CHOD The Merit of Practice in aCemeteryCW27:No.10Yogi C. M. ChenToday is the auspicious day of the full moon in the seventh month of the lunar calendar system of China and Tibet. According to the Buddha's teachings from India, in this month those in the ghost realm have a holiday and a little rest from their sufferings, and at this time can more easily get in touch with the Dharma. In old Chinaduring this month many puas or offerings were usually given to the ghosts and to the ancestors. Today is an especially auspicious day because it is also the birthday of his !oliness "armapa. #o I would li$e to tal$ now on the subect, %&hat are the merits ofgoing to a Cemetery and praying to the Dead'%I have categori(ed this subect into three sections, each of which is discussed in its outward, inward, secret and most secret aspect.I. The Merit of a Cemetery&hy does a cemetery contain so much merit and what are those merits' )utwardly, the main merit is to help one understand Impermanence. Impermanence is a principal practice of !inayana Buddhism and !inayana is the foundation of the other two yanas, *ahayana and +arayana. This means, as *ilarepa said, that the first step to enter through the Dharma gate is Impermanence and no other practice. &hy' Becauseas human beings we are all attached to worldly desires, and it is only the reali(ation ofour impermanence that can stop this clinging and lead us to practice the Buddha,Dharma. #ha$yamuni Buddha himself met the truth of sic$ness, old,age, death and the clergy at each of the four gates of his capital. -rom that point on, he understood Impermanence, too$ the first step on the Dharma .ath, and continued on the way untilhe achieved full enlightenment. To be a real Buddhist, one must reali(e the truth of Impermanence.In our daily life in America we rarely see a coffin or dead person, unli$e the /ast where a corpse is brought through the streets to the homes of friends and relatives to receive offerings on the way to the cemetery. Also, most people in the /ast are poor and one day's food is all they desire. They $now that tomorrow they may die and so have constant awareness of Impermanence. Thus in the /ast it is easier to gain the idea of our transitory e0istence.In the &est, in America, the dead person is carried in a special car which immigrants as myself are not even able to recogni(e. It passes through the streets very 1uic$ly andarrives at the cemetery where the corpse is very swiftly cremated or buried. This is all very professionally done by trained people. It is only the close family of the deceased that has a chance to come into contact with and recogni(e Impermanence. &hatever an American is involved with, and wherever he finds himself, in society, on the street, in any circumstance or surroundings, there is the desire for attachment but no idea of Impermanence. #o everyone passes his life very comfortably, very superficially happy, pursuing his desires. !e never thin$s that he himself will die and does not thin$ he needs to follow the Dharma. Thus most people cannot accept the !inayana Doctrine of the -our 2oble Truths, concerning pain and the cessation of pain, becausetheir everyday life is so easy and comfortable that they don't $now sorrow and have no motive to renounce their pleasure,see$ing life style. If you don't come to a cemetery, you can nearly forget that there is such a thing called a corpse or such a thing as Death.2o matter how happy you are in your daily life, when you come to a cemetery and seeso many people buried in the ground, both rich and poor given the same treatment in death, you cannot help but be influenced by the idea of Impermanence. &hen we come to a cemetery to visit dead friends, they seem to tell us, %)h, you must diligentlypractice the Dharma. &e are too late, but you still may have some hope. 3eflect in yourself,,once our s$in was as smooth and white as yours and now our bodies are all decomposed underneath the ground. Be aware of Impermanence.% &e may practise and say prayers to help them, but actually we ourselves get much more help from the dead than they do from us. They also seem to tell us, %Don't care about the amount of your salary, or a girlfriend's beauty, or for any desire of the world, for in the end everything and everyone must be left behind. 2either a rich man nor a man with manylovers can rid himself of death.% &hat is the purpose of repenting at the moment of death' &e must have time to practise before that moment comes.&hen we will die is very uncertain. Buddha himself chose to be born in a human body because for man there is no set time for death, and so the idea of Impermanence can arise. #ome die in the womb, some in the cradle, some as teenagers or as adults. &e have come so far but how long we have left, who $nows' Actually our death may come at any moment, between any inhalation and e0halation, with any breath. Death cannot be said to happen ust on the day of death, for it happens every month, every day, every moment that we live4 a day passes and we cannot get the same day bac$. 5ou should always $eep this idea of Impermanence in mind and not spend time in vain see$ing worldly desires which must be left behind at death. &e must come to understand what things are meaningful and valuable to us and what things are nonsense and a waste of time. #o when we come to a cemetery, we must consider all these things and choose the valuable action to practise. This is the first outward merit of going to a cemetery6 to help us get Impermanence. -rom Impermanence we can cutour desires and attachments, from Impermanence we can gain the wish to renounce and from Impermanence we can become diligent in our practice.#uppose we want to dry a robe out in the sunshine. 5ou have to hope that the robe willhave an opportunity to be in the sunshine from morning until evening. If the sun shines at 7 a.m. but it rains at 8, and then the sun comes out at 9: and it rains at 99, and so on all day long, then the robe cannot dry even if left out one or two days. ;i$ewise our practice must be diligent4 every day and every night we must continue, even when sleeping, even in the Bardo, even in Death. &here does this diligence come from' -rom Impermanence < 5ou must always $eep the idea in mind that you will die very soon, so that this very moment you must practice well. *any biographies have been written about the diligence of certain sages. As an e0ample, a sage once lived in a cave and practiced very diligently, but sometimes he had to leave his cave to urinate. )nce, when he went outside, his robe caught on a thorn, and he thought about pic$ing it up, but then thought, %I must finish urinating 1uic$ly and return to my practice, so why should I ta$e time to pic$ up my robe from a thorn'% so he tore his robe away from the thorn and returned to the cave. /ven such a short time he did not wish to waste,,such diligence< #o many worldly things occupy our minds and waste a lot of time. &e must reflect within ourselves that each moment is valuable so that not to pursue our practice for even one day may be very harmful for us. Today we waste time, tomorrow we also will waste time so that even if we live 9:: years, most of our time will have been wasted. Always thin$ of this and feel very sad for ourselves and say, %)h, ust here and now I must begin to practice.% This $ind of diligence is also based upon Impermanence.The practice of #amatha has three enemies. )ne is a disturbed mind, one is a sleepy mind and one is a mind of nonsense. These three elements can be cut by Impermanence. If you have the idea of Impermanence you would not pursue worldly desires and then disturbed mind would not always come. If you pursue desires outsidemeditation time, spending time thin$ing about this advertisement, or that new dress, then when you do try to meditate, all these thoughts will continue to come. This is what is called disturbed mind. If you pursue desires you may also feel tired4 when youare tired the second enemy sleepy mind comes. If you $now desire and thin$, %)h, I shall die so why do I pursue all these things. I must ust meditate. These few momentsare really good for me.% Then you will not be so tired. As for nonsense mind, this is a reflection of your stupidity and if you really thin$ that everything is impermanent thenyou are very wise and always aware. 2o things can lure you and no desire can attract you, so you will always $eep your mind very clear and attached to the truth, nonsense will not come. This is merit for meditation.The second merit is inward. Inward means not of our e0ternal world but somehow of our spiritual mind and spiritual state. If we practice Tantra, we use a mandala, or special $ind of picture, which shows us Buddha's land. This $ind of mandala relates toour spiritual state. At the outside of this mandala is the first circle of five elements =fire, earth, water, air and wind> then ne0t to these five elements are the eight cemeteries. #uch a cemetery is not an outward cemetery, but is the inward cemetery ofour spiritual state. #o even Buddhaland is encircled by a cemetery, called the eight famous cemeteries. /ach cemetery has sages who practise there, pagodas, and da$inis and ghosts who live and serve there. This is to show that our spiritual state starts from Impermanence. 5ou must pass through that stage before you gain inner happiness, wisdom and inner reali(ation. It is very important to show the first step of this practice, which is why the mandala of every Buddha's .ure,;and is drawn encircled by the eight cemeteries, which symboli(e Impermanence. This is the inward merit.In its secret aspect, the most important symbol of Impermanence is the #$ull. )ur cemeteries here today are very moderni(ed and scientific so everything is done very cleanly and 1uic$ly. But in the /ast there are four $inds of burials6 under the ground which means you have a corpse which you bury and when the flesh is decayed you have bones and a s$ull4 burial in the s$y where the flesh and bones are given to the big birds, called scavengers of the s$y4 burial in the water where the corpse is put in the water to feed the fishes4 and burial in fire, to get ashes. )riginally in very ancient times, the corpses were less and land was more so burial in the ground was the practice, but as years passed and the situation changed, other methods of burial developed. All those corpses under the ground have s$ulls, so the s$ull is a very important sign of a cemetery.The second meaning of the s$ull is its symbolism in the *andala. The .ure,;and .alace is surrounded by walls and these walls are of three $inds. The s$ull is one of them and the first wall of the Buddha's .alace is made of accumulated s$ulls which are to show the .rotection of the Dharma$aya. This is more profound than the inner merit. &hy Dharma$aya and not #ambhoga$aya or 2irmana$aya' In fact, as mentioned, there are three walls6 the first, the s$ull wall, to show sunyata, is the Dharma$aya4 the second, the +ara =dore> wall, to show his wisdom, is the #ambhoga$aya4 and the third wall, made of lotuses to show renunciation, is the 2irmana$aya.The s$ull is a protector of the Dharma$aya. &hy' Because the Dharma$aya is based upon the philosophy of #unyata, that everything is empty. The first stage of recognition of /mptiness is Impermanence. &ith the idea of Impermanence you thin$,%These things are very transitory and will very easily perish%, then by and by you approach the #unyata. #urely, the #unyata's deep philosophical meaning is not 1uite the same as this, but through the identity of everything as changeable, everything as empty, everything as non,self, then you come to $now Impermanence and when you $now Impermanence and by and by recogni(e detachment to the world, then you will come to reali(e the pure #unyata. The Dharma$aya is based upon the #unyata and thatis why the s$ull is the symbol of the Dharma$aya. This is the secret merit.The s$ull and bones usually ma$e up ornaments for the Buddhas and Da$inis to put on to show that everything is based upon and made in the #unyata. The Da$ini has a crown of s$ulls which symboli(es the different types of psychological mind which aredead in a reali(ed being. *an has many $inds of mind,,ignorance, pride, and all the thoughts of the mind which must be penetrated and enter the #unyata and then can be ta$en as ornaments. There are about ?9 $inds of mind which can be transformed into as$ull, which means they become sublimated with the #unyata. This is the most secret merit.The most sacred symbol of the cemetery is the crown of five s$ulls worn by Buddha himself. This is to show the five Buddha wisdoms which have been transformed from the five mental poisons. To be a real Buddha, you must have the five s$ulls on your head as a crown. The five wisdoms are very profound. The first wisdom is the mirror,li$e wisdom, the second is e1uali(ation wisdom, the third is discriminating wisdom, the fourth, the wisdom of achievement, and the fifth is the wisdom of the universe of Dharma$aya. Another symbolic use of the s$ull is the sceptre of our @uru .admasambhava which has three heads on the top. The first head is a s$ull to show the Dharma$aya. #o the symbol of a s$ull has a very profound meaning and all these s$ulls are connected with the cemetery.I have tal$ed about the four degrees of symboli(ation of the s$ull and its connections with the cemetery. If you ma$e contact with a cemetery very often, it will be very easy to get the accomplishment of this symbol.II. The Merit of Prayer to the Dea&e are here to pray to the dead but what is the merit of such prayer' )n this subect there are also four aspects6 outward, inward, secret and most secret.-irst, the power of the .howa prayer outwardly. &e come here and we have understood the importance of the idea of Impermanence. &e are very sad to view all the dead people, but we hope we can come here and purify their sins. )utwardly, I give some offering and prayers to the /arth,@od and angels and as$ them to help the dead people to purify their sins. 2o one who has died can come alive again4 all the good things of the world have been left behind for the dead can ta$e nothing with them. As the Bible says, na$ed they come and na$ed they go. Actually, what the dead man does ta$e with him is all the sins he has committed in his life. )ne's sins cannot be left behind, because all have been recorded by 5ama, the @od of Death, and a man must pay for the evil he has committed on earth.To repeat, the first merit is to purify the sins of the dead and to help them gain the right motive to repent. They had no chance to do so when they themselves were on earth and when the appointed time came they had no opportunity, so we have to help them repent. &e must as$ Buddha on their behalf to help them for they have none to aid them.After death, the soul of the deceased remains in the Bardo until the ne0t rebirth. This can be from a period of one wee$ to a ma0imum of seven wee$s or A8 days. The soul remains near the corpse during the period of the Bardo because although he $nows he is dead after three days, he still has some love for his own body, so that even when thebody is burnt up, the spirit still sleeps with the ashes. &e are able to help these souls who have not yet been reincarnated. &e cannot help those who have already been reborn as a human being, animal, deva or ghost, win a good rebirth. &e are only able to help those in the ghost realm who still remain in the cemetery. *any say that Buddha did not tal$ about a soul, but this is a mista$e which must be pointed out. Buddha only said that there was no permanent, no absolute soul without transformation. #ome wish to change the term soul to consciousness, but actually theyare the same thing. This consciousness can be transformed, it can be reincarnated. &hether this rebirth is good or bad is mainly according to one's "arma, that which has been done by a person before their death. In Buddhist countries, puas are given for the dead souls during the A8 days after death to aid the dead soul gain a good rebirth.#o the first step is to outwardly offer incense, food, and flowers, and in doing so we develop our Bodhicitta and hope that the sins of the dead ones will be finished. &e pray, %They have already died and have already been punished so please let their soulsfree, especially as today is a special date, let them free.%Inwardly, the second step is to visuali(e their souls or consciousness as a 2irmana$aya of Amitabha. The 2irmana Buddha Amitabha is similar to the Buddha #ha$yamuni in his hair and robes, but he is usually red because he is in the &est. To accomplish this transformation, thin$ of the dead person's Buddha nature. /verybody has Buddha nature, no matter what you have done before your death. Call upon their Buddha nature and ma$e them aware of it and that their Buddha nature is connected with Amitabha. Amitabha has the good will to save everybody who faithfully prays to him. #o we as$ the Buddha Amitabha to come and remind the dead person to remember his Buddha nature. This Buddha nature and the goodwill of Amitabha are connected through your Bodhicitta. This goodwill never ceases and the Buddha natureis never destroyed. If you have faith in your prayers to Amitabha, so that all the conditions are gathered, he will shed light on every corpse in the whole cemetery. This is the first secret. -rom this circle of light, essentiali(e and e0pand your prayers again to include the whole universe of corpses and so connect with all still in the Bardo state, in all three times, past, present and future, and in the ten directions. +isuali(e all as Amitabha. /ven though I am not Buddha, Amitabha has already accomplished full enlightenment and has the vow to save every sentient being4 even though we do not have the power of Buddhahood, we do have the Bodhicitta connected with the Buddha, so more or less his power is connected with that visuali(ation. &hen visuali(ation of Amitabha becomes complete, surely the soul becomes Amitabha. 2o matter what the degree of connection, it is helpful for the deadperson. This is the merit inwardly for the soul can become the 2irmana$aya of Amitabha.The merit secretly is the further transformation of this 2irmana$aya Amitabha to the #ambhoga$aya stage. 5ou see the Buddha has three $ayas, or bodies4 the first, 2irmana$aya, is in a human form but in Buddhahood, as #a$yamuni Buddha. The second higher transformation is into the #ambhoga$aya which is a different form, not li$e a human body but li$e the Dencho who stands above the 2irmana$aya. &hen we say %!//% we use our energy and breath to push the 2irmana$aya consciousness up through the head of the dead person into the #ambhoga$aya. #o the secret merit is thatthe soul enters the #ambhoga$aya. The 2irmana .ure ;and is li$e heaven but is non,transmigratory. It is not the final complete Buddha palace. Through the practice of %!//% we push the !sia =which is his heart bia or soul,seed as we say in %)m Amitabha !sia%> up to the !B* heart of #ambhoga$aya and so it becomes the #ambhoga$aya.*ost secretly is the %./T% which we say to push the #ambhoga$aya heart bia into the Amitabha Dharma$aya, the final #unyata, the %A!%. If this is accomplished, one can really be said to become a complete Buddha and this alone is what can be called the most secret. The third and fourth steps =secret and most secret> are not $nown by the e0oteric schools but only through the Tantra. All this can be done through the merit of prayer in the cemetery.To summari(e, outwardly we purify the sins of the deceased4 inwardly we help him become 2irmana$aya4 secretly he becomes #ambhoga$aya4 and most secretly the soulcan become the Dharma$aya.III. The !e"ation#hi$ %et&een '# an the Dea&hat is the relationship between us and the dead person and what is the merit to be gained by contact with them' This topic is also classified in its aspects from shallow to profound.)utwardly, both have to remember and be aware of Impermanence and repent all sins.The dead have more or less sinned and we also have more or less sinned. They have already died but fortunately we have become friends with them so that we can learn from their e0ample. They have died and so ma$e us remember Impermanence and we also have a debt to them for they have aroused our Bodhicitta, our merciful mind. They show by their e0amples, %&e are lying here underneath the ground and you will also be here soon.''&e must both help the dead by praying for them and also get profit for ourselves by learning from their e0amples and by awa$ening to Impermanence a little earlier. If wewere at this moment out on the street, we would never come to $now about this. &e must sei(e the chance to ta$e the dead as our teachers. 5ou must thin$, %!e has died and I will follow, so how can we utili(e that little time that is left to do something good, to do something valuable for myself which can be brought away after death.% 2othing that is done here on earth is very valuable, there is nothing that can be ta$en away after death and the sins you have committed on earth are ustly punished. If you gain merit during life, after death this merit will help you to ascend to heaven, to become a Buddha, Arhat, or Bodhisattva. All depends on how we utili(e the time which still remains to us. &e help the dead and they help us to become awa$ened. This is the outward merit.*any corpses have never had the opportunity to hear Buddhist teachings. By listeningto your speech in the cemetery, the ghost may reflect about his lifetime and why he became a ghost4 he may hear that selfishness drove him to be lustful and thus fall into sin and into the ghostly realm, and hearing this he may repent his sins. Those in the Bardo state still have some attachment which $eeps them in the Bardo. !e may hear that because he had such a desire in his lifetime, so after death he still remembers and clings to his desires and thus cannot get rebirth 1uic$ly. #o after you give .ua and emphasi(e about the teachings of no,desire, no,self, the ghost may hear it and once and for all be awa$ened. &hen he was a man, he was disturbed by his family, his surroundings, his nation. &hen he enters the Bardo or becomes a ghost, he is no longer disturbed by such things and may more easily accept the teachings. !is body isalso more spiritual than material and because his body is not flesh and his consciousness is ust spirit, it may be easier for him to accept spititual teachings. In the Bardo or ghost state, there is no se0ual disturbance, no lust to ma$e him stupid, noveil to the Truth. In life it is difficult to assimilate the idea of Impermanence, but in death he is aware of his state and may follow your practice and be benefited.Inwardly, there is also a relationship between ourselves and the dead. &e have tal$ed about our influence on those not yet reborn, but can those already reborn also get any merit from our practice and contact with them' 5es, you must $now why. The Truth has no limitation of time or space. &hen we tal$ about the Truth we are really in contact with the Truth and with the Dharma$aya. &herever one is reborn, one is in theDharma$aya. The Dharma$aya includes the ten directions of limitless space, the threepillars of time, past, present, and future, the whole entity and the whole truth so whether we are alive or dead, whether we are Buddha, or whether we still transmigrate, everything and everyone is within that Dharma$aya.&hy does every drop in the ocean taste the same' A person who is able to see the Dharma$aya and practise the *ahamudra or the @reat .erfection and can meditate upon it, has the soul of every being within his hand and within his influence. &hatever he prays for must be influenced. 2othing can escape from the Dharma$aya.That is why whether alive or dead, A? years or A8 centuries old or even A8 world histories everyone is influenced. )ne small stone can be thrown in the water and you may thin$ this stone stops at the bottom but the waves slowly influence everywhere. 2o matter how small the stone is, once it is thrown it affects the whole ocean. #o why cannot prayers to the dead also create an influence' They can. But some can easily accept this influence and some very slowly do so and some may only after many yearsfeel the influence, ust li$e the waves spreading very slowly, one by one. It is also li$eour sunshine. &hen it appears in the open s$y, there is sunshine everywhere and everyblade of grass is penetrated by it. &e must have such faith.The gurus of the past have touched so many souls with .howa, have given so many blessings, so they continue to transform all that e0ists today. By the practice of the @urus and the Buddhas many years of merit have been gathered and the Dharma wheel has been turned. That is why when we scatter small amounts of rice and tal$ a little, it can help the dead. *aybe some soul may very 1uic$ly recieve our help, maybe some a little later. This is according to their own condition. &hen we help them we are in the .osition of Conse1uence, we are ust representatives of the Dharma$aya. If we ust spea$ one word, one sentence, or throw one grain of rice, it touches the Dharma$aya, ust li$e one stone thrown in the ocean influences everywhere. 5ou must touch the surface in yourself and pray for the dead4 you must create an influence. 5ou must come to the cemetery and perform some .howa. Cust have some faith in the Dharma$aya for the dead person. If you practise in your room, it is too selfish4 if we practise here, every ghost more or less can connect with it and be benefited. This inward spiritual practice is for the benefit of both the living and the dead. The deceased get blessings from our .howa and we get the chance to review and increase our practice.#ecretly, the dead can attain the .ure ;and and the practitioner can get spiritual food for his rebirth in the future. &hen you practise by yourself in your room, you ust get the certain result of that practice4 but when you practise in a cemetery, you help the dead obtain a good rebirth so that when your time comes, when you are going to die, you will also be fortunate and meet a good lama or practitioner to help you obtain a good rebirth. This $ind of opportunity is very difficult to get, especially in America. Thin$ of your friends6 some come to see you for tal$ or for enoyment, for drin$, for dance, or for love, but what is the use of this' The real spiritual friend is very, very rare, so in order for you to meet on that special day at the very time of your death, at that very moment, you must have some merit from your cemetery practice. )therwise,you cannot get this $ind of chance, especially in the &est. In Tibet there were many lamas to pray for the dead but there is nobody here to advise you to practise Impermanence and there are no lamas to come and help you obtain a good rebirth at your moment of death. 2obody in America $nows how to give .howa. -or many years Buddhists have died in this country in vain as their @urus did not do any .howa for them. 5ou see, one man may die but he is not alone in death for many of his enemies and many of his friends come to meet him in the ghost state. They say, %&e could not get the chance when you were alive, but now is the time for you to pay up and receive retribution%. And 5ama, the @od of Death, sends his soldiers and his wor$ers, passes udgement, and comes to ta$e you to the !ell realm. #o at the time of death, the mind is not properly fi0ed. 5ou cannot do anything with your %free% mind,,no free will, no free mind. But those persons who try to help the dead might get help from their ghost friends and be rid of the bad ghosts who come to trouble them duringdeath. This is the law of cause and effect. I have done something to help the dead so when I am going to die, I will also get someone to help me. This is the secret merit.The most secret aspect is not only between the dead and the living but for the whole universal peace. *any thin$, %)h, the state of this world is due to this man or that man, this communism or that capitalism.% But actually the outer world's order is not made only by man but also by ghosts and all the dead people and demons. The dead can cause the living to fight with each other. In the Bible it says that @od said, %I havecaused the war, I have come to help Israel.% #o in the Bible it points out that many wars have been caused by @od's anger, but a ghosts's anger can also ma$e a war, not only @od's. @host anger can cause a family war and a national war. @od's anger can ma$e a great international war. Therefore we must not only leave the living persons peaceful but also allow the ghosts to be peaceful. Then the whole universe can truly get peace. #ome places have a plague of disease which $ills many people. This is also caused by a ghost. If all the souls in the cemeteries are settled and fi0ed, then this earth can be peaceful. If the dead and the living are not at peace, the whole universe isnot peaceful.These are the four aspects of merits between the living and the dead.I(. Conc")#ion#&e should $now that if we treat all the dead as our friends, then we must entertain them. If we treat all the ghosts as our enemy, we must overcome them. #uppose there is an enemy among the ghosts, then I must overcome him with the Dharma. #uppose there is a friend to help us, I must entertain him with the teachings. &e must have good relations with the ghosts. That is why we should come often to a cemetery. &e must reali(e that death has no certainty. Don't thin$, %I am only D:, he is E: and will die before me.% #ometimes the young ones die before their elders. &e must always be aware of this. There is a very nice poem on this subect6Death rides on every passing bree(e!e lur$s in every flower/ach season has its own disease/ach peril every hour.2ot only do I emphasi(e this subect now, but when I was A: I went to Calcutta and lived in a cemetery. I got up at 99 o'cloc$ at night and did pua until 9 a.m. &e say thatthe real time for ghosts is between 99 and 9 a.m. After 9 a.m. the coc$ crows and the ghosts go away. #o I rented a house within a graveyard and had all my food sent thereand lived in that place for more than two months. I have a Chinese poem which I wrote in the cemetery. I would li$e to read and translate it for you6Could I convert stone, nodding its head so high,)r cut my flesh to patch up your s$ull so nigh.I would li$e to help you wa$e up and teach,;et all worldlings $now your death before they die.About ordinary death there is no need to tal$, but there are many $inds of unusual cases of death. )nce I heard someone spea$ about death in sleep as a good peaceful death, but this $ind of death is not good because you cannot be a man again when youdie without awareness of consciousness. !e does not $now he is dying. A man must die slowly, aware of death, preparing and praying for himself. #uch a death in sleep may be peaceful in body, but not in consciousness. According to history, there are many cases of strange deaths, so I will mention ust a few to ma$e us aware of the uncertainty of death.A big eagle pic$ed a tortoise up from the sea and the tortoise fell down on top of Aeschylus' head and $illed him. #o wide a s$y and such a little head, but the tortoise fell right on top of him and he died instantly. This is a strange case. This $ind of deathcannot help one ascend.&hen Agathocles was 8? years old he died by chewing on a toothpic$, so small a thing, and -abius died by a goat hair in a glass of mil$. @abrielle died by eating an orange4 he cho$ed and died. Charles +II $noc$ed his head against the door lintel and died. #ome people have died by laughing. A lady friend who used to repeat Amitabha died in this way. ;aughing, she ust fell down and died. *y friend died because he dran$ a lot of alcohol on 2ew 5ears and then too$ a cigarette and this cigarette causedthe brandy inside to ignite and he burnt up and died. #ome people fall off a horse and die as &illiam III did. There are also many cases of great longevity. In the Bible it says that #eth lived 8F: years, /nos was 8:? years old and Cainan lived 89: years.There are many such cases, but who prevents and protects you from death' 5ou must have faith on @od, have faith on the protector, have faith on Amitabha, then you will be protected. *any say we must have good diet or good e0ercise, but many die by food and by physical e0ertion. There is no real protection e0cept our @od, our Buddha, and even our ghostly friends. If a ghost has already gotten our blessing, he will always protect us. A friend of mine who had gotten ghostly protection went to ta$e food somewhere but the ghost $new it was poisoned and told him, %Don't ta$e it.% The ghost $nows of such things 1uite well. *an has no supernatural powers, but the ghost has a little supernatural power and can read man's mind. The @uru Tsong$hapa has a protector who is a ghost.-inally, I want to say something connecting everything in my tal$. ;et us state what we are aimed at. &e want Impermanence as the starting point of practice, but we must$now that there is a 5oga of 2on,Death. The 2on,Death 5oga is not ust a practice but has been proved by .admasambhava. !e did not die nor have many other Indian sages. .admasambhava is still alive. I have published a boo$ on this special 5oga called 2on,Death 5oga =2ote6 Chenian Boo$let 2ew 2o. 7E.> But as I do not sell my boo$s, many do not ta$e it seriously. This yoga is not so easy to practise4 you must first have many, many $inds of foundation practice. But it is not impossible to rid of death. There is the possibility of learning the 5oga of 2on,Death and practising it. #o I hope as you are very young that you can practise and become a 2on,Death @uru.