Many of us derive great inspiration and comfort from our spiritual teachers. We feel a deep heart connection regardless of distance and rely on their advice to guide us in the daily and long-term aspects of our lives. 

Yet as Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh recently reminded people all over the world, death is an inevitable part of conditioned life. Given this reality, how might we best relate to our teachers while they are still alive, and how might we cope with the emotional grief, deep sense of loss, and abandonment that may come with their passing?

The Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist perspectives can also be intricate and cryptic. Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh said, “This body is not me; I am not caught in this body, I am life without boundaries, I have never been born and I have never died.” Furthermore, our teachers are considered to manifest the aspects of illness and death in dependence upon our own spiritual practice. For instance, months before Lama Yeshe passed away, he told Lama Zopa Rinpoche that he “could live for ten, twelve years, but it depends on the karma and hard prayers of the students.” 

Why might our activities influence the lifespan of our teachers, and do long life prayers really work?  If our teachers pass away, should we consider this a failure from our side? And how might we view our teachers’ passing in relation to a timeless existence without boundaries, which is quite different from the reality that appears to us?

In this two-session series, Venerable Thubten Chodron will help us explore these complex questions by drawing upon her deep practice, scholarship, and lived experience.