Prayer for the Dying
Yuandan Trinley Dorje Rinpoche has specially arranged "Bardo Liberation" rituals in various monasteries and meditation centers. Through Rinpoche's vast compassion and the blessings of the lineage, the deceased are helped to be liberated from suffering and reborn in the Pure Land of Buddha during the fifty-three-day Bardo period.
Of all sufferings, death is the most painful. Before the deceased breathes their last, the "four elements disintegrate," which begins to reveal the painful journey of the intermediate state between death and rebirth. If a person has not practiced the methods to realize the state of clear light during their lifetime, the various phenomena of the intermediate state between death and rebirth will cause the deceased's consciousness to experience great fear and terror, and may even cause them to miss the crucial moment for rebirth in the Pure Land.
Rinpoche follows the teachings of the Dzogchen lineage, providing salvation according to the deceased's different levels of spiritual attainment during their lifetime. The intermediate state (bardo) is divided into four stages, and depending on the different circumstances that arise in each stage, he performs rituals and transmits oral instructions on salvation.
The Rinpoche leads his disciples, who have attained extraordinary realizations in practicing this method, in the practice. When practicing this method, if fellow practitioners who have taken vows with the deceased, spiritual teachers of the same lineage, or trusted relatives and friends of the deceased participate in the practice, and recite the ritual for liberating the deceased with focused mind and clear pronunciation, the extraordinary merit and blessings will be beyond description.
Salvation Dharma Teaching Ritual
Even before the deceased's breath ceases, signs of death are already visible. The period up to half an hour after death is a crucial and critical time.
At this stage, those who have already realized their pure nature in their previous life only need slight guidance. Those who have practiced Phowa (the method of transgression of consciousness) and had profound experiences in their previous life can be assisted in practicing Phowa when one or two signs of death appear, so as to transfer their consciousness to a higher realm. Those who have not been liberated at this stage need to practice different liberation rituals according to different signs of the intermediate state.
The process of saving the deceased can be divided into four stages.
1. The first stage is from before the deceased's external breath completely ceases until half an hour after death.
2. The second stage is from half an hour after the gas is cut off to the fourth day.
3. The third stage begins on the fifth day after death and lasts until the eighteenth day, a total of two seven-day periods, during which different scriptures are recited each day. During this fourteen-day Bardo of Dharmata, the peaceful deities manifest a state of great luminosity in the first week, while the wrathful deities manifest a state of great luminosity in the second week.
4. The fourth stage is from the nineteenth to the fifty-third day after death. During this thirty-five-day intermediate state (bardo), one should recite the twenty-four salvation texts daily, including "The Manifestations of the Afterlife," "The Manifestations of Rebirth - Closure of the Womb," and "The Manifestations of Rebirth - Selection of a Womb." These texts cover the formation and characteristics of the intermediate state, the states of the intermediate state during rebirth, the judgment of the deceased in the underworld, methods to prevent the deceased from entering the womb, and methods to close the womb if the deceased has entered it.