14 September 1998, Montreal, Quebec, Canada This teaching was given at the opening of the 12th International Congress on Care of the Terminally Ill, in Montreal, Canada, to an audience of 1250 people. Rinpoche was moved by both the number of professional health-care workers attending, and their willingness to learn about spiritual care for the dying. He shows how working to transform ourselves enables us to do the same for others. Rinpoche also gives a revealing explanation of the inner dissolution at the moment of death, and a simple Amithaba Phowa practice to do for someone who is dying. If we genuinely want to help the dying, we must begin by working with ourselves. First, through meditation, we learn to be spacious with our thoughts and emotions. Then we can begin to train our mind in compassion. This training begins with learning to cherish others as we cherish ourselves. Then, through Tonglen, the practice of giving and receiving, we transform our own suffering, and, ultimately, embrace the suffering of others. Points of change in our lives are opportunities for liberation. The greatest of these is the moment of death. This is the moment the ego dissolves. In that instant there is a gap, so subtle that it is easily missed, in which we can see the true nature of our mind. All the practices are meant to help us recognize the nature of mind when death comes. The same practices can inspire the way we care for the dying. If we are in touch with our true nature, the love we give to someone who is dying is purer, almost a divine love. In this way we can create an environment of trust so that the person can die, surrounded not with confusion, but with love. |
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