The gap between this life and a future life is just a breath away. The breath stops. Then, as in a dream, you're carried away into the intermediate state and then are born elsewhere. As a result of negative actions, you can be born in a place of suffering, and it's just a breath away. So, what is to be done? Now is the time to practice the instructions of your kind lama — your kind spiritual father. That is to be done right now. It's time to place the real experience of the path on your mind-stream. It's time to put the profound Dharma instructions into practice — to seek out the real experience of that!

-- Ribur Rinpoche