b) The advantages of recalling death

This subtopic also has six divisions: (1) the advantage of bringing great value to our practice; (2) the advantage of bringing great power to our practice; (3) the advantage of being important at the beginning; (4) the advantage of being important in the middle; (5) the advantage of being important at the end; and (6) the advantage that we will be able to face death with joy and happiness.

i) The advantage of bringing great value to our practice

There is great value in recalling our death. The Master declared in the Sutra on the Great Expiration[1] that the elephant has the greatest of all footprints and that impermanence and death are the greatest of all conceptions. Indeed, it is by recalling death that we develop a genuine dharma practice. After engendering in us the desire to achieve an excellent human form in our next life, it motivates us to practice generosity, observe morality, and so on. In short, the practice of recalling death is what ultimately leads us to achieve all the levels of the path from those relating to the three types of practitioner up to the united pair state of Vajradhara.

Even Je Milarepa was so influenced by the death of his teacher Yungtîn's patron that it moved him to take up the dharma.[2] Great spiritual adepts carry a trumpet made from a human thighbone and a cup made from a human skull to remind them of their own impermanence. This also explains why the Vinaya scriptures declare that skeletons should be drawn in the monks' bath house, and so forth.[3]

Chen-nga Rinpoche said, "If we don't meditate on impermanence during each of the morning periods, then that day becomes lost to the concerns of this life."

Shangtsun Yerpa[4] also said:

When we don't recall impermanence in the morning, everything up until noon is lost to the concerns of this life. When we don't recall it at noon, everything up until that night is lost to the concerns of this life. And if we become devoted to this life, all our actions fall outside the dharma.

ii) The advantage of bringing great power to our practice

The practice of recalling impermanence in the form of death destroys desire, hatred, and other enemies of the dharma. It also gives us power to accumulate virtue. It is further described as being like a hammer that instantly destroys all mental afflictions and misdeeds.

iii) The advantage of being important at the beginning

At the outset of our spiritual practice, recalling death causes us to take up the dharma.

iv) The advantage of being important in the middle

In the middle part of our spiritual practice, recalling death is the motivating force that urges us to be energetic in practicing the dharma.

v) The advantage of being important at the end

At the end of our spiritual practice, recalling death causes us to achieve the path's result and thus to complete our spiritual endeavors.

vi) The advantage that we will be able to face death with joy and happiness

The sixth advantage is that even though we are about to die, we will feel like a son returning to his father's home. This comes about because earlier in life we carried out a true dharma practice, and therefore we feel secure in our mind about what the future will bring.

For instance, Longdol Lama Rinpoche said:

I will not be afraid when my impermanence shows itself, for that morning's old monk will transform himself into a deity in the afternoon.

In sum, the best dharma practitioner faces death joyfully, the middling practitioner does so without fear, and even the lesser practitioner does so without regret. This lack of regret comes when we think, "I was able to carry out my dharma practice well. So now it will be easy for me to die."

Je Milarepa also said:

I fled to the mountains in fear of death,
And realized mind's primal statevoidness.
Now, when death comes, I have nothing to fear.

The actual method of recalling death.

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