Phowa is a
VajrayānaVajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle...
Buddhist meditation practice. It may be described as "the practice of conscious dying", "transference of consciousness at the time of death", "
mindstreamMindstream in Buddhist philosophy is the moment-to-moment "continuum" of awareness. There are a number of terms in the Buddhist literature that may well be rendered "mindstream"...
transference", or “enlightenment without meditation” (
Phowa (
WylieThe Wylie transliteration scheme is a method for transliterating Tibetan script using only the letters available on a typical English language typewriter. It bears the name of Turrell V. Wylie, who described the scheme in an article, A Standard System of Tibetan Transcription, published in 1959...
:
'pho ba; also spelled
Powa or
Poa phonetically; Sanskrit:
saṃkrānti) is a
VajrayānaVajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle...
Buddhist meditation practice. It may be described as "the practice of conscious dying", "transference of consciousness at the time of death", "
mindstreamMindstream in Buddhist philosophy is the moment-to-moment "continuum" of awareness. There are a number of terms in the Buddhist literature that may well be rendered "mindstream"...
transference", or “enlightenment without meditation” (
Phowa (
WylieThe Wylie transliteration scheme is a method for transliterating Tibetan script using only the letters available on a typical English language typewriter. It bears the name of Turrell V. Wylie, who described the scheme in an article, A Standard System of Tibetan Transcription, published in 1959...
:
'pho ba; also spelled
Powa or
Poa phonetically; Sanskrit:
saṃkrānti) is a
VajrayānaVajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle...
Buddhist meditation practice. It may be described as "the practice of conscious dying", "transference of consciousness at the time of death", "
mindstreamMindstream in Buddhist philosophy is the moment-to-moment "continuum" of awareness. There are a number of terms in the Buddhist literature that may well be rendered "mindstream"...
transference", or “enlightenment without meditation” ({{bo|w=ma-sgom sangs-rgyas}).
Application of Phowa
The method can be applied at the moment of death to transfer one's consciousness through the top of the head directly into a Buddha-field of one’s choice. By so doing, one bypasses some of the typical experiences that are said to occur after death. Example destinations are
SukhāvatīSukhāvatī refers to the western Pure Land of the Buddha Amitābha in Mahāyāna Buddhism. Sukhāvatī translates to "Land of Bliss."-In other languages:In traditional Mahayana Buddhist countries, there are a number of translations for Sukhāvatī....
,
AbhiratiAbhirati is the eastern Buddhafield or Pure Land associated with Akshobhya, one of the Five Dhyani Buddhas, in Mahayana Buddhist traditions. It is described in the Akṣobhya-tathāgatasya-vyūha Sūtra. Though emergent in early Mahāyāna, Abhirati is far less widely known than Sukhāvatī, the Pure Land...
, Ghanavyūha, Aṭakāvatī, Mount Potala, the Copper-Colored Mountain ({{bo|w=Zangs-mdog dpal-ri}}), and
Tuṣita' or Tusita is one of the six deva-worlds of the Kāmadhātu, located between the Yāma heaven and the heaven. Like the other heavens, is said to be reachable through meditation...
; the most popular is
SukhavatiSukhāvatī refers to the western Pure Land of the Buddha Amitābha in Mahāyāna Buddhism. Sukhāvatī translates to "Land of Bliss."-In other languages:In traditional Mahayana Buddhist countries, there are a number of translations for Sukhāvatī....
.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}
Phowa is also performed by specialists ({{bo|w=’pho-’debs bla-ma}}) on the behalf of the deceased, as a post-mortem ritual.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}
Mark of Phowa practice
The mark of a successful Phowa practice is a small drop of blood directly from the center of the vertex. To demonstrate a successful practice traditionally a Kusha-grass was pushed into the small opening created in the fontanel.
Lineages
The main lineage of
phowa is one of the
Six yogas of NaropaThe Six Yogas of Nāropa , also called the six dharmas of Naropa and Naro's six doctrines , are a set of advanced Indo-Tibetan Buddhist tantric practices and a meditation sādhana compiled in and around the...
, although other transmissions also exist.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}} The
chödChöd , is a spiritual practice found primarily in Tibetan Buddhism. Also known as "Cutting Through the Ego," the practice is based on the Prajñāpāramitā sutra...
subsumes within its auspices aspects of phowa
sadhanaSādhanā literally "a means of accomplishing something" is ego-transcending spiritual practice. It includes a variety of disciplines in Hindu, Sikh , Buddhist and Muslim traditions that are followed in order to achieve various spiritual or ritual objectives.The historian N...
.
The
KagyuThe Kagyu, Kagyupa, or Kagyud school, also known as the "Oral Lineage" or Whispered Transmission school, is today regarded as one of six main schools of Himalayan or Tibetan Buddhism, the other five being the Nyingma, Sakya, Jonang, Bon and Gelug...
phowa lineage is from the
Six yogas of NaropaThe Six Yogas of Nāropa , also called the six dharmas of Naropa and Naro's six doctrines , are a set of advanced Indo-Tibetan Buddhist tantric practices and a meditation sādhana compiled in and around the...
.
Nāropathumb|right|NaropaNāropā was an Indian Buddhist yogi, mystic and monk. He was the disciple of Tilopa and brother, or some sources say partner and pupil, of Niguma. Naropa was the main teacher of Marpa, the founder of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism...
received it from the Indian mahāsiddha
TilopaTilopa was born in either Chativavo , Bengal or Jagora, Bengal in India. He was a tantric practitioner and mahasiddha. He developed the mahamudra method, a set of spiritual practices that greatly accelerates the process of attaining bodhi...
and later passed it to his Tibetan disciple
MarpaMarpa Lotsawa , sometimes known fully as Lhodak Marpa Choski Lodos or commonly as Marpa the Translator, was a Tibetan Buddhist teacher credited with the transmission of many Buddhist teachings to Tibet from India, including the teachings and lineages of Vajrayana and Mahamudra.-Biography:Born as...
.
Nāropathumb|right|NaropaNāropā was an Indian Buddhist yogi, mystic and monk. He was the disciple of Tilopa and brother, or some sources say partner and pupil, of Niguma. Naropa was the main teacher of Marpa, the founder of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism...
’s teachings describe a second method of
’pho-ba that entails the transference of one’s consciousness to another body ({{bo|w=’pho-ba grong-’jug}}).{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}
MilarepaJetsun Milarepa , is generally considered one of Tibet's most famous yogis and poets. He was a student of Marpa Lotsawa, and a major figure in the history of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism.- Life :...
’s query regarding these teachings forced Marpa to search for explanatory treatises on the subject among his Indian manuscripts, and, having found none, to return to India to obtain more scriptures.
The
Drikung KagyuDrikung Kagyu or Drigung Kagyu is one of the eight "minor" lineages of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. "Major" here refers to those Kagyu lineages founded by the immediate disciples of Gampopa while "minor" refers to all the lineages founded by disciples of Phakmo Drupa , one of the three...
school of
Tibetan BuddhismTibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...
is known for their phowa teachings. A major pilgrimage and cultural celebration is known in the Tibetan world as the
Great Drikung Phowa ({{bo|w=’Bri-gung ’pho-ba chen-mo}}). This festival was traditionally held once in every twelve-year calendrical cycle, and its last observance took place in August 1992 in gTer-sgrom, Central Tibet, after a hiatus of 36 years due to a ban enforced by the Chinese authorities. His Eminence Choeje Ayang Rinpoche from Eastern Tibet belongs to the Drikung school and is an authority on Buddhist
afterlifeThe afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...
rituals; he gives teachings and initiations to the practice of
phowa annually in
Bodh Gaya, India.
Some lineages of
phowa include a rite of incision, or opening of the
sahasraraSahasrara/ Sahastrara is the seventh primary chakra according to Hindu tradition.-Location:Sahasrara is either located at the top of the head in that one area, or a little way above it .-Appearance:Sahasrara is described with 1,000 multi-coloured petals which are arranged in 20 layers each of them...
at the cranial
zenithThe zenith is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the imaginary celestial sphere. "Above" means in the vertical direction opposite to the apparent gravitational force at that location. The opposite direction, i.e...
, to assist with transferal.
Lama
Ole NydahlOle Nydahl is a lama in the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism under guidance of Trinley Thaye Dorje. Since the early 1970s, Nydahl has toured the world giving lectures and meditation courses. With his wife, Hannah Nydahl, he founded Diamond Way Buddhism, a worldwide lay organization of Karma...
is a teacher of this practice in the Western world. About ten times a year Lama Ole Nydahl transmits the practice worldwide. He learned Phowa from the
Drikung KagyuDrikung Kagyu or Drigung Kagyu is one of the eight "minor" lineages of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. "Major" here refers to those Kagyu lineages founded by the immediate disciples of Gampopa while "minor" refers to all the lineages founded by disciples of Phakmo Drupa , one of the three...
, his Eminence Choeje Ayang Rinpoche, and teaches a Phowa type which derives from the Longchen-Nyingthig-Tradition of the
NyingmaThe Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism . "Nyingma" literally means "ancient," and is often referred to as Nga'gyur or the "old school" because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan, in the eighth century...
tradition.
In Dzogchen
Shugchang,
et al., in an exegesis of the
ZhitroIn Tibetan Buddhism and Bön, Zhitro or Karling Zhitro is the name of a genre of scripture and associated tantric practices primarily concerned with the "Hundred Peaceful and Wrathful Deities"...
, discuss phowa in
DzogchenAccording to Tibetan Buddhism and Bön, Dzogchen is the natural, primordial state or natural condition of the mind, and a body of teachings and meditation practices aimed at realizing that condition. Dzogchen, or "Great Perfection", is a central teaching of the Nyingma school also practiced by...
:
Phowa has many different meanings; in Tibetan it means "transferring
consciousness." The highest form is known as the phowa of the dharmakayaThe Dharmakāya is a central idea in Mahayana Buddhism forming part of the Trikaya doctrine that was possibly first expounded in the Aṣṭasāhasrikā prajñā-pāramitā , composed in the 1st century BCE...
which
is meditation on the great perfection. When you do Dzogchen meditation, there's
no need to transfer anything, because there's nothing to transfer, no place to
transfer it, nor anyone to do it. That's the highest, and greatest phowa practice.
See also
- Tibetan Pure Land Buddhism
- Skull (symbolism)
- Astral projection
Astral projection is an interpretation of out-of-body experience that assumes the existence of an "astral body" separate from the physical body and capable of traveling outside it...
Literature
- Chagud Khadro : Phowa-Commentary - Instructions for the practice of Consciousness Transference, Pilgrims Publishing, 2003, ISBN : 81-7769-097-3