Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 37-minute teaching, Khensur Rinpoche explores a core paradox: we should fear death now to motivate practice, but have no fear when death actually arrives. He presents three attitudes at death—joyful confidence, fearlessness, and absence of regret—each arising from different levels of practice. The instruction is to redirect energy toward Dharma and future lives rather than worldly pursuits, since only positive actions and beneficial intention count at death. A student question about whether Buddhas control aging and sickness opens discussion of impermanence as a teaching tool. Rinpoche concludes by reconciling two truths students often experience: joy in recognizing human life’s preciousness, balanced against awareness of its impermanence. Pitched at practitioners already engaged with foundational Buddhist concepts.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1989-06-13 – Side 2 – Sun's Radiance – KR.MP3
UUID: 1fad2e83-87b6-40a5-88c9-5607ae720273
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Sun Radiance – Thought Transformation
Date: 1989-06-13
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~1,320
So, having practiced the Dharma, there are three levels of? Three levels of attitudes that we might assume at the time of our death according to our practice. That those having practiced the best type of attitude that we could take would be a joyful one. Having understanding that I practiced, and now I’ve made good use of this life, and now I can move on to again, to carry out my practice in the future. And taking that, one dies joyfully, having the confidence of carrying on one’s practice in the future, then that would be the best type of death.
The the a middling type of death would that having one can have the attitude, well, I practice in this life, and therefore, my future existence is taken care of. I don’t have to have any fear and and having no fear at the time of death. And then as the the the lower bit the lowest of these three levels would be having practiced, I made use of this life, I have no regret. So it’s dying joyfully, dying with no fear, and dying with no regret. So the Kamlungpa said that we should should fear death now and that at the time of our death have no fear.
But we do the exact opposite. We have no fear of death now and at the time of our death we’re going to be very afraid. So the what what use of it is to be to be afraid of death now? If we if we fear death presently, then we’re going to it’s going to act as a motivating force for us to engage in various types of positive actions. But being so therefore, presently, fearing death is of great use.
But fearing death at the moment of death is of no benefit at all. So the way we should be carry on our practice is that of the two, our worldly activities and activities of Dharma, that we should direct our energies mainly toward our Dharma practice, Dharma activities. Now we have to carry on in the world. We have to supply our material necessities. So it’s not a matter of giving up the world altogether, but our energy should be directed toward our Dharma practice.
Of this life and future life, that our energy should mainly be directed for future toward future lives rather than this life. So, you know, if you if you are mindful of death, you will be mindful of the Dharma. And with respect to the superiority of one’s mindfulness of the Dharma, most superior practice would be one would completely give up this life. That it wouldn’t matter what one did with this life, one the attention would be directed solely towards future states of existence. Now, beneath that, a level down in such a time of a Dharma practice would be that we begin to direct our attention mainly to future states of existence, but we do not give up, we are not able to give up this life altogether.
Our attention, our thoughts, our energy toward this life. But of the two, this life and future lives, we’re mainly concerned with the future. So Sharawa says that the purpose of being mindful of death is to motivate us to make preparations for future existences. So if you were to, you know, write these words down and remember them, it would be very beneficial that mindful of death. Mindful of death prepares one for future states.
Being mindful of death, one prepares for future existences. Being mindful of death, one prepares for future existence. So this this fear is beneficial. It’s something good. I mean if one is mindful of death, one will be mindful of Dharma.
And therefore, such a type of fear is of great use. Can you be mindful and not fearful? So, yeah, there’s no reason why you have to be afraid. I mean, you are practicing well, engaged in adopting various types of positive actions, rejecting types of negative actions, then there’s nothing to be afraid of. As in the case of one lama that we referred to before, was looking forward to his death, it’s just like changing costumes.
So, if one does not, the reason that we are mindful of death is to practice Dharma. If one does not practice Dharma, then there’s reason to be afraid. Because at the time of death, you will probably be reborn in a bad migration. And that is something to be feared. But of course, if one’s practicing Dharma, then there’s nothing to fear.
The reason that we fear is because we don’t practice the Dharma. So, obviously, if we haven’t, if we aren’t engaging in various types of negative actions which are going to bring about a negative type of rebirth, then there’s nothing to be fearful about. On the contrary, we can look forward to getting rid of this old body and taking on a fresh new one, a beautiful one with nice clothing, good companions, good food, all the good things of life. Think before that all the work that I do that we do to benefit possessions, friends, and body are of no use So, when it refers to the possessions, not to cling to the possessions. We have to, for example, Śāntideva says that that this precious body we should give this body food because it is the basis for practicing Dharma, that we have to take care of our our body because we use it in our practice. Likewise, Likewise, companions can benefit, so we have to benefit our body.
We have to take care of it. We also take care of other people, our Dharma friends, people who are sick, trying to help them to become well. But all of these, we should be benefiting our body. We should be taking care of others. But none of these, these possessions, companions, and our own body will benefit at the time of death.
So we have to take care of all the things to benefit others, our own body, make use of them. But at the time of death, our companions, possessions, and food, and body are not going to benefit us at that time. They’re not going to be of any use to us. So it’s good to benefit others, creating positive karma, benefit, to help your Dharma brothers and sisters and things like that. So it depends on one’s motivation.
If one has engaged in activities with altruism, a beneficial intention, then it helps the other person, it helps yourself. So if you don’t have a beneficial intention, then it’s of no benefit to yourself. So even giving a piece of bread to a cat, for example, it fills up the cat’s stomach and makes the cat happy. And because it factors generosity, you develop a beneficial intention, it benefits you yourself. Do they have control over their life?
They have control over their rebirth, and then do they have? What I was wondering was, do they get old and sick and die on account of their body? So the Buddha has complete control over these factors of aging, sickness, and death. But for the benefit of his disciples, order to, for example, to teach them about impermanence, shows these signs of aging, sickness, and death. So, if you remember, when we were discussing the preciousness of human life and we discussed the leisures and endowments, it was said that upon gaining some realization of our leisures and endowments that one developed a sense of joy at having a human life.
On the other hand, one gains a realization of death, one becomes a little bit depressed about it. And therefore, one should join these two together. Of leisure and endowment and the realization of death. So you all appear to be rather depressed. Don’t be depressed about it.