As Garchen Rinpoche reminds us:

“One day we will die; no one escapes this fate. The Thirty-Seven Bodhisattva Practices says, ‘Consciousness, the guest, will cast aside the guest-house of the body.’ When we die, we have to leave everything behind, so there’s no point to being attached to this life. We should ask ourselves, ‘Does it really matter whether or not I’m prepared for death? Why is it important to receive instructions on dying?’ In receiving these instructions, we learn that our consciousness should exit the body through the crown at the time of death. If we don’t know this, we will be tossed around by afflictions such as hatred, desire, ignorance, and jealousy.”

Phowa has been praised as a practice uniquely suited to this degenerate age. Marpa the Translator, forefather of the Kagyu lineage, declared:

“If you study Phowa, then at the time when death is approaching you will have no despair. If beforehand you have become accustomed to the path of Phowa, then at the time of death you will be full of cheerful confidence. … Everyone has the method for attaining buddhahood through meditation, but I have the method for attaining buddhahood without meditation.”

This is not a practice reserved only for great yogins. Drupon Thinley Ningpo Rinpoche emphasizes its universal accessibility:

“Phowa is a practice that can be accomplished by anyone. Guru Rinpoche said that anyone can succeed in the transference of consciousness. For example, even someone who is not very intelligent, who isn’t of the highest capacity, or someone who has accumulated a great deal of negativity. Even someone who might be carrying the heavy karma of the five acts could still succeed in the transference of consciousness.”