How to Die Professionally: Hybrid- in-person and Online, with Drubpon Pema Rigdzin (Lama Freddie).
Like life itself, death is not a single moment but an ongoing progression, a transition that can be approached with awareness, preparation, and presence.
The gradual path of Vajrayāna offers a profound roadmap to guide us through the process of dying. We all have the potential to liberate at the time of death or in the bardo. For practitioners with devotion and some degree of training, this moment can become the most powerful opportunity for awakening. This is what Tsedrub Tharchin Rinpoche called how to die professionally.
How do we prepare ourselves for this crucial moment? And how can that preparation become a source of support for others?
This daylong program will offer a step-by-step introduction to the Vajrayāna view of death and transition, and the methods traditionally put into practice to arrive at that threshold with clarity and certainty.
The first part introduces the relative and secular foundations that support end-of-life care in both personal and communal settings. Topics will include ethical sensibilities, practical preparedness, and contemplative grounding, with open conversation and questions on how to meet our fears honestly and prepare with confidence.
The second part goes deeper, exploring the wisdom methods and practices of the Vajrayāna tradition that prepare us to die professionally, a phrase often used by Lama Tharchin Rinpoche to point to the central aim of Vajrayāna practice. Through questions and the exploration of various scenarios, we will strengthen our dharma guidance, steady our confidence, and arrive at greater clarity for the moment of transition.
This program is open to all. The recording will be available for later review and study.
Lama Freddie is an Interfaith Spiritual Care Provider at Stanford Healthcare and a former Chaplain with the Hospice of Santa Cruz. He has trained in Tibetan Buddhism for over thirty years and completed extensive Vajrayāna retreats, including two traditional three-year retreats under the guidance of Lama Tharchin Rinpoche. Lama Freddie is the Retreat Teacher (Drubpon) for the Three-Year Retreat Drub Nyiy Döjö Gatsal, founded by Lama Tharchin Rinpoche in 1992, a lead ritual chanter (umdze), and a mentor in the Ngondro Program of the Vajrayāna Foundation. An acupuncturist and a physical therapist in his native country of Brazil and a keen researcher of ancestral forms of healing, Lama Freddie’s activities have expanded to serve communities in the US and worldwide through authentic dharma and unique healing methods. He is the co-founder of Lhamen Foundation.
(flier art by Pema Tintin Tsehring)