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Only spiritual practice can help at death

Venerable Sangye Khadro teaches on how to prepare for a peaceful death through spiritual practices in daily life. Links to books referenced during the course can be found here. For course outline and supplementary material, click here.

  • Preparing our mind for meditating on death
  • Guided meditation on the inevitability and uncertainty of death
  • Causes and conditions contributing to our death
  • The last set of points: only Dharma practice helps at the time death
    • Our loved ones cannot help
    • Our possessions and enjoyments cannot help
    • Our own body cannot help
  • Some advice on caring about and benefiting people who are dying

Venerable Sangye Khadro

California-born, Venerable Sangye Khadro ordained as a Buddhist nun at Kopan Monastery in 1974 and is a longtime friend and colleague of Abbey founder Venerable Thubten Chodron. She took bhikshuni (full) ordination in 1988. While studying at Nalanda Monastery in France in the 1980s, she helped to start the Dorje Pamo Nunnery, along with Venerable Chodron. Venerable Sangye Khadro has studied with many Buddhist masters including Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, and Khensur Jampa Tegchok. At her teachers’ request, she began teaching in 1980 and has since taught in countries around the world, occasionally taking time off for personal retreats. She served as resident teacher in Buddha House, Australia, Amitabha Buddhist Centre in Singapore, and the FPMT centre in Denmark. From 2008-2015, she followed the Masters Program at the Lama Tsong Khapa Institute in Italy. Venerable has authored a number books found here, including the best-selling How to Meditate. She has taught at Sravasti Abbey since 2017 and is now a full-time resident.

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