Bi-Monthly Online Zhitro Practice
With Wendy Littner Thomson
March 16, May 11, July 13, September 14 and November 16
9am Los Angeles | 12pm New York | 6pm Rome
This practice is offered by donation. Please RSVP for Zoom link:
Zhitro – meaning "peaceful and wrathful" in Tibetan – refers to the forty-two peaceful and fifty-eight wrathful deities that are believed to appear to the deceased during the bardo journey.
When someone we love dies we often wonder what we can do to help them on their transitional journey in the bardo, an intermediate state in which the deceased's consciousness may linger for the 49 days following their death. The Zhitro Practice provides a meaningful connection between the practitioner and the deceased. It is a way for us to be of benefit to them through this very important experience. In addition to helping the deceased, this practice can help the practitioner to become more familiar with, and to recognize, the visions and sounds that may occur during their own bardo experience, thereby assisting them with self-liberation in the bardo.
Wendy Littner Thomson is a dedicated student of Dr. Nida Chenagtsang, Yuthok Nyingthig Practitioner, Sowa Rigpa Counselor, Sowa Rigpa Yoga Practitioner, and Certified Nejang Yoga Teacher and Certified Tibetan Mantra Healer. With a background working in Hospice, Wendy is also a Licensed Professional Counselor and has a private practice where she specializes in end-of-life, loss, grief, bereavement, and life transition issues. Wendy is a Certified Integrative Mental Health Professional and has taught on a range of mental health topics in her community and internationally.
The so-called “Tibetan Book of the Dead” has been renowned for centuries as a cornerstone of Buddhist wisdom and religious thought. More recently, it has become highly influential in the Western world for its psychological insights into the processes of death and dying—and what they can teach us about the ways we live our lives. It has also been found to be helpful in the grieving process by people who have recently lost their loved ones.
Composed in the eighth century C.E., it is intended to prepare the soul for the trials and transformations of the afterworld. Its profound message is that the art of dying is as important as the art of living. Drawing on Tibetan spiritual traditions, it shows us the workings of the mind in its various manifestations—terrifying and comforting, wrathful and beautiful—which appear more clearly after death in the consciousness of the deceased. By recognizing these manifestations, we can attain a state of enlightenment, both in this existence and in the existence to come.
This authoritative translation preserves the form and spirit of the original and was prepared especially for Western readers by Robert A. F. Thurman, one of the most prominent Tibetan scholars in America and a close associate of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s.