# The Tibetan Book of the Dead/Book 1

   ‘The Dharma-Kāya of thine own mind thou shalt see; and seeing That, thou shalt have seen the All—The Vision Infinite, the Round of Death and Birth and the State of Freedom.’—Milarepa.
   Jetsūn Kahbum, xii (Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup’s Translation.)
[BOOK I]
[THE CHIKHAI BARDO AND THE CHÖNYID BARDO]
HEREIN LIETH THE SETTING-FACE-TO-FACE TO THE REALITY IN THE INTERMEDIATE STATE: THE GREAT DELIVERANCE BY HEARING WHILE ON THE AFTER-DEATH PLANE, FROM ‘THE PROFOUND DOCTRINE OF THE EMANCIPATING OF THE CONSCIOUSNESS BY MEDITATION UPON THE PEACEFUL AND WRATHFUL DEITIES’
​DEATH’S MESSENGERS
“All they who thoughtless are, nor heed,
What time Death’s messengers appear,
Must long the pangs of suffering feel
In some base body habiting.
But all those good and holy men,
What time they see Death’s messengers,
Behave not thoughtless, but give heed
To what the Noble Doctrine says;
And in attachment frighted see
Of birth and death the fertile source,
And from attachment free themselves,
Thus birth and death extinguishing.
Secure and happy ones are they,
Released from all this fleeting show ;
Exempted from all sin and fear,
All misery have they overcome.’
Anguttara-Nikāya, iii. 355 (Warren’s Translation).
[THE OBEISANCES]
To the Divine Body of Truth, the Incomprehensible, Boundless Light;
To the Divine Body of Perfect Endowment, Who are the Lotus and the Peaceful and the Wrathful Deities; To the Lotus-born Incarnation, Padma Sambhava, Who is the Protector of all sentient beings;
To the Gurus, the Three Bodies, obeisance.
[THE INTRODUCTION]
This Great Doctrine of Liberation by Hearing, which conferreth spiritual freedom on devotees of ordinary wit while in the Intermediate State, hath three divisions: the preliminaries, the subject-matter, and the conclusion.
At first, the preliminaries, The Guide Series, for emancipating beings, should be mastered by practice.
[THE TRANSFERENCE OF THE CONSCIOUSNESS-PRINCIPLE]
By The Guide, the highest intellects ought most certainly to be liberated; but should they not be liberated, then while ​ in the Intermediate State of the Moments of Death they should practise the Transference, which giveth automatic liberation by one’s merely remembering it.
Devotees of ordinary wit ought most certainly to be freed thereby; but should they not be freed, then, while in the Intermediate State [during the experiencing] of Reality, they should persevere in the listening to this Great Doctrine of Liberation by Hearing.
Accordingly, the devotee should at first examine the symptoms of death as they gradually appear [in his dying body], following Self-Liberation [by Observing the] Characteristics [of the] Symptoms of Death. Then, when all the symptoms of death are complete [he should] apply the Trans- ference, which conferreth liberation by merely remembering [the process ].
[THE READING OF THIS THÖDOL]
If the Transference hath been effectually employed, there is no need to read this Thödol; but if the Transference hath not been effectually employed, then this Thödol is to be read, correctly and distinctly, near the dead body.
If there be no corpse, then the bed or the seat to which the deceased had been accustomed should be occupied [by the reader], who ought to expound the power of the Truth. Then, summoning the spirit [of the deceased], imagine it to be present there listening, and read. During this time no relative or fond mate should be allowed to weep or to wail, as such is not good [for the deceased] ; so restrain them.
If the body be present, just when the expiration hath ceased, either a lāma [who hath been as a guru to the deceased], or a brother in the Faith whom the deceased trusted, or a friend for whom the deceased had great affection, putting the lips close to the ear [of the body] without actually touching it, should read this Great Thödol.
[THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THIS THÖDOL BY THE OFFICIANT]
Now for the explaining of the Thödol itself:
If thou canst gather together a grand offering, offer it in worship of the Trinity. If such cannot be done, then arrange whatever can be gathered together as objects on which thou canst concentrate thy thoughts and mentally create as illimitable an offering as possible and worship.
Then the ‘Path of Good Wishes Invoking the Aid of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas’ should be recited seven times or thrice.
After that, the ‘Path of Good Wishes Giving Protection from Fear in the Bardo’, and the ‘Path of Good Wishes for Safe Delivery from the Dangerous Pitfalls of the Bardo’, together with the ‘Root Words of the Bardo’, are to be read distinctly and with the proper intonation.
Then this Great Thödol is to be read either seven times or thrice, according to the occasion. [First cometh] the setting-face-to-face [to the symptoms of death] as they occur during the moments of death; [second] the application of the great vivid reminder, the setting-face-to-face to Reality while in the ​Intermediate State; and third, the methods of closing the doors of the womb while in the Intermediate State when seeking rebirth.
[PART 1]
[THE BARDO OF THE MOMENTS OF DEATH]
[INSTRUCTIONS ON THE SYMPTOMS OF DEATH, OR THE FIRST STAGE OF THE CHIKAAI BARDO: THE PRIMARY CLEAR LIGHT SEEN AT THE MOMENT OF DEATH]
The first, the setting-face-to-face with the Clear Light, during the Intermediate State of the Moments of Death, is:
Here [some there may be] who have listened much [to religious instructions] yet not recognized; and [some] who, though recognizing, are, nevertheless, weak in familiarity. But all classes of individuals who have received the practical teachings [called] Guides will, if this be applied to them, be set face to face with the fundamental Clear Light; and, without any Intermediate State, they will obtain the Unborn Dharma-Kāya, by the Great Perpendicular Path.
The manner of application is:
It is best if the guru from whom the deceased received guiding instructions can be had; but if the guru cannot be obtained, then a brother of the Faith; or if the latter is also unobtainable, then a learned man of the same Faith; or, should all these be unobtainable, then a person who can read correctly and distinctly ought to read this many times over. Thereby [the deceased] will be put in mind of what he had [previously] heard of the setting-face-to-face and will at once come to recognize that Fundamental Light and undoubtedly obtain Liberation.
As regards the time for the application [of these instructions |:
When the expiration hath ceased, the vital-force will have sunk into the nerve-centre of Wisdom and the Knower will be experiencing the Clear Light of the natural condition. Then, the vital-force, being thrown backwards and flying downwards through the right and left nerves, the Intermediate State momentarily dawns.
The above [directions] should be applied before [the vital-force hath] rushed into the left nerve [after first having traversed the navel nerve-centre].
The time [ordinarily necessary for this motion of the vital​force] is as long as the inspiration is still present, or about the time required for eating a meal.
Then the manner of the application [of the instructions] is:
When the breathing is about to cease, it is best if the Transference hath been applied efficiently; if [the application] hath been inefficient, then [address the deceased] thus:
O nobly-born (so and so by name), the time hath now come for thee to seek the Path [in reality]. Thy breathing is about to cease. Thy guru hath set thee face to face before with the Clear Light; and now thou art about to experience it in its Reality in the Bardo state, wherein all things are like the void and cloudless sky, and the naked, spotless intellect is like unto a transparent vacuum without circumference or centre. At this moment, know thou thyself; and abide in that state. I, too, at this time, am setting thee face to face.
Having read this, repeat it many times in the ear of the person dying, even before the expiration hath ceased, so as to impress it on the mind [of the dying one].
If the expiration is about to cease, turn the dying one over on the right side, which posture is called the ‘Lying Posture of a Lion’. The throbbing of the arteries [on the right and left side of the throat] is to be pressed.
If the person dying be disposed to sleep, or if the sleeping state advances, that should be arrested, and the arteries pressed gently but firmly. Thereby the vital-force will not be able to return from the median-nerve and will be sure to pass out ​
through the Brahmanic aperture. Now the real setting-face-to-face is to be applied.
At this moment, the first [glimpsing] of the Bardo of the Clear Light of Reality, which is the Infallible Mind of the Dharma-Kāya, is experienced by all sentient beings.
The interval between the cessation of the expiration and the cessation of the inspiration is the time during which the vital-force remaineth in the median-nerve.
The common people call this the state wherein the consciousness-principle hath fainted away. The duration of this state is uncertain. [It dependeth] upon the constitu- tion, good or bad, and [the state of] the nerves and vital- force, In those who have had even a little practical experience of the firm, tranquil state of dhyāna, and in those who have sound nerves, this state continueth for a long time. ​In the setting-face-to-face, the repetition [of the above address to the deceased] is to be persisted in until a yellowish liquid beginneth to appear from the various apertures of the bodily organs [of the deceased].
In those who have led an evil life, and in those of unsound nerves, the above state endureth only so long as would take to snap a finger. Again, in some, it endureth as long as the time taken for the eating of a meal.
In various Tantras it is said that this state of swoon endureth for about three and one-half days. Most other [religious treatises] say for four days; and that this setting-face-to-face with the Clear Light ought to be persevered in [during the whole time].
The manner of applying [these directions] is:
If [when dying] one be by one’s own self capable [of diagnosing the symptoms of death], use [of the knowledge] should have been made ere this. If [the dying person be] unable to do so, then either the guru, or a shiṣhya, or a brother in the Faith with whom the one [dying] was very intimate, should be kept at hand, who will vividly impress upon the one [dying] the symptoms [of death] as they appear in due order [repeatedly saying, at first] thus:
Now the symptoms of earth sinking into water are come.
When all the symptoms [of death] are about to be completed, then enjoin upon [the one dying] this resolution, speaking in a low tone of voice in the ear:
O nobly-born (or, if it be a priest, O Venerable Sir), let not thy mind be distracted.
If it be a brother [in the Faith], or some other person, then call him by name, and [say] thus:
O nobly-born, that which is called death being come to thee now, resolve thus: ‘O this now is the hour of death. By taking advantage of this death, I will so act, for the good of all sentient beings, peopling the illimitable expanse of the heavens, as to obtain the Perfect Buddhahood, by resolving on love and compassion towards [them, and by directing my entire effort to] the Sole Perfection.’
Shaping the thoughts thus, especially at this time when the Dharma-Kāya of Clear Light [in the state] after death can be realized for the benefit of all sentient beings, know that thou art in that state; [and resolve] that thou wilt obtain the best boon of the State of the Great Symbol, in which thou art, [as follows]:
‘Even if I cannot realize it, yet will I know this Bardo, and, mastering the Great Body of Union in Bardo, will appear in whatever [shape] will benefit [all beings] whomsoever: ​
I will serve all sentient beings, infinite in number as are the limits of the sky.’
Keeping thyself unseparated from this resolution, thou shouldst try to remember whatever devotional practices thou wert accustomed to perform during thy lifetime.
In saying this, the reader shall put his lips close to the ear, and shall repeat it distinctly, clearly impressing it upon the dying person so as to prevent his mind from wandering even for a moment.
After the expiration hath completely ceased, press the nerve of sleep firmly; and, a lāma, or a person higher or more learned than thyself, impress in these words, thus:
Reverend Sir, now that thou art experiencing the Fundamental Clear Light, try to abide in that state which now thou art experiencing.
And also in the case of any other person the reader shall set him face-to-face thus:
O nobly-born (so-and-so), listen. Now thou art experiencing the Radiance of the Clear Light of Pure Reality. Recognize it. O nobly-born, thy present intellect, in real nature void, not formed into anything as regards characteristics or colour, naturally void, is the very Reality, the All-Good.
Thine own intellect, which is now voidness, yet not to be ​regarded as of the voidness of nothingness, but as being the intellect itself, unobstructed, shining, thrilling, and blissful, is the very consciousness, the All-good Buddha.
Thine own consciousness, not formed into anything, in reality void, and the intellect, shining and blissful,—these two,—are inseparable. The union of them is the Dharma-Kāya state of Perfect Enlightenment.
Thine own consciousness, shining, void, and inseparable from the Great Body of Radiance, hath no birth, nor death, and is the Immutable Light—Buddha Amitābha.
Knowing this is sufficient. Recognizing the voidness of thine own intellect to be Buddhahood, and looking upon it as being thine own consciousness, is to keep thyself in the [state of the] divine mind of the Buddha. ​Repeat this distinctly and clearly three or [even] seven times. That will recall to the mind [of the dying one] the former [i.e. when living] setting-face-to-face by the guru. Secondly, it will cause the naked consciousness to be recognized as the Clear Light; and, thirdly, recognizing one's own self [thus], one becometh permanently united with the Dharma-Kāya and Liberation will be certain.
[INSTRUCTIONS CONCERNING THE SECOND STAGE OF THE CHIKHAI BARDO: THE SECONDARY CLEAR LIGHT SEEN IMMEDIATELY AFTER DEATH]
Thus the primary Clear Light is recognized and Liberation attained. But if it be feared that the primary Clear Light hath not been recognized, then [it can certainly be assumed] there is dawning [upon the deceased] that called the secondary ​Clear Light, which dawneth in somewhat more than a mealtime period after that the expiration hath ceased.
According to one's good or bad karma, the vital-force floweth down into either the right or left nerve and goeth out through any of the apertures [of the body]. Then cometh a lucid condition of the mind.
To say that the state [of the primary Clear Light] endureth for a meal-time period [would depend upon] the good or bad condition of the nerves and also whether there hath been previous practice or not [in the setting-face-to-face].
When the consciousness-principle getteth outside [the body, it sayeth to itself], 'Am I dead, or am I not dead?' It cannot determine. It seeth its relatives and connexions as it had been used to seeing them before. It even heareth the wailings, The terrifying karmic illusions have not yet dawned. Nor have the frightful apparitions or experiences caused by the Lords of Death yet come.
During this interval, the directions are to be applied [by the lāma or reader]:
There are those [devotees] of the perfected stage and of the ​visualizing stage. If it be one who was in the perfected stage, then call him thrice by name and repeat over and over again the above instructions of setting-face-to-face with the Clear Light. If it be one who was in the visualizing stage, then read out to him the introductory descriptions and the text of the Meditation on his tutelary deity, and then say,
O thou of noble-birth, meditate upon thine own tutelary deity.—[Here the deity's name is to be mentioned by the reader.] Do not be distracted. Earnestly concentrate thy mind upon thy tutelary deity. Meditate upon him as if he were the reflection of the moon in water, apparent yet inexistent [in itself]. Meditate upon him as if he were a being with a physical body.
So saying, [the reader will] impress it.
If [the deceased be] of the common folk, say,
Meditate upon the Great Compassionate Lord.
By thus being set-face-to-face even those who would not be expected to recognize the Bardo [unaided] are undoubtedly certain to recognize it.
Persons who while living had been set face to face [with the Reality] by a guru, yet who have not made themselves familiar with it, will not be able to recognize the Bardo clearly by themselves. Either a guru or a brother in the Faith will have to impress vividly such persons.
​There may be even those who have made themselves familiar with the teachings, yet who, because of the violence of the disease causing death, may be mentally unable to withstand illusions. For such, also, this instruction is absolutely necessary.
Again [there are those] who, although previously familiar with the teachings, have become liable to pass into the miserable states of existence, owing to breach of vows or failure to perform essential obligations honestly. To them, this [instruction] is indispensable.
If the first stage of the Bardo hath been taken by the forelock, that is best. But if not, by application of this distinct recalling [to the deceased], while in the second stage of the Bardo, his intellect is awakened and attaineth liberation.
While on the second stage of the Bardo, one's body is of the nature of that called the shining illusory-body.
Not knowing whether [he be] dead or not, [a state of] lucidity cometh [to the deceased]. If the instructions be successfully applied to the deceased while he is in that state, then, by the meeting of the Mother-Reality and the Offspring-Reality, karma controlleth not. Like the sun's rays, for example, dispelling the darkness, the Clear Light on the Path dispelleth the power of karma.
​That which is called the second stage of the Bardo dawneth upon the thought-body. The Knower hovereth within those places to which its activities had been limited. If at this time this special teaching be applied efficiently, then the purpose will be fulfilled; for the karmic illusions will not have come yet, and, therefore, he [the deceased] cannot be turned hither and thither [from his aim of achieving Enlightenment].
[Part II]
[The Bardo of the Experiencing of Reality]
[Introductory Instructions Concerning the Experiencing of Reality During the Third Stage of the Bardo, Called the Chönyid Bardo, When the Karmic Apparitions appear]
But even though the Primary Clear Light be not recognized, the Clear Light of the second Bardo being recognized, Liberation will be attained. If not liberated even by that, then that called the third Bardo or the Chönyid Bardo dawneth.
In this third stage of the Bardo, the karmic illusions come to shine. It is very important that this Great Setting-face-to- face of the Chönyid Bardo be read: it hath much power and can do much good.
About this time [the deceased] can see that the share of food is being set aside, that the body is being stripped of its garments, that the place of the sleeping-rug is being swept; ​can hear all the weeping and wailing of his friends and relatives, and, although he can see them and can hear them calling upon him, they cannot hear him calling upon them, so he goeth away displeased.
At that time, sounds, lights, and rays—all three—are experienced. These awe, frighten, and terrify, and cause much fatigue. At this moment, this setting-face-to-face with the Bardo [during the experiencing] of Reality is to be applied. Call the deceased by name, and correctly and distinctly explain to him, as follows:
O nobly-born, listen with full attention, without being distracted: There are six states of Bardo, namely: the natural state of Bardo while in the womb; the Bardo of the dream-state; the Bardo of ecstatic equilibrium, while in deep meditation; the Bardo of the moment of death; the Bardo [during the experiencing] of Reality; the Bardo of the inverse process of sangsaric existence. These are the six.
O nobly-born, thou wilt experience three Bardos, the Bardo of the moment of death, the Bardo [during the experiencing] of Reality, and the Bardo while seeking rebirth. Of these three, up to yesterday, thou hadst experienced the Bardo of the moment of death. Although the Clear Light of Reality dawned upon thee, thou wert unable to hold on, and so thou hast to wander here. Now henceforth thou art going to experience the [other] two, the Chönyid Bardo and the Sidpa Bardo.
​Thou wilt pay undistracted attention to that with which I am about to set thee face to face, and hold on:
O nobly-born, that which is called death hath now come. Thou art departing from this world, but thou art not the only one; [death] cometh to all. Do not cling, in fondness and weakness, to this life. Even though thou clingest out of weakness, thou hast not the power to remain here. Thou wilt gain nothing more than wandering in this Sangsāra. Be not attached [to this world]; be not weak. Remember the Precious Trinity.
O nobly-born, whatever fear and terror may come to thee in the Chönyid Bardo, forget not these words; and, bearing their meaning at heart, go forwards: in them lieth the vital secret of recognition:
   'Alas! when the Uncertain Experiencing of Reality is dawning upon me here,
   With every thought of fear or terror or awe for all [apparitional appearances] set aside,
   May I recognize whatever [visions] appear, as the reflections of mine own consciousness;
   May I know them to be of the nature of apparitions in the Bardo:
   When at this all-important moment [of opportunity] of achieving a great end,
   May I not fear the bands of Peaceful and Wrathful [ Deities], mine own thought-forms.'
Repeat thou these [verses] clearly, and remembering their significance as thou repeatest them, go forwards, [O nobly-born]. Thereby, whatever visions of awe or terror appear, ​recognition is certain; and forget not this vital secret art lying therein.
O nobly-born, when thy body and mind were separating, thou must have experienced a glimpse of the Pure Truth, subtle, sparkling, bright, dazzling, glorious, and radiantly awesome, in appearance like a mirage moving across a landscape in spring-time in one continuous stream of vibrations. Be not daunted thereby, nor terrified, nor awed. That is the radiance of thine own true nature. Recognize it.
From the midst of that radiance, the natural sound of Reality, reverberating like a thousand thunders simultaneously sounding, will come. That is the natural sound of thine own real self. Be not daunted thereby, nor terrified, nor awed.
The body which thou hast now is called the thought-body of propensities. Since thou hast not a material body of flesh and blood, whatever may come,—sounds, lights, or rays,—are, all three, unable to harm thee: thou art incapable of dying. It is quite sufficient for thee to know that these apparitions are thine own thought-forms. Recognize this to be the Bardo.
O nobly-born, if thou dost not now recognize thine own thought-forms, whatever of meditation or of devotion thou mayst have performed while in the human world—if thou hast not met with this present teaching—the lights will daunt thee, the sounds will awe thee, and the rays will terrify thee. Shouldst thou not know this all-important key to the teachings,—not being able to recognize the sounds, lights, and rays,—thou wilt have to wander in the Sangsāra.
[The Dawning of the Peaceful Deities, from the First to the Seventh Day]
[Assuming that the deceased is karmically bound—as the average departed one is—to pass through the forty-nine days of the Bardo existence, despite the very frequent settings-face-to-face, the daily trials and dangers which he must meet and ​attempt to triumph over, during the first seven days, wherein dawn the Peaceful Deities, are next explained to him in detail; the first day, judging from the text, being reckoned from the time in which normally he would be expected to wake up to the fact that he is dead and on the way back to rebirth, or about three and one-half to four days after death.]
[The First Day]
O nobly-born, thou hast been in a swoon during the last three and one-half days. As soon as thou art recovered from this swoon, thou wilt have the thought, 'What hath happened!'
Act so that thou wilt recognize the Bardo. At that time, all the Sangsāra will be in revolution; and the phenomenal appearances that thou wilt see then will be the radiances and deities. The whole heavens will appear deep blue.
Then, from the Central Realm, called the Spreading Forth of the Seed, the Bhagavān Vairochana, white in colour, and ​seated upon a lion-throne, bearing an eight-spoked wheel in his hand, and embraced by the Mother of the Space of Heaven, will manifest himself to thee.
It is the aggregate of matter resolved into its primordial state which is the blue light.
The Wisdom of the Dharma-Dhātu, blue in colour, shining, transparent, glorious, dazzling, from the heart of Vairochana as the Father-Mother, will shoot forth and strike against thee with a light so radiant that thou wilt scarcely be able to look at it.
Along with it, there will also shine a dull white light from the devas, which will strike against thee in thy front.
Thereupon, because of the power of bad karma, the glorious blue light of the Wisdom of the Dharma-Dhātu will produce in thee fear and terror, and thou wilt [wish to] flee from it. Thou wilt beget a fondness for the dull white light of the devas.
At this stage, thou must not be awed by the divine blue light which will appear shining, dazzling, and glorious; and be not startled by it. That is the light of the Tathāgata called the Light of the Wisdom of the Dharma-Dhatu. Put thy faith in it, believe in it firmly, and pray unto it, thinking in thy mind that it is the light proceeding from the heart of the Bhagavān Vairochana coming to receive thee while in the ​dangerous ambuscade of the Bardo. That light is the light of the grace of Vairochana.
Be not fond of the dull white light of the devas. Be not attached |to it]; be not weak. If thou be attached to it, thou wilt wander into the abodes of the devas and be drawn into the whirl of the Six Lokas. That is an interruption to obstruct thee on the Path of Liberation. Look not at it. Look at the bright blue light in deep faith. Put thy whole thought earnestly upon Vairochana and repeat after me this prayer:
   'Alas! when wandering in the Sangsāra, because of intense stupidity,
   On the radiant light-path of the Dharma-Dhātu Wisdom
   May [I] be led by the Bhagavān Vairochana,
   May the Divine Mother of Infinite Space be [my] rear guard;
   May [I] be led safely across the fearful ambush of the Bardo;
   May [I] be placed in the state of the All-Perfect Buddha-hood.'
Praying thus, in intense humble faith, [thou] wilt merge, in halo of rainbow light, into the heart of Vairochana, and obtain Buddhahood in the Sambhoga-Kāya, in the Central Realm of the Densely-Packed.
[The Second Day]
But if, notwithstanding this setting-face-to-face, through power of anger or obscuring karma one should be startled at the glorious light and flee, or be overcome by illusions, despite the prayer, on the Second Day, Vajra-Sattva and his attendant deities, as well as one's evil deeds [meriting] Hell, will come to receive one.
Thereupon the setting-face-to-face is, calling the deceased by name, thus:
O nobly-born, listen undistractedly. On the Second Day the pure form of water will shine as a white light. At that time, from the deep blue Eastern Realm of Pre-eminent Happiness, the Bhagavān Akṣḥobhya [as] Vajra-Sattva, blue in colour, holding in his hand a five-pronged dorje, seated upon an elephant-throne, and embraced by the Mother Māmakī, will appear to thee, attended by the Bodhisattvas Kṣḥiti-garbha and Maitreya, with the female Bodhisattvas, Lasema and Pushpema. These six Bodhic deities will appear to thee.
​The aggregate of thy principle of consciousness, being in its pure form—which is the Mirror-like Wisdom—will shine as a bright, radiant white light, from the heart of Vajra-Sattva, the Father-Mother, with such dazzling brilliancy and transparency that thou wilt scarcely be able to look at it, [and] will strike against thee. And a dull, smoke-coloured light from Hell will shine alongside the light of the Mirror-like Wisdom and will [also] strike against thee.
Thereupon, through the power of anger, thou wilt beget fear and be startled at the dazzling white light and wilt [wish to] flee from it; thou wilt beget a feeling of fondness for the dull smoke-coloured light from Hell. Act then so that thou wilt not fear that bright, dazzling, transparent white light. Know it to be Wisdom. Put thy humble and earnest faith in it. That is the light of the grace of the Bhagavān Vajra-Sattva. Think, with faith, 'I will take refuge in it'; and pray.
That is the Bhagavān Vajra-Sattva coming to receive thee and to save thee from the fear and terror of the Bardo. Believe in it; for it is the hook of the rays of grace of Vajra-Sattva.
Be not fond of the dull, smoke-coloured light from Hell. That is the path which openeth out to receive thee because of the power of accumulated evil karma from violent anger. If thou be attracted by it, thou wilt fall into the Hell-Worlds; and, falling therein, thou wilt have to endure unbearable misery, whence there is no certain time of getting out. That being an interruption to obstruct thee on the Path of Liberation, look not at it; and avoid anger. Be not attracted by ​it; be not weak. Believe in the dazzling bright white light; [and] putting thy whole heart earnestly upon the Bhagavan Vajra-Sattva, pray thus:
   ‘Alas! when wandering in the Sangsāra because of the power of violent anger,
   On the radiant light-path of the Mirror-like Wisdom,
   May [I] be led by the Bhagavān Vajra-Sattva,
   May the Divine Mother Māmakī be [my] rear-guard;
   May [I] be led safely across the fearful ambush of the Bardo;
   And may [I] be placed in the state of the All-perfect Buddhahood.’
Praying thus, in intense humble faith, thou wilt merge, in rainbow light, into the heart of the Bhagavān Vajra-Sattva and obtain Buddhahood in the Sambhoga-Kāya, in the Eastern Realm called Pre-eminently Happy.
[The Third Day]
Yet, even when set face to face in this way, some persons, because of obscurations from bad karma, and from pride, although the hook of the rays of grace [striketh against them], flee from it. [If one be one of them], then, on the Third Day, the Bhagavān Ratna-Sambhava and his accompanying deities, along with the light-path from the human world, will come to receive one simultaneously.
Again, calling the deceased by name, the setting-face-to-face is thus:
O nobly-born, listen undistractedly. On the Third Day the primal form of the element earth will shine forth as a yellow light. At that time, from the Southern Realm Endowed with ​Glory, the Bhagavān Ratna-Sambhava, yellow in colour, bearing a jewel in his hand, seated upon a horse-throne and embraced by the Divine Mother Sangyay-Chanma, will shine upon thee.
The two Bodhisattvas, Ākāsha-Garbha and Samanta-Bhadra, attended by the two female Bodhisattvas, Mahlaima and Dhupema,—in all, six Bodhic forms,—will come to shine from amidst a rainbow halo of light. The aggregate of touch in its primal form, as the yellow light of the Wisdom of Equality, dazzlingly yellow, glorified with orbs having satellite orbs of radiance, so clear and bright that the eye can scarcely look upon it, will strike against thee. Side by side with it, the dull bluish-yellow light from the human [world] will also strike against thy heart, along with the Wisdom light.
Thereupon, through the power of egotism, thou wilt beget a fear for the dazzling yellow light and wilt [wish to] flee from it. Thou wilt be fondly attracted towards the dull bluish-yellow light from the human [world].
At that time do not fear that bright, dazzling-yellow, transparent light, but know it to be Wisdom; in that state, keeping thy mind resigned, trust in it earnestly and humbly. If thou knowest it to be the radiance of thine own intellect—although thou exertest not thy humility and faith and prayer to it—the Divine Body and Light will merge into thee inseparably, and thou wilt obtain Buddhahood.
If thou dost not recognize the radiance of thine own intellect, think, with faith, 'It is the radiance of the grace of the ​Bhagavān Ratna-Sambhava; I will take refuge in it'; and pray. It is the hook of the grace-rays of the Bhagavān Ratna-Sambhava; believe in it.
Be not fond of that dull bluish-yellow light from the human [world]. That is the path of thine accumulated propensities of violent egotism come to receive thee. If thou art attracted by it, thou wilt be born in the human world and have to suffer birth, age, sickness, and death; and thou wilt have no chance of getting out of the quagmire of worldly existence. That is an interruption to obstruct thy path of liberation. Therefore, look not upon it, and abandon egotism, abandon propensities; be not attracted towards it; be not weak. Act so as to trust in that bright dazzling light. Put thine earnest thought, one-pointedly, upon the Bhagavān Ratna-Sambhava; and pray thus:
   'Alas! when wandering in the Sangsāra because of the power of violent egotism,
   On the radiant light-path of the Wisdom of Equality,
   May [I] be led by the Bhagavān Ratna-Sambhava;
   May the Divine Mother, She-of-the-Buddha-Eye, be [my] rear-guard;
   May [I] be led safely across the fearful ambush of the Bardo;
   And may [I] be placed in the state of the All-Perfect Buddhahood.'
By praying thus, with deep humility and faith, thou wilt merge into the heart of the Bhagavān Ratna-Sambhava, the Divine Father-Mother, in halo of rainbow light, and attain Buddhahood in the Sambhoga-Kāya, in the Southern Realm Endowed with Glory.
[The Fourth Day]
By thus being set face to face, however weak the mental faculties may be, there is no doubt of one's gaining Liberation. Yet, though so often set face to face, there are classes of men who, having created much bad karma, or having failed in observance of vows, or, their lot [for higher development] being altogether lacking, prove unable to recognize: their obscurations ​and evil karma from covetousness and miserliness produce awe of the sounds and radiances, and they flee. [If one be of these classes], then, on the Fourth Day, the Bhagavān Amitābha and his attendant deities, together with the light-path from the Preta-loka, proceeding from miserliness and attachment, will come to receive one simultaneously.
Again the setting-face-to-face is, calling the deceased by name, thus:
O nobly-born, listen undistractedly. On the Fourth Day the red light, which is the primal form of the element fire, will shine. At that time, from the Red Western Realm of Happiness, the Bhagavān Buddha Amitābha, red in colour, bearing a lotus in his hand, seated upon a peacock-throne and embraced by the Divine Mother Gökarmo, will shine upon thee, [together with] the Bodhisattvas Chenrazee and Jampal, attended by the female Bodhisattvas Ghirdhima and Āloke. The six bodies of Enlightenment will shine upon thee from amidst a halo of rainbow light.
​The primal form of the aggregate of feelings as the red light of the All-Discriminating Wisdom, glitteringly red, glorified with orbs and satellite orbs, bright, transparent, glorious and dazzling, proceeding from the heart of the Divine Father-Mother Amitabha, will strike against thy heart [so radiantly] that thou wilt scarcely be able to look upon it. Fear it not.
Along with it, a dull red light from the Preta-loka, coming side by side with the Light of Wisdom, will also shine upon thee. Act so that thou shalt not be fond of it. Abandon attachment [and] weakness [for it].
At that time, through the influence of intense attachment, thou wilt become terrified by the dazzling red light, and wilt [wish to] flee from it. And thou wilt beget a fondness for that dull red light of the Preta-loka.
At that time, be not afraid of the glorious, dazzling, transparent, radiant red light. Recognizing it as Wisdom, keeping thine intellect in the state of resignation, thou wilt merge [into it] inseparably and attain Buddhahood.
If thou dost not recognize it, think, 'It is the rays of the grace of the Bhagavān Amitābha, and I will take refuge in it'; and, trusting humbly in it, pray unto it. That is the hook-rays of the grace of the Bhagavān Amitābha. Trust in it humbly; flee not. Even if thou fleest, it will follow thee inseparably [from thyself]. Fear it not. Be not attracted towards the dull red light of the Preta-loka. That is the light-path proceeding from the accumulations of thine intense attachment [to sangsāric existence] which hath come to receive thee. If thou be attached thereto, thou wilt fall into the World of Unhappy Spirits and suffer unbearable misery from hunger and thirst. Thou wilt have no chance of gaining Liberation [therein]. That dull red light is an interruption to obstruct thee on the Path of Liberation. Be not attached to it, and abandon habitual propensities. Be not weak. Trust in the bright dazzling red light. In the Bhagavān Amitābha, ​the Father-Mother, put thy trust one-pointedly and pray thus:
   'Alas! when wandering in the Sangsāra because of the power of intense attachment,
   On the radiant light-path of the Discriminating Wisdom
   May [I] be led by the Bhagavān Amitābha;
   May the Divine Mother, She-of-White-Raiment, be [my] rear-guard;
   May [I] be safely led across the dangerous ambush of the Bardo;
   And may [I] be placed in the state of the All-Perfect Buddhahood.'
By praying thus, humbly and earnestly, thou wilt merge into the heart of the Divine Father-Mother, the Bhagavān Amitābha, in halo of rainbow-light, and attain Buddhahood in the Sambhoga-Kāya, in the Western Realm named Happy.
[The Fifth Day]
It is impossible that one should not be liberated thereby. Yet, though thus set face to face, sentient beings, unable through long association with propensities to abandon propensities, and, through bad karma and jealousy, awe and terror being produced by the sounds and radiances—the hook-rays of grace failing to catch hold of them—wander down also to the Fifth Day. [If one be such a sentient being], thereupon the Bhagavān Amogha-Siddhi, with his attendant deities and the light and rays of his grace, will come to receive one. A light proceeding from the Asura-loka, produced by the evil passion of jealousy, will also come to receive one.
The setting-face-to-face at that time is, calling the deceased by name, thus:
O nobly-born, listen undistractedly. On the Fifth Day, the green light of the primal form of the element air will shine upon thee. At that time, from the Green Northern Realm of Successful Performance of Best Actions, the Bhagavān Buddha Amogha-Siddhi, green in colour, bearing a crossed-dorje in ​hand, seated upon a sky-traversing Harpy-throne, embraced by the Divine Mother, the Faithful Dölma, will shine upon thee, with his attendants,—the two Bodhisattvas Chag-na-Dorje and Ḍibpanamsel, attended by two female Bodhisattvas, Gandhema and Nidhema. These six Bodhic forms, from amidst a halo of rainbow light, will come to shine.
The primal form of the aggregate of volition, shining as the green light of the All-Performing Wisdom, dazzlingly green, transparent and radiant, glorious and terrifying, beautified with orbs surrounded by satellite orbs of radiance, issuing from the heart of the Divine Father-Mother Amogha-Siddhi, green in colour, will strike against thy heart [so wondrously ​bright] that thou wilt scarcely be able to look at it. Fear it not. That is the natural power of the wisdom of thine own intellect. Abide in the state of great resignation of impartiality.
Along with it [i.e. the green light of the All-Performing Wisdom], a light of dull green colour from the Asura-loka, produced from the cause of the feeling of jealousy, coming side by side with the Wisdom Rays, will shine upon thee. Meditate upon it with impartiality—with neither repulsion nor attraction. Be not fond of it: if thou art of low mental capacity, be not fond of it.
Thereupon, through the influence of intense jealousy, thou wilt be terrified at the dazzling radiance of the green light and wilt [wish to] flee from it; and thou wilt beget a fondness for that dull green light of the Asura-loka, At that time fear not the glorious and transparent, radiant and dazzling green light, but know it to be Wisdom; and in that state allow thine intellect to rest in resignation. Or else [think], 'It is the hook-rays of the light of grace of the Bhagavān Amogha-Siddhi, which is the All-Performing Wisdom'. Believe [thus] on it. Flee not from it.
Even though thou shouldst flee from it, it will follow thee inseparably [from thyself]. Fear it not. Be not fond of that dull green light of the Asura-loka. That is the karmic path of acquired intense jealousy, which hath come to receive thee. If thou art attracted by it, thou wilt fall into the Asura-loka and have to engage in unbearable miseries of quarrelling and warfare. [That is an] interruption to obstruct thy path of liberation. Be not attracted by it. Abandon thy propensities. Be not weak. Trust in the dazzling green radiance, and putting thy whole thought one-pointedly upon the Divine Father-Mother, the Bhagavān Amogha-Siddhi, pray thus:
   'Alas! when wandering in the Sangsāra because of the power of intense jealousy,
   On the radiant light-path of the All-Performing Wisdom
   May [I] be led by the Bhagavān Amogha-Siddhi;
   May the Divine Mother, the Faithful Tārā, be [my] rear-guard;
   May [I] be led safely across the dangerous ambush of the Bardo;
   And may [I] be placed in the state of the All-Perfect Buddhahood.'
By praying thus with intense faith and humility, thou wilt merge into the heart of the Divine Father-Mother, the Bhagavān Amogha-Siddhi, in halo of rainbow light, and attain Buddhahood in the Sambhoga-Kāya, in the Northern Realm of Heaped-up Good Deeds.
[THE SIXTH DAY]
Being thus set face to face at various stages, however weak one's karmic connexions may be, one should have recognized in one or the other of them; and where one has recognized in any of them it is impossible not to be liberated. Yet, although set face to face so very often in that manner, one long habituated to strong propensities and lacking in familiarity with, and pure affection for, Wisdom, may be led backwards by the power of one's own evil inclinations despite these many introductions. The hook-rays of the light of grace may not be able to catch hold of one: one may still wander downwards because of one's begetting the feeling of awe and terror of the lights and rays.
Thereupon all the Divine Fathers-Mothers of the Five Orders [of Dhyānī Buddhas] with their attendants will come to shine upon one simultaneously. At the same time, the lights proceeding from the Six Lokas will likewise come to shine upon one simultaneously.
The setting-face-to-face for that is, calling the deceased by name, thus:
THE GREAT MAṆḌALA OF THE PEACEFUL DEITIES
Described on pages xviii—xix, 118—22, 217—220
THE TIBETAN WHEEL OF THE LAW
Described on page xxiii
If thou hadst recognized the radiances of the Five Orders of Wisdom to be the emanations from thine own thought-forms, ere this thou wouldst have obtained Buddhahood in the Sambhoga-Kāya, through having been absorbed into the halo of rainbow light in one or another of the Five Orders of Buddhas. But now look on undistractedly. Now the lights of all Five Orders, called the Lights of the Union of Four Wisdoms, will come to receive thee. Act so as to know them.
O nobly-born, on this the Sixth Day, the four colours of the primal states of the four elements [water, earth, fire, air] will shine upon thee simultaneously. At that time, from the Central Realm of the Spreading Forth of Seed, the Buddha Vairochana, the Divine Father-Mother, with the attendant ​[deities], will come to shine upon thee. From the Eastern Realm of Pre-eminent Happiness, the Buddha Vajra-Sattva, the Divine Father-Mother, with the attendant [deities] will come to shine upon thee, From the Southern Realm endowed with Glory, the Buddha Ratna-Sambhava, the Divine Father-Mother, with the attendant [deities] will come to shine upon thee. From the Happy Western Realm | of Heaped-up Lotuses, the Buddha Amitābha, the Divine Father-Mother, along with the attendant [deities] will come to shine upon thee. From the Northern Realm of Perfected Good Deeds, the Buddha Amogha-Siddhi, the Divine Father-Mother, along with the attendants will come, amidst a halo of rainbow light, to shine upon | thee at this very moment.
O nobly-born, on the outer circle of these five pair of Dhyani Buddhas, the [four] Door-Keepers, the Wrathful [Ones]: the Victorious One, the Destroyer of the Lord of Death, the Horse-necked King, the Urn of Nectar; with the four female Door-keepers: the Goad-Bearer, the Noose-Bearer, the Chain-Bearer, and the Bell-Bearer; ​along with the Buddha of the Devas, named the One of Supreme Power, the Buddha of the Asuras, named [He of] Strong Texture, the Buddha of Mankind, named the Lion of the Shākyas, the Buddha of the brute kingdom, named the Unshakable Lion, the Buddha of the Pretas, named the One of Flaming Mouth, and the Buddha of the Lower World, named the King of Truth:—[these], the Eight Father-Mother Door-keepers and the Six Teachers, the Victorious Ones—will come to shine, too.
The All-Good Father, and the All-Good Mother, the Great Ancestors of all the Buddhas: Samanta-Bhadra [and Samanta-Bhadrā], the Divine Father and the Divine Mother—these two, also will come to shine.
These forty-two perfectly endowed deities, issuing from within thy heart, being the product of thine own pure love, will come to shine. Know them.
O nobly-born, these realms are not come from somewhere outside [thyself]. They come from within the four divisions of thy heart, which, including its centre, make the five directions. They issue from within there, and shine upon thee. The ​deities, too, are not come from somewhere else: they exist from eternity within the faculties of thine own intellect. Know them to be of that nature.
O nobly-born, the size of all these deities is not large, not small, [but] proportionate. [They have] their ornaments, their colours, their sitting postures, their thrones, and the emblems that each holds.
These deities are formed into groups of five pairs, each group of five being surrounded by a fivefold circle of radiances, the male Bodhisattvas partaking of the nature of the Divine Fathers, and the female Bodhisattvas partaking of the nature of the Divine Mothers. All these divine conclaves will come to shine upon thee in one complete conclave. They are thine own tutelary deities. Know them to be such.
O nobly-born, from the hearts of the Divine Fathers and Mothers of the Five Orders, the rays of light of the Four Wisdoms united, extremely clear and fine, like the rays of the sun spun into threads, will come and shine upon thee and strike against thy heart.
On that path of radiance there will come to shine glorious orbs of light, blue in colour, emitting rays, the Dharma-Dhātu Wisdom [itself], each appearing like an inverted turquoise cup, surrounded by similar orbs, smaller in size, glorious and dazzling, radiant and transparent, each made more glorious with five yet smaller [satellite] orbs dotted round about with five starry spots of light of the same nature, leaving neither the centre nor the borders [of the blue light-path] unglorified by the orbs and the smaller [satellite] orbs. ​From the heart of Vajra-Sattva, the white light-path of the Mirror-like Wisdom, white and transparent, glorious and dazzling, glorious and terrifying, made more glorious with orbs surrounded by smaller orbs of transparent and radiant light upon it, each like an inverted mirror, will come to shine.
From the heart of Ratna-Sambhava, the yellow light-path of the Wisdom of Equality, [glorified] with yellow orbs [of radiance], each like an inverted gold cup, surrounded by smaller orbs, and these with yet smaller orbs, will come to shine.
From the heart of Amitābha, the transparent, bright red light-path of the Discriminating Wisdom, upon which are orbs, like inverted coral cups, emitting rays of Wisdom, extremely bright and dazzling, each glorified with five [satellite] orbs of the same nature,-leaving neither the centre nor the borders [of the red light-path] unglorified with orbs and smaller satellite orbs, will come to shine.
These will come to shine against thy heart simultaneously.
O nobly-born, all those are the radiances of thine own intellectual faculties come to shine. They have not come from any other place. Be not attracted towards them; be not weak; be not terrified; but abide in the mood of non-thought-formation. In that state all the forms and radiances will merge into thyself, and Buddhahood will be obtained.
The green light-path of the Wisdom of Perfected Actions will not shine upon thee, because the Wisdom-faculty of thine intellect hath not been perfectly developed.
O nobly-born, those are called the Lights of the Four
​Wisdoms United, [whence proceeds that] which is called the Inner Path through Vajra-Sattva.
At that time, thou must remember the teachings of the setting-face-to-face which thou hast had from thy guru. If thou hast remembered the purport of the settings-face- to-face, thou wilt have recognized all these lights which have shone upon thee, as being the reflection of thine own inner light, and, having recognized them as intimate friends, thou wilt have believed in them and have understood [them at] the meeting, as a son understandeth his mother.
And believing in the unchanging nature of the pure and holy Truth, thou wilt have had produced in thee the tranquil-flowing Samādhi; and, having merged into the body of the perfectly evolved intellect, thou wilt have obtained Buddhahood in the Sambhoga-Kāya, whence there is no return.
O nobly-born, along with the radiances of Wisdom, the impure illusory lights of the Six Lokas will also come to shine. If it be asked, ‘What are they?’ [they are] a dull white light from the devas, a dull green light from the asuras, a dull yellow light from human beings, a dull blue light from the brutes, a dull reddish light from the pretas, and a dull smoke-coloured light from Hell. These six thus will come to shine, along with the six radiances of Wisdom; whereupon, be not afraid of nor be attracted towards any, but allow thyself to rest in the non-thought condition. ​If thou art frightened by the pure radiances of Wisdom and attracted by the impure lights of the Six Lokas, then thou wilt assume a body in any of the Six Lokas and suffer sangsāric miseries; and thou wilt never be emancipated from the Ocean of Sangsāra, wherein thou wilt be whirled round and round and made to taste of the sufferings thereof.
O nobly-born, if thou art one who hath not obtained the select words of the guru, thou wilt have fear of the pure radiances of Wisdom and of the deities thereof. Being thus frightened, thou wilt be attracted towards the impure sangsāric objects. Act not so. Humbly trust in the dazzling pure radiances of Wisdom. Frame thy mind to faith, and think, 'The compassionate radiances of Wisdom of the Five Orders of Buddhas have come to take hold of me out of compassion; I take refuge in them.'
Not yielding to attraction towards the illusory lights of the Six Lokas, but devoting thy whole mind one-pointedly towards the Divine Fathers and Mothers, the Buddhas of the Five Orders, pray thus:
   'Alas! when wandering in the Sangsāra through the power of the five virulent poisons, On the bright radiance-path of the Four Wisdoms united, May [I] be led by the Five Victorious Conquerors, May the Five Orders of Divine Mothers be [my] rear-guard; May [I] be rescued from the impure light-paths of the Six Lokas; And, being saved from the ambuscades of the dread Bardo, May [I] be placed within the five pure Divine Realms.'
By thus praying, one recognizeth one's own inner light;
​and, merging one's self therein, in at-one-ment, Buddhahood is attained through humble faith, the ordinary devotee cometh to know himself, and obtaineth Liberation; even the most lowly, by the power of the pure prayer, can close the doors of the Six Lokas, and, in understanding the real meaning of the Four Wisdoms united, obtain Buddhahood by the hollow path- way through Vajra-Sattva.
Thus by being set face to face in that detailed manner, those who are destined to be liberated will come to recognize [the Truth]; thereby many will attain Liberation.
The worst of the worst, [those] of heavy evil karma, having not the least predilection for any religion-and some who have failed in their vows-through the power of karmic illusions, not recognizing, although set face to face [with Truth], will stray downwards.
[THE SEVENTH DAY]
On the Seventh Day, the Knowledge-Holding Deities, from the holy paradise realms, come to receive one. Simultaneously, the pathway to the brute world, produced by the obscuring passion, stupidity, also cometh to receive one. The setting- face-to-face at that time is, calling the deceased by name, thus:
THE GREAT MAṆḌALA OF THE KNOWLEDGE-HOLDING AND WRATHFUL DEITIES
Described on pages xix—xx, 127—8, 217—20
THE DORJE
THE LĀMAIC SCEPTRE
Described on page xxiii
* ↑ Text: ZAB-CHÖS ZHI-KHRO DGONGS-PA RANG-GRÖL LAS BAR-DOHI THÖS-GROL CHEN-MO CHÖS-NYID BAR-DOHI NGO-SPRÖD BZHUGS-SO (pronounced: ZAB-CHÖ SHI-HTO GONG-PA RANG-DÖL LAY BAR-DOI THÖ-DOL CHEN-MO CHÖ-NYID BAR-DOI NGO-TÖD ZHU-SO).
* ↑ See pp. 10-15.
* ↑ ‘These Deities are in ourselves. They are not something apart from us. We are one with all that is, in every state of sentient existence, from the lowest worlds of suffering to the highest states of bliss and Perfect Enlightenment. In this esoteric sense, the Lotus Order of Deities represent the deified principles of the vocal functions in ourselves; the Peaceful represent the deified principles of the heart or functions of feeling; the Wrathful represent, in the same way, the functions of our mentality—such as thinking or reasoning, and imagination or memory—centred in the brain.—Lāma Kazi Dawa Samdup. See p. 131$^1$.
* ↑ Padma Sambhava (Tib. Pēdma Jungnē), i. e. ‘The Lotus-Born’, referring to birth under pure, or holy, conditions, commonly called by the Tibetans Guru Rin-po-ch’e (‘The Precious Guru’), or simply Guru (the Sanskrit for ‘Teacher’), is regarded by his followers as an incarnation of the essence of the Buddha Shakya Muni in its Tantric, or deeply esoteric, aspect.
* ↑ See pp. 10-15.
* ↑ ‘The Guide Series’ refers to various treatises offering practical guidance to devotees on the Bodhi Path through the human world and thence through Bardo, the After-Death State, and onward to rebirth or else to Nirvāṇa.
* ↑ The Text contains merely the Tibetan word Hpho (pron. Pho), meaning ‘transference’ (of the sum-total, or aggregate, of karmic propensities, composing, or bound up with, personality and consciousness). The use of the term ‘soul’ being objectionable, since Buddhism, as a whole, denies the existence of a permanent, unchanging personal-consciousness entity such as the Semitic Faiths and animistic creeds in general understand thereby, the translator has avoided using it. But wherever any similar or equivalent term occurs herein it should be taken to imply something akin to ‘consciousness-principle’ or ‘compound of consciousness’ as implied by the Tibetan Hpho, or else as synonymous with the term ‘life-flux’ as used chiefly by Southern Buddhists.
* ↑ A Tibetan work of the Bardo cycle, commonly used by lāmas as supplementary to the Bardo Thödol (see part 9 of Note 1, p. 71). It treats of the symptoms of death in particular, scientifically and in very great detail. The late Lāma Kazi Dawa-Samdup had planned its translation into English.
* ↑ Liberation in this context does not necessarily imply, especially in the case of the average devotee, the Liberation of Nirvāṇa, but chiefly a liberation of the ‘life-flux’ from the dying body, in such manner as will afford the greatest possible after-death consciousness and consequent happy rebirth. Yet for the very exceptional and very highly efficient yogī, or saint, the same esoteric process of Transference can be, according to the lāma-gurus, so employed as to prevent any break in the flow of the stream of consciousness, from the moment of a conscious death to the moment of a conscious rebirth. Judging from a translation, made by the late Lāma Kazi Dawa-Samdup, of an old Tibetan manuscript containing practical directions for performing the Transference, which the editor possesses, the process is essentially yogīc, and could be employed only by a person trained in mental concentration, or one-pointedness of mind, to such a high degree of proficiency as to have gained control over all the mental and bodily functions. Merely remembering the process at the all-important moment of death—as the text implies—is, for a yogī, equivalent to performing the Transference itself; for once the yogī’s trained mind is directed to the process, instantaneously, or, as the text explains, automatically, the desired result is achieved.
* ↑ The lāma, or reader, stationed in the house of the deceased as directed, whether the corpse be there or not, is to summon the departed one in the name of Truth, saying, ‘As the Trinity is true, and as the Truth proclaimed by the Trinity is true, by the power of that Truth I summon thee’. Although no corpse be at hand (as there would not be when a person had met a violent or accidental death entailing loss or destruction of the human-plane body; or when, to accord with astrological calculations, the body had been removed or disposed of immediately after death, a not uncommon event in Tibet), the spirit of the deceased, in the invisible Bardo-plane body, must, nevertheless, be present at the reading, in order to be given the necessary guidance through the Other-world—as the Egyptian Book of the Dead also directs (see p. 19).
* ↑ This prohibition is found in Brāhmanism too.
* ↑ According to Tibetan and lāmaic belief, the body of a dying person should not be touched, that the normal departure of the consciousness-principle, which should take place through the Brahmanic aperture on the crown of the head, be not interfered with. Otherwise, the departure may be brought about through some other bodily aperture and lead to birth in one of the non-human states. For example, it is held that if the departure is through the aperture of the ear the deceased will be obliged—ere he can return to human birth—to be born in the world of the Gandharvas (fairy-like celestial musicians), wherein sound, as in song and music, is the prevailing quality of existence.
* ↑ See the Appendix, pp. 197-208, where each of these chief Bardo prayers (or ‘Paths of Good Wishes’) is translated.
* ↑ Cf. the two following passages, the first from The Book of the Craft of Dying, chap. VI, in Bodleian MS. 423 (circa fifteenth century), Comper’s ed. (p. 39), the second from The Craft to Know Well to Die (fifteenth century), chap, IV, Comper’s ed. (p. 74): ‘Last of all, it is to be known that the prayers that follow may be conveniently said upon a sick man that laboureth to his end. And if it is a religious person, then when the covent [i.e. convent] is gathered together with smiting of the table, as the manner is, then shall be said first the litany, with the psalms and orisons that he used therewith. Afterward, if he live yet, let some man that is about him say the orisons that follow hereafter, as the time and opportunity will suffer. And they may be often rehearsed again to excite the devotion of the sick man—if he have reason and understanding with him.’ ‘And if the sick man or woman may, nor can not, say the orisons and prayers beforesaid, some of the assistants [i. e. bystanders} ought to say them before him with a loud voice, in changing the words there as they ought to be changed.’
* ↑ Cf. the following from The Craft to Know Well to Die, chap. 1V, Comper’s ed. (p. 73): ‘After all these things he [the person dying] ought to say three times, if he may, these words that follow.’
* ↑ The first Bardo is the Chikhai Bardo; the second, the Chōnyid Bardo; the third, the Sidpa Bardo. (See p. 102$^{4–6}$.)
* ↑ See p. 85$^6$.
* ↑ Text: Yar-gyi-zang-thal-chen-po: the ‘Great Straight Upward Path’. One of the Doctrines peculiar to Northern Buddhism is that spiritual emancipation, even Buddahood, may be won instantaneously, without entering upon the Bardo Plane and without further suffering on the age-long pathway of normal evolution which traverses the various worlds of sangsdric existence. The doctrine underlies the whole of the Bardo Thödol, Faith is the first step on the Secret Pathway. Then comes Illumination; and, with it, Certainty; and, when the Goal is won, Emancipation. But here again success implies very unusual proficiency in yoga, as well as much accumulated merit, or good karma, on the part of the devotee. If the disciple can be made to see and to grasp the Truth as soon as the guru reveals it, that is to say, if he has the power to die consciously, and at the supreme moment of quitting the body can recognize the Clear Light which will dawn upon him then, and become one with it, all sangsāric bonds of illusion are broken asunder immediately: the Dreamer is awakened into Reality simultaneously with the mighty achievement of recognition.
* ↑ Here, as elsewhere in our text, ‘nerve-centre’ refers to a psychic nerve-centre. The psychic nerve-centre of Wisdom is located in the heart. (Cf. pp. 217 ff.)
* ↑ Text: Shespa (pron. Shepa): ‘Mind’, ‘Knower’; i.e. the mind in its knowing, or cognizing, functions.
* ↑ Text: Sprosbral (pron. Todal): ‘devoid of formative activity’ ; i.e. the mind in its natural, or primal, state. The mind in its unnatural state, that is to say, when incarnate in a human body, is, because of the driving force of the five senses, continuously in thought-formation activity. Its natural, or discarnate, state is a state of quiescence, comparable to its condition in the highest of dhyāna (or deep meditation) when still united to a human body. The conscious recognition of the Clear Light induces an ecstatic condition of consciousness such as saints and mystics of the West have called Illumination.
* ↑ Text: rlung (pron. lung): ‘vital-air’, or ‘vital-force’, or ‘psychic-force ’.
* ↑ Text: rtsa-gyas-gyon (pron. tsa-yay-yōn): ‘right and left [psychic] nerves’; Skt. Pingāla-nādī (right [psychic] nerve) and Idā-nādī (left [psychic] nerve). (Cf. p. 215.)
* ↑ When this text first took form the reckoning of time was, apparently, yet primitive, mechanical time-keeping appliances being unknown, A similar condition still prevails in many parts of Tibet, where the period of a meal-time is frequently mentioned in old religious books—a period of from twenty minutes to half an hour in duration.
* ↑ The dying person should die fully awake and keenly conscious of the process of death; hence the pressing of the arteries. (Cf. p. xxix.)
* ↑ ‘Skt. of text: dhutih (pron. dutī), meaning “median-nerve”’, but lit. ‘ trijunction’’, V.S. Apte’s Sanscrit-English Dictionary (Poona, 1890) gives dhūti as the only similar word, defined as “shaking” or “moving”, which, if applied to our text, may refer to the vibratory motion of the psychic force traversing the median-nerve as its channel.’—Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup. ‘Duti may also mean “throwing away’’, or “throwing out”’, with reference to the outgoing of the consciousness in the process of death,’—Sj. Atal Bihari Ghosh.
* ↑ See pp. 18, 87$^3$, 215. If non-distracted, and alertly conscious, at this psychological moment, the dying person will realize, through the power conferred by the reading of the Thödol, the importance of holding the vital-force in the median-nerve till it passes out thence through the Aperture of Brāhma.
* ↑ After the expiration has ceased, the vital-force (lit. ‘inner-breath’) is thought to remain in the median-nerve so long as the heart continues to throb.
* ↑ Text: rnam-shes (pron, nam-she): Skt. vijñāna or, preferably, chaitanya: ‘conscious-principle’ or ‘object-knowing principle’.
* ↑ Sometimes it may continue for seven days, but usually only for four or five days. The consciousness-principle, however, save in certain conditions of trance, such as a yogī, for example, can induce, is not necessarily resident in the body all the while; normally it quits the body at the moment called death, holding a subtle magnetic-like relationship with the body until the state referred to in the text comes to an end. Only for adepts in yoga would the departure of the consciousness-principle be accomplished without break in the continuity of the stream of consciousness, that is to say, without the swoon state referred to. The death process is the reverse of the birth process, birth being the incarnating, death the discarnating of the consciousness-principle ; but, in both alike, there is a passing from one state of consciousness into another. And, just as a babe must wake up in this world and learn by experience the nature of this world, so, likewise, a person at death must wake up in the Bardo world and become familiar with its own peculiar conditions. The Bardo body, formed of matter in an invisible or ethereal-like state, is an exact duplicate of the human body, from which it is separated in the process of death, Retained in the Bardo body are the consciousness-principle and the psychic nerve-system (the counterpart, for the psychic or Bardo body, of the physical nerve-system of the human body). (Cf. p. 161$^3$.)
* ↑ The full meaning implied is that not only should the person about to die diagnose the symptoms of death as they come, one by one, but that he should also, if able, recognize the Clear Light without being set face to face with it by some second person.
* ↑ Cf. the following instructions, from Ars Moriendi (fifteenth century), Comper’s ed. (p. 93): ‘When any of likelihood shall die [i.e. is likely to die], then it is most necessary to have a special friend, the which will heartily help and pray for him, and therewith counsel the sick for the weal [i. e. health] of his soul.’
* ↑ The three chief symptoms of death (which the text merely suggests by naming the first of them, it being taken for granted that the reader officiating will know the others and name them as they occur), with their symbolical counter-part, are as follows : (1) a bodily sensation of pressure, ‘earth sinking into water’; (2) a bodily sensation of clammy coldness as though the body were immersed in water, which gradually merges into that of feverish heat, ‘ water sinking into fire’; (3) a feeling as though the body were being blown to atoms, ‘ fire sinking into air’. Each symptom is accompanied by visible external changes in the body, such as loss of control over facial muscles, loss of hearing, loss of sight, the breath coming in gasps just before the loss of consciousness, whereby lāmastrained in the science of death detect, one by one, the interdependent psychic phenomena culminating in the release of the Bardo body from its human-plane envelope. The translator held that the science of death, as expounded in this treatise, has been arrived at through the actual experiencing of death on the part of learned lāmas, who, when dying, have explained to their pupils the very process of death itself, in analytical and elaborate detail. (See p. 162$^2$.)
* ↑ In this state, realization of the Ultimate Truth is possible, providing sufficient advance on the Path has been made by the deceased before death. Otherwise, he cannot benefit now, and must wander on into lower and lower conditions of the Bardo, as determined by karma, until rebirth. (See p. 135$^2$.)
* ↑ The Tibetan of the text is here unusually concise, Literally rendered it is, ‘will appear in whatever will subdue [for beneficial ends] whomsoever’, To subdue in this sense any sentient being of the human world, a form which will appeal religiously to that being is assumed. Thus, to appeal to a Shaivite devotee, the form of Shiva is assumed ; to a Buddhist, the form of the Buddha Shakya Muni; to a Christian, the form of Jesus; to a Moslem, the form of the Prophet ; and so on for other religious devotees ; and for all manners and conditions of mankind a form appropriate to the occasion—for example, for subduing children, parents, and vice versa; for shiṣhyas, gurus, and vice versa; for common people, kings or rulers; and for kings, ministers of state.
* ↑ Cf. the following, from The Book of the Craft of Dying, chap. V, in Bodleian MS. 423 (circa fifteenth century), Comper’s ed. (p. 35) : ‘Also, if he that shall die have long time and space to be-think himself, and be not taken with hasty death, then may be read afore him, of them that be about him, devout histories and devout prayers, in the which he most delighted in when he was in heal [i.e. health].’
* ↑ Text: Shes-rig (pron. She-rig) is the intellect, the knowing or cognizing faculty.
* ↑ Text: Chös-nyid Kün-tu-bzang-po (pron. Chö-nyid Küntu-zang-po), Skt. Dharma-Dhātu Samanta-Bhadra, the embodiment of the Dharma-Kāya, the first state of Buddhahood. Our Block-Print text, in error here, gives for the All-Good (Kuntu-Zang-po, meaning ‘All-Good Father’) Kuntu-Zang-mo, which means ‘All-Good Mother’. According to the Great Perfectionist School, the Father is that which appears, or phenomena, the Mother is that which is conscious of the phenomena, Again, Bliss is the Father, and the Voidness perceiving it, the Mother; the Radiance is the Father, and the Voidness perceiving it, the Mother; and, as in our text here, the intellect is the Father, the Voidness the Mother. The repetition of ‘void’ is to emphasize the importance of knowing the intellect to be in reality void (or of the nature of voidness), i.e. of the unborn, uncreated, unshaped Primordial.
* ↑ Text: Rig-pa, meaning 'consciousness' as distinct from the knowing faculty by which it cognizes or knows itself to be. Ordinarily, rig-pa and shes-rig are synonymous; but in an abstruse philosophical treatise, as herein, rig-pa refers to the consciousness in its purest and most spiritual (i. e. supramundane) aspect, and shes-rig to the consciousness in that grosser aspect, not purely spiritual, whereby cognizance of phenomena is present. In this part of the Bardo Thödol the psychological analysis of consciousness or mind is particularly abstruse. Wherever the text contains the word rig-pa we have rendered it as 'consciousness', and the word shes-rig as 'intellect'; or else, to suit the context, rig-pa as 'consciousness' and shes-rig as 'consciousness of phenomena', which is 'intellect'.
* ↑ Text: Kun-tu-bzang-po: Skt. Samanta ('All' or 'Universal' or 'Complete') Bhadra ('Good' or 'Beneficent'), In this state, the experiencer and the thing experienced are inseparably one and the same, as, for example, the yellowness of gold cannot be separated from gold, nor saltness from salt. For the normal human intellect this transcendental state is beyond comprehension.
* ↑ From the union of the two states of mind, or consciousness, implied by the two terms rig-pa and shes-rig, and symbolized by the All-Good Father and the All-Good Mother, is born the state of the Dharma-Kāya, the state of Perfect Enlightenment, Buddahood. The Dharma-Kāya ('Body of Truth') symbolizes the purest and the highest state of being, a state of supramundane consciousness, devoid of all mental limitations or obscurations which arise from the contact of the primordial consciousness with matter.
* ↑ As the Buddha-Samanta-Bhadra state is the state of the All-Good, so the Buddha-Amitābha state is the state of the Boundless Light; and, as the text implies, both are, in the last analysis, the same state, merely regarded from two viewpoints, In the first, is emphasized the mind of the All-Good, in the second, the enlightening Bodhi power, symbolized as Buddha Amitābha (the personification of the Wisdom faculty), Source of Life and Light.
* ↑ Text: dgongs-pa (pron. gong-pa): 'thoughts' or 'mind', and, being in the honorific form, 'divine mind'.
* ↑ Realization of the Non-Sangsāra, which is the Voidness, the Unbecome, the Unborn, the Unmade, the Unformed, implies Buddhahood, Perfect Enlightenment—the state of the Divine Mind of the Buddha. Compare the following passage, from The Diamond [or Immutable] Sūtra, with its Chinese commentary (trans. by W. Gemmell, London, 1912, pp. 17-18): 'Every form or quality of phenomena is transient and illusive. When the mind realizes that the phenomena of life are not real phenomena, the Lord Buddha may then be clearly perceived.'—(Chinese Annotation: ' The spiritual Buddha must be realized within the mind, otherwise there can be no true perception of the Lord Buddha.')
* ↑ If, when dying, one be familiar with this state, in virtue of previous spiritual (or yogīc) training in the human world, and have power to win Buddhahood at this all-determining moment, the Wheel of Rebirth is stopped, and Liberation instantaneously achieved. But such spiritual efficiency is so very rare that the normal mental condition of the person dying is unequal to the supreme feat of holding on to the state in which the Clear Light shines; and there follows a progressive descent into lower and lower states of the Bardo existence, and then rebirth. The simile of a needle balanced and set rolling on a thread is used by the lāmas to elucidate this condition. So long as the needle retains its balance, it remains on the thread, Eventually, however, the law of gravitation affects it, and it falls. In the realm of the Clear Light, similarly, the mentality of a person dying momentarily enjoys a condition of balance, or perfect equilibrium, and of oneness. Owing to unfamiliarity with such a state, which is an ecstatic state of non-ego, of subliminal consciousness, the consciousness-principle of the average human being lacks the power to function in it; karmic propensities becloud the consciousness-principle with thoughts of personality, of individualized being, of dualism, and, losing equilibrium, the consciousness-principle falls away from the Clear Light. It is ideation of ego, of self, which prevents the realization of Nirvāṇa (which is the 'blowing out of the flame of selfish longing'); and so the Wheel of Life continues to turn.
* ↑ Immediately after the passing of the vital-force into the median-nerve, the person dying experiences the Clear Light in its primitive purity, the Dharma-Kāya unobscured; and, if unable to hold fast to that experience, next experiences the secondary Clear Light, having fallen to a lower state of the Bardo, wherein the Dharma-Kāya is dimmed by karmic obscurations.
* ↑ Cf. p. xxx.
* ↑ Text: shes-pa, rendered here as 'mind'. The translator has added the following comment: 'The vital-force, passing from the navel psychic-nerve centre, and the principle of consciousness, passing from the brain psychic-nerve centre, unite in the heart psychic-nerve centre, and in departing thence from the body, normally through the Aperture of Brahma, produce in the dying person a state of ecstasy of the greatest intensity. The succeeding stage is less intense. In the first, or primary, stage, is experienced the Primary Clear Light, in the second stage, the Secondary Clear Light. A ball set bounding reaches its greatest height at the first bound; the second bound is lower, and each succeeding bound is still lower until the ball comes to rest. Similarly is it with the consciousness-principle at the death of a human body. Its first spiritual bound, directly upon quitting the earth-plane body, is the highest; the next is lower. Finally, the force of karma having spent itself in the after-death state, the consciousness-principle comes to rest, a womb is entered, and then comes rebirth in this world.'
* ↑ Text: Gshin-rje (pron. Shin-je): 'Lord of Death'; but the plural form is allowable and preferable here.
* ↑ Cf. the following, from The Craft to Know Well to Die, chap. 1V, Comper's ed. (p. 73): 'And after he [the person dying] ought to require the apostles, the martyrs, the confessors and the virgins, and in special all the saints that he most loved ever.'
* ↑ The favourite deity of the deceased is the tutelary (Tib. yi-dam), usually one of the Buddhas or Bodhisattvas, of whom Chenrazee is the most popular.
* ↑ Text: Jo-vo-thugs-rje-chen-po (pron. Jo-wo-thu-ji-chen-po): 'Great Compassionate Lord', synonymous with Tib. Spyan-ras-gzigs (pron. Chen-rä-zi): Skt. Avalokiteshvara.
* ↑ A person may have heard a detailed description of the art of swimming and yet never have tried to swim. Suddenly thrown into water he finds himself unable to swim. So with those who have been taught the theory of how to act in the time of death and have not applied, through yogīc practices, the theory: they cannot maintain unbroken continuity of consciousness; they grow bewildered at the changed conditions ; and fail to progress or to take advantage of the opportunity offered by death, unless upheld and directed by a living guru. Even with all that a guru can do, they ordinarily, because of bad karma, fail to recognize the Bardo as such.
* ↑ Text: dag-pahi-sgyu-lus (pron. tag-pay-gyu-lü): 'pure (or shining) illusory body': Skt. māyā-rūpa. This is the ethereal counterpart of the physical body of the earth-plane, the 'astral-body' of Theosophy.
* ↑ With the departure of the consciousness-principle from the human body there comes a psychic thrill which gives way to a state of lucidity.
* ↑ Text: Chös-nyia-ma-bu: Skt. Dharma Mātri Putra: 'Mother and Offspring Reality (or Truth).' The Offspring-Truth is that realized in this world through practising deep meditation (Skt. dhyāna). The Mother-Truth is the Primal or Fundamental Truth, experienced only after death whilst the Knower is in the Bardo state of equilibrium, ere karmic propensities have erupted into activity. What a photograph is compared to the object photographed, the Offspring-Reality is to the Mother-Reality.
* ↑ Lit., ' karma is unable to turn the mouth or head', the figure implied being that of a rider controlling a horse with a bridle and bit. In the Tantra of the Great Liberation, there is this similar passage: 'The man blinded by the darkness of ignorance, the fool caught in the meshes of his actions, and the illiterate man, by listening to this Great Tantra, are released from the bonds of karma' (cf. Tantra of the Great Liberation, line 205, as edited by Arthur Avalon, London, 1913, p. 359).
* ↑ Text: yid-kyi-lüs (pron. yid-kyi-lü), ‘mental-body’, ‘desire-body’, or ‘thought-body’.
* ↑ Cf. pp. 92$^3$, 95$^2$, 96$^1$.
* ↑ The references are (1) to the share of food being set aside for the deceased during the funeral rites ; (2) to his corpse being prepared for the shroud; (3) to his bed or sleeping-place.
* ↑ Text: Skye-gnas Bardo (pron. Kye-nay Bardo): 'Intermediate State', or 'State of Uncertainty, of the place of birth (or while in the womb)'.
* ↑ Text: Rmi-lam Bardo (pron. Mi-lam Bardo): 'Intermediate State', or 'State of Uncertainty, [during the experiencing] of the dream-state'.
* ↑ Text: Ting-nge-hzin Bsam-gtam Bardo (pron. Tin-ge-zin Sam-tam Bardo): 'Intermediate State', or 'State of Uncertainty, [during the experiencing] of Dyhāna (Meditation) in Samādhi (Ecstatic equilibrium)'.
* ↑ Text: Hchi-khahi Bardo (pron. Chi-khai Bardo): 'Intermediate State', or 'State of Uncertainty, of the dying moment (or moment of death)'.
* ↑ Text: Chös-nyid Bardo (pron. Chö-nyid Bardo): 'Intermediate State', or 'State of Uncertainty, [during the experiencing] of Reality'.
* ↑ Text: Lugs-hbyung Srid-pahi Bardo (pron. Lu-jung Sid-pai Bardo: 'Intermediate State', or 'State of Uncertainty, in the inverse process of sangsāric (worldly) existence'—the state wherein the Knower is seeking rebirth.
* ↑ Text: Hkhor-va (pron. Khor-wa): 'a thing whirling round'; ' whirligig': Skt. Sangsāra (or Saṁsāra).
* ↑ That is, the Buddha, the Dharma, the Saṅgha.
* ↑ Reality is experienced or glimpsed in a state of uncertainty, because the Knower experiences it through the Bardo counterpart of the illusory perceptive faculties of the earth-plane body and not through the unobscured supramundane consciousness of the pure Dharma-Kāya state, wherein there can be no Bardo (i.e 'Uncertain', or ' Intermediate State').
* ↑ Text: rang-snang (pron. rang-nang): 'one's own [mental] visions (or thought-forms).'
* ↑ Text: bag-chags yid-lüs (pron. bag-chah yid-lü). yid-lüs; 'mind-body' or 'thought-body'; bag-chags: 'habit', 'propensities' (born of sangsāric or worldly existence).
* ↑ That is to say, phenomena, or phenomenal experiences as experienced when in the human world, will be experienced in quite another way in the Bardo world, so that to one just dead they will seem to be in revolution or confusion; hence the warning to the deceased, who must accustom himself to the after-death state as a babe must accustom itself after birth to our world.
* ↑ At this point, where the marvellous Bardo visions begin to dawn, the student in attempting to rationalize them should ever keep in mind that this treatise is essentially esoteric, being in most parts, especially from here onwards, allegorical and symbolical of psychic experiences in the after-death state.
* ↑ Text: Thiglé-Brdalva (pron. Thigle-Dalwa): 'Spreading forth the Seed [of all Things].' Esoterically, this is the Dharma-Dhātu.
* ↑ Text: Rnam-par-Snang-mzad (pron. Nam-par-Nang-zad); Skt. Vairochana, the Dhyānī Buddha of the Centre (or Central Realm), Vairochana literally means, 'in shapes making visible'; hence he is the Manifester of Phenomena, or the Noumena. The wheel he holds symbolizes sovereign power. His title Bhagavān (applied to many other of the deities to follow hereinafter), meaning 'One Possessed of Dominion' (or 'of the Six Powers'), or 'The Victorious', qualifies him as being a Buddha, i.e. One who has conquered, or has dominion over, sangsāric, or worldly, existence. As the Central Dhyānī Buddha, Vairochana is the highest path to Enlightenment of the Esoteric School. Like a Central Sun, surrounded by the four Dhyānī Buddhas of the four cardinal directions, who dawn on the four succeeding days, he symbolizes the One Truth surrounded by its four constituents or elements. As the source of all organic life, in him all things visible and invisible have their consummation and absorption. For general references to the deities of the Bardo Thödol, see L. A. Waddell, The Buddhism of Tibet or Lamaism (London, 1895); and A, Getty, The Gods of Northern Buddhism (Oxford, 1914).
* ↑ Text: Nam-mkh-ah-dvyings-kyi-dvang-phyung-ma (pron. Nam-kha-ing-kya-wang-chug-ma): 'Sovereign Lady of the Space of Heaven': Skt. Ākāsa Dhātu Îshvarî. The Mother is the female principle of the universe; the Father, Vairochana, the seed of all that is.
* ↑ Here the Block-Print reads: 'It is the aggregate of consciousness (Rnam-par Shes-pahi—pro. Nam-par She-pay—Skt. Vijñāna Skandha) resolved into its primordial state which is the blue light.' In our MS. the aggregate of consciousness shines as a white light in relationship with Vajra-Sattva, on the Second Day (see p. 109).
* ↑ Here, as in parallel passages following, the chief deity personifies in himself the female as well as the male principle of nature, and hence is called the Father-Mother—depicted, as described by the text, in appropriate symbolic colours, on the corresponding illuminated folio of our MS., as the Divine Father and the Divine Mother in union (i.e. in divine at-one-ment).
* ↑ Text: De-bzhing-shegs-pa (pron. De-shing-sheg-pa): Skt. Tathāgata, meaning '[He] who hath gone that same way', i.e. One who hath reached the Goal (Nirvāna)—a Buddha.
* ↑ Text: hphrang (pron. htang): 'narrow passage', 'ambush'.
* ↑ Cf. the following instructions to the dying person and the prayer from The Craft to Know Well to Die, chap. IV, Comper's ed. (p. 73): 'He ought afterwards, if he may, to call on the holy angels, in saying: "Ye spirits of Heaven, Angels much glorious, I beseech you that ye will be assistant [i.e. present] with me that now beginneth to depart, and that ye deliver me mightily from the awaits and fallacies of mine adversaries; and that it please you to receive my soul into your company. The principal, my leader and my good angel, which by our Lord art deputed to be my warder and keeper, I pray and require thee that thou now aid and help me."'
* ↑ Text: Stug-po-bkod-pahi zhing-khams (pron. Tug-po-kod-pai shing-kham): 'Thickly-formed' or 'Densely-packed Realm', i.e. the seed of all universal forces and things are densely packed together therein; also called in Tibetan 'Og-min: lit. 'No-down', the realm whence there is no fall, the state leading into Nirvāṇa; it is pre-eminently the realm of the Buddhas.
* ↑ Text: Rdorje-sems-dpah Mi-bskyod-pa (pron. Dorje-sems-pa Mi-kyod-pa): Skt. Vajra-Sativa Akṣḥobhya. Akṣḥobhya (the 'Unagitated' or 'Immovable'), the Dhyānī Buddha of the Eastern Direction, here, as throughout the text, appears as Vajra-Sattva ('The Divine Heroic-Minded', or 'Indestructible-Minded'), his Sambhoga-Kāya, or adorned active reflex. Vajrạ-Dhāra ('The Indestructible or Steadfast Holder' [see p. 13]) is, also, a reflex of Akṣḥobhya; and both reflexes are very important deities of the Esoteric School.
* ↑ The dorje is the lāmaic sceptre, a type of the thunderbolt of Indra (Jupiter).
* ↑ This is the Sanskrit form as incorporated in our Tibetan text. Here the Block-Print, evidently in error, contains, in Tibetan, Sangs-rgyas-spyan-ma (pron. Sang-yay Chan-ma), meaning 'She of the Buddha Eye', who, in our manuscript text, comes with Ratna-Sambhava on the Third Day. Māmakī is also one of the 108 names given to Dölma (Skt. Tārā), the national goddess of Tibet. (See p. 116$^3$.) In the Dharma Samgraha it is said that there are four Devīs, namely, Rochanī, Māmakī, Pāndurā, and Tārā.
* ↑ Text: Sahi-snying-po (pron. Sayi-nying-po): Skt. Kṣḥitigarbha: 'Womb (or Matrix) of the Earth.'
* ↑ Text: Byams-pa (pron. Cham-pa): Skt. Maitreya: 'Love'; the Buddha to come, who will reform mankind through the power of divine love.
* ↑ Lasema and Pushpema are corrupt Sanskrit forms incorporated in our manuscript. Their Tibetan equivalents are, respectively, Sgeg-mo-ma (Skt. Lāsyā), meaning 'Belle' (or 'Dallying One'), and Me-tog-ma (Skt. Pushpā), 'She who offers (or holds) Blossoms'. Pushpā, depicted holding a blossom in her hand, is a personification of blossoms. Lāsyā, the Belle, depicted holding a mirror in a coquettish attitude, personifies beauty.
* ↑ Text: Rnampar-shes-pahi-phung-po (pron. Nampar-she-pay-phung-po), 'aggregate of consciousness-principle', the Knower. The Block-Print contains, in place of this, Gzugs-kyi-phung-po (pron. Zu-kyi-phung-po), 'aggregate of the body' or 'Bodily-aggregate'.
* ↑ See pi 106$^3$.
* ↑ The rays of divine grace are a hook of salvation to catch hold of the deceased and drag him away from the dangers of the Bardo. Sometimes each ray is thought of as ending in a hook, just as each ray emanating from the sun-god Ra, and descending as a grace ray upon a devotee, is depicted in ancient temples of Egypt as ending in a hand. Similarly, the Christian thinks of the saving grace of God.
* ↑ The deceased is here thought of, perhaps, as being able to see his people on earth and as liable to anger should he see them disputing over the division of his property, or if he perceives avarice on the part of the lāma conducting the funeral rites. But the prohibition touching anger is essentially yogīc, yogīs of all religions recognizing that anger prevents spiritual progress; and it parallels the moral teaching against giving way to anger contained in the ancient Egyptian Precepts of Ptah-hotep.
* ↑ Text: Rinchen-hbyung-ldan (pron. Rinchen-Jung-dan): Skt. Ratna-Sambhava, i.e. ‘Born of a Jewel’. He is the Beautifier, whence comes all that is precious; a personified attribute of the Buddha.
* ↑ Text: Sangs-rgyas-spyan-ma (pron. Sang-yay Chan-ma): 'She of the Buddha Eye (or Eyes).'
* ↑ Text: Nam-mkhahi-snying-po (pron. Nam-khai-nying-po): Skt. Ākāsha-Garbha, 'Womb (or Matrix) of the Sky'.
* ↑ Text: Kuntu-byzang-po (pron. Kuntu-zang-po): Skt. Samanta-Bhadra, 'All-Good'. This is not the Ādi-Buddha Samanta-Bhadra (cf. p. 95$^3$), but the spiritual son of the Dhyānī Buddha Vairochana.
* ↑ Text: Mahlaima, 'She Who Holds (or Bears) the Rosary'; and Dhupema, 'She Who Holds (or Bears) the Incense'. These are corrupt forms, hybrids of Sanskrit and Tibetan, their Sanskrit equivalents being Mālā and Dhūpa, and their Tibetan equivalents Hphreng-ba-ma (pron. Phreng-ba-ma) and Bdug-spös-ma (pron. Dug-pö-ma). The colour of these goddesses, corresponding to that of the earth-light, is yellow.
* ↑ Text: Snang-va-mthah-yas (pron. Nang-wa-tha-yay): Skt. Amitābha, 'Boundless (or Incomprehensible) Light'. As an embodiment of one of the Buddha-attributes or Wisdoms, the All-discriminating Wisdom, Amitābha personifies life eternal.
* ↑ Text: Gös-dkar-mo (pron. Gö-kar-mo), 'She-in-White-Raiment'.
* ↑ Text: Spyan-ras-gzigs (pron. Chen-rä-zī): Skt. Avalokiteshvara, 'Down-Looking One', the embodiment of mercy or compassion. The Dalai Lāmas are believed to be his incarnations; Amitābha, with whom he here dawns, is his spiritual father, whose incarnate representatives are the Tashi Lāmas. He is often depicted with eleven heads and a thousand arms, each with an eye in the palm—as 'The Great Pitier'—his thousand arms and eyes appropriately representing him as ever on the outlook to discover distress and to succour the troubled. In China, Avalokiteshvara becomes the Great Goddess of Mercy Kwanyin, represented by a female figure bearing a child in her arms.
* ↑ Text: Hgam-dpal (pron. Jam-pal): Skt. Mañjushrī, 'Of Gentle Glory'. A fuller Tibetan form is Hgam-dpal-dvyangs (pron. Jam-pal-yang): Skt. Mañjughosha, 'Glorious Gentle-Voiced One'. He is 'The God of Mystic Wisdom', the Buddhist Apollo, commonly depicted with the flaming sword of light held aloft in his right hand and the lotus-supported Book of Wisdom, the Prajñā-Pāramitā, held in his left.
* ↑ Text: Ghir-dhi-ma and Āloke, corrupted from Skt. Gītā, 'Song', and Āloka, 'Light': Tib. Glu-ma (pron, Lu-ma) and Snang-gsal-ma (pron. Nang-sal-ma). Gītā, commonly represented holding a lyre, personifies (or symbolizes) music and song, and Āloka, holding a lamp, personifies (or symbolizes) light. Related to the element fire, as herein, their colour is red.
* ↑ Lit. 'Of Liberation there will be no time.' Once the deceased becomes a preta, or unhappy ghost, the after-death attainment of Nirvāṇa is, normally, no longer possible; he must then wait for the opportunity afforded by rebirth in the human world, when his Preta-loka existence has ended.
* ↑ Text: Don-yod-grub-pa (pron. Don-yöd-rub-pa): Skt. Amogha-Siddhi: 'Almighty Conqueror.'
* ↑ That is, a dorje with four heads, such as is depicted on the front cover of this volume. It symbolizes equilibrium, immutability, and almighty power.
* ↑ Text: shang-shang, refers to an order of creatures like the fabulous harpies of classical mythology, having human form from the waist upwards, and from the waist downwards the form of a bird; but whereas the Greek harpies were female, these are of both sexes, That a race of such harpies exists in the world somewhere is a popular belief among Tibetans.
* ↑ Text: Sgrol-ma (pron. Döl-ma): Dölma (Skt. Tārā) = 'Saviouress'. She is the divine consort of Avalokiteshvara. There are now two recognized forms of this goddess: the Green Dölma, as worshipped in Tibet, and the White Dölma, as worshipped chiefly in China and Mongolia. The royal Nepalese princess who became the wife of the first Buddhist king of Tibet is believed to have been an incarnation of the Green Dölma, and his wife from the Imperial House of China an incarnation of the White Dölma. (See p. 74.) The late Lāma Kazi Dawa-Samdup told me that, because Tibetans saw the likeness of Queen Victoria on English coins and recognized it as being that of Dölma, there developed throughout Tibet during the Victorian Era a belief that Dölma had come back to birth again to rule the world in the person of the Great Queen of England; and that, owing to this belief, the British representatives of the Queen then met with an unusually friendly reception in their negotiations with Lhassa, although probably unaware of the origin of the friendship.
* ↑ Text: Phyag-na-rdorje (pron. Chag-na-dorje): 'Bearing the Dorje in hand': Skt. Vajra-pāṇi.
* ↑ Text: Sgrib-pa-rnam-sel (pron. Ḍib-pa-nam-sel): 'Clearer of Obscurations': Skt. Dīpanī, also Dīpikā.
* ↑ Skt.-Tib. hybrid of text. Corresponding Tib., Dri-chha-ma (Skt. Gandha), 'She Spraying Perfume', one of the eight mother goddesses (Mātṛis) of the Hindu pantheon. She is depicted holding a shell-vase of perfume (dri).
* ↑ Skt.-Tib. hybrid of text. Corresponding Tib., Zhal-zas-ma (pron. Shal-za-ma), 'She Holding Sweetmeats'. Although a goddess like Gandhema, Nidhema (Skt. Naivedya) cannot be included in the formal list of eight Mātṛis, the eight already having been named in our text. Both goddesses are green in colour, like the light of the All-Performing Wisdom.
* ↑ Here, as in the previous and following paragraph, the jealousy referred to is the karmic propensities of jealousy existing as part of the content of the consciousness (or subconsciousness) of the deceased; and, erupting on this the Fifth Day of the Bardo existence, they produce their corresponding 'astral' hallucinations.
* ↑ Quarrelling and warfare are the chief passions of a being born as an asura in the Asura-loka.
* ↑ The Block-Print has 'Realm of Perfected Good Deeds (or "Actions")'; and this is the more correct form.
* ↑ The philosophically descriptive Tibetan terms (which are not contained in our text) for these Four Wisdoms are: (1) Snang-Stong (pron. Nang-Tong), 'Phenomena and Voidness'; (2) Gsal-Stong (pron. Sal-Tong), 'Radiance and Voidness'; (3) Bde-Stong (pron, De-Tong), 'Bliss and Voidness'; (4) Rig-Stong (pron. Rig-Tong), 'Consciousness and Voidness'. They correspond to the four stages of dhyana which arise in the same order. They probably also correspond, but in a less exact manner, to the Four Wisdoms: the Mirror-like Wisdom, the Wisdom of Equality, the All-Discriminating Wisdom, and the All-Performing Wisdom. ' Dhyāna consists of progressive mental states: analysis (Skt. vitarka), reflection (Skt. vichāra), fondness (Skt. prīti), bliss (Skt. ānanda), and concentration (Skt. ekāgratā). In the first stage of dhyāna, the devotee asks himself, "What is this body? Is it lasting; is it the thing to be saved?" and decides that to cling to an impermanent, corruptible bodily form, such as he thereby realizes it to be, is not desirable. Similarly, having gained knowledge of the nature of Form, he analyses and reflects upon Touch, Feeling, Volition, Cognition, and Desire; and, finding that Mind is the apparent reality, arrives at ordinary concentration, 'In the second stage of dhyāna, reflection only is employed; in other words, reflection transcends the lower mental process called analysis. In the third stage, reflection gives way to a blissful state of consciousness; and this bliss, being at first apparently a physical sensation, merges into pure ecstasy, in the fourth stage. In the fifth stage, the sensation of ecstasy, although always present in a suppressed or secondary condition, gives way to complete concentration'—Lāma Kazi Dawa-Samdup.
* ↑ Heretofore each of the chief deities has been called Bhagavān ('The Victorious'), but, herein, Buddha ('The Enlightened') is the designation. The text contains Tib. Sangs-rgyas (pron. Sang-yay) = Skt. Buddha: Sangs = 'awakened [from sleep of stupidity]' + rgyas = 'developed fully [in all attributes of perfection (or moral virtues)]'.
* ↑ Between this bar and the bar in the sentence following is contained the translation of the Tibetan text on the upper folio (35a) of our Frontispiece.
* ↑ Text: Rnam-par-rgyal-va (pron. Nam-par-gyal-wa): Skt. Vijaya: 'Victorious [One]', the Door-keeper of the East.
* ↑ Text: Gshin-rje-gshed-po (pron. Shin-je-shed-po): Skt. Yamāntaka: 'Destroyer of Yama (Death)', the Door-keeper of the South, a form of Shiva, and the wrathful aspect of Avalokiteshvara. He, as a Wrathful Deity, personifies one of the ten forms of Anger (Tib. K'ro-bo—pron. T'o-wo: Skt. Krodha).
* ↑ Text: Rta-mgrin-rgyal-po (pron. Tam din-gyal-po): Skt. Hayagriva: 'Horse-necked King', the Door-keeper of the West.
* ↑ Text: Bdud-rtsi-hkhyil-va (pron. Dü-tsi-khyil-wa): Skt. Amṛịta-Dhāra: '(He who is the] Urn of Nectar', whose divine function is to transmute all things into nectar (in the esoteric sense of Tantric Yoga), amṛịta meaning 'nectar' exoterically, and, esoterically, 'voidness'. He is the Door-keeper of the North.
* ↑ Text: Chags-kyu-ma (pron. Chak-yu-ma): Skt. Ankushā: 'She holding the Goad', the shakti, or female counterpart, of Vijaya.
* ↑ Text: Zhags-pa-ma (pron. Zhag-pa-ma): Skt. Pāshadharî: 'She holding the Noose', the shakti of Yamāntaka.
* ↑ Text: Lghags-sgrog-ma (pron. Cha-dog-ma): Skt. Vajra-shṛịngkhalā; 'She holding the Chain', the shakti of Hayagrīva.
* ↑ Text: Dril-bu-ma (pron. Til-bu-ma): Skt. Kinkini-Dharī: 'She holding the Bell', the shakti of Amṛịta-Dhāra. All the Door-keepers and their shaktis possess occult significance in relation to the four directions and to the maṇḍala (or conclave of deities) to which they belong. As Tantric faith-guarding deities (Tib. Ch’os-skyon: Skt. Dharmapāla) they rank with Bodhisattvas. They symbolize, too, the four tranquil or peaceful methods employed by Divine Beings for the salvation of sentient creatures (of whom mankind are the highest), which are: Compassion, Fondness, Love, and Stern Justice.
* ↑ Text: Dvang-po-rgya-byin (pron. Wang-po-gya-jin): 'Powerful One of a Hundred Sacrifices': Skt. Shata-Kratu, a name of Indra ('[One of] Supreme Power').
* ↑ Text: Thag-bzang-ris (pron. Thag-zang-ree): '[He of] Strong Texture' (Skt. Vīrāchāra): a name referring either to the bodily strength of, or else to the coat of mail worn by, this Lord of the Asura-loka, the world wherein warfare is the predominant passion of existence.
* ↑ Text: Chös-kyi-rgyal-po (pron. Chö-kyi-gyal-po): Skt. Dharma-Rāja.
* ↑ Text: Küntu-bzang-mo (pron. Küntu-bzang-mo): 'All-Good Mother'; Skt. Samanta-Bhadrā. The Tantric School holds that every deity, even the Supreme, has its shakti. A few deities are, however, commonly depicted shakti-less—for example, Mañjushrī, or Mañjughosha (see p. 113$^4$); though there may be, as in the instance of the Prajñā-Pāramitā (often called the Mother) which this deity holds, some symbolic representation of a shakti, This is, apparently, a doctrine of universal dualism. In the final analysis, however, all pairs of opposites being viewed as having a Single Source—in the Voidness of the Dharma-Kāya—the apparent dualism becomes monism.
* ↑ According to the esotericism of Northern Buddhism, man is, in the sense implied by the mystical philosophies of ancient Egypt and Greece, the microcosm of the macrocosm
* ↑ Text: dkyil-hkhor (pron. kyil-khor): Skt. maṇḍala, i.e. conclave of deities.
* ↑ The Tutelary Deities, too, in the last analysis, are the visualizations of the person believing in them. The Demchok Tantra says that the 'Devatās are but symbols representing the various things which occur on the Path, such as the helpful impulses and the stages attained by their means'; and that 'should doubts arise as to the divinity of these Devatās, one should say "The Ḍākinī is only the recollection of the body" and remember that the deities constitute the Path' (cf. A. Avalon, Tantrik Texts, London, 1919, vii. 41).
* ↑ Each of these mystical radiances symbolizes the particular Bodhic, or Wisdom, quality of the Buddha whence it shines. In the Tibetan of our text there is here such fervency in the poetical description of the light-paths that the translator, in order to render something of the beauty of the original language, essayed several renderings, of which the actual rendering is the outcome.
* ↑ 'The mood of non-thought-formation' is attained in samādhi-yoga. This state, regarded as the primordial state of Mind, is illustrated by the following figure: So long as a man afloat on a river passively submits to the current, he is carried along smoothly; but if he attempts to grasp an object fixed in the water the tranquillity of his motion is broken. Similarly, thought-formation arrests the natural flow of the mind.
* ↑ In the transcendental state of the Illumination of Buddhahood, on the Inner, or Secret, Path, into Vajra-Sattva merge, in at-one-ment, all the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities of the greater manḍala described by our text; in all, one-hundred and ten,—forty-two in the heart-centre, ten in the throat-centre, and fifty-eight in the brain-centre. (Cf. pp. 217-8.)
* ↑ There are irreconcilable differences between the colours assigned to these light-paths in the Block-Print (25b) and in our MS. The Block-Print gives them as follows: white, from the devas; red, from the asuvas; blue, from human beings; green, from the brutes; yellow, from the pretas; smoke-coloured from Hell. According to the translator, the colours should correspond to the colour of the Buddha of each loka, thus: deva, white; asura, green; human, yellow; brute, blue; preta, red; Hell, smoke-coloured or black. Therefore, the Block-Print is wrong in all save the first and last; and the MS. is wrong in assigning dull blue to the human and black or smoke-coloured to the animal world. On folio 23, the MS. correctly assigns yellow to the human world light-path. The necessary corrections have been made in the translation herein and in the corresponding passages in folio 46 following.
* ↑ Text: Bde-var-gshegs-pa (pron. De-war-sheg-pa): Skt. Sugata: literally meaning 'Those who have passed into Happiness (or attained Nirvāṇa)'-i.e. Buddhas.
* ↑ The five virulent poisons, which, like drugs, enslave and bind mankind to the sufferings of existence within the confines of the Six Lokas, are: lust, hatred, stupidity, pride or egoism, and jealousy.
* ↑ Text: rang ('self') + sNang ('light'): 'self-light' or 'inner-light', i. e. thoughts or ideas appearing in the radiance of the consciousness-principle. The Bardo state is the after-death dream state following the waking or living-on-earth state, as explained in our Introduction (pp. 28 ff.); and the whole aim of the Bardo Thödol teaching is to awaken the Dreamer to Reality-to a supramundane state of consciousness, to an annihilation of all bonds of sangsaric existence, to Perfect Enlightenment, Buddhahood.
* ↑ Vajra-Sattva, as a symbolic deity, the reflex of Akṣḥobhya, is visualized, in Tibetan occult rituals, as being internally vacuous. As such, he represents the Void, concerning which there are many treatises with elaborate commentaries, essentially esoteric. Through Vajra-Sattva there lies a certain pathway to Liberation, he being the embodiment of all the one-hundred and ten deities constituting the manḍala of the Peaceful and Wrathful Ones (see p. 124$^1$). To tread this Path successfully, the Neophyte must be instructed by the Hierophant.
* ↑ This Truth is that there is no reality behind any of the phenomena of the Bardo plane, save the illusions stored up in one's own mind as accretions from sangsāric experiences. Recognition of this automatically gives Liberation.
* ↑ As the gross physical atoms of a life-deserted human-plane body gradually separate and go to their appropriate places, some as gases, some as fluids, some as solids, so on the after-death plane there comes about a gradual dispersion of the psychic or mental atoms of the Bardo thought-body, each propensity—directed by karmic affinity—inevitably going to that environment most congenial to it. Hence, as our text suggests, the brute-passion stupidity has a natural tendency to gravitate to the brute kingdom and become embodied therein as a disintegrated part of the mentality of the deceased. (See pp. 44 ff.)