This product is the PDF of the Heart Advice for Death and Dying program for centers curriculum only. We strongly encourage any center hosting this program to also purchase a copy Of the book Heart Advice for Death and Dying, by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Included with this book is an MP3 CD of audio teachings on this topic by Ven Sangye Khadro. This book and MP3 are an excellent reference for the teacher, as is Heart Practices for Death and Dying.

The Heart Advice for Death and Dying course is designed to provide practical instructions for thetime of death to students who are interested in learning about death and dying from the TibetanBuddhist perspective. It is appropriate for beginners and does not assume that those who come forthis course know anything at all about Buddhism.

This course for centers has been developed from the series of teachings given by Venerable SangyeKhadro and produced by FPMT Education Services as the Heart Advice for Death and Dying audiocourse, which is included with the book by the same name from Lama Zopa Rinpoche as a fullhome study program. The following course materials contain detailed talking points andexplanations based on the transcripts of these audio teachings. They are offered as a suggested wayto teach the course. Teachers may use them in whatever manner they find helpful and are free toexplain the points in their own way, using their own examples and stories.

The course is presented as a series of five sessions of approximately two hours each. Each sessionincludes lecture time to impart new information, one or two guided meditations, and Q&A ordiscussion time to enable interaction with students and to respond to their questions. These classescan be organized as two weekend intensives comprised of the equivalent of 2½ classes eachweekend, as one intensive weekend, or as five once-a-week classes.

The structure of the course is as follows:

• Death according to Buddhism
• Developing healthy, realistic attitudes about death
• An explanation of samsara, the state of enlightenment, and the need to remember death
• Introduction to the nine-point meditation on death
  • The inevitability of death
  • The uncertainty of the time of death
  • What helps at the time of death
• Methods for dealing with disturbing emotions regarding death
• Things we can do to prepare for death
• The practice of tong-len
• The eight stages of the death process
• Helping others who are dying

Heart Advice for Death and Dying by Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the recommended reading for this course.It is included in the center program as a reference for teachers. Another vital resource for studentsand teachers is the companion book, Heart Practices for Death and Dying. It contains Rinpoche’s adviceon preparing for death and assisting others through that time. It also includes practices for the timeof death, including the Medicine Buddha puja and the traditional eight prayers done at TibetanBuddhist monasteries and also recommended by Rinpoche to help others at the death time. Thebook also contains mantras to say for those who are dying or who have died, teachings on theirbenefits, and a sheet of mantras to place upon the body of one who has died.

There is no final exam or certificate for this course.

Handouts included:

1. Meditation on Impermanence
2. Meditation on the Inevitability of Death
3. Meditation on the Uncertainty of the Time of Death
4. Meditation on the Four Opponent Po