Out of his infinite compassion for sentient beings, Lama Zopa Rinpoche asked that the practices found in this booklet be compiled to make it easy for us to prepare for our own death, and also easy for us to help other people who are dying or have died.

As Rinpoche says in Dying Happily with the Five Powers, practicing “the five powers to be applied during life” serves as a preparation for our death. But as the time of our death approaches, we should specifically engage in the practice of “the five powers for near the time of death,” which Rinpoche explains in this booklet.

When dictating the instructions for this booklet Lama Zopa Rinpoche said that we should also make use of the instructions, mantras, and images found in Liberation Tools to Help the Dying and Deceased. Rinpoche concluded his instructions by saying that scientists from universities like Harvard and Oxford, no matter how famous they are, don’t know how to help the dying and the deceased. We, on the other hand, have many methods available to us to help them. We should keep this in mind.

2022 edition.