Phowa.

Conscious Dying.

'In Tibetan Buddhism there is Phowa or 'Conscious Dying' which one can apply in dying, for oneself as well as for others.

One uses the moment of death, when mind separates from body, either to come from a confused state of mind into a clear, liberated one, or to help others in doing so.

As a matter of fact, among the Diamond Way meditations that Buddha passed on to his closest students, this practice is unique in quickness, applicability, and power.

As is generally the case with Buddha's ultimate methods, the benefits from this practice manifest already during one's life, since harmful impressions dissolve for the student, the consciousness soldifies, and mind becomes clearer.

Many Buddhists therefore say that there is a life before Phowa and alife afterward, and the second part is much better!

(...)

Although the pure lands, to which one goes after death - and which are experienced more and more strongly during life - still don't signify enlightenment, under all circumstances, one is on the way to liberation, will not fall down from the achieved level of development, and can develop safely according to one's capacities and qualities.

With the word 'Phowa' Tibetans imagine a bird, which, trapped under a roof, finds a hatch and swings, freed into space.

(...)

All meditations in Diamond Way centers are used primarily for mastering life. In addition, by means of their contents, they are also a preparation for death. Phowa is learned specificially for the moment of death, and also applied at the crucial moment for oneself, or for friends, in the way that one has learned.'

-- Quoted from 'Fearless Death' by Lama Ole Nydahl.


Phowa Courses.

'Although everybody already possesses the ticket to learning Conscious Dying - one was born and thus one will also die someday - besides the intellectual maturity to understand this, certain preparations are neccessary for this invaluable practice.

For example, in Tibet, Phowa was only given to students who had completed the four Foundational Practices (Tib. ngöndro) or promised to do so. The importance of this practice also becomes apparent in the fact that in the traditional three-year retreats it is taught only after two years.

After more than eighty-five thousand Tibetans fled out of their country from Mao's troops in 1959, and many of them died of tuberculosis in the Indian refugee camps, today the access to these teachings is easier. Especially in the humaniatarian West, it gets increasingly difficult to find time to meditate between work and distractions. However, since a death follows every life, more than six hundred Diamond Way centers worldwide enable those who want to go to a Buddhist pure land and who agree with the view and goals of the Diamond Way to learn this practice.

New participants prepare best for the Phowa through the so-called Short Refuge and meditation on the Buddha of Limitless Light.

(...)

If one can additionally do the highly effective purification through the Buddha Diamond Mind and his one hundred- or six-syllable mantra - which removes the roughest of obstacles - one has a very good preparation for the Phowa.'

-- Quoted from 'Fearless Death' by Lama Ole Nydahl.


Quotes.

Phowa (Tib., Skt. samkrānti): A practice of the Diamond Way with which one prepares for the moment of death.

-- Quoted from 'Fearless Death' by Lama Ole Nydahl.

Phowa for others (hook of compassion): A practice with which one can help relatives or close friends in death (except during the sighty-eight hours of unconsciousness) get to the Pure Land of Highest Joy, until the forty-ninth day after death.

-- Quoted from 'Fearless Death' by Lama Ole Nydahl.

Phowa into the Emanation State (Nirmanakaya-Phowa): The possibility to reach the power-field of Great Joy, available from the tenth to the forty-ninth day after death, if one has deeply internalized and lived four attitudes relating to this pure land: one has the wish to be born there; one has a clear imagination of the Buddha; one avoids harmful actions, and wants to reach enlightenment for the benefit of all beings.

-- Quoted from 'Fearless Death' by Lama Ole Nydahl.

Phowa into the Joy State (Sambhogakaya-Phowa): The possibility to reach liberation from about 68 hours after death until the tenth day. One experiences phenomena either as the light forms of the buddhas or the lamas or as illusions; one is able to achieve it if one has experienced the dream-like nature of phenomena in meditation and the richness of all phenomena during the building-up or mantra phase.

-- Quoted from 'Fearless Death' by Lama Ole Nydahl.

Phowa into the Truth State (Dharmakaya-Phowa): The opportunity to achieve the Truth State that occurs twenty to thirty minutes after the last breathing-out using the methods of tudam or chödral (to hold mind in the heart), djalū (rainbow body) or the "breathing-out-into-space"; one is able to achieve it if one dwells in the state of naked awareness during the melting phase of meditation.

-- Quoted from 'Fearless Death' by Lama Ole Nydahl.

Phowa of blessing (for oneself): The meditation of Conscious Dying. One learns to send the consciousness out of one's body into the hearth center of the Buddha of Limitless Light and thus prepares oneself for later death. The effect of a successful practice is to have less fear and to go to the Pure Land of Highest Joy while dying. From there, one can develop until enlightenment and be reborn to help other beings.


-- Quoted from 'Fearless Death' by Lama Ole Nydahl.

Blog Author's Comments.

For more information & details about Phowa, Phowa Courses & Preparations, as well as on related subjects - readers should read 'Fearless Death' by Lama Ole Nydahl, or contact qualified Buddhist Teachers.

See also, if You wish: Ngöndro - Beyond the Comfort Zone, Reincarnation, Better Reincarnation.


Mantras.

MAHAKALA
OM MANI PEME HUNG
OM AMI DEWA HRIH
KARMAPA CHENNO

Namaste, as well.