Great Liberation for Friends – abridged
excerpt from a reading meditation i offer for the sick, dying and dead on the in-between state leading towards Death…
Great Liberation Through Hearing While In Transition
modified from Tibetan Book of the Dead for Reading Aloud by Jean-Claude Van Italie and Tibetan Book of the Dead by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
TO FRIENDS OF THE DYING
Oh you,
who have come to this place,
Sisters and brothers, friends,
This person is dying.
She has not chosen to do so.
She is suffering greatly.
She has no home, no friends.
Falling as from a cliff,
She is entering a strange forest
Driven by the winds, swept by the ocean,
She feels no solid ground.
She is embarking on a great battle.
Moved from state to state,
She is alone and helpless.
Embrace her with your love.
THE MOMENT OF DEATH
My friend,
Now is the moment of death.
The time has come for you to start out.
You are going home.
Oh, Nobly Born,
Now is the moment.
Before you is mind, open and wide as space,
Simple, without center or circumference.
Death has happened.