Transforming dying

Sogyal Rinpoche Montreal, 14 September 1998
12th International Congress on Care of the Terminally Ill

If we genuinely want to help the dying, we must first work with ourselves. By practising meditation we become spacious with our thoughts and emotions and open to our true nature, and by generating compassion we learn to transform our own suffering, which enables us to embrace the suffering of others.
One of the main purposes of regular practice is to prepare us for recognizing the nature of mind when it is revealed to us at the moment of our death. At the same time, our practice can inspire the way in which we care for the dying. If we are in touch with our true nature, the love we give to a dying person is purer, and inspires us to create an environment of trust and love that lends invaluable support to the dying.