CHAPTER 4. MEDITATION.

Critical transition phase

No more physical bodies to hold us.  
Our bad habits appear as the world of illusion and fear. 
Our positive habits appear as a peaceful world. 
So, we must remember to create and maintain spiritual qualities.
For the average person, medium or transition begins when consciousness returns. This stage ends when we are conceived in the next life. For experienced Tantric meditators, this stage begins with the end of the natural light emanations or at that moment. 

In the process of dying, our mind is with our body. The next period or period of ultimate nature is so short that ordinary people can hardly see it. Thus, the intermediate period, the period between the experience of ultimate nature and rebirth, is a major event after our death - the most important moment in our lives - and the period of time most of the first three transition periods. 

Usually, the intermediate stage lasts for up to seven weeks (49 days), but it can be much shorter, or in some cases even more likely. In the first half of this transition, we may feel ourselves and the emotions of our past life. In the second half, we can feel that we have the body and experiences of the coming birth. 

EXPERIENCES OF MEDIEVES

In the Middle Ages, most of us will feel we are going through narrow roads or tunnels, crossing a desert, passing bridges on fierce rivers, It can be abused by the abuser, and sent to hell, higher realms, or pure heaven. All these are the reactions of our own emotional, mental, cultural and material habits that we have nurtured in the past. 

We may feel as if we are pounded out of a narrow, dark tunnel as our consciousness escapes the dying body. At the end of the tunnel, we can see a door or a window with light shining through. This can be an opening on the head or one of the nine openings of the body. Unless we can eradicate deeply rooted habits that we are nurturing and find the way to full liberation, otherwise we will go around in an endless cycle. , like a bee stuck in a room. 

In the middle, many beings experience the same kind of world systems together, because they are enjoying the similar karmic things they have created in the past. But in some cases, the experience will be the subjective perception of the dead, no real involvement of others, although the dead may feel like many sentient beings are sharing. Experiment with yourself. For example, we will read in Chapter 5, Do Khyentse, a  delog , feeling that his sister and others are traveling with him to visit the Pure Land, but in fact his sister is still alive and busy studying at Yarlung Monastery. 

As mentioned earlier, if we are meditators who have practiced fullness, attained enlightenment in life or while undergoing the ultimate nature stage, we can not need to go through the intermediate period. 

If we have accumulated many blessings and gained some meditative experience, we will go through the middle stages with very little sense of fear and suffering. Thanks to the power of merit and the attainments in meditation, we will be able to reincarnate into one of the purely physical lands manifested, or at least into one of the good realms of the world. 

If our mind is full of karmic traces of unwholesome actions, we will not be able to see the ultimate nature and be frightened by the sounds, the illusions of light, the rays and the images. image. We do not even dare to look at the illusions and we will not even understand that they are the manifestations of our very nature. Instead, we will have to struggle with them as objects of the mind in the form of contradictory forces. Such perceptions of contradiction and struggle can lead us to reincarnation into the hell realm. 

In the intermediate period, our consciousness is completely separated from the body. Our mind has left the beloved body behind, like a corpse without warmth, no breath, and no movement. Our consciousness will drift around without the crude body to anchor it. We will be able to see without the sun or the moon. We will receive a mental body, almost imagined according to our past habits. However, some scriptures portray it as a subtle body of light. But we can think that we have and still are alive. 

We can experience the following experiences: There is no sense of stability because the emotions and situations around us change every second, depending on the changes in our thoughts and images. the effect of karma. We will find ourselves with someone in a place where we think, unless it is outside of our karma. If we think of New York City then we will be there immediately without spending some time or effort going there. Because our body is the spiritual body, not the physical body. 

Being able to walk here is not our problem; But the problem is that we do not have stability. It is hard for us to stay in one place or focus on one thought as we move, flicker, float and push away. We often run, fly and move like a feather in the storm, nowhere long. 

Our hearts will be much sharper than when we were alive. We will see and hear from so many other people, like us, wandering with the middle body. We will enjoy being able to see the future, knowing the thoughts of others, but our theoretical and analytical capacity will be less, because we lack the concentration. God. In seconds, our minds can fluctuate through many changes: happiness and suffering, hope and fear, peace and pain. Sometimes we feel endangered by the forces of the elements, such as we are buried under houses, caves, or land collapsed; falls down and sinks into the water; 

If we see our own corpse, we can see it clearly, as it really is, and want to protect it. Either we hate it and do not want to see it anymore. We may not see or fully recognize our own corpses. For some time, do not understand why, we can see it in another form, such as a dog's body or a snake. Seeing the body can help us consciously for a moment that we are dead, but right after that we can not even remember it, because we are so hard to remember. 

That is why it took us a long time to really understand that we were dead. We have very little reasoning ability when we are meditating. So this moment we are aware that we are dead, but in the next moment we will forget and re-start the habit of feeling alive. 

We may always be looking for food, but we do not enjoy any food unless it is offered to us by spirituality or by giving us our name. We can barely enjoy the smell of food but can not eat it. That is why many scriptures call the sentient beings in the middle of warmth "the smellers". (In Tibetan tradition, this is the reason why the smoke of hot food, or  sur (gSur) was offered to the dead for weeks after his death. 

We can feel lonely and insecure, always looking for shelter and stability. Tired of being swept away by the storms of emotion, spirit and karma, we would wish to have such a solid body that we would not care less about what we would fall into in the future. any. 

Some people continue to experience, once every seven days, their death experiences, just as they have experienced, especially if their death was a tragic death. That is why relatives pray and pray for the dead every week (seven days). 

We can get close to our friends, but strangely, no one is paying attention to us. We can ask this question but no one answers us. That can make us sad, thinking that people are angry with us and nobody cares about us. Maybe we see others peeking at our personal belongings and take away what they want, and we may be angry that they are stealing our belongings. At such a moment, the worst thing that can happen is that we can get into negative emotions like anger. Therefore, we should be aware of the signs of death while we are still alive and remind ourselves to always think, "At death we will not get into negative emotions." 

PHARMACY AND JAPAN

After a while, many will see the Deathly Hallows (shinje; gShin rJe ) came to take them away. They are the envoys of the Deathly Hall of Fame ( shinje chokyi gyalpo; gShin rJe ch'os Kyi rGal Po ), the last and highest authority of the death tribunal. Deaths appear in different forms and have many different tasks. You can see them coming to your court, overseeing your judgments and enforcing the orders of His Holiness. 

At this point, we will leave our old place and go away on a tense journey. We will be able to walk hard through very high passes and narrow paths. Then the feeling of passing through a vast, hot desert. Next, we will go through a dangerous long bridge over a fierce river. Finally, we go to the court of the King of the Deaths. All these "journeys" are the result of the cultural, emotional and spiritual influences that are embedded in our stream of consciousness. They are now displayed in the form of external images and sounds, emotions and fears, legal and order experiences, rewards and punishments. 

Experiences of being judged by the wise and powerful, prosecuted by opponents and advocated by the supporters are the manifestations of the habits we nurture when we are alive. . This is why we can develop a clear awareness of seeing all as Buddhas, all manifestations of Buddha nature for us, because in the reality of all things, All are real Buddhas. 

For devotees, a deity of the dead will also appear to accompany the dead through their journey. The guardians are enlightened ones, often bearing the form of a male god or a female god or a spiritual master. 

The court of His Holiness is where our rebirth in the realm will be determined after our records of positive or negative behavior in the past are judged. We will be questioned by the defense counsel and they will defend us by presenting evidence of our positive behavior. People accuse us of being against us by showing evidence of negative behavior. To get records of our behavior, they examine a glass in which our actions will appear; notebooks in which our behavior is recorded; and pebbles used to balance our behavior on the scale. Like all the other things mentioned above, these are just a reflection of our habits related to trial, 

The tribunal of the Deathly Hallows is not a place for us to be tricky or ask for grace, because this is not a court of law professionals but a practical expression of the child itself. ours 

In the narratives of the  delogs  collected in the next chapter, we read that the dying people go to different realms of hell and happiness. But these  delogies  are not ordinary people; They have a mission to gather information to provide and serve to others. On the contrary, ordinary people like us do not have to walk around through many realms, because the Deaths will take us directly to the realm where our karmic habits have set us. must come. 

PREVIOUS 
BUTTON BEFORE RECORDING

In the later stages of the intermediate, we will begin to see different colors of light. These lights represent the energy of our karma, our emotions, and the realm of regeneration that awaits us. If we have done good deeds, we will see the white light, but if the emotion prevailing in us is arrogance or craving, it will drive us to reincarnation into the heavens or the human realm. . If the dominant emotion in us is jealousy or ignorance, we will see the light yellow color that will make us reborn in the a-la or animal world. However, some people can see the light of blood color when they are about to reincarnate in the animal kingdom and the snowstorm or rainstorm when we are about to reborn in the aura. If we have done unwholesome deeds and emotions predominate in us as stingy or greedy, we will see smoky light. And so we will be forced to go towards the precepts. Finally, the light will look like a log or a black wool float if the dominant emotion is hate and we will go to the hell realm. 

However, many different books describe different types of light as indicators of how we will reincarnate. Tsele writes that it is not necessarily the light of any realm that must have color. 

The realm of rebirth in us is also manifested in symbolic images. If we are reborn in the realm of the gods, we can feel ourselves on the high ground of a large house. If we are pushed to the a-tuas realm, we may feel ourselves in a wheel of fire. When we go to human realm, we may find ourselves in the middle of many people. Or instead we can feel ourselves approaching a lake with swans, horses, or cows, or going into a house, a city, or a crowd of people. If we are going to the animal world, we may feel we are in a cave or an empty tent. If we are going to enter the realm of hunger, we may find ourselves in a dry cave. 

At the time of conception, such as in the human realm, we will see our parents making love. If we are born male, we can be jealous of our future father and crave for our mother. If we were born as a woman, we would crave our father and be jealous of our mother. That emotion, in fact, becomes the starting point for us being accepted into the womb of conception. The uterus (pregnancy) is one of four births. The other methods of birth are egg production (birth), birth in moist water (low birth) and miraculous or immediate (biochemical). 

If we are the followers of the Pure Land and can direct our minds to the Buddha of Amitabha Buddha and His dwelling place, we can fly to the Pure Land as a child. The eagle flies through the sky as soon as we get out of the body. At that moment, we can see or hear our loved ones or enemies calling us back. It's not really our loved ones but our own emotions that fool us and are obstacles. So, we have to concentrate completely on the pure land. Chagme Rinpoche has said:  

When you are on the way from here to the Pure Land,  
you can hear your parents, relatives or friends say:  
"Here I am. Do not leave me. Come here. " 
They may call your name, cry and cry,  
but they are the negative forces that impede your liberation. 
Do not look back or respond. 
Except for the Buddha of Infinite Light, do  
not look at anyone -  
only the peace and bliss of the Pure Land. 
Do not cling to anything. 
Then you will surely come to the Pure Land of Pure Land. 

Chapter 7 will have descriptions of the Buddha of Infinite Light and His Pureland Pure Land, based on the sutras, the teachings of the Sakyamuni Buddha. 

WHAT SHOULD WE DO IN THE SECOND PHASE?

How should we respond to the intermediate period? First of all, it is very important to verify that we are really dead, so we have to see some signs:  

 Look at the glass or the water. If you do not have a mirror image then you are dead. 
 Go on sand or in the snow. If there are no footprints left, then you are dead. 
 Go out in the sun or go in the light. If you do not see the shadow next to you, then you are dead. 
 If people do not respond to you, or if people do not even look at you, or if people do not offer you food, it's not their fault or they are angry with you. That's because you're dead. 

After realizing that you are dead, try not to be sad or shocked, because doing so will not help but hurt you. Try to face death in three ways: 

1.  Be  aware that you are at the most critical moment in your life.  For the future, you can not waste a single second. This is the greatest opportunity to move forward. 

2.  Recall and feel happy with any spiritual path you have pursued in your life.  It will be a source of peace and great power for you. 

3.  Remember one of the following three practices, depending on your ability and experience.  Then try to stay with that practice without distraction. 

(a) When you see the form of male and female beings, as they are mentioned in  Liberation by Hearing , recognize them as male and female Buddhas and the pure realms. . Be aware that they are reflecting your own mind. If you try to look at them with positive perception, you will find them a source of blessings, since all of them are just marks of your mind in the intermediate period. 

Remember the devotion to the Buddhas, to the spiritual teachers and to your own meditation. If you have the experience of tantric meditation, try to be aware of the unity of everything that happens because everything that happens is one of their essences, the Tantric Path. We must strive to see and feel that every appearance, sound, and feeling of peace or anger we may encounter is only the manifesting power of the one. See those lights as the light of wisdom, or turn them into the light of wisdom through meditation techniques that are familiar to you. Do not cling to them or fight them with a hostile attitude towards the subject. Instead, be open with them and be consistent with them. Let go of that state of unity. 

(b) If you are not an enlightened or experienced meditator but a spiritual follower, you should first retreat and be consistent. Then try to remember your spiritual support, whether it be a spiritual, a great teacher, or an active experience that is present with you and in you. Try to concentrate on that, instead of being distracted elsewhere. Try to love others instead of fighting them. Try to look at things as sacred expressions instead of fear and suffering. Try to chant, recite and listen to all the sounds as words of respect and compassion instead of lamentations. We must strive to remain in such a spiritual atmosphere during our journey of transition. Positive memories, 

Experienced spiritual practitioners can help others. Thanks to the power of prayers, blessings, devotional or meditation, they can bring our minds to an image (or object) and stabilize it. Then they can teach us catechism, ask for the merciful blessings of the gods, and give us the power to guide our minds to the Buddhas or at least to a good rebirth. If we have some good karma as a cause, these meditation help will be as effective conditions, and help will be of great benefit. Such help can become a real turning point for us on the journey through transition. 

What memories and positive experiences we can gather will create and strengthen the power of peace, joy, devotion, love, clear awareness and wisdom. That power will bring us to enlightenment or a better rebirth, as well as the power of negative emotions that bring us into the hell realm. Such a positive force can divert us from the path of rebirth into the realms of hell, even if we are destined to be born there. Any experience or spiritual strength that we have achieved in our lives will certainly be effective at the right time. However, we should be cautious when we activate the power of the karma instead of creating negative karma that governs our lives. Longchen Rabjam advises: 

Although the emergences [of the ultimate nature] appear in such a way, if you can not recognize them, the  
intermediate body of the transition phase, like a dream, will appear. 
Then, by recollecting the pure Buddhist realms and seeking refuge in the spiritual teachers and gods of protection. 
You can reincarnate into the Pure Land and attain liberation. 
Many people, instead of being so, can be reborn as human beings with seven degrees of qualities,  
and will attain liberation in the next life.

(c) You can experience the illusions of the middle period without having a lot of spiritual experience and meditation. If so, you must try to remember not to be angry, angry or scared, looking at all the appearance is like illusory, like a dream. No one is setting up a scene displaying these transitions because of you, they are just your own mental illusions and mental habits in the past, fed by emotional distress. Try to keep your mind open, positive, stable and peaceful instead of choosing a clinging or negative awareness with feelings of greed, hatred and delusion. Try to be grateful for the other people who are being crushed by this frightening journey. If you can create and maintain a positive attitude, Purified by the energies of devotion and compassion, your mind will be at peace, like the clear sky without clouds. There are no dark clouds of negative karma to carry on the darkness of illusion and suffering. Peace of mind like the sun and the moon will spread throughout your experience of whatever happens, guaranteeing a happy journey. 

In addition to the three practices above, you can also remember how to "reverse" the process of rebirth into the lower realms, if we face those realms. If you see the signs of a low birthrate - light or pale colors, or your future birthplace or parents - the most important thing is not to fall into the mindset and Negative emotions such as attachments, craving, attachment, hatred, jealousy, fear or illusion. Try to look at them with a spiritual mind, peace of mind, the most like and transient. Look at them with peace of mind by realizing that they are just the products of our own mind. Or you can see them as male and female gods and their pure realms. 

THE FUTURE OF OUR FUTURE

In our lives, our mind is relatively stable because it is anchored in this crude and mundane physical structure. This makes it easy for us to gain spiritual attitudes and habits through meditation. But it also makes it difficult for us to make great changes or improvements because our minds are detained and programmed in this rough and mundane body. 

However, in the transit journey of the neutral body, the mind rapidly changes without any physical limitations. Therefore, we can easily change or improve our future journey. But since there is no anchorage of a physical body, it is very difficult for us to find a way and focus on that path. The mind without our flesh continues to live with our past habits and is constantly flowing at a high speed toward its future fate. 

Fortunately, today we are alive and have a secular body to cling to, so that we can prepare for the intermediate period and for the next life. If we can enjoy peace, strength and wisdom when we are alive, when the moment of death comes to us, we will be able to truly welcome it and think, "I am so happy , because I prepared everything for this moment. I did not waste any precious opportunity. " 

In the middle period, our minds will be clearer and stronger than ours today. Its experience is sharper and more sensitive. If we have positive experiences while we are alive, we will enjoy their results in this transition phase easily, clearly and effectively. But it is very difficult for us to begin a new psychological state or experience because we need to be consistent in order to nurture new habits. 

If the awareness of peace, bliss and tranquility has become part of the spiritual quality while we are alive, in the intermediate period, all mental states and all appearances The images around us will arise as positive impressions and experiences. Even the five afflictive emotions of our mind will appear as the five wisdoms, and the five physical elements will appear as the intrinsic light year, which is the light of the natural energy of the intellect. 

The innumerable sacred beings, in male and female form, will lead us on our path. Our spiritual body will fly away like a hawk flying through immense infinite sky with a solemnity of miraculous offerings, melodious music and overflowing fun dances. all over space. We will be welcomed to the pure land or the most beautiful and peaceful heaven. We will also have the capacity to lead others to these pure realms with great joy. All this will happen only if we have spiritual preparation when we are alive.END=NAM MO SAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=THICH CHAN TANH.VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=GOLDEN AMITABHA MONASTERY=AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.7/11/2018.