The Five Powers at the Time of Death - Khenpo Appey Rinpoche

Extracted from a teaching given by Khenpo Appey Rinpoche at the International Buddhist Academy

The practice of the five powers of the virtuous seed, aspiration, prayer, revulsion, and familiarization, belong to the lojong tradition of teachings, whose various mind training techniques help us to transform our problems and sufferings into happiness and causes of enlightenment.  

While one form of the five powers is practiced throughout our lives, what follows is a brief explanation by Khenpo Appey Rinpoche on its counterpart, the practice of the five powers at the time of death, which we can also train in while we are still alive and well. The five powers at the time of death are a Mahayana method for transferring or directing our mind into a higher rebirth. Because of this, as Rinpoche makes clear, the motivation for the practice is one of bodhichitta—the wish and determination to attain enlightenment in order to liberate all sentient being from suffering.

The power of the virtuous seed

The first power is that of the virtuous seed. At the time of death we should make good use of whatever material possessions we have. For example, use your possessions to make offerings to the Three Jewels. It is taught in the sutras that it is important that we consciously think, “May all the things I enjoy and all the things that I consider to be important become the possessions of all beings and may they be able help and benefit everyone.” This is particularly important at the time of death if there are things that we feel especially attached to or are particularly fond of. If that is the case, then we should make the prayer thinking that “May these things that I cherish so much and that I am so fond of become the true source of happiness for sentient beings.” 

The power of aspiration 

The second power, that of aspiration, is praying, "May I be able to go through the experience of death without being separated from the training of developing bodhichitta. May I go through the intermediate state without forgetting that training, and may I never forget this training in a future life."

The power of prayer

When it comes to the compelling force, the power of prayer, think, "I will go through these experiences within the training of developing the enlightened mind of bodhichitta." 

The power of revulsion

The power of revulsion is to understand that the painful experience of death is created by selfishness, just as selfishness is the creator of pain everywhere. The universal source of suffering and pain is the self-centred attitude. Think that, “Now that I experience the results of it, it is clear that this is an entirely negative frame of mind to be in, and I now I can really see and feel the negative effects of self-centred perspective.” With that sense of revulsion one turns away from the self-cherishing attitude. 

The power of familiarization

The power of familiarization refers to merging with the main practice and passing away with the experience of practicing mind training. One should also take care of conduct, meaning that the way one conducts oneself physically during the time of dying is also important. For example, one can assume the posture which will facilitate practice at the time of death. One can lie down assuming the posture of the sleeping lion, in the same posture as the Buddha did when entering the great nirvana. To do this, one lies on one's right die, supports the cheek with the right hand and blocks the right nostril with the ring finger so the breathing flows through the left nostril. In this posture of the sleeping lion one then trains in the practice of giving and taking with the support of the breath, and then after that, again using the support of the breath, one acknowledges that all appearances and experiences are one's own mind and that mind itself is emptiness. One then passes away in that realization. 

Much mind training practice is done having a notion of self, so it is not that one has to eliminate the notion of the self or grasping at the self in order to train the mind along these lines. In that way we can say that much of mind training—or the view of mind training—is in accord with non-Buddhist philosophies and religions too. Nevertheless what we are talking about now is the cultivation of ultimate bodhichitta, that is a mind of bodhichitta that is focussed on emptiness, which is also clearly an aspect of mind training. When it comes to the transference of consciousness at the time of passing away then one's practice must culminate with the cultivation of this ultimate bodhichitta. Because of this, the view is clearly different from the more relative and general level where one forms certain ideas and thoughts that all involve the notion of the self.