Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 67-minute session, Beru Rinpoche provides detailed instruction on pho wa (consciousness transference), a Tibetan Buddhist practice for achieving rebirth in Amitābha’s Pure Land. After establishing the lineage and requesting blessings from Padmasambhava, Amitābha Buddha, and one’s root teacher, he walks through the core visualization: imagining your consciousness shooting upward from your heart through your central channel and dissolving into Amitābha’s heart above your head, while reciting the mantra Om Ami Dewa Hrīḥ. He explains how to adapt the practice when assisting a dying person—visualizing Amitābha above their head and guiding their consciousness upward instead—and describes observable signs of accomplishment: heat, itching, or blistering at the crown. He emphasizes that three to four days of earnest training can yield real benefit, and stresses self-mastery before attempting to help others. Practical instructions include not touching the crown of the head during practice and final prayers of dedication for all beings to reach the Pure Land. Suited for practitioners who have received Amitābha initiation.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 02 1989 02 09 Phowa Instruction tape 2.mp3
UUID: 02b29186-aba7-4f56-826e-2f61160b70da
Teacher: Beru Rinpoche
Collection: Pho Wa (Beru Rinpoche)
Date: 1989-02-09
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Words: ~2,236
Again, making a request this time to the emanation body or the nirmanakaya that is Padma Sambhava. Temporarily seeking, requesting to achieve the practice of the transference of consciousness and the ultimate attainment of the emanation body. So then we make we make requests to the to the to the consort of all the victors, that is the Dakini Yeshe Tsogyal, as was done previously. And then within the disciples, Padma Sambhava and Yeshe Tsogyal was the circle of twenty five. Within the teaching in each of his practice, the first is Lhündrup Könchok Jungne.
And then we make request to him. So then we’re then making request to the to the finder of the hidden teaching, the Dharma which held in secret this practice. That is Rigdzin Düddul Dorje. I’ve got it. So yeah.
Akasham. So, let’s see. Then we make request to Rigdzin Longsel Nyingpo who is a reincarnation of Lhündrup Könchok Jungne. He was, I made a mistake, he s the actual finder of the terma, of the hidden teaching. But he is the, his teacher is Rigdzin Düddul Dorje who comes before him because even though his teacher is placed before him in the lineage even though he found the terma himself.
Rigdzin Longsel Nyingpo was the actual locator of the terma but because out of respect to his teacher, his teacher is placed before him in the lineage. Then in the lineage, who is a reincarnation of Rigdzin Düddul Dorje. And his student? And his student. His student And then his student rings in.
And his student. And his student and then his student is Rigdzin Pema Dorje. Rigdzin Jampal Dorje. Rizen Jampal Dorje. Rizen Jampal Dorje.
Which isn’t written in here. Oh, no. In this side. In his tunic. And then then Rinpoche has received the blessings from from his teacher.
So he’s Rinpoche has received this teaching from on three different occasions from various teachers. So he is one of the one of the teachers he received his lineage from was within his lineage prayer. Received the teaching from the incarnation. And again, down in the next lineage holder, Könchok Tendzin Wangpo, Rinpoche received the teaching from one of his incarnations. So he’s he’s received the blessings from this in Tibet from all these these really great unimaginable lamas.
And his his own root teacher was was an actual Buddha, unimaginable accomplishment, and therefore, he has himself received the blessings of this lineage. So though Rinpoche has received the blessings of this lineage which are like unimaginable nectars flowing from his teachers, that he himself is just a poor container of this great blessing of the nectar of the lineage. Though, you know, the container of the nectar may may be of poor quality, it may not be made of gold or silver, still the nectar has not been in any way affected. So that, you should imagine that you have actually seen the nectar of the blessing of this practice. So again, having made request to the lineage, the practice of repeating three times aaphe in the visualization.
So again, the short prayer to the lineage, the practice of the transference, reciting three times aaphe, then refraining, a prayer to Buddha, Buddha, aaphe, and then the practice again repeating three times aaphe. So again, I am making request to the truth body of the dharmakaya that is Amitābha Buddha. Then making a request to the Sembodhakaya or the enjoyment body, in this case Chenrezig, and then the practice and the refrain and the practice of Afteh. And then again, the request to the nirmanakaya or the emanation body, in this case, Guru Padmasambhava, and then the practice of aaphe and then refrain and aaphe. And then we are making a request to one’s root lama, one’s root teacher the who possesses the three kindnesses in the nature of all the Buddhas.
Having made request in the practice of aaphe and the refrain in again, the practice. And then the finally, the the refrain of making request to Amitābha Buddha, and you can do this as as many times as you wish. You can do five, seven times in the the practice of aaphe. Then making requests to the five, emanation body, the enjoyment body, the truth body, the wisdom truth body, and the nature truth body asking that the practice of transference of consciousness may be stabilized. And then they should just having made this request, then you should remain in this non-conceptual meditative equipoise.
So whenever we are engaged in this practice of Ape, repeating it in consciousness arising into the heart of Amitābha Buddha, we begin the practice over again at the heart and and draw always going up. Begin again at the heart, always going up. It’s we don’t bring it back down. So we can just imagine in the practice that again beginning at the heart and and sending it up and we don’t have to bring it down. Above our head, having made this request to these five aspects and remaining in equipoise, Then the Amitābha Buddha visualized above our head along with the entire retinue, they dissolve into light and come down to a central channel and dissolve into your consciousness at your heart.
Into your heart, the consciousness sitting at the eight petal lotus on your heart, dissolving into your heart. Then you who have been up to now Chenrezig transform into Amitayus. Amitayus, the enjoyment body, red in color, sitting in the vajra asana with the hands in meditative equipoise holding an alms bowl with nectar. So then reciting the mantra, which is, Om Ami Dewa Hrīḥ. Just reciting that a hundred or two hundred times, as many as you wish.
Then as Rinpoche explained the other night in his introduction to this practice about the qualities of Amitābha’s Pure Land, the Western Land of Great Bliss, that we now make a a request, a prayer, praying that we may be reborn in Amitābha’s Pure Land. And then recite the the final mantra three times at the end. Then we make prayer of dedicate make prayers of dedication. In the practice, the type of dedication that we should engage in, in the context of the practice we are engaging in is that whatever constructive positive karma that I have created out of this practice of transference of consciousness that may all sentient beings equal to the extent of space find complete happiness and be separated from all suffering, and may they be born in the western pure land of great bliss. So now Rinpoche is going to give us the oral transmission of the practice since he has been in the lineage of the oral transmission and now the oral transmission will now enter into us.
Without the oral transmission, it’s like having some kind of article, like a cup without a handle on it. There’s nothing for us to grab hold of. So this is like giving us a handle, something to hold on to. So now, which I’ll give us the oral transmission. So the last prayer was the prayer for the quick rebirth of the reincarnation of His Holiness.
Prayer for the teachings of the Buddha to remain stable and flourish for a long time. So then the the prayer for that the the teachings of the of the Buddha and the and the the hidden teachings remain for a long time. And that last line is is the mantra of Guru Rinpoche. And the last verse is that the various Dharma that was held in Tibet, the teachings of the Buddha, the hidden teachings, the teachings of the various sects, such as the Nyingma, Kagyu, sakhya, Gelug, that they may not degenerate but last for a long time. So tomorrow morning we’ll begin the actual practice and begin at six o’clock.
We’ll have six sessions of the practice and has, Rinpoche says, ask you to please try to do the visualization well and Rinpoche will assist you in whatever way he can to help you. So we try to, you know, in each session to do the prayers well, to do the the visualizations and the prayers of dedication and to please to make effort and do these all of these factors, all these parts well. So now we are going to briefly discuss some of the signs of accomplishing the practice of transference of consciousness. So we can help them, but first we have to help ourselves. We ourselves aren’t to have it So first we ourselves have to train ourselves and develop the ability and then having done that then we can help others.
And if they want me to say the Lord’s prayer when I’m not with the Lord’s Mhmm. So you can you can do the do the transference of consciousness for them. So so there’s a way that we can do it for the benefit for others. But first, if we do it ourselves, don’t know it for ourselves, then there’s no way that we can do it for another person. So at first, we have to train for ourselves.
As in the case of a doctor, if they have not trained well themselves, though they may have good medicines, they don’t know how to prescribe them and apply them well to their patient. And therefore likewise for us, first we have to train and practice ourselves to develop the ability and then we can use it to help another person. Yes, but already I know what I want is to have So to accomplish the practice of transference of consciousness, we don’t need a long time. We can do it in three, four, five, seven days. Training well in transference of consciousness for three or four days and we can benefit others very much.
We don’t have to train five or six years like a doctor does with three or four days. So we’re talking about the signs of accomplishment of practice. And some of the signs of accomplishment of practice are that a yellow liquid comes out the top of your head, that the top of your head itches. If really accomplished the practice well, there will appear blister on the top of your head. If you accomplished it a little, you get a headache, a little headache.
So these are some of the signs that may appear showing that you’re accomplishing the practice. Until these signs appear, then you shouldn’t touch the top of your head with your hand. Oh, yes. Just. Even if you had itches, don’t don’t don’t touch it.
There probably aren’t any fleas. Lice, lice, lice. So with respect to helping a dying person, as Rinpoche talked about the other night, one of the things that you shouldn’t do is touch his feet, but you can touch his head. And then if you have actually trained in this practice well, then you can make the prayer to Amitābha Buddha, visualizing Amitābha Buddha above the dying person’s head and actually do the visualization. But instead of imagining that your heart, that your consciousness is shooting up from your heart, imagine that this process is taking place, visualizing it in dying person’s heart, the dying person’s heart, that his consciousness is shooting out into the visualized Amitābha Buddha that’s above his head during the practice And then having done this many times, this visualization, then take the corpse’s the dying person, the corpse’s head and pull a hair on top of his head.
Right in the center of the top of his head. This is if he has hair, he pulls the hair if he doesn’t. There’s no question about pulling his hair. Tomorrow we’re going to begin the practice. Imagine that your that your consciousness has dissolved into the mind of Amitābha Buddha.
Each time we’ve got the third time. Yeah. That’s at at the end of the third repetition about So the first first first comes to the throat, second comes to the crown of the head, third, shoots up into the heart of Amitābha Buddha, dissolving your consciousness dissolves into consciousness of Amitābha Buddha. And again, we’re doing, whether we’re making requests to the lineages or our request to Amitābha Buddha, same whenever we recite the repetition of the aaphe, it’s the same visualization. Oh, this is this.
Yeah. This is it. No. So this is Amitayus. A put like a flesh flesh color of a person.
Oh, only One head. One head. Two hand. Mhmm. This is the Damaru.
One, the visualization of the of the refuge, it’s it’s in stacked one on top of another. Here, it’s refuge field, So it’s practiced the same at the time of our own death. So in the case of when someone else is dying and the visualization is done on on the on the object of the person dying. Number one, visualization. So at the time when you were doing practice for someone else, then you would insert the person’s name rather than saying, it doesn’t even translate it.
This dying person. It’s it says visualization. Says grasp as I. It says grasp as self. So it’s grasp as this dying person or something.
Anyway, rather than saying I or self, would say this dying person. If you were to. Self. No. Now we’ll do the dedication period.
Please look at the dedication first.