A Teaching on Death and Impermanence

by Khenpo Tsultrim Rinpoche

Today’s teaching is on the topic of death and impermanence. Hopefully, it would be of some help to your practice.

I hope that all of you, in this life, the next life and in all your lives, will gain more and more confidence in terms of attaining liberation. Yesterday, I told you that relying on your teacher is one method to attain liberation. The second method is to practise the Dharma diligently. After the teachings and pith instructions have been obtained, one must rely on one’s own efforts to practise, that is the most important. It is not that one can just hand all the responsibility over to the Triple Gem and the teacher and everything will be alright. Thus, the Buddha said that liberation depends on oneself. At the time of dying, we will come to appreciate that liberation can only depend on oneself, there is no way one can rely on others.

When you came to this human world, you came alone. When it is time to leave, you will leave alone. On the day of death, you would not be able to bring either family, relatives, friends, wealth… all these have been proven from history: our grandfather, grandmother, parents… when it was their time to leave, they left alone, and we will follow in their footsteps. Dying alone is only a matter of time, sooner or later it will happen. Since we know that death will definitely come, and death brings such suffering of fear, why do we not then place emphasis on death? Why are we not practising the Dharma diligently? Why are we still not making great efforts? Only if one is mentally unsound, would one fail to consider this question. Someone who is normal will surely consider how he or she will accomplish the matter of liberation when death comes upon him or her.

In this world, there are many people who are much more intelligent and capable than us in terms of worldly mundane affairs. They spend a lot of time and energy to manage their careers and exert a great deal of effort at work. However, after their death, some fall into the three lower realms. All of you should consider why it is that people of such ability and intellect are unable to attain liberation, what caused this to happen? How should one who is a Buddhist behave? I’m not saying that you should not eat or not dress or not work in jobs, but we can still spend fifty percent of our time and energy on worldly matters, and another fifty percent on the issue of attaining liberation. If one is able to accomplish this, you are a good practitioner. If you put about eighty percent to one hundred percent of your time and energy into worldly affairs, and just invest twenty percent or less into pursuing liberation, then the merit you accumulate will not be enough to attain liberation. This is just like a weighing scale. Whichever side is heavier, the balance will dip in its favour and the lighter side will dangle upwards. The law of cause and effect is likewise. I hope sincerely that your practice will improve.

Tomorrow, I will leave this place. That is impermanence! You should all remember, one day you would all leave this place too. Sooner or later, one will leave this world. On the day that you leave this world, it is not certain that your Teacher will be by your side, or that the Dharma will be before you. If we do not have great merit, we can’t foretell the manner in which we will die. Maybe it would be death due to poisoning, or a car accident, or a fall, or when we go to sleep, we do not wake up anymore and die in our sleep. It could be that someone murders you or that you commit suicide… all kinds of karma could perpetuate your death and it could happen anytime, so you should all be prepared with the Dharma practice to employ at the moment of facing death.

The best method to face death would be to apply bodhichitta and the wisdom of emptiness. How much one has been able to absorb of the Dharma that one has learnt becomes very important. If one has been studying or researching in a very deep and vast way, but is yet unable to absorb much, then it is irrelevant whether one is a layperson or ordained, and unimportant whether one has been practising for many years. That’s because on this day of death, you do not possess much confidence in your mind. One also does not know where one will be going in the next life. This is called practising blindly. When one practises without any motivation, direction and without any confidence, that is ‘blind practice’. Therefore, we should definitely look for our root teacher, take the initiative to rely on him, and request the Dharma from him in a proper way. Without the root teacher guiding you, practice will never succeed. If one has a root teacher, then one can just peacefully practise the Dharma, without any doubts. If you have faith in the teacher and in the Dharma, then you will definitely be advancing (on the path).

Although I am now here together with all of you, it is not possible for us to be together every day. Death could come any time. Every day, in the television and newspapers, when we take a look, there is constant news of death. What we hear and see everywhere is the message of death. Death would befall us sooner or later, so why are we not considering the question of death? In terms of eating and dressing right now, we will not starve to death or be frozen to death, but if we do not put our energy into practice, then in the end, we would still be starved to death or die of cold, that is definite. When you are lying on bed waiting for death, unable to eat, isn’t that dying of starvation? Your whole life, you have been trying to earn money, make a fortune, but in the end, if you have to die of hunger, that would be a great pity. When we are dying, we can’t even swallow one mouthful of water, the body will slowly disintegrate, and our bodily strength will gradually fade away. This is how we will die slowly of hunger. Please think about this carefully. We have been enduring so much suffering and stress, pouring so much effort into maintaining this human body, but in the end, there is no way to keep it, it will finally degenerate and vanish. All appearances are impermanent. Once we understand impermanence, then even if one is unable to accomplish the other practices, just this understanding would be of immense help to us in facing death. At the very least, you have some comprehension of death, it is no longer so frightening to you. Just like what we are practising now in terms of the teachings on bardo. After death, when one enters the bardo (intermediate state), we would at least have some comprehension about what is going on, knowing that ‘this is bardo’. In our mind, we would have this kind of recognition.

Today, one of my close Dharma brothers at Yachen, Xie Er Bo, a very fat lama whom many people are acquainted with has just passed on today. Not only him, today I have also received four other telephone calls reporting the death of someone. One said, “My parents died”, another said, “My child died” and yet another relayed that his grandfather died. After another seventy or eighty years, all of us here would be dead. So don’t think too much. Your thinking functions like a busy city of the mind. From the point of view of mental afflictions, following our worldly plans will never ever bring success. In the midst of carrying out our plans, we will die. After death, our next destination is also unknown. Our grandfather and grandmother, where did they go after their death? Which world are they in right now? What kind of suffering are they undergoing? We can’t hear their names now, and we can’t even imagine which direction they have gone to in their new world. After a few decades, we will be just like them. If we do not practise the Dharma, at the time of death, we can only watch helplessly as we leave behind everything in this world, this is great suffering indeed! Therefore, in our daily lives, as long as there is enough to eat and wear; life is stable; going out is convenient, that should be enough. We should not crave for too much. Apart from these, we should put our efforts into practising the Dharma. Try to benefit sentient beings, only this is truly beneficial. Although Dharma practitioners will also die, the way we die is not the same. If we know the method for facing death, then it will be a great help for our future life. So my most important advice to all of you today is, “Don’t forget death, if you forget death, your practice will definitely not improve.”

You must constantly contemplate the impermanence of life. By doing so, renunciation and bodhichitta will arise easily. In order to deal with death in a more confident manner, there is only one way: practise diligently. Other than this, there is no other means. Putting your effort into practice is also the way to be liberated from samsara’s suffering and to save sentient beings. So you should try to make the correct choice.

In this cycle of samsara, we have died countless times. If we were to become an animal in our next life, it would be very miserable. If you go and look at the ocean parks, at the bottom of the ocean, those creatures there are undergoing suffering. You don’t have to rely on visualisation, it is possible to just witness it with your own eyes. At the wet-markets, slaughterhouses, all the kinds of pain of death that these animals are going through. Imagine it for a while, if you were a pig, or fish or frog, or a hungry ghost… what would you do then? How are you to pass your days? All these animals were once humans, but because during their human lives, they did not practise the Dharma and having created negative karma, they fell into the animal realm. Now, I’m really begging all of you, please do make good use of your time to practise the Dharma, because you will definitely part from your spiritual teacher and leave this world one day. You will leave your families and friends, that is definite. You need not doubt this, it will happen, it is for sure and certain. This teaching is to remind all of you that death will come, impermanence will arrive, we will all die. What am I here for? I am here to remind all of you in advance. Death is on the way, you should make preparations. I am here to bring you this message, because I am afraid that you will forget about death in the midst of your busy lives.

Think of the massive earthquake in Sichuan in 2008. At that time, the situation was horrific! When the earthquake happened, a person ran down from the 18th floor to the first storey and ran to somewhere several hundreds of kilometres away to hide. He did not care about his children or family, he only wished to save himself. At the time of facing death, the fear is just like that. All sentient beings regard their own lives as the most precious and protect it fiercely. At the most crucial moment, you will definitely abandon all relatives and friends, even if the entire planet’s wealth were to be presented to you, you would not agree to exchange it for your own life. Life is one’s most valuable possession. But many people do not know how to love themselves. They only know how to eat well, dress well, but this is something that even animals know how to do. But humans have the ability to think and judge. If you truly love your life, then use the Dharma to love life. This is the ultimate way, it is the wise way, and one can use the Dharma to liberate from samsara’s sufferings and help sentient beings. Those who deeply contemplate the sufferings of samsara, are truly the people who love themselves.

Please think about it. If you die tomorrow, where would you go? Is there anyone who can answer me that he or she will definitely go to such and such a place? Is there such confidence? If one did not possess such confidence, what should one do? Death is coming quickly, we are already forty or fifty years old, there are not many years left. I’m not trying to frighten you, this is the truth. Just reflect, you have already lived fifty or sixty years. Time has passed by in a flash, and the human life is wasted. What is there to be done in the remaining time? If one does not practise the Dharma, who is going liberate one? If one does not love oneself, who is going to love one? Although it is said that the blessings of the Triple Gem and spiritual teachers are inconceivable, if one did not have faith, this causal link cannot be established. Now, you have obtained a precious human life with its opportunities and freedoms, you have met spiritual teachers and awaken the Dharma, this is such a rare chance, please do not just throw it away, please appreciate your good fortune and put in your greatest efforts!

All of you want to practise the Dharma diligently, so it is imperative to remind yourself that death is approaching. Death will come, we should remember this at all times. My incredibly kind spiritual teacher, Lama Achuk Rinpoche does not frequently teach us all kinds of pith instructions. Instead everyday, he speaks to us about death and impermanence, so that we can practise the teachings of death and impermanence every day. All of you must remember this. The more a person feels in his heart the fear of death, the more fervently this person will wish to find the instructions for liberation. Those people whose mind is constantly reminded of death and impermanence, will definitely progress in their practice. They will not regress from their faith in their teachers.

Today, we are together and happy, there is great joy and it is a rare occurrence. In these three or four years, I have not passed away, all of you are still alive, we were able to meet each other yesterday and today, it is truly not easy for this to happen! But one day, we will have to part. Not parting is impossible. Due to the operation of the law of cause and effect, everyone’s karmic connection is different. In another one or two hours, we will all leave this place. When will be the next time that we are able to gather together again? This is something very difficult to accomplish! When you would be able to see me again is also uncertain. Death and impermanence may come suddenly and we will be caught totally unprepared.

A person is constantly changing everyday. The next time we meet, would there be any changes in your level of practice? Please have some compassion on yourself! You should have some love for yourself! I know the pain and suffering in samsara, all of you have also felt it to some extent, but who will have so much love and compassion to tell you these things? Who would repeat these in front of you over and over again? Even if I were to say it, you will not listen. You will say, “What right do you have to tell me this?” This is the way of the common people. So remember death. Everyday, you should put this into your practice. Every hour, you should practise this. Practise diligently, with great efforts, practise it repeatedly, again and again.

So contemplate seriously, and put your effort into practice. Always ask your spiritual teacher if you have any questions in your practice. He is the one who helps you to resolve any queries or doubts on your practice. Those who are young should make even greater efforts. Even if you are young, you should be diligent because death has no correlation with age. It is not that death will only come when one is old. Even if a baby were born just yesterday, he could die today. Such cases do happen. Everyone should practise well. There is nothing complicated about practising. It is very simple: don’t forget death. Everyday one has to put death and impermanence into practice, then your renunciation, bodhichitta and faith in the Triple Gem and spiritual teacher will naturally grow and then one can start to look for a way.

All of you must practise well! Make efforts! The teacher can give you the method of practice, but one must practise it incessantly, put in the hard work without lapses. Liberation does not happen by itself spontaneously, it depends on one’s own efforts and hard work.