prayers and readings for the dying

You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day
cannot unveil the mystery of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death,
open your heart wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one,
even as the river and the sea are one.

In the depth of your hopes and desires
lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
And like the seeds dreaming beneath the snow
your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the dreams,
for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd
when he stands before the king whose hand
is to be laid upon him in honour.
Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling,
that he shall wear the mark of the king?
Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind
and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing,
but to free the breath from its restless tides,
that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river of silence
shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top,
then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs,
then shall you truly dance.

When my time has come
and impermanence and death have caught up with me,
When the breath ceases, and the body and mind go their separate ways,
May I not experience delusion, attachment, and clinging,
But remain in the natural state of ultimate reality.

Now when the bardo of dying dawns upon me,
I will abandon all grasping, yearning and attachment,
Enter undistracted into a clear awareness of the teaching,
And eject my consciousness into the space of unborn awareness;
As I leave this compound body of flesh and blood
I will know it to be a transitory illusion.

Now I say to you in conclusion,
life is hard,
at times as hard as crucible steel. (Mmm)
It has its bleak and difficult moments.
Like the ever-flowing waters of the river,
life has its moments of drought and its moments of flood. (Yeah)
Like the ever-changing cycle of the seasons,
life has the soothing warmth of its summers
and the piercing chill of its winters. (Yeah)
But if one will hold on,
he will discover that God walks with him, (Yeah. Well)
and that God is able (Yeah) to lift you from the fatigue of despair
to the buoyancy of hope
and transform dark and desolate valleys
into sunlit paths of inner peace. (Mmm)

Shariputra, any noble sons or noble daughters
who wish to practice the perfection of wisdom should see this way:
They should see insightfully, correctly and repeatedly
that even the five aggregates are empty of inherent nature.

Form is empty, emptiness is form.
Emptiness is not other than form, form is also not other than emptiness.
Likewise, sensation, discrimination, conditioning, and awareness are empty.
In this way, Shariputra, all things are emptiness;
they are without defining characteristics;
they are not born, they do not cease;
they are not defiled, they are not undefiled.
They have no increase, they have no decrease.

Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness there is no form,
no sensation, no discrimination, no condition and no awareness.
There is no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind.
There is no form, no sound, no smell, no taste, no texture, no phenomenon.
There is no eye-element and so on up to no mind-element
and also up to no element of mental awareness.
There is no ignorance and no elimination of ignorance
and so on up to no aging and death
and no elimination of aging and death.
Likewise, there is no suffering, origin, cessation, or path;
there is no wisdom, no attainment, and even no non-attainment.

Therefore, Shariputra, since the bodhisattvas have no obtainments,
they abide relying on the perfection of wisdom.
Having no defilements in their minds,
they have no fear,
and passing completely beyond error,
they reach nirvana.
Likewise, all the buddhas
abiding in the three times clearly and completely
awaken to unexcelled, authentic, and complete awakening
in dependence upon the perfection of wisdom.

Therefore, one should know that
the mantra of the perfection of wisdom - the mantra of great knowledge,
the precious mantra,
the unexcelled mantra,
the mantra equal to the unequaled,
the mantra that quells all suffering - is true because it is not deceptive.
The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is proclaimed:

Shariputra, a bodhisattva, a great being,
should train in the profound perfection of wisdom in that way.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the
paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death; I will fear no evil: for thou
art with me; thy rod and thy staff they
comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the
presence of mine enemies: thou anointest
my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all
the days of my life; and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord for ever.

To the divine silence of unreachable endlessness;
To the divine silence of perfected knowledge;
To the divine silence of the soundless voice;
To the divine silence of the Heart of the Labyrinth;
To the divine silence of the ancient mind;
To the divine silence of the unborn guide;
To the divine silence of the unseen guide,
protector of all sentient life;
To the divine silence of those of perfected knowledge;
To the divine silence of human primate incarnation;
To the divine silence of the labyrinth guides
who sacrifice their liberation for those
who have not yet awakened to the truth;
To the divine silence of the Lord of Death,
the eternal unborn resident of the labyrinth
who has sacrificed his own redemption
for the redemption of all voyagers everywhere;
To the divine silence of the primordial being;
To the divine silence of the great sacrifice;
We offer homage, love and hope;
But above all, we give our gratitude.

Fearlessness is better than a faint-heart
for any man who puts his nose out of doors.

I am of the nature to have ill-health.
There is no way to escape having ill-health.

All that is dear to me and everyone I love
are of the nature to change.
There is no way to escape being separated from them.

My actions are my only true belongings.
I cannot escape the consequences of my actions.
My actions are the ground on which I stand.

I invite you to enter for a moment
into Sacred Time and Space,
into a way of seeing that is broad and spacious.
See this Day, from the time you arose this morning
until you sleep this evening, as one Ceremony,
divided into small and familiar rituals,
your Heart as the Altar.
You, part of the Cycles of Light and Darkness.

Now begin to see your Life,
from the moment of your Conception
until the time of your Death
as one long, continuous Ceremony,
filled with many rituals,
some familiar, some unknown and challenging.
Your Home and all Your Relations, the Altar.
You, part of many Seasons and Cycles.

Now see this Ceremony of your Life
as part of a much larger Ceremony that extends
Seven Generations into the Past and Seven into the Future,
made up of many Births and Deaths.
This beautiful spinning Earth the Altar.
You, part of the great Ebb and Flow.

Now, if You will, imagine this larger Ceremony
to be but one part of a Ceremony so grand,
so magnificent as to be hardly comprehensible,
a great, vast Ceremonial Circle, rich and vibrant
with millions upon millions of swirling
Circles of Dancing Light,
and You, one of those Dancing Circles,
a Dancer on the Altar that is the Universe,
where Time is Eternal.

Through your blessing, grace, and guidance,
through the power of the light that streams from you:
May all my negative karma, destructive emotions,
obscurations and blockages be purified and removed,
May I know myself forgiven
for all the harm I may have thought and done,
May I accomplish this profound practice of phowa,
and die a good and peaceful death,
And through the triumph of my death,
may I be able to benefit all other beings, living or dead.

O St. Joseph whose protection is so great, so strong,
so prompt before the Throne of God,
I place in you all my interests and desires.
O St. Joseph do assist me by your powerful intercession
and obtain for me from your Divine Son
all spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ, Our Lord;
so that having engaged here below your Heavenly power
I may offer my Thanksgiving and Homage
to the most Loving of Fathers.
O St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you
and Jesus asleep in your arms.
I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart.
Press him in my name and kiss His fine Head for me,
and ask Him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath.
St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls,
pray for us.
Amen

Hail Mary, full of grace.
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.

On the day I die, when I'm being carried
toward the grave, don't weep. Don't say,

He's gone! He's gone. Death has nothing
to do with going away. The sun sets and

the moon sets, but they're not gone.
Death is a coming together. The tomb

looks like a prison, but it's really
release into union. The human seed goes

down in the ground like a bucket into
the well where Joseph is. It grows and

comes up full of some unimagined beauty.
Your mouth closes here and immediately

opens with a shout of joy there.

I have no idea where I am going
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself,
And the fact that I think I am following
your will does not mean that I am
actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please
you does in fact please you.
And I hope that I have that desire in all
that I am doing.
And I know that if I do this, you
will lead me by the right road
though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always
though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death, I will
not fear, for you are ever with me
and you will never leave me
to face my perils alone.

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousands winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there. I did not die.

mary elizabeth frye - 1932

A PRAYER FOR THE DYING

(Assyrian) BIND the sick man to Heaven, for from Earth he is being torn away!

Of the brave man who was so strong, his strength has departed.

Of the righteous servant, the force does not return,

In his bodily frame he lies dangerously ill.

But Ishtar, who in her dwelling, is grieved concerning him, descends from her mountain unvisited of men.

To the door of the sick man she comes.

The sick man listens!

Who is there? Who comes?

It is Ishtar, daughter of the Moon God!

Like pure silver may his garment be shining white!

Like brass may he be radiant!

To the Sun, greatest of the gods, may he ascend!

And may the Sun, greatest of the gods, receive his soul into his holy hands!

Confronting the Clear Light

Now I am experiencing the Clear Light of objective reality.

Nothing is happening, nothing ever has happened or ever will happen.

My present sense of self, the voyager, is in reality the void itself, having no qualities or characteristics.

I remember myself as the voyager, whose deepest nature is the Clear Light itself; I am one; there is no other.

I am the voidness of the void, the eternal unborn, the uncreated, neither real nor unreal.

All that I have been conscious of is my own play of consciousness, a dance of light, the swirling patterns of light in infinite extension, endless endlessness,

the Absolute beyond change, existence, reality.

I, the voyager, am inseparable from the Clear Light; I cannot be born, die, exist, or change.

I know now that this is my true nature.

the american book of the dead -ej gold

A prayer for preparing for dying

O nobly born

The time may soon come for you to seek new levels of reality.

You may soon be set face to face with the Clear Light.

You may soon experience it in its reality.

The state in which all things are like the void and the cloudless sky,

And the naked spotless intellect is like a transparent vacuum;

At this moment, know yourself and abide in that state.

Concentrate on the unity of all living beings.

Hold onto the Clear Light.

Use it to attain understanding and love.

Remember the unity of all living things.

Remember the bliss of the Clear Light.

O nobly born

Try to reach and keep the experience of the Clear Light.

Your own awareness, not formed into anything possessing form or colour, is naturally void.

The Final Reality.

The All Good.

The All Peaceful.

The Light.

The Radiance.

The movement is the fire of life from which we all come.

Join it.

It is part of you.

Beyond the light of life is the peaceful silence of the void.

The quiet bliss beyond all transformations.

The Void is not nothingness.

The Void is beginning and end itself.

Unobstructed; shining, thrilling, blissful.

Diamond consciousness.

Your own consciousness, not formed into anything,

No thought, no vision, no colour, is void.

This is the state of perfect enlightenment.

Your own consciousness, shining, void and inseparable from the great body of radiance, has no birth, nor death.

It is the immutable light.

O nobly born, remember:

When the body and mind separate, you experience a glimpse of the pure truth -

Subtle, sparkling, bright,

Dazzling, glorious and radiantly awesome,

In appearance like a mirage moving across a landscape in springtime.

Neither be daunted nor terrified.

That is the radiance of your own true nature.

Recognise it.

From the midst of that radiance

Comes the natural sound of reality,

Reverberating like a thousand thunders sounding at once.

That is the natural sound of your own life process.

Be neither daunted nor terrified.

O nobly born

These realms are not come from somewhere outside your self,

They come from within and shine upon you.

Know them to be of that nature.

The key to enlightenment and serenity during the period of the thousand visions is simply this:

Relax.

Merge yourself with them.

Become neither attached nor afraid,

Neither be attracted nor repulsed.

They exist only within you.

O nobly born

The Radiant Energy of the Seed

From which come all living forms,

Shoots forth and strikes against you

With a light so brilliant that you will scarcely be able to look at it.

Do not be frightened.

This is the Source Energy which has been radiating for billions of years,

Ever manifesting itself in different forms.

Accept it.

Merge with it.

Let it flow through you.

Lose yourself in it.

Fuse in the Halo of Rainbow Light

In the core of the energy dance.

O nobly born

You are flowing outward into the fluid unity of life.

The ecstasy of organic fire glows in every cell.

The hard, dry, brittle husks of your selfhead are washing out,

Washing out to the endless sea of creation.

Flow with it.

Feel the pulse of the sun's heart.

Do not fear the ecstasy.

Do not resist the flow.

Remember, all the exultant power comes from within.

Release your attachment.

Recognise the wisdom of your own blood.

Trust the tide-force pulling you into unity with all living forms.

Let your heart burst in love for all life.

Do not try to hold on to your old bodily fears.

Let your body merge with the warm flux.

Float in the Rainbow Sea.

The Christian prayer book is sadly lacking in prayers and rituals that would serve at the bedside of a person who is dying, for those who would find this helpful or comforting. In the hope of inspiring readers to send in suitable items, new or old, that could fit in a revised missal, here is The Natural Death Centre's ecumenicised adaptation of extracts from The Tibetan Book of Dead (adapted from The Psychedelic Experience edited by Leary, Metzner and Alpert, published by Citadel Press, 120 Enterprise Avenue, Secaucus. NJ 07094, USA, 1990, ISBN 0 8065 0552 4).

It is not necessary to be imminently physically dying to benefit from such meditations, as the Lama Anagarika Govinda makes clear in the introduction: 'It is one of the oldest and most universal practices for the initiate to go through the experience of death before he can be spiritually reborn. Symbolically he must die to his past and to his old ego, before he can take his place in the new spiritual life into which he has been initiated. The earnest practitioner of these teachings should regard every moment of his or her life as if it were the last.'

Studying the Benefit of Prayer

The experiment cited most often by advocates of prayer is one by a cardiologist at San Francisco General Medical Center (Randolph C. Byrd, "Positive Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer in a Coronary Care Unit Population," Southern Medical Journal 81, July 7, 1988: 826-829)

Byrd studied 393 patients between August 1982 and May 1983, dividing the group into 192 patients who were prayed for, and 201 who were not. He reported that, among other things, the people who were prayed for were five times less likely to develop pulmonary edema; that none required endotracheal intubation, and fewer of them died.

-thank you www.worldprayers.org

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