The Importance of Reciting the Rinchhen Tsugtor Verse for the Dead & Dying
The minute you meet the person, do this first. Then, do the many other things that you planned to do. Then don’t worry; you have made it definite for them not to be reborn in the lower realms. – Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Rinchhen Tsugtor Verse
CHOM DÄN DÄ DE ZHIN SHEG PA DRA CHOM PA YANG DAG PAR DZOG PÄI SANG GYÄ RIN CHHEN TSUG TOR CHÄN LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO
To the endowed transcendent destroyer, the one gone beyond, the foe destroyer, the completely perfected, fully awakened being Having a
Jewel Ushnisha, I prostrate. Commentary In one of Buddha’s past life stories, there were tens of thousands of fish who were dying. The water had dried out, so he brought water from very afar and chanted this mantra: Chom dän dä
de zhin sheg pa dra chom pa yang dag par dzog päi sang gyä rin chhen tsug tor chän la chhag tshäl lo. That is very good to know and to write down. He chanted this buddha’s mantra to the fish, many tens of thousands of fish. He chanted this and they were all born in the Deva Realm of the Thirty three, something like that. Then they all came down to thank him and there was a rain of flowers.
There are quite a few stories about this verse:
Chom dän dä de zhin sheg pa dra chom pa yang dag par dzog päi sang gyä rin chhen tsug tor chän la chhag tshäl lo. I am telling you, if there is an animal or a person dying, this is the very first thing to recite; and not like you are reciting it for yourself so the oth
er person doesn’t hear it. The other person has to hear it.
Don’t mumble; you have to recite it loudly. The other person who is dying has to hear it, so get near their ear and recite it loudly. Even if you have many other practices to do for the dying person, phowa, (the meditation technique of transferring consciousness to a pure land), Medicine Buddha pujas, or whatever other things you are going to do, the first thing is to recite this one:
Chom dän dä de zhin sheg pa dra chom pa yang dag par dzog päi sang gyä rin chhen tsug tor chän la chhag tshäl lo.
If the other person is able to hear that, it is impossible for them to be reborn in the lower realms. This is very important, it is just very short (Rinpoche snaps fingers) and it is done. Whatever else you are going to do, first do that. Also, you cannot be sure when the person is going to die, but if the person or animal hears that verse, they will never get reborn in the lower realms.
Source of the Rinchhen Tsugtor Verse
It is very interesting. In the Golden Light Sutra there is a story, a little ways into it, that bchanting this buddha’s name, tens of thousands of fish were liberated from the lower realms. Lillian Too from Malaysia, the person who probably spread Feng Shui books most in the world; she read that part of the chapter to her fish.
All those fish died. Then she told her friend of many years in Singapore, who has been her student for quite a number of years. Lillian told her and she read that part of the chapter to her fish; not the whole chapter but one page. Then her fish died. They didn’t know why her fish died. Until Lillian met me, she didn’t know why they died. She felt bad because she didn’t help the fish. I said, “That is not bad, that is incredibly good, because that means they are liberated from the lower realms! It is not bad, it is really very good. They have been liberated from the lower realms by your reading that.” That is the story of this chapter, so it is quite amazing. Remember this. Even for animals, and insects, it is unbelievably powerful. So, the minute you meet the person, do this first. Then do the many other things that you planned to do. Then, don’t worry; you have made it definite for them not to be reborn in the lower realms.
