[From a teaching on Life of Guru Rinpoche by Bardor Tulku Rinpoche given in Seattle, WA, in April 2009. Translated by Lama Yeshe Gyamtso, transcribed by Linda Lee, copy-edited by Basia Coulter. Copyright 2009 Karma Thegsum Choling Seattle, Bardor Tulku Rinpoche, and Peter O’Hearn. All rights reserved.]
Many of us are very interested in the bardo or interval that occurs after death, and we want to learn about it. We want to learn what we can expect to experience, what sorts of things appear in the bardo, and what the stages of dying—the stages of dissolution—are that precede it. Especially nowadays many people are intensely curious about the practice of powa or the ejection of consciousness. They want to know where they can learn how to do this, how they can practice it, and be able to eject their consciousness at the moment of death.
The practice of the ejection of consciousness, of course, is a very good thing. And if someone can learn this, practice it, and gain the ability to do this, then they can be of great use to themselves and to others at the time of death. It is also very good to learn as much as you can about the bardo (the interval after death), what happens then, what you can do, and so on. But the actual vajrayana approach for the time of death is much simpler, much easier than all of those techniques.
The actual vajrayana approach to death and dying is something so simple that the most simple‑minded of human beings—someone who is even unable to comprehend basic meditation instruction—is still capable of implementing, because we are all capable of seeing our root guru. We know what our root guru looks like; we have seen his face. It does not take any special ability or technique to recollect the face of your root guru.
Nevertheless, in spite of how ordinary or simple that may sound, if the last thought you have at death is of your root guru (thinking of him above your head or in front of you), if you try to mix your mind with the mind of your guru as you die, then that alone is the best practice of the ejection of consciousness.
Conventional consciousness ejection is fairly technical and complicated. You have to be able to work with the various channels and winds, and be able to actually shoot your consciousness up from the navel to the heart level, up through the throat and the head, and then out the right aperture, and get it moving in the right direction and not the wrong one. It is kind of like plumbing [laughter]. But this technique, which does not rely upon any such mechanics, is far more effective. It is called the King of Ejections.
There is, after all, a very important reason why our gurus choose to appear among us as human beings, apparently like ourselves. As human beings they are easy to see; we can see them with our eyes and we can remember them. The memory of the guru—of your root guru—at death is the most important thing that you can do. And remember also that your consciousness at the time of death and immediately after death is ten times more powerful in its capacity to focus than your consciousness now. So that is another reason why the recollection of your root guru at the time of death can be a definitive cause of liberation.
