Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 43-minute talk, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen offers a detailed tantric explanation of death. He opens with the seven branch practices—prostrations, offerings, purification, rejoicing in virtue, requesting, supplication, and dedication—and their antidotes to mental afflictions. The main focus is the tantric anatomy of the subtle body: the channels, chakras with specific petal counts, and energetic drops. He guides students through the dissolution process at death, showing how the four elements progressively dissolve, how consciousness becomes increasingly subtle, and the stages marked by white, red, and black appearances, culminating in the clear light of death. He explains how long ordinary practitioners and advanced yogis remain in this state. For practitioners already familiar with Buddhist teachings and contemplative practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 10 ALB.mp3
UUID: c501291b-420b-4db9-9417-f7299599adfa
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: A Look at Buddhism (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1995 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 43.2 minutes
Words: ~2,502
Example that there’s a glass of milk, then if you you if you don’t add water, just drink the whole glass of milk. Then if you when you finish it, you finish it. You finish when you finish drinking all the milk, then it’s finished. So so but then instead of drinking the milk, if you put in that milk into a big pot and then add water into it, then that milk will remain until all the water the the all the water that in the pot is finished Mhmm. Will remain there.
So so so then another another reason of making dedications is that if you dedicate your merit, then the anger won’t destroy the merit. So so if one doesn’t dedicate the merit, then the anger if if if the anger arises, then that can that can weaken the result of your merit? Or if if the result or the if the the fruits of demerit and that or the fruit of the virtue section or demerit, if it’s ripening, if that very time if anger arises, then that will all again prolong it to get ripened. So so these seven branch practices are very important. So so the first branch, like the the branch of prostrations, this this practice is like taking taking the essence out of this life, this human life.
And that also and then it it acts as an what do call the antidote towards our pride. So then making offering making offering is taking the essence of the wealth, and it becomes an antidote antidote of miserliness. And then the practice of purification becomes an antidote for the three poisons. And then the practice of rejoicing in virtue becomes becomes antidote for for jealousy. So so then the the requesting and the supplication that we make act as antidote to remove the negative actions that we create in dependence upon lamas or enlightened beings.
Like, for example, requesting to turn the wheel of Dharma becomes an antidote of abandoning Dharma. And then finally, making dedications. The dedications act as an antidote of having wrong views. And then then right after this practice, there is the the practice of mandala offerings. Mhmm.
And mandala offerings is also a very important practice. So mandala is very important practice. And as an ordained monk and nuns, they are like the fully ordained monks and nuns. And there’s a fully ordained nun that in the past were known as who have meditated Avalokiteśvara but never had never had a vision of Avalokiteśvara. So so then after that, he made bundle of offerings and made request make a made request, and then she had the vision of.
So so up to here is a brief explanations on the seven branch practice, which which requested last time in the teaching. So then then the next part is a brief explanations on the, what you call, the process of death. Maybe it will take a little longer. It will take it will go a little longer time. So you can rest if you’re if you’re getting tired.
You can stretch your legs. So you can stretch your legs if you like it and then listen. Yeah. Yeah. So all all beings goes through the process of death.
And the explanation here is briefly on the how how human human beings, like, faces the dead? So So, the human beings of this world is known as the womb born, born out of womb, and and it is known as very suitable very suitable vessel for tantric practices. So in sūtra explanations, is known as the precious human body which have eighteen qualities. And in tantra, is known as also the suitable vessel, which is with this human body is known as suitable vessel. For tantric practice, it’s known as that one is born out of womb.
And and what, like, for example, like like the yogi Milarepa who have achieved the fully enlightened state in that in that very life. Like, it’s also within this body, which is known as that one is born out of womb. Come to this. To So so human beings of this human beings of this world known as they are they are they have the six sorry, the six elements known as the four, the basic one. The earth, water, fire, and the wind, plus the the two two others, which is the channels and the drops?
Yeah. And or in other words, the six elements are also known as the the three that you receive from our father, which is the bone, the marrow, and the drops, the white drops. And then the three that we received from the mother, which is meat or the flesh and the skin and the blood or the red drops. So that oh, in the in the in our body, within in in the body, they are explained as seventy two different channels, seventy two thousand channels. And and which are plus So plus plus three others, which is the central channel and the right and left.
So the the central channel runs from lower back to the up between the eyebrows, which is as trunk of our body. So so so then the two other channels, the right and left channels run on the side of the central channels. And they are counting from the secret place, there’s another channel wheel or there’s a channel node which is the left and the right making a node with the central channel. And then there’s another node which is made on the navel chakra. And then the third, the heart chakra and then the fourth and the third and then the last one on the crown.
There is five So so then the crown chakra have thirty two petals, channel petals. And then the sixteen on the throat chakra, the channel sixteen channel petals at the throat chakra, and then the eight at the heart, and then sixty four at the navel, and then eight at the secret. Secret. Secret places. Yeah.
So while we are alive within in these different in these channels, the wind wind is moving in these channels. And then so when one is going through the process of death, then the wind energy that moves in the rest of the channels gradually gathers into these two right and left channels. And then that two, again, gathers this the wind that moves in the right and left channel, that two gathers into the central channel. So so then the wind in the central channel to from the top, it gathers down to the center, the heart chakra, and then from the bottom two it gathers up to the heart, to the heart, the heart center chakra. And then at the heart, the center of the heart there is this drop, the red and white drop which is what you call, white and red drop at the at the center of the heart at the center of the the central channel at the heart.
So so this is the white drop and the red drop, both are the white on top of the red. And just in these two, I wanna say, joined together and just in between is the known as the very subtle mind and the very subtle wind where all the wind from those different channels gathers into this very subtle wind. And and when when all the winds are gathered there in in in between this drop, then that is known as the known as the the clear light of death. So so there’s this very subtle wind in the subtle mind that is explained. The subtle mind the subtle wind is the basis of subtle mind where it resides in drop.
If there is, beside that, if there happen to be other subtle wind on other parts of the body, then that means the person won’t face that death still. Because So so which is that if there’s another wind which supports that subtle mind, other parts of the body, then that person is not dead. So in in tantric teaching, it explains that the mind and the wind wind is the basis of the mind which travels together. So but because of the movement of the wind, it moves towards different objects. That because of that, the mind also moves towards the towards the wind.
So when when this gross gross level of wind, the wind energy in the channels, if all gathers to the to the very central to the to the very subtle wind, then at that very time is where the clear light of the dead appears. So how one faces this clear light of death is that through these different dissolution. The dissolution of the twenty five gross gross things after this after after going through the dissolutions of these twenty five different gross things, then one one experience the subtle ones. And the gross are, like, the five aggregates. And the the four elements.
And then the six no. Do call the six sources. And then the five, like, objects, which is, like, form, sound, and so on, the rest. And then plus five wisdoms. So so these these twenty five, what do say, gross ones, like, dissolves, and out of that, we face the death.
That day, the So first, the dissolution is that the earth element dissolving into the water element. So so the dissolution is like the first the first level of dissolution, which is like the earth element from the four elements, And then the Kumbong and and the and so from the five senses, the eye eye the eye sense power. And then the six sources from the six sources is the the form and so on. So so the first one from the five aggregates, the form aggregates the aggregates are formed. And then second from the four element, the earth element.
And then the third from the five organs, the eye organ, and then the the six sources, the eye eye eye sources, and then the the five objects, the form and the form, the very first one. These these all like the dissolutions take at the same time all of these five together. So when the earth element dissolve into the water element, that’s the first one, as a physical sign become weak and one become weak and one become altered skin. So then second, the water element dissolves into the fire element. So when the water element dissolve into fire element, then the external sign is that the mouth get dry and also the the fluid in the body get dried up.
Mhmm. So so then So so then if fire dissolved into wind, So when fire element dissolves into the wind element, then the external sign, the external heat stops. So when the then the next dissolutions is the wind dissolve into the consciousness, the consciousness. And then at the same time, So so when the wind element dissolves into consciousness, then the external appearance, like the recognitions disappears, the recognitions of our close one parents and so on, we don’t come to recognize them. So then the internal signs, when the wind dissolves into consciousness, you have a, what do you call, white appearance as an internal sign.
So so when this white appear appearance appears like when the wind, like for example the wind energy in the channels, all the rest of the channel gathers into the left and right. And the left and right get into the central channel. And then the central channel when the top one gathers to the center at that very time, one have the white appearance. So so they have this white appearance at that very time when when the wind descends from the top of the center channel to the center of the heart because the white drops that we have received from the father is on the top of the crown and when it gathers to the center and comes down to the center of the heart, then at that time, we’ll have the appearance of white. So so when then this So so then the next appearance, you have when which is the red appearance.
So so then the next appearance that you have Malatomy. Malatomy. So which the red appearance that you have is when the the red drops which you receive from the mother that is gathered up to the center together with the wind. At that very time, you have the red appearance. And then and then next the next stage is that the near attainment.
Which is near attainment or known as black appearance. And there are, what is it, two level, the earlier part and the latter part. So when when the when the first the earlier part of when you have this appearance, black near attainment or the black appearance, you have you still have the appearance of different objects? So that and then the latter part of the near attainment or the appearance, you have the latter part you have like appearance of getting fainted. So so one had this appearance of getting fainted, which is that all the gross level of the mind and wind have been dissolved and it’s just waking up the very subtle mind.
So because of that, you have the appearance of getting faint. So then this very subtle mind, when fully awakened, then that is the very time where the clear light of death appears. So so there the clear light of death appears, but still not completely dead. So so then when when there is this clear light of death appears, most most of the ordinary beings, like, lived there for three days. So so for some cases like people with like very bad sickness, severe sickness diseases, for them, it’s not certain that they will live three days.
So so then with those those advanced holy holy beings, For them, the number of days is different, like six, seven, eight days, they can remain there. So so then then after three days or or after these days, the sign that, what do say, of death appears which is the drops, the white or red drops comes out. So if it’s like a very high yogi or high practitioner, then white and red drops comes out of their nostril. So so as an ordinary, there’s nothing definite that it comes out of their nostril, but can come out from the bottom holes. So if it’s someone who is sick, then very sick, then for them, it’s nothing definite that this sign will appear.
Oh. And so this is a very brief explanations on that. So if if I want to hear in detail, then it can be explained very detailed in in many days. Yeah. Yeah.
So it’s been taking fifteen minute extra anyway. So if you need have any questions