"If you, the helper, are better trained in meditation than the dying or dead person, or if both of you enjoy equal training, then you must be active in doing meditation, saying prayers, and performing ceremonies. Also, you must give the dying person all the necessary instructions on dying and passing through the bardo, but in the right proportion. That is, the instructions should not be too numerous or too profound. If you give too many, the dying person may not have the energy, time, and capacity to get any benefit from them (even when still alive). So you have to consider how much you should say and about what. You should impart something pithy and inspiring that is the right thing for this person to hear, so that they will understand and remember it on the long afterdeath journey. Here you have an opportunity to lead the dying through the process of dying and the bardo and to help them reach the peaceful and joyful shore, just as if you were carrying a sick person across a torrent.
"You may offer the whole or any part of the following instructions to the dying or dead person. The instructions should be in clear, simple, and heartfelt words. The dying or dead person may or may not be conscious or present to perform the meditations or prayers along with you, so you might end up doing them alone. However, you should think that the dying or dead person is listening to you and praying and meditating with you. Offer the following instructions to her or him aloud or in your mind:
"In the sky in front of you, visualize the amazingly beautiful and vast pure land such as the Blissful Pure Land. In the middle of it, see the presence of a source of blessings such as the Buddha of Infinite Light [or any other buddha, saint, or sage that is appropriate] accompanied by an infinite number of other enlightened ones, such as bodhisattvas, arhats, and spiritual masters. See them as fully enlightened ones who radiate unconditional love, omniscient wisdom, boundless peace, total joy, and invincible power.
"The sources of blessings are here to protect you, take care of you, and support you in your journey of the bardo. They are here to lead you to the Blissful Pure Land.
"Feel boundless peace and joy in their presence. Feel the warmth of their presence. Feel secure in their presence. Feel the fulfillment of all your needs in their presence. Believe with confidence that from now on you are protected and guided by an ocean of enlightened ones.
"Sing prayers or mantras, thinking of and feeling the sounds of the prayers as the waves of invocation to the sources of blessings for their help and blessing. Also think and feel that the sounds of prayers are the waves of your devotional energy to the sources of blessings.
"You may hear sounds in general and the sounds of prayers as the waves of love, wisdom, and power from the sources of blessings. Feel the sounds as the vibration of your own joyful heart or mind, devotional prayers, universal love, omniscient wisdom, boundless power, and the peace of openness.
"See that infinite beams of blessing light of great peace and joy are coming toward you from the source of blessing. These blessing lights are filling your body and mind and the entire atmosphere around you. They are lights of unconditional love, omniscient wisdom, invincible power, total warmth, boundless joy, and universal peace.
"Whatever images you see, sounds you hear, or feelings you experience, you must see, hear, feel, and believe that they are the pure images, soothing voices, and the enlightened wisdom of the source of blessings.
"Finally, relax in the awareness of innate peace and the blessings of the sources of blessings. Feel as if all has become one."
