an increasingly harmoniously relationship with him. This is priceless and irreplaceable.
Mind you, this is a long term result as it has been 6 years since that meditation and things with dad have been pretty rosy 😉
Give this a try. In realizing death, I started to live bigger, bolder and better.
Nothing wakes us up like when we do death meditation or have to confront our deaths.
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you for posting this. I have been feeling empty and purposeless for a while now. I wouldn’t say I’m depressed, not at all, but I have felt that I can do more, but am always too lazy to do anything. Therefore, thank you for posting this. I will now try to meditate every night on this death meditation and see the results for myself. 🙂
Your humble student,
Keng Hwa.
Thank You Rinpoche…! Your Teachings are so good,easy to understand,beneficial to all who take interest..May God bless Rinpoche for long life.!
Rinpoche..listening to this teaching makes me emotional..it is profound..sentences where you mention visualize yourself buried or cremated with all those happenings, makes me scared also.now I m feeling so delicate and weak about this dirty life..long breathing..what a dirty human life…full of suffering..! Thanks Rinpoche..! your teachings are highly beneficial to all who take interested..! God bless Rinpoche for long life…!
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you Rinpoche for this short and precious teaching on Death Meditation. I especially appreciate the short statements under the “other thoughts below” section where Rinpoche’s prompts us to contemplate how our problems will immediately seem so little if we were to die this very moment. Yes, justing thinking that I can die any moment now can shift the trend of our thoughts and attitudes towards our life.
It is important that we stop deceiving ourselves that we “still have some time”. We never know when our life will end!!! this is true for each and everyone of us. So, now is the moment to dedicate time and effort in the Dharma as the Dharma is the only thing that can help us at our time of death.
I did a death meditation once and that improved my relationship with my father. Instead of focusing on our differences and the things that frustrated me, I focused on the fact that he has been a good father and did his best. I focused on the message in which he wants to impart knowledge to me instead of the manner in which he conveys the message.
It is important to practice the Dharma in a way that empowers us to improve ourselves to create results and relationships that we are at peace with.
Thank you Rinpoche for this powerful method to becoming better at living our lives.
謝謝仁波切對死亡解釋冥想的劝勉。這裡帶出佛陀的教導“諸法無常”是堅實不摧的，沒有人能從死裡逃脱。死亡是肯定的，但死亡的時間是不確定的，唯有精進的不假思索，從事更多的佛法工作，弘揚佛法，为了死亡準備的唯一途徑之一。然而，在這一天結束時，我們將離開現在世俗的一切事物。通過了解死亡實相，“此滅彼生”所有的收益將直接提供給我們一個轉变成慈悲喜捨之含䜟。
Dear Rinpoche,
The talk on death meditation is amazing! I will follow the advice to contemplate on it daily. I wish I was there to listen and learn more. Rinpoche only gave the visualisation for burial, but not cremation? Hehe… I hope the Lamrim has that covered. Will find out more.
Thank you.
We all have to die, no one is immune or above death, hence as Rinpoche said death is something everyone of us is subject to. No one can avoid death eventually. And i have always thought that without any reflection on Death for most people spirituality does not make much of a sense. If we die and then we fade into nothing, not much one can do or to be done right? But if we carry on in other lives and what we do now determines the future, then we have a real purpose to examine what can happen after our last breath or what can happen to us in the future.
Thank you Rinpoche for this powerful and empowering teaching on the Meditation on Death. I have gone over it again and again. It’s time to practice it seriously and consistently.
There is no magic to transform the mind. It is all dependent on us , whether we wish to or not to transform.As Rinpoche says the most powerful way of making me transform is to do the daily Practice of Meditation on Death.
We will transform if we remember that death is inevitable and only how and when exactly we die is not certain.
I will transform if I look at ” the process of dying” every day and how every part of ME will disintegrate with Death. How everything, I hold on to and think I own forever, will be gone from me…
Thank you for sharing such important information, Rinpoche. Death is the only thing all of us have in common. We will always die. Hence, we should meditate to prepare ourselves for death. We need to also understand that death could come at any time and that we should not laze about but instead make use of what little time we have.
Thank you Rinpoche for explaining the benefits of meditation on death. The teachings given here are solid enough to prove that no one can escape from death. Engaging with more and more Dharma work and spread the Dharma is one of the only way to prepare for death at the end of days. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, we will be separated apart from everything we have now and all the worldly affair could derail us from the path to Enlightenment and liberation. By remembering death, all the benefits will be directly given to us an transform us to a less selfish person and more easy going with people around us.
Thank you Rinpoche for this great teaching. I still remember I was there listening to the teaching 2 years ago, but I couldn’t relate much at that time.
I did death meditation several times, but discontinued after a while. Reason is I couldn’t really feel the fear of facing death. However, now when I read back this article, I saw my photo. In that photo, I still looked young and managed to maintain a relatively good body weight compare to what I am now. And this fact really scares me.
Over the past two years, ageing process seems to be much faster. My hairs turn grey, I started to develop old-eyes since last year, and I can’t even have a good control of my weight as easily as before even though I eat lesser. And all these tell me that I started to lose control of my physical body.
I can imagine one day, may be very soon, I may start to develop certain medical conditions eg hypertension, dementia etc as they are common when we are getting older. We just can’t control of our physical bodies, death is approaching everyday, yet there is nothing we can do to reverse or stop the process.
I shall re-start my meditation on death now as I know once I start to lose health and body function, I will sure regret that I haven’t been doing much for my life.
There is nothing I can bring with me to my next life except my subtle mind. And this subtle mind will carry my habituation with me. And this again will affect my next life and the next life… I may not have the opportunity to listen to Dharma again in my next life, I can’t even sure if I can take rebirth as a human. All these are inter-related, and if I don’t do anything about it now, one day I may reach a state that I may not even manage to control my own action or thought. The only turning point is now!
Thank you Rinpoche.
We do not know how many years we have left to live. So we have to wake up from our slumber and change our bad habits to positive ones. We know we will die one day and think we can accept this fact. But are we really mentally prepared to accept our death when that happens especially if it is a prolonged illness and we are bedridden but mentally alert. Hence, it is only the Dharma that we have applied in our life that can prepare us for death when that happens. Thank you Rinpoche for this teaching. It teaches us not to take our existence for granted and to transform our mind before it is too late.
Contemplation and meditation on death and impermanence are regarded as very important in Buddhism,Death is certain but the time of death is uncertain.
Thank you Rinpoche for the reminder to practice to the best of our abilities so that when the time comes,we will be in a state of great bliss.
The death meditation teaching is great.
Death is the ultimate “reminder” that we should not waste time or effort on things which do not matter. But Rinpoche has just kindly reminded me in this posting that Death is not necessarily something that will only visit me in many years to come, when I’m frail and old. It could be knocking on my door today.
I’m sitting now in Munich, looking out my window as I type in these thoughts, and a gorgeous classic Jaguar E-Type just drove past. My first thought was, “Nice car!” but that’s where I stopped. In the past, I would be thinking, “How nice it would be to be the driver!”. I don’t think that way anymore. I do see that there are more important things to do, so much more to learn, so many more people whom I can help in whatever small way by applying what I learn from Rinpoche.
But it starts with me. Nobody said that it’s going to be easy to “let it go” but what’s stopping us from trying? I no longer have anger issues, I’m much more patient than before, I’m smiling and laughing a lot more nowadays because I’m learning to let it go. Frustrating moments teach me patience and expands my heart. Happy moments teach me impermanence for as much as we enjoy such moments, they too pass away. Even memories are not permanent, as Rinpoche pointed out. I’m learning to take whatever comes as they come without hanging on to it but draw some kind of lesson from it so that I can face tomorrow better.
Thank you, Rinpoche, for yet another simple and valuable lesson and thanks for the reminder!!
Sean
I missed the teachings on death mediation as I only joined Kechara after the Dzambala retreat. Thank you Rinpoche for sharing the benefits of death meditation with us again. I have learned a lot from reading the article.
Another wonderful teaching from Rinpoche! Death is actually very close to us. Everyday we hear someone is dead through all sorts of medias. Yet we think it is about ” Someone else”.
My neighbor, a newly wed young guy at 31 died last year when he was playing basketball. It was very shocking for everyone and his parents and young wife was very sad. He was the only son of the family. I told my mum that if could be anyone- it could be ME. She gets upset every time I talk about death. I guess I don’t have skillful means. ;p
Well if we know we are going to die tomorrow, we won’t waste time on those meaningless samsara events. If we know we are going to die tomorrow, we won’t get upset on these little silly argument with our family or friends or anyone. Life is about choices we make everyday and Meditation on Death is the guidance of how to make choices. Meditation on Death will help us to make the right decision, do the right things and be a better person.
Thank Rinpoche for the great teaching and never giving us up even we are so selective on what we LIKE to do and when we WANT to do Dharma work….
Love
Christine
Another wonderful teaching from Rinpoche! Death is actually very close to us-we hear someone is dead almost everyday from all sorts of medias. Yet we think it’s ” someone else” death. We feel sorry for those who died suddenly or died young but we don’t think it could be us or anyone from our family.
My neighbor, a young and newly wed guy who was around 30 died last year while he was playing basket ball. He was the only son in the family. It was very shocking for everyone and his parents and young wife was so sad. I mentioned to my mum that anything could happen and it could be ME! My mum gets upset every time I talk about death… I guess I don’t have skillful means :p.
Well it’s so true that if we know we are going to die tomorrow, we won’t waste precious time on those meaningless things or keeping upset on those little silly argument with people around us and very easy to let things go. But why we still get upset? Because we don’t really believe we will die tomorrow!
So meditation of death will really help us to make the right decisions, do the right things and be a better person. Life is about choices we make everyday! Meditation on death is the guideline of how we make choices.
Thank you Rinpoche for the teachings and never giving us up while we are so selective on what we LIKE to do and when we WANT to do Dharma work……
Love
Christine
没有死就没有生。每一点都是成长的经验和过程。我们都免不了离开这世界。如果恐惧死亡，我们就没有好好的活，以生活在恐惧中。正面的看着死亡反而能帮助我们改变自己和别人的生活。如果今天我们就要离去，任何让我们不开心的人事物又如何？
Dearest Rinpoche, thank you for this teaching on death.
Ironically, being conscious of our inevitable death that can come at anytime makes us live better. What I find most frightening about death is the rebirth: where will I end up?
After reading Day 10 and 11 of the Lamrim, the thought of a unprepared death and rebirth in the lower realm is quite frightening. If we cannot even tolerate the hunger because we delayed our meal time by 2 hours, we will never be able to survive the chronic hunger of the hungry ghost realm. If we cannot concentrate when it is too cold or too hot on this comfortable earth, we will never be able to bear the scorching heat and freezing temperatures of the hell realm. If we cannot fathom the thought of abstaining from a piece of juicy meat, we should pray hard to never ever be born in the sluaghter house for the animal realm. I guess, the question now is: What can I do to always escape these terrifying rebirths?
Lucky for those of us who have been blessed to meet with Rinpoche and Rinpoche’s teachings, we have an “escape route” from the lower realm: pure Dharma learning and practice.
Thank you again Rinpoche for your profound teaching that can help us make positive changes in our lives.
Thank you Tsem Rinpoche for this wake up call. Remembering death helps put everything into perspective, help us to prioritize, help us to not be attached to otherwise frivolous things or petty fights… When I was working in public practice, one day I said to a friend that we could die any time, why are we doing this job which we are not happy about? What if we died tomorrow and all we did in the last 24 hours of our lives was this paperwork which we hated to do in a dim office which we rather not be in? My friend dismissed the thought saying that the probability of us dying anytime is so low, with our young age, good health and a job which is not hazardous.
But karma does not follow our man made theory of probability and statistics…
Tsem Rinpoche gave another teaching on death here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4BJxjYs4eM
Thank you, Rinpoche, for this powerful teaching on Meditating on Death and Impermanence.It’s only when we consistently meditate on death and the uncertainty of its timing(as there are so many factors that can easily trigger off one’s death process),will we then transform and let go of old negative habituations that drag us down. Only when we have realized the meditation on Death will we become kinder people and will we want to benefit others and be enthusiastic about doing Dharma work.
The part of the death meditation that involves visualizing oneself in a coffin and being lowered into the ground and the earth covering one’s coffin and all is total darkness, carries a dreadful ring of finality about it.
I love how Rinpoche said in the Esquire magazine(http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/me/esquire-magazine-calls.html), about death meditation: Go to a cemetery. Stand at a graveyard during the day, look out and say to yourself, that’s my destiny!
Very straightforward and which is the most powerful quote!
Knowing we will die anyway and any time, death is unavoidable and for most of the people it’s a scary topic to talk or even think about. By right we should learn how to face and realize it. By realizing the moment of death arises nothing much we can do and we should take opportunity to learn how to make good use our of time to collect merits by benefiting others for our next life.
Meditating on death every day is a kind of reminder to us to make every second of the day beneficially. Every moment we work for benefiting others will create a sense of happiness within our self instead of keep worrying and scare feeling of death.
Thank you Rinpoche for the video and detailed description of the death meditation… whenever i watch it again, it creates a stronger impact to me that death will come anytime and i should use my time carefully and meaningfully. I have downloaded this video with me and will watch it regularly to remind myself to treasure what i have now and do more to benefit others.
Dear Rinpoche,
Last week, I have invited small statue of Dzambala home from Penang Kechara Roadshow. Can I chant Dzambala mantras after the setrap mantras? Do I need to go through initiation in order to chant Dzambala mantras?
Thanks Rinpoche for your kind and generous guidance.
Cheers,
Soon Huat
Dear Rinpoche
The Death Medication is great, thank you for sharing
All this time,actually i’m not afraid to die ’cause one day we’ll die, so I always tell myself to just accept it when the time come. Maybe I’ll meet my parents in heaven who knows, haha just joking.
我记得第一次实习认识死亡， 是在 Kechara House 2 的 Chinese Manjushri Class。 Share by Yek Yee .
哈哈哈哈， 我也记得经过那天之后有一位学生，他再也没有出现了。因为，他接受不了他哥哥的离世。 他无法面对。
当天晚上， 我们还在月宜讲法师的带领下，学习如何进入练习。
放下， 讲出来是非常容易的。但是， 死亡发生时，我们是不是可以知道如何面对？如果我们长时间生气，妒忌，看不开, 那么当死亡来临时，我们会很容易失去方向。
Dear Rinpoche,
I heard of death meditation before, Rinpoche had explained well about it. lately i am helping KIM to do the sub-title on the death meditation. I understand a little bit more now. But what Rinpoche we are very fortunate to work in Kechara, in a Dharma centre. We must appreciates and do more.
Thank you Rinpoche for the well explanation.
Love,
Helena
Last week was painful for me when a huge big boil decided to pop, one that decided to harvest my inner thigh area. My lovely Boss, Li Kim forced me to go to the doctor. Why? Because I was stubborn. She was overseas when this happened but she whatsapp or text me everyday to ensure that I took my meds and to check if the wound was healing. Such love and care. Thank you, dear Boss.
When this happened I was frustrated but concurrently, it also gave me time to think and contemplate the mortality of life. Anything could happen and our body is decaying bit and bit and one day, it will all be gone.
Despite the excruciating pain each time I walked, I decided that this will not impede the completion of a project that I was assigned to over the weekend. Because I kept asking myself, if I were to die the next moment, would I sincerely finish what I am doing now with deep passion and care? I said, YES!!! And this motivated me to move forward. Because this body is given to me for a reason, which is to be of service to others.
In short, I feel that we are in Death of the body every second of the day. I guess this is one certainty that anchors the uncertainties that we battle with constantly. The question remains, how do we want to handle it?
Dear Rinpoche:
Thanks for the sharing. I started to learn and practice Dharma about a year ago after one of my friends asked me – “what is certain in our life?” and I didn’t know how to answer her. That time I was very down because of business problem. Then she told me only death is certain in our life. I woke up immediately and 100% agreed with her answer.
Everyone will have to face it sooner or later. This conversation exactly like a small light in the darkness. Since only death is certain, why am I keep chasing after worldly attachments which are uncertain and impermanence? I feel hope again but I don’t know how to handle death and the real meaning of life so she introduced me to Kechara. I am very grateful to her.
Thank you for the teaching. Take good care.
With love,
VP
Death… No matter how rich, poor, sad, happy, etc we are, we cannot escape it. How wonderful to be able to do Dharma until the day, death comes! Definitely we have our flaws but we have such a beautiful Lama to always remind us that we should always do more, benefit more and stop the laziness! I am truly grateful to be able to ‘work’ in Kechara and I will never leave! I cannot imagine myself working in the secular world and gain nothing except more samsaric activities. Thank you RInpoche. I owe everything to Rinpoche.
我在还没有接触佛法之前，从来都没有想过我在死之前应该做些什么，才算是有意义，一天到晚只想着材米油盐，但是自从认识了克切拉以后，才了解到趁着自己还有能力可以帮助别人时，可以尽量的帮助别人，凡是不拖延，这才能过一个有意义的人生，谢谢仁波切的教导。
When death comes knocking at our door, there is no escape. Everything that we chased after in this life will be left behind. There’s nothing we can take from us to our next rebirth except our merits. While we can, we need to understand the dharma, put it into practice and when death comes we are prepared.
Death Is Certain, Life Is Uncertain. So it would be smarter that one spends one’s life preparing for when death comes knocking at our door; live our life holding our precepts well, be harmonious, practice dharma, be of benefit to others, and let go……
Life’s impermanent. Rinpoche giving us teaching which is so true that we shall not to lie, cheat, hurt and give pain to the ppl around you or to anyone. At the same time, try to forgive those lie, cheat, hurt and give pain to us, not to keep chasing for the true or answer or asking why they can hide from the true. Now, It is all meaningless…when we realise ” We are going to die today “.
“When I am upset with someone or a situation, I really just think, does it matter if I was going to die today? ” This would be a great reminder and quotes to keep myself always open my mind to learn dharma. And It helps my mind to releases those upsets me and releases myself from being depress.
Agreed with Uncle Eddie :” Sometimes, when things really frustrate to no end, meditate on mortality and death, then one will be able to think things through with some sanity”
I will impose the meditation of Death and Impermanence in daily prayers for both of us.
In death meditation, Rinpoche has taught not to hurt or harm others, to give generously and to let go. In other words, such actions or doing what one does, say or thinks, represent karma, which Lord Buddha has often cautioned are the determining factors leading to the cause and effect of one’s subsequent rebirth. Sometimes, when things really frustrate to no end, meditate on mortality and death, then one will be able to think things through with some sanity, said our guru. Death is the strongest motivation and only through death meditation, make one to face the biggest challenge in life. It has however, kept Rinpoche in the Dharma all these years and lighten him up to the point of being able to think things through all those unpleasant years. At the end, the fear of your own mortality will start to lose hjold on you,
Unfortunately for me, I only started going to Kechara after the Dzambala Retreat and missed the talk and teachings on Death Meditation. Thank you Rinpoche for reposting this.
The Lamrin mentions this subject on death and its meditations which for some is still a taboo subject. Knowing more about death and the meditations helps by opening our eyes to things and situations that are impermanent in life and that we could die tomorrow or anytime.
Frightening but so true; no one escapes death. We all have to die one day. What if we die tomorrow? We are definitely going to regret like hell because there are so many things we have not done yet and I am not talking just about secular matters like visiting the Eiffel Towers or Statue of Liberty etc.
Buddha’s teachings does not lie. If we just die without doing anything worthwhile and wholesome, where would that lead us? Its’ a good thing we have ‘guidelines’, reminders from our dear guru and the Lamrin to back it up all.
One religion keeps telling it’s people that they should love each other, do good stuffs, never lie and never hurt anyone to garner enough merits so that when they die they will go to heaven where they will live in a huge house with streets paved in gold. Oh I would loved that! Others will just keep instilling fear in peoples mind like if you do this and don’t do that you will burn in hell.
The Buddha talks and teaches about death so that we will all know whats in store for us and not repeat the same mistakes all the time. He has repeatedly said in his scriptures that life; so full of impermanent pleasures and happiness and uncertainties is ‘not’ real because all these will end and we can’t bring or carry forward to our next life.
If we do not indulge in the pleasures of this lifetime too much and concentrate on our Dharma practice and develop what little wisdom we can, we should be able to see and think more clearly, always remain calm when calamity strikes, be less stressed up when things don’t go our way and learn to plan properly for our future.
Am actually speaking from my own experiences. I used to indulge in all things worldly, get very worked up if things don’t go my way, always feeling very empty and lonely, depressed……the list is endless. After learning a little about death and death meditation, all other things seem very trivial to me now. I am not cold hearted but, nothing really surprises or really frightens me now.
In our society, death is such a taboo and scary subject. However, in Buddhism, it is the very subject that we have to face in order to be spiritual or to develop deeper spiritual qualities. The misconception is that talking and dealing with death is morbid, scary or fatalistic.
However, in Buddhism, death is actually about life and about making the best of our short time on earth. Hence, instead of being a taboo, encountering death is a spiritually auspicious moment. Why? Its a moment that forces us to assess ourselves and what really matters. That doesn’t lessen the loss or the pain of losing a loved one but it does make us reflect on how we have treated them before they passed away.
So, do we want to cry and regret the things we have done to a loved one after they had passed away? That’s the question we have to ask ourselves each time a loved one passes on.
Dear Rinpoche, thanks for sharing this important meditation for us. In spite of this, we also should thank you for set up a big stage to let us may collect merits with doing Dharma work. Without you, Kechara may not be manifest and many of us may not enter this stage to collect big merits for our present and future life.
Before knowing more Dharma knowledge, we will feel that Death very scary but actually we dunno how to deal with it. But after know a little bit Dharma and watching the video maybe we will try to meditate and getting more and more details. This is the best way to let us transform faster. In fact normally as Pastor Ngeow told us there are the person who almost lose their life completely then only they will truly transform like example a cancer patient that also die for cancer after survive they will donate their whole life saving to a foundation or use their rest of the time to benefit others patient. Is that will be too late for us???
If we able to do this meditation, this will become a awareness for us to do something now dun be too late. We are very good fortune to meet Rinpoche and Kechara so we able to collect BIG merits through Dharma work easily. So i will start to do the Death Meditation as much possible to remind me that try to do more effort in Dharma instead for the merits present life but future life also.
Thanks Rinpoche with fold hand _/\_
Dear Rinpoche,
Thank you for sharing with us the many benefits of Death Meditation.
It makes us see the true nature of things. That, nothing is permanent, everyone when born, are sure to die, eventually.
One truly should FEAR, not giving enough kindness, not having enough compassion and not doing enough practice to develop good qualities, collecting good merits and creating good karma to prepare for the next life if DEATH should come suddenly. IT will not give us any heads up, IT can come at anytime and anywhere.
Hence, we should cherish this precious human rebirth especially when we are lucky enough to be born near the Dharma and are able to learn from a Guru. If we waste this life engaging in samsaric activities due to our own unwillingness to change and not heeding our Guru’s kind advice, we are creating the negative Karma to be born in place without Dharma and a Guru to teach. That would be most fearful.
Thank you again.
Joe
Dear Rinpoche,
The Death Meditation is extremely useful to everyone.No one is exempted from this , absolutely no one! The more one is afraid of death, the more one should practice this meditation. It is a powerful and effective way to overcome our fears and attachments and it is attachments that is the root of the fear !
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this video again.it remind us death is just around, it now for us to stop create excuse for ourself from not doing dharma work or mind transformation, it remind us we should face the reality instead just escape to facing it.if we really believe in Dharma and truly sincere need to change our mind, this meditation can help us.we should practice now.
Rinpoche – This teaching on death meditation is extremely useful. To know, fully, that death is near is the best remedy to attachment, to not getting what we want.
Thank you.
HOW MUCH YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR OLD HABITS DEPENDS ON MEDITATION OF DEATH
~ Tsem Rinpoche
The above sentence strike me and shows how powerful would be if we really actualise the meditation of death. After I listened to Rinpoche’s death meditation talk, I practised this through visualise myself encounter CAR ACCIDENT, my body cremated etc. Its difficult initially but definitely help in practising dharma and do not fall into old habits, I am lucky and fortunate to receive this amazing teaching from Rinpoche, this teaching could be one of the factor to lead me to have the chance and fortune to work in dharma.
Meditation on death video is a highly recommend teaching that can watch over and over again as a reminder, to remind us not to fall into our old habits again and again…..do not think everything is permanent….
Dear Rinpoche, I am now 40 years old. When I was 27 I went out to pursue the learning of Dharma. But somehow I just keep failing and my life is getting shorter and shorter. When I see people passing away. I just think of how many obstacles I have to true Dharma practice, and I am very sad and angry with myself. I have made so many mistakes. You are so kind to be there for me and take me under your wing and make teachings available via the internet. Amitabha
As a Vajrayana practitioner, do you not partake of meat at vajra feasts? I am a great admirer of the late Kalu Rinpoche. Now in Sukumvati. He was very clear on this subject. On page 124-125 in his book, “Foundations of Tibetan Buddhism”,… he goes through the root Vajrayana downfalls. Let me please share downfall #13: “The thirteen root downfall concerns our attitude and approach to tantric practice and tantric ritual. If we are participating in a ganachakra or vajra feast, where ritual use of meat and alcohol is made, and we abstain from one of the other of these on the grounds that it is impure or that it is contrary to our convictions and principles, then we have failed to appreciate the view of tantra which attempts to transcend purity and impurity, attempts to transcend dualistic thinking, and we have failed to appreciate and take part in the spirit of that tantric transformation process. To indulge in this kind of superficial, dualistic clinging to appearances during the course of a tantric ritual is to commit the 13th root downfall and to go against the spirit of our tantric practice.”–(from a facebook comments post)
During tantric rituals, a tiny bit of meat, must be had for the greater view and greater good..which is to overcome clinging…but what I am talking about is daily consumption of meat…steaks, fried chicken, pork chops, leg of lamb, turtle soup, sharksfin, duck, rabbit stew, frog legs, clams, seafood chowder, sushi, and all the other animals slaughtered daily for our taste buds…. If we give up all meat eating and meat consumption then let’s talk about tsok meat. HH Kyabje Zong Rinpoche mentioned in Los Angeles, we can take some tsampa and put a few drops of alcohol on it in place of meat when we cannot get it for tsok…..that can be used for meat. In Tibet Kyabje Zong Rinpoche would do that. Tsem Rinpoche
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I was very caught up with morbid fear and anguish thought of suffering whilst thinking of death recently. Liason sharon and Mr. Ngeow was tremendous help in allaying my fears during those distress period.
I share the same thoughts as sheng ee on the furtile effort of striving so hard to accomplish mundane things that will be gone after we die. Now with my understanding of karma and rebirth it brings a whole new light on striving for the right things. Striving the balance in surviving this life and collecting merits for our future lives.
Due to the uncertainty of dying it creates the urgency for us to practice our virtue immediately. It really does help me to get out of my laziness and procrastination always.
Many people say why Buddhism is so sadistic – you are always talking about death. The word death is a taboo for many people and many people fear death and push aside this subject to forget and escape reality. Many people wish to have happiness but do not know how to go about to obtain true and sustainable happiness because they have not the slightest knowledge and merits. If one has Buddhadharma and meditate on death, one really begins to live and in accord with dharma. One will live correctly with greater meaning and purpose in life. I pray that we can share this message with as many people as possible so that they can start to live again.
I echo what Paris wrote. A lot of people misunderstand the essence of Buddhism, and especially, the practice of Death Meditation. The way some people react negatively to just talking about death alone is enough for me to realize that people in general are just very fragile and vulnerable inside. They are so petrified that they rather hide and run away, or avoid – rather than face the truth. If there is one thing certain that we all share is that we will all die. It does not matter whether we are rich, poor, beautiful or educated or young or old, white or black or yellow, Muslim or Christian or Hindu. Our time on earth will end at some point. It is precisely because we will end, and that we do not know when our end will come that we meditate on death even more. Impermanence allows us to sieve through the farce from what’s truly valuable. If we do not understand death, how can we understand life? If we do not appreciate the fact that we will die one day, how can we start living every moment of our lives with conviction, passion and purity? There is nothing scary about death. In fact, it is actually a very beautiful practice. The scariest thing is when we act and think like as if we are going to live forever when it is a fact we can’t. If just by talking about death alone can shake your very foundation, then perhaps you should start appreciating every breath you take, and especially your loved ones. They may not be around when we are ready to be nice. So, yes, it is time to forgive and let go. It’s time to forget the fear and pain, so that we can start to really live.
People always think that Buddhism is bleak and scary because so many of the central teachings explore the subject of impermanent, mortality and death. They say it’s morbid, depressing and frightening.
Rinpoche shows us that it’s not, and that thinking about death is the most liberating thing there is. Some of us were so inspired by these teachings that we created a whole chapter about the inseparability of Life & Death in the book “If Now Now, When?” The very title itself, alludes to impermanence…. (http://www.kechara.com/publications/publications/mind-body-spirit/if-not-now-when-the-peace-edition/ )
Here, just a little snippet of some of Rinpoche’s other incredible teachings about life&death. Short they may be, but what they lack in words, they make up for in huge impact, powerful and realisation:
– We talk about death so we can live. We realise death so we can make others live.
– No matter how beautiful you are, you will not be beautiful one day;
no matter how rich you are, your wealth will be taken away at the
time of death.
– If we were to die tonight, close our eyes, have an accident; if our plane was to crash, if we ate something wrong, if we choked, got robbed or shot – if any of these things were to happen to us and if today was our last day to live, then what would be the value of the things that we have done from the time we were born until now?
Revisiting this post now and remembering the old times in KH1. Even then – how quickly time flies and how many years have passed by in the blink of an eye. Things aren’t just impermanent but the things that seem “solid” also pass us by so very quickly.
Am reminded also of another teaching that Rinpoche has given about death, including a most powerful death meditation that can be done every day – even for just 5 to 10 minutes – where we visualise ourselves as actually dead and being in a coffin, having the lids closed on us, being lowered into the ground or placed into the burner. Then what are the things that are really important at that point? This is a teaching called “While I still Can” – one of the vintage classics that KMP (www.kechara.com/kmp) have produced as a free distribution DVD. Totally, highly recommended.
there are further teachings here too:
Meditation on death: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4j5RJfu5X0
The dying process: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AonaB3o22lk
When one of my relatives died about 3 years ago, it struck me how helpless her children were at the point of her dying. They literally just sat by her bedside and watched her die, and they couldn’t do anything to help. It was like a fast forward reality that I knew I’d have to see one day soon too – depressing? Morbid? Perhaps. But as I spoke to Rinpoche about this later, he reminded me of the power of doing death meditations daily. Then, the experience of seeing death becomes an empowering one.
Wow, it is so empowering to read about death expressed with such openness, acceptance and logic! Death has always been an uncomfortable subject that people avoid and mishandle. Avoid by now facing up to the fact death is the only certainty we have in this life. Mishandle by pretending that we are not subject to death. The result of this delusion is: we waste our human life away by indulging only in worldly pleasures (please check out Tsem Rinpoche’s blog titled Elizabeth Taylor ~~~(Cleopatra and Butterfield 8).
On a personal level, I am like walking on glass when I need to confront death. Example: when a friend looses a dear one, I do not know how to support them. Although I still do not know what I will say/do for a person who looses a dear one to death, what I know is: what to say to them BEFORE they loose these dear ones.
I also do not reflect enough on death…my own death. Reading Rinpoche’s thoughts on death that is so glaringly presented gives me no room for pretence and avoidance. It shows me how silly I am to put so much time and effort into upholding my attachment to the fear of failure and being wrong. I also learn to view failure differently: failure is the choice to play a safe game in an effort to having the closest-to-warranty success which is by natural cause and effect, playing a safe game is never going at 100%…I can never win without going at 100%. What a paradox!
Thank you Rinpoche for this powerful talk.
Thank you Rinpoche for your advice. My current job requires me to travel occasionally but I will definitely put more effort in KH activities especially MKC when i am in town and attends the Pujas.
It is very amazing that Setrap is continuously giving us signs on the growth of Kechara organization.
I’ve shown the picture of the mushroom to my kids, Rachel & Xander. They too are very amazed & excited. I’m pleased to inform Rinpoche that Rachel almost full vegetarian and she only takes meat once a week. She’s very committed every since watching the video of how animals get tortured and killed. Xander is a total vegetarian as he never touches any cook food..literally lives on Milk, bread, cheese, fruits & biscuits. They love animals so i hope that they will be able to contribute to help when Kechara Animal Sanctuary manifest.
With folded hands – Ashlee.
I await with anticipation for the video. Thank you Rinpoche for giving teachings and posting them online. It really benefitted me a lot through the years.
Thank you once again Rinpoche for your skillful ways and plans for each of your students to do something more with their lives. The Setrap and Dzambala retreats are a great way for every person to contribute in some way towards Kechara World Peace Centre.
We may not all be able to contribute financially or by doing work full-time but we can all set aside some time to do the pujas, prostrations, water offerings, offering of flowers etc… the list is endless and so are your ideas! It is a truly a great opportunity for each of us to do something TODAY for KWPC.
Death meditation combined with the superior motivation you explained in your talk will take us forward.
(and the video will go up very soon!)
Dear Ashlee,
You have never written a message of this nature to me before. I am very pleasantly surprised. I am happy to read it.
Any work, and position, any responsibility you carry on in KH will lead to the creation and manifestation of KWPC. You must go do it now and all the way.
Hence you must get involved. You are a treasured student and been with me many years. You have had many years to think and consider. Time is not on anyone’s side, so get into KH and do something on a regular basis.
When negative mind or obstacles come up, it is different because you experience the negativity for others.
When it is for others it becomes purification, transformation and growth. So be pleased when these obstacles actual and imagined arises.
Come and do it now. Much care and prayers to you,
Tsem Tulku
“The evil thought of worldly concerns — supported by the concept of permanence — is constantly attacking us, interfering with our practice of Dharma, and preventing the actions of our daily life from becoming pure Dharma.” ~Kyabje Pabongkha Dorje Chang
Dear Rinpoche,
Last night was amazing. With no hesitation i have declined a farewell dinner for my friend when i found out that there’s Dzambala puja for swift manifestation of KWPC. I want to be a part of KWPC. Indeed, i was greatly rewarded by Rinpoche’s surprise Dharma teaching at the end of the puja. This is one of those days when i give myself a pat on the back that i’ve made the right decision to put Dharma on top priority over worldly affairs.
I felt that Rinpoche was talking to me the whole time last night. Thank you for opening our mind to see the greater value that we have been failing to realize. I really like your vision of having healing retreats at KWPC in future such as Flower Arrangements, healing massage. I can totally relate to flower arrangements as i find it very therapeutic. And it will be nice for us to have holiday boot camp retreats for the kids.
Last night i came to realize that you know best and whatever Dharma tasks that you have assigned for us is the right path catered to us individually as per our capabilities. And that we should not Quit for whatever reasons as the greater value is awaiting at the other end. With Death & Impermanence, it really doesn’t matter who’s right & who’s wrong.
Thank you for not quitting on us.
Much love – Ashlee.
The death meditation is great, I love this meditation.
I wish I can see one of your teaching ones in Kechara I will try to make trip in malesia soon I can, I’ve to see my lama first in France .
What a great teaching!
Here is a great stanza from Heartspoon by Je Pabongkha Rinpoche:
Who’s the faster:
Yama, the Lord of Death,
Or you in your practice of realizing the essence of your eternal dream—
The welfare of both yourself and others—as much as you can each day?
Unifying the three doors [of your body, speech, and mind],
Put the whole of your effort into your practice.
My Dear May,
Thank you for your sincerity and kind heart. I have heard again and again how sincere you are and how much you work for dharma.
I am happy to have you as part of our team and to make history together.
Keep up your practice and you will be blessed.
Much care,
Tsem Tulku
Thank you Rinpoche for your elaboration in detail on the meditation of Death and Impermanence in our daily prayers. You have given us the visualisation step-by-step method on how to do it.
As the saying goes – Practise makes perfect. So I will start to make the visualisation practise daily in my prayers to benefit more people at Kechara, our department Kechara Care and the manifestation of Kechara World Peace Centre.
I rejoice to see many new people showing commitment to dharma. This is all due to your skillful means.
Thank you again.
Dear Thierry,
I am so happy last night benefitted you. Please join in the setrap and Dzambala retreats for kwpc and yourself coming up soon…write about it and let many others know. It will be very good for you.
Join in and finish the mantras, serkym, water offerings and all that I mentioned last night for the retreats.
Very good you were at last night’s dharma talk.
Must really repeatedly and consistently do the death meditation in detail and from many angles that I explained last night.
It is very important. It will boost your practice tremendously.
Go all the way with dharma. Do this for yourself and for everyone.
Much care,
Tsem Tulku
from Thierry Janssens:
Thank you Rinpoche for making last night so meaningful.
I am looking forward to do more and to engage actively in what is necessary for me to become skillful so that I can efficiently help those that are lost and seeking.
Your talk on meditation on death was very powerful, and I say this because if I speak to some of my friend about karma or rebirth it remains academic, hypothetic and and as a result, most of the time, it does not sink in.
Meditation on death is very direct, it sinks in immediately.
There are times when my faith in karma and rebirth is not there (that is almost all the time lah…), death is always there though, every day, every minute.
You gave me a very good tool for my practice yesterday, thanks again.
I will be keeping an eye out for this talk… I am excited to hear it 🙂
Dear Rinpoche, I specially love the last portion of your post when you give instructions on using Death to handle the daily problems that we have. Death should force us to get rid of laziness. At this point, i have a question.
If death is certain and its timing is uncertain, what motivation is there at all in us wanting to achieve anything is our lives? After all, death will come and all our efforts will be in “vain” after the passing of this life. I am referring more to mundane situations such as wanting to do well in our careers/studies/business etc.