Death is unavoidable and everybody has to face it but only some people have the fortune of a peaceful death. When a person is sick or suffering, the hardest feeling is that of being trapped in painful circumstances. We fear for our suffering and its continuity and feel that there is no way to get rid of it, and when we don’t understand how to heal our suffering, it is important to look for methods to find some peace.
At such times, it becomes difficult to love and share with others. The most beneficial thing at this time is to try and think of others with kindness and compassion to be happy and suffering-free. When a person dies with the thoughts of loving others, the mind is definitely happy and the death in such case is meaningful and peaceful.
If somebody is very sick or suffering, it is a good idea to teach him or her to meditate as per the capacity of one’s own mind. Depending on the nature of the person, he or she will be able to meditate to find happiness and peace. One can find the perfect way to die, referred to as the ‘self-supporting death’ by Dalai Lama.
Before teaching the meditation to the person, it is important to understand the practitioner’s mind. It is good to teach according to the mind’s capacity. You can use your own wisdom to check the person’s mind and capacity and judge the right method to teach them. It is a nice idea to present to the dying person the death process as per the tantra. You can describe the process of ending of all elements, all senses, the consciousness to the final divinity.
If a person does not have the capacity to understand because of medical conditions like mental illness or coma, there is less possibility of teaching them. However, you should try to help them get a good rebirth. Our aim should be that the person dies with a happy and positive mind, compassion and kindness. It is not necessary that the person starts believing in karma. Our goal is to take care of the person’s physical body so as to be able to take good care of the mind, transforming it to positive to help the person die without any desire, fear or anger.
One should learn different methods to transform the dying’s mind, to calm them down and benefit them now and in future.
Buddhist Mantra For Death – Mantras For The Dying
If you know about the death process, it is easy for you to understand what stage of a person’s consciousness it is and what elements are dissolving when he is actually dying. There are effective sounds to help the dying person’s consciousness. These are some beneficial sounds, mantras, etc.
At the time of death, it is good to invite the sangha to recite the mantras in an effective way. When mantras are chanted like this, the dying person feels that nothing else is as important as the God. The person feels supported, guided and protected.
Reciting the thirty-five Buddha names is a powerful way to help the dying. People come together and chant the names to benefit the dying person. Moreover, five powerful deities mantras usually used in Jangwa are recited to help the suffering and the dying and is considered as the mantra for a peaceful death.
Another nice practice at the time of death is to place a stupa on the chest of the suffering. This stupa purifies his negative karma every time it touches the person. This can be beneficial even after the consciousness has left the body. This practice is good for small babies or those people who don’t understand. The stupa is for purification and healing and can be used for non-Buddhists too. The dying person visualizes light rays coming from the stupa.
Death Mantra – After The Death
When the suffering person has stopped breathing, the first thing to do is recite the Medicine Buddha in a group. One of the ten powers is prayer and so you should pray on behalf of the dead.
Medicine Buddha Mantra –
The second thing to do is Amitabha po-wa which means transference of the consciousness to pure land.
Then, you can chant Sang Cho, The prayer of good deeds. This is also good for reading during the funeral.
You can then chant the Namgyelma mantra twenty-one times. This death mantra is quite powerful for purification. If this mantra is written on a cloth or paper and positioned where the wind blows it, everybody touched by the wind receives blessings and their karma gets purified.
The Namgyalma death mantra is Om Bhrum Soha Om Amrita Ayur DaDe Soha
Preparatory Mantras For Peaceful Death
Dalai Lama says that at the time of death, it is difficult to meditate. It is especially difficult if you did not meditate well during your life. It is not easy to hold the concentration. This means that you should do purification and accumulate merit every day of the life. You can show love and compassion, serve others, do hard work and make offerings to the Lord in your daily life. Practice good deeds to purify your negative karma and stop creating more negative karma. One experiences the fear of death due to this negative karma.
Learn the Five Powers and integrate them into your life to achieve enlightenment instantly. The Lam-rim explains the four effective ways to accumulate powerful merit in everyday life while doing normal activities.
It is a good idea to do the Medicine Buddha death mantra weekly to ensure peaceful death for oneself. Also, one can do the Medicine Buddha Sutra once every month. Pabongka Rinpoche’s special text containing 100,000 Buddha names can be recited at the time of death.
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