Namaste Ryuuko,
thank you for the post.
i have forgotten.. how are you making the accent on the e? <ctrl +num pad 1>?
the "pointing out" instructions are particular to Vajrayana Buddhism in this formulation, though this same sort of thing exists in all Buddhist schools. essentially, the pointing out instructions are used to introduce a being to the fudamental nature of their consciousness, and as each being varies in it's capacity to understand, it's a personal teaching given to the student from the teacher when the timing is correct.
agreed. i know many people that can intellecutally assent to proposition yet fail to actualize said proposition. this is one of the reasons why Buddhism puts such a strong emphasis on personal experience rather than acceptance of someone elses personal experience.
that's true, i do have it with me at nearly all times. sometimes at home i don't have it handy.. but it's close enough
there are several things that we, as Buddhists, can do to help other sentient beings when they are in the Transitional Phase of the Bardos, and a lot of it has to do with when the sentient being ceased to arise in this world system. if the beings' passing was recent, say you hit a deer with your car, you would take slightly different actions than if you were just finding out about a death from several months or years ago. of course, this is also predicated on our own level of practice.
my Gurus' Tulku explains it from a more engaged Buddhist point of view, if you'd like to read this link:
http://www.lamayeshe.com/lamazopa/animals.shtml
now... what is being talked about here is a gereneralized sort of statement as there are other, more powerful things, that we can do at the correct time. one of which is called Phowa, which you can read about here:
http://www.khandro.net/mustardseed_phowa1.htm
http://www.lamayeshe.com/lamazopa/animals.shtml