To an extent you are right, but one cannot say that these service are completely useless. The power of the mind is indeed capable of helping the deceased. As I said earlier, if the people who perform services are sincere and their practice is strong, they may be able to improve the dead person's rebirth. Also, when people chant or read sutras, deities, spirits and other beings will gather to listen and are benefited by the service. If they benefit, then the deceased will benefit indirectly. An analogy would be if someone were locked up in prison and his family did charitable work in his name. The person would not be freed, but he might be treated better.

STUDENT:

Thank you, Shih-fu. You always answer from the standpoint that Ch'an is absolutely self-reliant. It's clean, it's pure, it's not affixed to the supernatural. But at the same time, we are intelligent creatures, and if we direct our compassionate and well-intentioned minds and energies toward someone or something, it cannot harm but only help, and create good karma.

SHIH-FU:

Yes, you're right. A Buddhist, including Ch'an Buddhists, should perform such services for relatives and friends who have died. I recite sutras for my parents, and I do it seriously, with sincerity.

STUDENT:

Suppose a Ch'an practitioner goes through a "near-death" experience, such as going "through a tunnel, " or moving "toward a light, " or having an out-of-body experience. What should a practitioner do in such a situation? Should he or she be attracted to images of Buddhas, bodhisattvas, or dead relatives, or should they be ignored?

SHIH-FU:

People who have had a near-death experience should not rely on or put total faith in anything they may have experienced. First of all, a person who "comes back to life" never really died in the first place. Some bodily functions may have temporarily ceased, but the brain did not die. If it were a case of brain death, the person would not be able to return to life.