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Among the many practices for preparing for death that are explained in the best-selling Mind Beyond Death are the two excerpted below, one focusing on devotion to the teacher, the other on the moment of genuine luminosity.

During the stages of dissolution, and especially at the moment of blacking out, or when nonconceptual luminosity starts to flash, we should apply whatever methods we have been practicing in this life, whether they are Mahamudra, Dzogchen or Vajrayana. It is important to understand, however, that not everyone has exactly the same experiences. Although we all undergo these dissolutions, each of us experiences the process in a slightly different way. For example, when the inner signs arise, they might not confuse or agitate the mind of a practitioner who has established some basis of calmness, while they may be disturbing for someone who has not developed any mental stability. We should never say that there is absolutely only one way to experience the dissolutions. Sometimes we are overly meticulous, wanting to document everything very precisely. We would like to know in advance just how many hours, minutes and seconds each of the stages will last. However, it is important for us to understand that this experience is not precisely the same for everyone because we are talking about mind experience not just what happens to our bodies.

If you are accustomed to Mahamudra or Dzogchen, then you can employ the various enhancement practices of those traditions, which are taught for the purpose of stabilizing insight, improving the recognition of the nature of mind and developing love and compassion for all sentient beings. If you have trained in Vajrayana deity practice, then you can rely on the Vajrayana practices of prana, nadi and bindu at that time.

Path of Devotion
When we use devotion as a path, we remember our guru and visualize his or her form at the chakras where the dissolutions are taking place. For example, when you recognize the signs that the navel chakra is dissolving, you visualize your guru clearly at the navel and, placing your mind one-pointedly on his or her form, you supplicate the guru and the lineage. While making positive aspirations, you should reiterate your intention to realize the nature of mind now. The process is the same for the dissolutions at the heart chakra, throat chakra and secret chakra. Then, when the white and red bindus move toward the heart center and meet, you should place the guru there also.

Working with our devotion means that we are not just relying on our own efforts. We are opening ourselves to a source of blessings that is an embodiment and a reflection of our own fundamental nature.

There are many beautiful and inspiring supplication prayers that we can recite, such as the supplication to Padmasambhava called the "Guru Rinpoche Prayer." Such practices should be done regularly in the bardo of this life and also at the time of death. We recite these prayers now with the intention of transforming the fear and suffering we experience in this life, and at the same time, we maintain an awareness of our impending death and its potential for suffering. Accordingly, we form the strong intention to supplicate in the same way at that time. We say to ourselves, "In the bardos of death and after-death, I will supplicate just as I am doing now." In this way, we develop a habitual connection with the practice so that when we enter those bardos, our supplication comes easily; it is very natural, genuine and relaxed.

More about the book . . .

An indispensable guidebook through the journey of life and death, Mind Beyond Death weaves a synthesis of wisdom remarkable in its scope. With warm informality and profound understanding of the Western mind, The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche makes the mysterious Tibetan teachings on the bardos—the intervals of life, death, and beyond—completely available to the modern reader.

Drawing on a breathtaking range of material, Mind Beyond Death shows us how the bardos can be used to conquer death. Working with the bardos means taking hold of life and learning how to live with fearless abandon. Exploring all six bardos—not just the three bardos of death—Mind Beyond Death demonstrates that the secret to a good journey through and beyond death lies in how we live.

Walking skillfully through the bardos of dream, meditation, and daily life, The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche takes us deep into the mysterious death intervals, introducing us to their dazzling mindscape. This tour de force gives us the knowledge to transform death, the greatest obstacle, into the most powerful opportunity for enlightenment. With both nuts-and-bolts meditation techniques and brilliant illumination, Mind Beyond Death offers a clear map and a sturdy vehicle that will safely transport the reader through the challenging transitions of this life and the perilous bardos beyond death.

The Luminosity of Death

At the end of the bardo of dying, when all of the elements of the physical body and mind consciousness have dissolved, we leave the bardo of this life and enter the bardo of dharmata. This experience arises for us after our consciousness has dissolved into space, and space has dissolved into luminosity, into the buddha wisdom, or buddha jnana, at our heart center. The completion of this process takes place with the arising of the appearance of the "black light," which is the dawning of the ground luminosity.

As described previously, for those without a stable practice of meditation and some experience of mind's empty-luminous nature, this is the moment that we hit the "off" button of our television set—there is a flash of light and the screen goes dark.

The arising of the ground luminosity signals the first stage of the bardo of dharmata. It is our first experience of the genuine luminosity of mind, its full state of wisdom. Viewed from the perspective of our practice and our spiritual journey, it is an extraordinary moment. It is the time when every aspect of the "all-basis consciousness," the alaya-vijnana, has dissolved into the fundamental state of wisdom, and we return to the original space of mind—its starting point. Since all aspects of our relative, conceptual mind have ceased, mind's absolute nature of mind is revealed. Because that absolute nature is buddha nature, or tathagatagarbha, our experience in this moment is a vivid experience of enlightened mind. Even if we did not "get" the nature of mind in this lifetime, it manifests so powerfully now that we have a much greater opportunity to recognize it.

The Dzogchen teachings call this the arising of the alpha pure wisdom of dharmakaya. If we can maintain our awareness now, then we can rest our mind in the ground luminosity, in the state of dharmata itself, which is said to be like a clear, cloudless sky—without sunlight, moonlight or starlight. It is a naked experience of awareness without any reference point, a pure experience of shunyata without a speck of obscuration.

Instead of going unconscious at this point, those who have a developed practice of meditation and have attained some realization of the nature of mind will recognize the ground luminosity as the fundamental nature of reality and the essence of their own minds. They will be able to rest in this luminosity. However, whether one is a practitioner or not, this experience of luminosity manifests unfailingly for all beings.
—excerpted from Mind Beyond Death