In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition the process of dying
and death is very well understood. The death of an individual is followed by
prescribed rituals. These rituals assist the individual’s mind to transition
from this life to the next one. When a person dies the Sukhavati ceremony is
preformed for the benefit of the transition of the person’s mind.
The intermediate state or Bardo is where the mind goes and exists through
experiences that determine where it will go next. In this state the mind has clairvoyant
abilities allowing it to see and understand what in its physical body it could
not. It is because of this heightened perception that the mind can be helped
through what it will experience in the Bardo.
In the Tibetan tradition, the period after death is treated as one of the most
important times one can go through. It is also one that the family can help
their loved one with. The family is counseled to not cause further pain by
being mindful of their behavior. Because their loved one will be most attracted
to the people that they were close to, they will be able to see what is going
on and this could cause them further pain of separation from their loved ones.
This is why guidance and prayers make such a difference to the person going
through the intermediate state.
In Tibetan communities, the Buddhists had access to monasteries who would assign a
monk or monks to be with them and help them with what would most benefit their
relative at this time. It is important to remember that the mind of the one who
has died perceives in a way that is not limited by what his or her language and
culture were. The mind in the Bardo is nine times more aware and perceptive.
Because of this if the deceased person focuses, he or she can be assisted
through the difficulties that they are going to experience. There are
historical stories about the experience of the Bardo state that describe the
pain of confusion in the Bardo if there is no focus. The purpose of the prayers
and rituals of the Sukhavati ceremony is help the person focus.
This ceremony takes a full day to prepare and perform. It is a great fortune that
the Vajra Vidya Retreat Center has two highly qualified Lamas who have begun
performing this ceremony at the Vajra Vidya Retreat Center. The Lamas have been
scheduling these ceremonies on the full moon once a month because this is when
the rest of Thrangu Rinpoche’s monasteries and retreat centers are also doing
the Amitabha prayers. Amitabha made many aspirations to help beings through
their pain and suffering and it is his pure land that ordinary beings can enter
so he is supplicated to help in this situation.
The actual ceremony is symbolic in that it is an external representation of the
process that the mind is going through and gives the mind the map that it needs
to focus and move in the direction that will be of most benefit in its future
existence. There is a great deal of information by masters and even ordinary
beings who go into this intermediate realm and bring back information about
what the experience is like for the mind and how to help those going through
the intermediate state.
We have an interesting story to relate about the most recent Sukhavati that was
held at Vajra Vidya. Two people—one a retreatant who had just arrived and one
who lived in Crestone—had attended the ceremony. The next morning, the
retreatant told us that during the night she was concerned because she had come
thinking that their would only be a few retreatants at Vajra Vidya. Instead all
night there were all sorts of people in her room old and young and some sitting
on the floor. In the morning, of course, none of the people she had seen were
there. We asked Lama and he explained that the ceremony had attracted people in
the Bardo which is what usually happens and that it was a good thing because it
meant the prayers had helped them and they would go on to their next stage.
Then a little later the man who had attended the ceremony came for morning
practice and told Lama about his experience of the previous night. He had seen
people all night long and felt he was not asleep but rather was seeing people
in a cloudy atmosphere. Even lama was surprised that two people would
experience the same thing and said this was good because it meant that the
prayers had helped many people. Lama and Khenpo will be performing the Sukhavati once a month. You are welcome to
send in a person’s name and picture with date of birth and death with whatever
donation you like and they will be put on the list.
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