Death and Dying – A Key to Creation – Assisting others
Death is so final.
News just in, there are other viewpoints on the subject. The Indo-Tibetan tradition would beg to disagree.
Abstract
Using methods developed by Tarab Tulku, we have a week together investigating one of the great mysteries. Using a series of practices dealing with change, imaginary death and dying, exploring and allowing ourselves to go beyond fear and being part of the natural process of dying and becoming anew, also training assisting others in the death process.
content retreat
In this course, we will be using a series of practices dealing with change, imaginary death and dying, exploring and allowing ourselves to experience being part of change instead of stepping outside the process. We learn to transform the fear of change and death and strengthen our natural dynamic being as well as assisting others in death and dying.
Defining death as the end of life can be negatively confronting for the dying person and for relatives, friends or even professional persons, who might be offering consolation and help to the dying person. In all concerned parties, ideas and connected feelings concerning one’s own life and death appear on such occasions.
Within the ancient Indo-Tibetan tradition, existence is seen as subject to the continuous movement of creation, existence and destruction. This is about the connection between the extremes of life, birth and death in any instant in time. Through understanding of life and death being interconnected in every moment of our lives; in every split second and not only with the specific situation when we part from our earthly body, we could join the natural flow of being and enjoy living differently.
Following UD, the best way to help others when dying is, first of all, to come to terms with ones own fears. If one identifies with what is subject to change, fear naturally arises. Fears are connected with change and ultimately with the fear of death, whereas, if one succeeds in contacting subtler energy of oneself that continues throughout the changing process, one remains part of the natural transformation without fear.
Closely connected with nature, Indo-Tibetans have understood how to use all-natural states to further the subtlety of being. They have found the death process and the final state of dying the most profound and uniting natural state. The final point of the death process, the clear light experience, is seen as the actual key to the beyond. Indo-Tibetans have developed practices for consciously going into a death-like process and final state, using this particular state uniting potential to pursue the goal of going beyond compounded and transitory reality or dualistic existence.
The course also allows us to acquaint ourselves with aspects of this profound original Indo-Tibetan death practice to promote a sound and creative life in harmony with our nature. We will practise staying with the feeling of ourselves while going through the traditional Indo-Tibetan practice for training to attend the process of dying, using imagery body, challenging the fear of dying, for finally giving birth to the creativity of becoming anew.
For training to accompanying the process of dying, participants will train in guiding different practices with one another.
We will also be using the methods, which Tarab Tulku has developed, based on the essence of the original knowledge of dealing with death, for dealing with our challenges in personal development. Mental challenges are often found in their specific connection to self-identity. Using the ancient Tibetan tradition of transformation through the dying experience, we can go through the dying process of this challenging or vulnerable self-reference. We transcend the interconnected mental structures, which are part and parcel of the vulnerable self-reference, to gain the genuine strength of our being.