Phowaとは 意味・読み方・使い方

Phowa (Wylie: 'pho ba; also spelled Powa or Poa phonetically; Sanskrit: saṃkrānti) is a Vajrayāna Buddhist meditation practice. It may be described as "the practice of conscious dying", "transference of consciousness at the time of death", "mindstream transference", or “enlightenment without meditation” (Tib. ma-sgom sangs-rgyas). The method can be applied at the moment of death to transfer one's consciousness through the top of the head directly into a Buddha-field of one’s choice. By so doing, one bypasses some of the typical experiences that are said to occur after death. Example destinations are Sukhāvatī, Abhirati, Ghanavyūha, Aṭakāvatī, Mount Potala, the Copper-Colored Mountain (Tib. Zangs-mdog dpal-ri), and Tuṣita; the most popular is Sukhavati. Phowa is also performed by specialists (Tib. ’pho-’debs bla-ma) on the behalf of the deceased, as a post-mortem ritual.