FIRE

Our mouth and nose dry up completely. All warmth sweeps away, usually from the feet and hands toward the heart. Our breath is cold as it passes through our nose and mouth. It becomes more and more difficult to perceive anything outside of us as sound and sight are confused. For the individual dying, Kalu Rinpoche writes: "the inner experience is of being consumed in a flame, being in the middle of a roaring blaze, or perhaps the whole world being consumed in a holocaust of fire."

The fire element is dissolving into air. So the secret sign is of shimmering red sparks dancing above an open fire.


Video clip: 727 K
Sound clip: (stones) 265K
From Tibetan Book of Living & Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche
Air