Phowa

Amitabha from a thangka in the personal collection of Sogyal Rinpoche

Phowa (Wyl. ‘pho ba) — the practice for directing the transference of consciousness at the time of death. It is one of the Six Yogas of Naropa.

Empowerments and Transmissions

• Tulku Pegyal Rinpoche was the first teacher to give Amitabha empowerments and teachings to the Rigpa sangha for the practice of phowa from the Longchen Nyingtik tradition. He did this on several occasions.
• Chagdud Khadro has also given the Rigpa sangha Amitabha empowerments and taught the phowa practice of Longsal Nyingpo on different occasions.

Further Reading

• Chagdud Khadro, P’howa Commentary, Pilgrims Publishing, India, 2004
• Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying