The Teaching of Phowa (Transference of Consciousness at the Time of Death).pdf

18/11/2014 The Teaching of Phowa (Transference of Consciousness at the Time of Death)

http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/tib/phowa.htm 1/4

THE TEACHING OF PHOWA (TRANSFERENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS AT THE TIME OF DEATH) ACCORDING TO THE TEACHING OF THE PATUL RINPOCHE IN THE "KUNSANGLAMI SHELLUNG" PAGE 290--SHORTENED AND TAUGHT BY THE VENERABLE K.C.AYANG RINPOCHE OF THE DRIGUNG LINE OF KAGYUDPA, BYLAKUPPE,KARNATAKA STATE / INDIA. INTRODUCTION According to the Tibetan custom, in the event of someone dying, amember of the family of the dying person would request a Lama toperform the "phowa" ceremony (i.e. Transference of consciousness atthe time of death.) The Lama performing the ceremony would have himself mastered theart of phowa (transferring the consciousness at the time of death)after having previously been initiated into the practice andmeditation given only to Tulkus (Incarnates) and retreated to thehills to carry out the practice which he would continue night and dayuntil the signs he was told to watch for (at the time his initiation)appear. He would then leave his retreat equipped now to instruct monks,nuns and lay people in the practice. He would however, continue toperform the practice at least once a month. When he becomes aware ofthe signs of his approaching death (signs he was taught to recognizeduring his retreat period), he would meet the eventuality with a greatcalmness and equanimity. All the Tibetans are familiar with this practice. During the summermonths at the end of every twelfth year when the plains were richlyverdant after the white of winter, one could see the trek of Tibetanpilgrims walk to the small temple at Bhum Ngu Sumdo in which phowa hadbeen given for the first time to the people of Drigung . They would pitch huge white tents, a stark contrast to the yellowand maroon robes of the monks and nuns and the colorful chubas (thetraditional dress) of the women and children and summer flowers, inpreparation for three weeks stay for the performance of "PHOWA" by thehead Tulku of Drigung Lamas. This teaching of "PHOWA" is with the Venerable K.C. Ayang Rinpochewho continues this uninterrupted succession of the Drigung line ofPhowa Lamas from the Supreme Guru Dorje Chang to Tilopa, Naropa,Marpa, Milarepa and Gampopa up to the present time. He now resides atthe Tibetan Mahayana Buddhist Kagyudpa Monastery: "THUBTEN SHEDRUBJANGCHUBLING" in the Tibetan settlement, Bylakuppe in Karnataka StateIndia. When taking the initiation of Phowa, it is important to receive theinitiation from a Tulku (i.e. Incarnate Lama) who continues the lineof succession of the Phowa lineage of Gurus. The blessings of such aninitiation will render the practice safe as the blessings of thelineage will flow unhampered to meet the disciple and bring with themquick results. Should the Phowa be attempted without this very vital precautionthe results will not be the same and the practitioner will be facedwith many dangers.



Faith in the Lama Tulku is of primary importance. If the faith isvery strong, coupled with devotion, then the results will be verypowerful and immediate. If the faith is not of the highest strengththen the results will be medium and so on . . and where there islittle faith, no good results can be expected, however much you maytry. In the root Tantra, "GYUD" it is written: Even if a man is so sinful that he kills a holy man every day andhas committed the five Heavy Sins, if he goes on this path of Phowathe veils of sin will not remain. For the men of many sins and for allbeings, this is the Path of liberation which is direct and secret. Urgyan Rinpoche said, "By meditation all can attain Enlightenment.My meditation is that which is called "MA GOM PI" (i.e. spontaneouswithout meditation effort) . . . " Naropa says, 'There are nine Gates which are of the world but thereis only one which is the gate of Mahamundra (Nirvana). If you shut thenine Gates then you will get the Path of liberation without anydoubt ...." Marpa Lotsawa said, "From now, if you study Phowa, purify, purifytime and time again. Then, at that time, when death is approaching youwill know no despair. If, beforehand, you have become accustomed tothis Path of Phowa then at the time of death you will be full ofcheerful confidence .... " Over and above the Nine ordinary apertures of the body called"buga", there is a 'Crest' aperture, and the virtue of doing thispractice of Phowa is to be able to think of this crest aperture at thetime of death and to direct the consciousness through this gate intothe pure land of the Buddha, the Buddhafield (DEWA CHEN). The profound Path of Phowa is the Holy Way of the Buddhas which isDharma rapidly realized spontaneously without meditation effort. DRIKUNG PHOWA CHEN MO Account of the Great Drikun Phowa It is very difficult to attain the precious human body and havingattained it one must utilize it to reach Buddhahood through the properhearing, contemplation and meditation of the precious teachings. Evenif one has attained human birth, it can suddenly end without warning.Because of the overwhelming power of laziness in the postponement ofour practice, one's life ends without one even realizing it, becauselife is so short and the galloping mara of death is so quick. Whendeath comes we have no escape, we have to accept it and go on to thenext life. At this time neither your accumulated wealth nor your dearones nor your cherished body -- nothing can help except the preciousteachings. In the precious teachings, Lord Shakyamuni Buddha taught the Dharmato suit the different levels of understanding and to differentdispositions of all beings through Shravakayana, Pratyekayana andMahayana practices. The Mahayana consists of Hetuyana (cause) and Phalayana (fruit).



The Hetuyana or the Sutrayana consists of all the practices withoutthe tantric initiations. In the Phalayana or the Vajrayana there aremany means (paths) to attain enlightenment through the Arising andCompletion processes but one must diligently practice over a period oftime before one can realize one's Buddhahood . In the Vajrayana, the Phowa practice is the most direct and thequickest path for one to achieve enlightenment. It is said that eventhe heaviest of sinners has a chance for enlightenment through thepractice of the Phowa. "There are teachings for one to becomeenlightened, but I have a teaching (Phowa) that offers enlightenmentwithout meditation", said Marpa, the great translator and the fatherof the Kagyu Lineage. The Phowa "Jaktshukma" (the standing grass blade) Linage is one ofthe precious phowa practices. In the eighth century, the Dharma kingof Tibet, Thri-song Deu-Tsen invited the great Indian tantric master,Guru Padmasambhava, to Tibet and they built the Samye monastery. GuruPadmasambhava was residing in Ch'im-phu cave in the vicinity of Samyewhen an important minister of the king, Nyima, had a tragedy. Nyima,who had two palaces and was in the process of moving from one to theother, was packing some belongings by the light of a lantern when asmall spark caused a fire which instantly burned down the whole palacetragically killing thirteen people including his parents. All hishorses, mules, cattle and other animals also perished in the fire.Minister Nyima, thinking of the love and respect that others showtheir parents felt that he had committed the heaviest of sins bycausing the death of his parents and others. The king desiring to end the suffering of his minister went toCh'im-phu cave to request the help of Padmasambhava. Padamasambhava bymiraculous power went to the Pure Land to see Amitabha Buddha. He toldBuddha Amitabha about the suffering of Minister Nyima and of allsentient beings and asked Amitabha to give a special teaching to freethem from suffering. Buddha Amitabha gave this Phowa teaching toPadmasambhava who gave it to Minister Nyima who then gave up allworldly activities to practice the Phowa which he eventuallyactualized. Through the path of Phowa, Minister Nyima's consciousnessattained the Pure Land when death came and many different signsappeared like rainbows and relics from his body. This text was hidden in the Black Mandala Lake which is at thebackside of Dhaglhagampo Hill. The Naga king, Tsurana-Ratna, asked tobe the guardian of this text and was told by Padmasambhava that thefuture incarnation of Minister Nyima would be Nyida Sang-gye and thathe must give the text to him. Padmasambhava then left to go to the land of the Rakshas. Aftermore than 350 years the incarnation of Minister Nyima was born as theson of a shepherd. When Nyida Sang-gye was growing up he felt greatcompassion and wept tears of sorrow when the animals would die. In order to alleviate his great suffering, Buddha Amitabha appearedto him and gave him this Phowa teaching for the benefit of allsentient beings. Nyida Sang-gye then gave Phowa to all the dyinganimals and often many different signs appeared. The Naga-king then came to Nyida Sang-gye and told him of theHidden Text (Ter-ma) and Nyida Sang-gye took the Ter from the BlackMandala Lake and gave the teaching to the Sagas. Through this teachingmany of the Nagas were reborn into a higher life.



After this Nyida Sang-gye gave many teachings to human beingsthrough which many reached liberation. This transmission of the teaching is held by the Drikung Kagyudpa.The devoted practitioner who has no doubt in the qualified Lama andteachings can experience the sign of Phowa merely through receivingthe Lung (Blessing Transmission). This has been experienced by manypractitioners around the world. The Drikung Kagyu Linage is one of the lineages of TibetanBuddhism. The founder, Kyobpa Jigten Sumgon (1143-1217) - thought ofas the second Buddha was the Vajra-regent of Phagmo Drupa who was thechief lineage holder of Gampopa (1079-1153). The Drikung Kagyu order of Tibetan Buddhism holds the preciousteachings of all the yanks which Shakyamuni Buddha taught for thebenefit of all sentient beings. This lineage also possesses thecomplete transmission of the meditative practices of the Five-ProfoundPaths of the Mahamudra and the Six Yogas of Naropa. The Drikung orderis famous for its ability to successfully transfer the power of thePhowa meditation to initiated and devoted practitioners who practiceit. Thus, the Phowa transmission given by the Drikung Lamas came to beknown as the 'Drikung Phowa Chen-mo' - the Great Drikung Phowa. TheDrikung Phowa became so powerful that it became a tradition in Tibetto have a Drikung Phowa Ch'en-mo ceremony every twelve years atDro-ngor Sum-dho at Drikung in central Tibet. The fame of this Phowacontinued to spread as thousands of participants would experience thesigns of the Phowa during the 'Lung' (Blessing Transmission) given bya head Lama of Drikung Kagyu. Due to the accumulated energy of thelineage and the blessing of the teaching itself, the qualified Lama isable to directly transfer the blessings of this practice to the pureand devoted disciples who can experience the signs very quickly. Whenone has received any of the signs of the Phowa meditation, then one isconsidered to be prepared to enter into the Buddha-field of AmitabhaBuddha (Dewa-chen) at the time of death. It is taught that one doesnot return to the samsaric realms after having entered Dewa-chen andthat one can quickly achieve Enlightenment. Because of all this, theDrikung Phowa is becoming particularly relevant in these times simplybecause in today's society we do not have the time nor thecircumstances to walk the spiritual path of the Dharma as did ourpredecessors in the past. We desperately need a spiritual path that issimple, relevant, and direct, enabling us to transform the stressesand pace of modern life into a vital force that cuts throughmaterialism and attachment to worldly phenomenal, and awakens in usthe realization of our Buddha-natures. The Drikung Phowa meditations is simple and yet powerful. We havethe same opportunity as did the thousands of people in Tibet to masterthe Phowa practice, enabling us to transform the experience of death,which is a certainty, into a passage to the realization of Dewa-ch'en(Blissful, Pure Land). Today, we have His Holiness the DrikungKyabgon, the Vaira-regent of Lord Jigten Sumgon who is the incarnationof Chenrezig, imparting this teaching as well as other Drikung Lamaslike the Venerable K.C. Ayang Rinpoche who is traveling the world toimpart these precious teachings to fortunate human being

The Teaching of Phowa (Transference of Consciousness at the Time of Death).pdf

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