Meditation consists of being attentive to such a state of Rigpa, free
from all mental constructions, whilst remaining fully relaxed, without
any distraction or grasping.

There is no greater gift of charity than helping a person to die well.

That is why ... we see compassion as the source and essence of
enlightenment, and the heart of enlightened activity. (p 193)

The power of compassion has no bounds. (p 195)

Helping the dying, then, must include the possibility of spiritual care
because it is only with spiritual knowledge that we can truly face and
understand death.

What more chilling commmentary on the modern world could there be that most people die unprepared for death, as they have lived, unprepared
for life.

For what happens at the moment of death, is that the ordinary mind and
its delusions die, and in that gap, the boundless sky-like nature of our
mind is uncovered. This essential nature of the mind is the background to the whole of life and death.

If all we know of the mind, is that aspect of the mind that
dissolves when we die, we will be left with no idea of what continues, no idea of the new dimension of the deeper reality of the nature of the mind.

If ... we will not be able to live our lives fully; we will remain
imprisoned in the very aspect of ourselves that has to die.

For someone who has prepared, and practiced, death comes not as defeat,
but as a triumph, the crowning and most glorious moment of life.

With the master, there's no such thing as distance.
   - Lama Tseten, dying words.

Our myopic focus on this life, and this life alone, is the greatest
deception, the source of the modern world's bleak and destructive
materialism.

Modern society seems to me a celebration of all those things that lead
away from the truth, make truth hard to live for, and discourage people
from even believing that it exists.

"I realised that there are things that every person is sent to the earth
to realize and learn. For instance, to share more love, to be more
loving toward one another.  To discover that the most important things
is human relationships, and love, and not materialistic things.
And to realize that every single thing that you do in your life is
recorded and that even though you pass it by not thinking at the time,
it always comes up later."

"What had i done to benefit or advance the human race ?"

Whatever we have done with our lives makes us what we are when we die.
And everything, absolutely everything, counts.
    
The realization of impermanence is paradoxically the only thing we can
hold onto, perhaps the only lasting possession.

"Of all footprints
that of the elephant is supreme;
of all mindfulness meditations
that of death is supreme."
   - the buddha. Mahaparinirvana Sutra

The only thing we really have is nowness, is now.

Do i remember at all moments that I am dying, and everyone and
everything else, and so treat all beings at all times with compassion ?

Has my understanding of death and impermanence become so keen and so
urgent, that i am devoting every second to the pursuit of enlightenment
?

If you can answer 'yes' to both of these, then you have really
understood impermanence.

We are terrified of letting go, terrified in fact of living at all,
    since learning to live is learning to let go.


... Everything is inextricably interrelated: We come to realize we are responsible for everything we do, say, or think, responsible in fact for ourselves, everyone else, and the entire universe.

What you are is what you have been, and what you will be is what you do now. - Buddha

If you want to know your past life, look into your present condition; if you want to know your future life, look at your present actions. - Padmasambhava

"Whatever joy there is in this world
All comes from desiring others to be happy,
And whatever suffering there is in this world
All comes from desiring myself to be happy."
   - Shantideva, "A guide to the bodhisattva's way of life".

The bardo teachings show us precisely what will happen if we prepare for death and what will happen if we do not. The choice could not be clearer. If we refuse to accept death now, while we are still alive, we will pay dearly throughout our lives, at the moment of death, and thereafter. The effects of this refusal will ravage this life and all the lives to come. We will not be able to live this life fully; we will be imprisoned in the very aspect of ourselves that has to die.

Our society promotes cleverness instead of wisdom, and celebrates the most superficial, harsh, and least useful aspects of our intelligence.

Each man has come into this world for a particular task and that is his purpose. If he doesn't perform it, he will have done nothing. 
- Rumi (Table talk)