The Sacred Art of Dying Retreat, which took place at Dzogchen Beara from 24th to 27th February 2000, represented a rare opportunity to get a good overview of the different Tibetan Buddhist practices and teachings that are associated with death and dying. The retreat was guided jointly by Chagdud Khadro, p’howa master and wife of H.E. Chagdud Rinpoche, and Christine Longaker, Education Director of the Copper Mountain Spiritual Care Education and Training Programme.
Chagdud Khadro gave an Amitabha Empowerment and the necessary training to carry out p’howa. P’howa is the Vajrayana Buddhist technique of transferring our consciousness at the moment of death. It will ensure our favourable rebirth after death in Amitabha’s Pure Land rather than a lower realm. Khadro taught that once we have mastered this technique, we will be able to help people at the time of their death by doing p’howa for them.
Christine Longaker presented the Tibetan Buddhist vision of death and dying as outlined in her book Facing Death and Finding Hope (Century 1997). By performing practices such as Tonglen, we can heal relationships with others and ourselves. This helps us to prepare for death and alleviate the suffering of those who are dying. Christine Longaker taught us that we must train ourselves to realise that everything is an impermanent gift that we will have to let go of before death. In summary, both teachers taught with compassion and clarity that death offers us one of the best opportunities to attain enlightenment.
Published in Rigpa Ireland Newsletter Issue 4 Spring 2000
See also:http://www.spcare.org/events/archive/2000-02-24-sacredartofdying.html
