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Most of us who have studied Buddhist teachings for any length of time have heard a great deal about death. It can be summed up in the simple statement:
I’m going to die, that’s for sure.
As we go through our days doing our best to have a peaceful and content mind, we are both living well and preparing for death. When death arrives, the most important thing is to have a peaceful mind, and how we live very much influences how we die.
How do we prepare for the inevitable? The prayers and practices that sustain us in our everyday lives can also sustain us at the time of death, but if illness or mental incapacity comes before death, we might no longer be able to study, pray and meditate, and do the practices that have cultivated a peaceful mindstream. Having those practices available to us can help ease the transition from this life to the next.
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A Dharma will is a way of making clear to ourselves and others what will be help us have a peaceful mind when we are sick, dying or have died.
In this one-day workshop, we will learn about the dying process and the elements of a Dharma will, and then prepare our own documents that lay out our wishes and needs.
The morning session will be a brief overview of the death process and the elements in a dharma will.
The afternoon session will be an opportunity to begin deciding and documenting what will support us during this time: What we want to hear, see, touch and taste, the practices, mantras and images we want around us when we are sick, dying and during our time in the bardo.
We will have an outline that we can use as a guide to fill in our personal information. By doing this in a group, we can receive an offer support to all of us within the group.
Anyone is welcome to attend the morning session only and continue their day. We request those who come for the afternoon work session please attend the morning session as well.
We will break for lunch when folks can go out or bring their own and chat.
This workshop led by Venerable Ngawang Khando.
Please register for this event! We will have printed copies of some the materials, and your registration helps us print enough, but not too many!
Here are links to useful information:
For use at the workshop: Buddhist Death
The following links are to sources that are useful for helping another person with dying. They are not part of the workshop.
Listening Well
Needs of the Dying
