Question asked by Lee
Is it true that if a bad person dies and a high lama uses Powa on him , his soul can be pushed to pureland and he won't suffer in the other realms as he should? And also if you place holy papers with mantras on a dead person body he won't suffer as much even if he goes to the lower realms? Just like to know if all these are true?












































































































Dear Lee,
Thank you for your question. There are a couple of factors involved in both your questions. In regards to powa, this would be dependent on the spiritual attainments and practice of the lama in question. The ability to perform powa for others takes a lot of knowledge and practice to achieve. The lama must have ‘achieved’ or developed the ability to transfer the consciousness to a pureland.
It would also be dependent on the karma of the person who has passed away. When it comes to the karma of this person, there are some points that we need to bear in mind. The first is that the person must have the good karma or merits to be somehow connected to a lama who can perform the powa practice for them when they die. If they did not have this connection, then the lama would never know or have an impetus to perform powa for this particular individual. For example, if this particular lama did not even know about the person in their current form, among the countless other sentient beings in existence, they wouldn’t know to perform powa for the person.
Another factor involving karma is that it can be particularly negative. In this case the lama is ‘fighting’ against the individual’s karma, which is a binding factor to samsara. By this, I mean that karma automatically keeps you bound to samsara. Karma by its very nature keeps a person bound to samsara and cyclic existence. In performing powa, the lama would have to go against the energy of this binding karma, in order to transfer the consciousness to a pureland. Therefore the attainments of the lama is of crucial importance in powa.
So given these certain factors, it is very possible that a ‘bad’ person can have their consciousness transferred to a pureland. However, we must keep one thing in mind. Being in a pureland, doesn’t necessarily mean that one is enlightened. You still have the karma, delusions and self-grasping that categorises all unenlightened beings. When in the pureland, you can receive teachings from the enlightened beings that reside there, and are in the perfect place to practice, among conducive conditions. Here they can realise their Buddha nature. No person is inherently bad, and in fact has the potential to become a Buddha, therefore in Buddhism it is not taught to judge a person inherently for their actions.
For the second question in regards to mantras placed on the body, you are right. In Tibet there is also a tradition of carving mantras on the bones of the dead animals or people. This actually blesses that person in their next life. However this cannot be done in the modern environment. There are also other practices that have the specific benefit of stopping a person from experiencing sufferings in their next life. For example one of the benefits of the Chenrezig Ngesung Kundrol practice is that it stops a person from going to the three lower realms in their next rebirth. These practices, though providing relief from suffering, are only temporary measures in the grand scale of our countless lives. In our later lives, we will still be subject to the suffering that arises from our karma caused by our delusions. Therefore, a greater emphasis should be placed on the actual practice of the Dharma, the purification of this very karma that causes suffering, the accumulation of merit, and the cutting of our delusions through study, meditation and practice.
You asked very wonderful questions. I hope this short answer helps.