Amitabha and Bardo practice: meditations, prayers and rituals for the sick and the deceased – 2025

Meditation on Amitabha, the Buddha of Boundless Light, can help us at the moment of death to enter his Pure Realm of Great Bliss (Tib.: dewachen, Skt.: sukhavati). According to tradition, Amitabha made a promise to grant a life of bliss to all beings who hear, think or speak his name with full confidence until they attain Nirvana. Pure land in this context is not a place, but is to be understood as a state of consciousness, an aspect of the enlightened mind.

We can also perform the Amitabha ritual for the deceased, even if their death occurred a long time ago. After an introduction to the practice and the topic of death and transition from a Buddhist perspective, the focus will be on the joint practice of the Amitabha Sadhana.

On Saturday the focus will be on the practice for the extension of the life span, while on Sunday the practice will be mainly for the deceased. The retreat will conclude with a special bardo puja for the recently deceased, which will include burning the written names of the deceased to help them transition into the realm of Great Bliss (Tib.: dewachen).

These prayers and rituals may also include special remembrance of those who died in the Covid 19 pandemic.

This is a hybrid course. The times below are subject to change but will be finalised in time.

Wednesday, September 3rd
08:00 pm to 09:30 pm Introduction

Thursday, September 4th
07:30 am – 08:30 am Amitabha practice
10:00 am – 11:15 am Instruction on Amitabha Sadhana Practice (Lama Sönam)
11:30 am – 12:30 pm Amitabha practice
03:00 pm – 04:15 pm Instruction on Bardo practice (Lama Kelzang)
04:45 pm – 05:45 pm Amitabha practice
from 08:00 pm Amitabha and long life practice

Friday, September 5th
07:30 am – 08:30 am Amitabha practice
10:00 am – 11:15 am Instruction on Amitabha Sadhana Practice (Lama Sönam)
11:30 am – 12:30 pm Amitabha practice
03:00 pm – 04:15 pm Instruction on Bardo practice (Lama Kelzang)
04:45 pm – 05:45 pm Amitabha practice
from 08:00 pm Amitabha and long life practice

Saturday, September 6th
07:30 am – 08:30 am Amitabha practice
10:00 am – 11:15 am Instruction on Amitabha Sadhana Practice (Lama Sönam)
11:30 am – 12:30 pm Amitabha practice
03:00 pm – 04:15 pm Instruction on Bardo practice (Lama Kelzang)
04:45 pm – 05:45 pm Amitabha practice
from 08:00 pm Amitabha and long life practice

Sunday, September 7th
07:30 am to 08:30 am: Amitabha practice
10:00 am to 12:30 am: Amitabha practice with tsog and bardo puja for the deceased

English with German translation.

Additional Texts used for daily practrice: PDF Download

First time at Live Courses? Then read the general information about live courses of Kamalashila with Zoom.

Please note: this course is run as a hybrid course. This means that there will be participants on site in presence at Kamalashila and there will be participants online via Zoom.
In order to facilitate good fellowship for both sides, images will be mutually transmitted via video camera. If you do not want to show your picture, please turn off your camera.