It is called the Great Liberation by Hearing, because even those who have committed the five boundless sins! are sure to be liberated if they hear it by the path of the ear. There- fore read it in the midst of vast congregations. Disseminate it. Through having heard it once, even though one do not comprehend it, it will be remembered in the Intermediate State without a word being omitted, for the intellect becometh ninefold more lucid [there]. Hence it should be proclaimed in the ears of all living persons; it should be read over the pillows of all persons who are ill; it should be read at the side of all corpses: it should be spread broadcast.
Those who meet with this [doctrine] are indeed fortunate. Save for them who have accumulated much merit and absolved many obscurations, difficult is it to meet with it. Even when met with, difficult is it to comprehend it. Liberation will be won through simply not disbelieving it upon hearing it. There- fore treat this [doctrine] very dearly: it is the essence of all doctrines.?
The Setting-Face-to-Face while experiencing Reality in the Intermediate State, called ‘The Teaching Which Liberateth By Merely Being Heard And That Which Liberateth By Merely Being Attached ’,° is finished.‘ 1 These are: patricide, matricide, setting two religious bodies at war, killing a saint, and causing blood to flow from the body of a Tathagata (i.e. a Buddha).
2 Here the Block-Print has: ‘ This is the Tantra of all doctrines.’
8 This refers to the Thadol. (See p. 1924.)
4 The Block-Print text, corresponding in all essentials, and in almost every important detail, word for word with the text of our Manuscript, contains (on folio 48b), as the parallel concluding sentence of the Chénytd Bardo, the following, which differs from our own; ‘The Teaching for the Intermediate State, the Setting-Face-to-Face while experiencing Reality, from The Great Liberation by Hearing While in the Interinediate State, Liberating by Merely Being Heard, And Liberating By Merely Being Seen, is finished, (BOOK If) [PIO E Sie A BARDO| THIS ts KNOWN AS THE GOOD HEAD-PART Om THAT GALEED ‘THE PROFOUND BSSENGE OF THE LIBERATION BY HEARING’,—THE RE- MINDER, THE CLEAR SETTING-FACE-TO-FACE IN THE INTERMEDIATE STATE WHEN SEEKING REBIRTH?
In the Block-Print, the Bardo Thédol being divided into two distinctly separate books—-whereas in our MS. Book II is an unbroken continuation of Book I—the first four folios of its second book contain—unlike our MS.—a summary of the introductory parts of the first book; and the title of Book II of the Block-Print is as follows: Bar-do Thés-grol Chen-mo Las Srid-pa Bar- dohit Ngo-Spréd Bzhugs-so (pronounced: Bar-do Thé-dol Chen-mo Lay Sid-pa Bar-doi Ngo-Téd Zhu-so), which means, ‘Herein Lieth the Setting-Face-to- Face in the Intermediate State of [or when seeking] Worldly Existence (i. e. Rebirth), from “The Great Liberation by Hearing on the After-Death Plane’’’.
3069 x ‘The essence of all things is one and the same, perfectly calm and tranquil, and shows no sign of ‘‘becoming”; ignorance, however, is in its blindness and delusion oblivious of Enlightenment, and, on that account, cannot recognize truthfully all those conditions, differences, and activities which characterize the phenomena of the Universe.’—Ashvaghosha. Zhe Awakening of Faith (Suzuki’s Translation).
INTRODUCTORY SECTIONS 155 [THE OBEISANCES] To the assembled Deities, to the Tutelaries, to the Gurus, Humbly is obeisance paid: May Liberation in the Intermediate State be vouchsafed by nem [INTRODUCTORY VERSES] Above, in the Great Bardo-Thodol, The Bardo called Chonyid was taught; And now, of the Bardo called Sidpa, The vivid reminder is brought.
(PAs ST} [THE AFTER-DEATH WORLD) [Introductory Instructions to the Officiant]: Although, herctofore, while in the Chédnyid Bardo, many vivid re- mindings have been given,—setting aside those who have had great familiarity with the real Truth and those who have good karma,—for them of evil karma who have had no familiarity, and for them of evil karma who because of the influence thereof become stricken with fear and terror, recognition is difficult. These go down to the Fourtecnth Day; and, to reimpress them vividly, that which follows is to be read.
Wipes k DO BODY: lTseBittieAND Irs SUPEKRNORMAL BPACULTINS| Worship having been offered to the Trinity, and the prayer invoking the aid of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas having been recited, then, calling the deceased by name, three or seven times, speak thus: O nobly-born, listen thou well, and bear at heart that birth 1 Lit., ‘ Act so as to liberate in the Intermediate State ’—a direct supplication to the Deities, Tutelaries, and Gurus, rendered by us in the third person to fit the context better.
156 BARDO OF SEEKING REBIRTH [Book II in the Hell-world, in the Deva-world, and in this Bardo-body is of the kind called supernormal birth.!
Indeed, when thou wert experiencing the radiances of the Peaceful and the Wrathful, in the Chényid Bardo, being unable to recognize, thou didst faint away, through fear, about three? and one-half days [after thy decease]; and, then, when thou wert recovered from the swoon, thy Knower must have risen up in its primordial condition and a radiant body, resembling the former body, must have sprung forth °—as the Zanira says, ‘Having a body [seemingly] fleshly [resembling] the former and that to be produced, Endowed with all sense-faculties and power of unimpeded motion, Possessing karmic miraculous powers, Visible to pure celestial eyes [of Bardo beings] of like nature.’
Such, then, is the teaching.
That [radiant body ]|—thus referred to as [resembling] ‘the former and that to be produced’ (meaning that one will have a body just like the body of flesh and blood, the former human, propensity body)—will also be endowed with certain signs and beauties of perfection such as beings of high destiny possess.
This body, [born] of desire, is a thought-form hallucination in the Intermediate State, and it is called desire-body.
At that time—if thou art to be born as a deva—visions of the Deva-world will appear to thee; similarly—wherever thou art to be born—if as an asura, or a human being, or 1 Text: rdztis-skyes (pron, 2i%-kye), meaning ‘to be born in disguise ’—rdziis = ‘to disguise’ + skyes = ‘to be born’—or ‘to be born in a supernormal manner’, i.e. ‘supernormal birth’. As the text will proceed to explain, the birth-process in the after-death states is quite unlike that known on earth.
2 In error, probably in transcribing, the text here has ‘ four’ instead o1 ‘three.
5 This springing forth, or birth of the Bardo-body, about three and one-half days after death, i.e. upon the expiration of the three and one-half (or four) days (comparable to the pre-natal period, normally passed in sleep, or dream, or unconsciousness, on the human-plane), mentioned on pages 93 and 105, is said to occur instantaneously. ‘Like a trout leaping forth from water’ is the simile used by Tibetan gurus to explain it; it is the actual process of being born in the Intermediate State, paralleling birth in our world.
PART I] VISIONS OF BIRTHELRACE 157 a brute,’ or a preta, or a being in Hell, a vision of the place will appear to thee.
Accordingly, the word ‘former’ [in the quotation] implieth that prior to the three and one-half days thou wilt have been thinking thou hadst the same sort of a body as the former body of flesh and blood, possessed by thee in thy former existence because of habitual propensities;? and the word ‘produced’ is so used because, afterwards, the vision of thy future place of birth will appear to thee. Hence, the expression as a whole, ‘former and that to be produced’, referreth to these |i.e. the fleshly body just discarded and the fleshly body to be assumed at rebirth].
At that time, follow not the visions which appear to thee. Be not attracted; be not weak: if, through weakness, thou be fond of them, thou wilt have to wander amidst the Six Lokas and suffer pain.
Up to the other day thou wert unable to recognize the Choinyid Bardo, and hast had to wander down this far. Now, if thou art to hold fast to the real Truth, thou must allow thy mind to rest undistractedly in the nothing-to-do, nothing-to-hold condition of the unobscured, primordial, bright, void state of thine intellect, to which thou hast been introduced by thy guru® [Thereby] thou wilt obtain Liberation without having to enter the door of the womb. But if thou art unable to know thyself, then, whosoever may be thy tutelary deity and thy gurz, meditate on them, in a state of intense fendness 1 That is to say, esoterically, a human brute-like being (cf. pp. 126, 129; and 39-61).
2 That is to say, the habitual (or kaymic) predilection for sangsdric existence arising from the thirst for life, from the wish to be born, is the sole cause of one’s possessing a body, human or any other. The Goal which the devotee must gain is ‘the Unbecome, the Unborn, the Unmade, the Unformed ’— Mirvana.
3 It is herein assumed that the deceased has had, when in the human world, some elementary teachings, at least, concerning mental concentration, or control of the thinking processes, sufficient to have realized the state of non-thought formation described as that of ‘the nothing-to-do, nothing-to-hold condition’ of the unmodified, primordial mind, which is the state of Yoga defined by Patanjali (in his Yoga Aphorisnis, i. 2) as ‘the suppression of the transformations of the thinking principle’, Another rendering of the same passage is, ‘ Yoga is the restraint of mental modifications’ (Rama Prasad, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras in The Sacred Books of the Hindus, Allahabad, 1912, iv. 5).
158 BARDO OF SEEKING REBIRTH [Book II and humble trust, as overshadowing the crown of thy head. This is of great importance. Be not distracted.
[Instructions to the Officiant]: Thus speak, and, if recogni- tion result from that, Liberation will be obtained, without need of the wandering in the Six Lokas. If, however, through influence of bad arma, recognition is made difficult, thereupon say as follows: O nobly-born, again listen. ‘Endowed with all sense- faculties and power of unimpeded motion’ implicth [that although] thou mayst have been, when living, blind of the cye, or deaf, or lame, yet on this After-Death Plane thine eyes will see forms, and thine ears will hear sounds, and all other sense-organs of thine will be unimpaired and very keen and complete. Wherefore the Bardo-body hath been spoken of as ‘endowed with all sense-faculties’, That [condition of existence, in which thou thyself now art] is an indication that thou art deceased and wandering in the bardo. Act so as to know this. Remember the teachings; remember the teachings.
O nobly-born, ‘unimpeded motion’ implieth that thy present body being a desire-body—thine intellect having been separated from its seat 2—is not a body of gross matter, so that now thou hast the power to go right through any rock-masses, hills, boulders, carth, houses, and Mt. Mcru itself without being im- peded.’ Ixcepting Budh-Gaya and the mother’s womb,* even 1 Or ‘directly above’; or lit., ‘as being upon the crown of thy head’. The significance herein is occult: the Brahmanic Aperture, through which the consciousness-principle normally departs from the human body, either tem- porarily in yogic trance or permanently at death, is upon the crown of the head; and if the visualization be centred directly over that aperture very definite psychic or spiritual benefit accrues to the visualizer. (Cf. p. 92!.)
2 The ‘seat’ is the human body which has been left behind.
8 This power, supernormal in the human world, is normal in the fourth- dimensional after-death state. In the human world, such powers, innate in all persons, can be developed and exercised through proficiency in yoga. The Buddha describes some of them thus: ‘In this case suppose that a being enjoyeth the possession, in various ways, of mystic power: from being one, he becometh multiform; from being multiform, he becometh one; from being visible, he becometh invisible; he passeth without hindrance to the further side of a wall or battlement, or a mountain, as if through air; he walketh on water without dividing it, as if on solid ground; he travelleth cross-legged through the sky, like the birds on the wing’—(Brahmana Vagga, Anguttara Nikaya).
* Unless previously endowed with a very high degree of spiritual enlighten- PART T] MIRACULOUS POWERS 159 the King of Mountains, Mt. Meru itself, can be passed through by thee, straight forwards and backwards unimpededly. That, too, is an indication that thou art wandering in the Szdpa Bardo. Remember thy guru’s teachings, and pray to the Compassionate Lord.
O nobly-born, thou art actually endowed with the power of miraculous action,’ which is not, however, the fruit of any samadhi, but a power come to thee naturally; and, there- fore, it is of the nature of karmic power.2 Thou art able in a moment to traverse the four continents round about Mt. Meru.? Or thou canst instantaneously arrive in whatever place thou wishest; thou hast the power of reaching there within the time which a man taketh to bend, or to stretch forth his hand. These various powers of illusion and of shape-shifting desire not, desire not.* None is there [of such powers] which thou mayst desire which thou canst not exhibit. The ability to exercise them unimpededly existeth in thee now. Know this, and pray to the guru.
O nobly-born, ‘ Visible to pure celestial eyes of like nature’ ment, the deceased cannot consciously go to these two places at will; for from Budh-Gaya (as a great psychic-centre) and from the mother’s womb (as being the destined path to rebirth) radiate such psychically-blinding radiances that the ordinary mentality would be overcome with fear in the same manner as when in the Bardo various radiances dawn, and so would avoid them. (Cf, stanza 6, ‘The Path of Good Wishes Which Protecteth from Fear in the Bardo’, p. 206.)
1 Text: rdeu-hphrul (pron. eu-til); rdeu meaning ‘power to change one’s shape’; and Apfhrul meaning ‘power to change one’s size and number’, by appearing or disappearing at will, as one or as many, large or small, - If developed on the earth-plane, through yogic practices, such miraculous power becomes a permanent endowment, and can be employed in the body or out of the body (as when in the Bardo), 2 The text implies that the deceased is possessed of the miraculous power as a result of his being—through the workings of karma—in the Intermediate State, wherein such power is natural, and not because of merit acquired through the practice of yoga when in the human body.
3 See pp. 62-5, concerning Cosmography.
4 The most advanced of the /amas teach the disciple not to strive after psychic powers of this nature for their own sake; for until the disciple is morally fit to use them wisely they become a serious impediment to his higher spiritual develop- ment: not until the lower or passional nature of man is completely mastered is he safe in using them.
160 BARDO OF SEEKING REBIRTH [BOOK II implieth that those [beings] of like nature, being those of similar constitution [or level of knowledge] in the Inter- mediate State, will individually see each other.1 For example, those beings who are destined to be born amongst devas will see each other [and so on]. Dote not on them [seen by thee], but meditate upon the Compassionate One.
‘Visible to pure celestial eyes’ [also] implieth that the devas, being born [pure] in virtue of merit, are visible to the pure celestial eyes of those who practise dhyana. These will not see them at all times: when mentally concentrated [upon them] they see [them], when not, they see [them] not. Sometimes, even when practising dhyana, they are liable to become distracted [and not see them ].?
[CHARACTERISTICS OF EXISTENCE IN THE INTERMEDIATE STATE] O nobly-born, the possessor of that sort of body will see places [familiarly known on the earth-plane] and relatives [there] as one seeth another in dreams.
Thou seest thy relatives and connexions and speakest to them, but receivest no reply. Then, seeing them and thy family weeping, thou thinkest, ‘I am dead! What shall I do?’ and feelest great misery, just like a fish cast out 1 In addition to the normal human eyes with their limited vision, Jamas say that there are five sorts of eyes: (1) Eyes of Instinct (or Eyes of the Flesh), like those of birds and beasts of prey, which, in most cases, possess a greater range of vision than human eyes; (2) Celestial Eyes, like the eyes of the devas, capable of seeing the human world as well as their own, and the past and future births of beings in both worlds throughout many lifetimes; (3) Eyes of Truth, like the eyes of Bodhisattvas and Arhants, capable of seeing throughout hundreds of world-periods (or £al/pas) backwards and in the future; (4) Divine Eyes, of the most highly advanced Bodhisattvas, capable of seeing throughout millions of world-periods that which has been and that which will be; and (5) Eyes of Wisdom of the Buddhas, capable of seeing, in like manner, through- out eternity.
2 Ordinarily it is only when clairvoyant vision is induced by dhyana, or exists naturally in certain specially gifted clairvoyants, and directed to the deva-world, that the devas are seen; sometimes, however, the devas appear unexpectedly. The T7i-Pitaka, like the canonical literature of Northern Buddhism, is replete with visions and unexpected visitations of devas, as Christian and Moslem sacred literature is replete with lore concerning angels.
PART T] THE WIND OF KARMA 161 {of water] on red-hot embers. Such misery thou wilt be experiencing at present. But feeling miserable will avail thee nothing now. If thou hast a divine guruz,) pray to him. Pray to the Tutelary Deity, the Compassionate One. Even though thou feelest attachment for thy relatives and con- nexions, it will do thee no good. So be not attached. Pray to the Compassionate Lord; thou shalt have nought of sorrow, or of terror, or of awe.
© nobly-born, when thou art driven [hither and thither] by the ever-moving wind of karma, thine intellect, having no object upon which to rest, will be like a feather tossed about by the wind, riding on the horse of breath.2 Cease- lessly and involuntarily wilt thou be wandcring about. To all those who are weeping [thou wilt say], ‘ Here Iam; weep not. But they not hearing thee, thou wilt think, ‘I am dead!’ And again, at that time, thou wilt be feeling very miserable. Be not miserable in that way.
There will be a grey twilight-like light, both by night and by day, and at all times.’ In that kind of Intermediate State thou wilt be either for one, two, three, four, five, six, or seven weeks, until the forty-ninth day.* It hath been said that ordinarily the miseries of the Szdpa Pardo are experienced for about twenty-two days; but, because of the determining influence of Zarma, a fixed period is not assured.
O nobly-born, at about that time, the fierce wind of karma, terrific and hard to endure, will drive thee [onwards], from behind, in dreadful gusts. Fear it not. That is thine own 1 This refers to a superhuman guru of the Divyaugha Order. (See Addenda, p- 222.)
2 Like the restless wind, karma is ever in motion, and the intellect, when without the support of the human body, is its plaything.
2 Yowis explain this by saying that in the Bardo-budy, which is a mind-born desire-body, the nervous system of the earth-plane body being lacking, the light of the sun and moon and stars is not visible to the deceased. Only the natural light of nature ‘referred to by medieval alchemists and mystics as the ‘astral light’, is to be seen in the after-death state; and this ‘astral light’ is said to be universally diffused throughout the ether, like an earth twilight, yet quite bright enough for the eyes of the ethereally constituted beings in the Bardo. (Cf. p. 924.)
* See our Introduction, pp. 6~7.
2069 Y 162 BARDO OF SEEKING REBIRTH [BOOK Il illusion. Thick awesome darkness will appear in front of thee continually, from the midst of which there will come such terror-producing utterances as ‘Strike! Slay!’ and similar threats.! Fear these not.
In other cases, of persons of much evil karma, karmically- produced flesh-eating rakshasas [or demons] bearing various weapons will utter, ‘Strike! Slay!’ and so on, making a frightful tumult. They will come upon one as if com- peting amongst themselves as to which [of them] should get hold of one. Apparitional illusions, too, of being pursued by various terrible beasts of prey will dawn. Snow, rain, darkness, fierce blasts [of wind], and hallucinations of being pursued by many people likewise will come; [and] sounds as of mountains crumbling down, and of angry overflowing seas, and of the roaring of fire, and of fierce winds springing up.”
When these sounds come one, being terrified by them, will flee before them in every direction, not caring whither one flecth. But the way will be obstructed by three awful precipices—white, and black, and red. They will be terror- inspiring and deep, and one will feel as if one were about to fall down them. O nobly-born, they are not really preci- pices; they are Anger, Lust, and Stupidity.* 1 The dweller in the Bardo, because of the karmic effects of selfishness when living in the human world, is obsessed with the belief that all other Bardo beings are at enmity with him; hence he has these frightful hallucinations, as in anightmare. (Cf. p. 148.)
2 In The Six Doctrines, a treatise on the practical application of various yogas, which we have translated out of the original Tibetan, there is a parallel passage which amplifies this, as follows: ‘If one findeth not the Path during the Second Bardo (i.e. during the Chényid Bardo), then four sounds called ‘‘awe-inspiring sounds”? [are heard]: from the vital-force of the earth-element, a sound like the crumbling down of a mountain; from the vital-force of the water-element, a sound like the breaking of [storm-tossed| ocean-waves; from the vital-force of the fire-element, a sound as of a jungle afire; from the vital-force of the air- element, a sound like a thousand thunders reverberating simultaneously.’ Herein are described the psychic resultants of the disintegrating process called death as affecting the four grosser elements composing the human body aggregate; the ether-element is not named, because in that element alone— 1,e. in the ethereal, or Bardo-body—the consciousness-principle continues to exist. (Cf. page 933.)
3 The precipices are karmic illusions, symbolical of the three evil passions, and the falling down them symbolizes the entrance into a womb prior to rebirth. (See page 125%.)
Para il SIDPA BARDO EXPERIENCES 163 Know at that time that it is the Sidpa Bardo [in which thou art]. Invoking, by name, the Compassionate One, pray earnestly, thus: ‘O Compassionate Lord, and my Guru, and the Precious Trinity, suffer it not that I (so-and-so by name) fall into the unhappy worlds.’ Act so as to forget this not.
Others who have accumulated merit, and devoted them- selves sincerely to religion, will experience various delightful pleasures and happiness and ease in full measure. But that class of neutral beings who have neither earned merit nor created bad karma will experience neither pleasure nor pain, but a sort of colourless stupidity of indifference. O nobly- born, whatever cometh in that manner—whatever delightful pleasures thou mayst experience—be not attracted by them; dote not {on them]: think, ‘May the Gurz and the Trinity be worshipped [with these merit-given delights]’. Abandon all dotings and hankerings, Even though thou dost not experience pleasure, or pain, but only indifference, keep thine intellect in the undistracted state of the [meditation upon the] Great Symbol, without thinking that thou art meditating.’ This is of vast im- portance.
O nobly-born, at that time, at bridge-heads, in temples, by stiépas of eight kinds,? thou wilt rest a little while, but thou wilt not be able to remain there very long, for thine 1 Text: bsgom-mced-yengs-med (pron. yom-med-yeng-med) = ‘non-meditation + non-distraction’; referring to a state of mental concentration in which no thought of meditation itself is allowed to intrude. This is the state of Samadhi. If one thinks one is meditating, the thought alone inhibits the meditation; hence the warning to the deceased, 2 This refers to the eight purposes for which a sf#pa (or pagoda) is built. Two such instances may be cited in elucidation: (1) rnam-rgyal-mchod-rten (pron. vam-gyal-chéd-ten): mchod-rten (or chorten = stupa) is here translatable as ‘object of worship’, and rnam-rgyal as ‘victory’; hence this sort of pagoda is one for marking a victory, i.e. a monument; (2) myang-hdas-mchod-rien (pron. nyang-day-chéd-ten) refers to a stupa used as a monument for marking the spot where a saint or sage died, or the place of burial of the urn containing such a one’s ashes. Other pagodas are purely symbolical structures erected—as Christian crosses are—as objects of worship or veneration. In Ceylon many stiipas are erected solely to enshrine sacred books or reliques. The great stapas of North -west India, near Peshawar and at Taxila, lately opened, contained bone-reliques and other objects. Two of them contained authentic bits of the bones of the Buddha.
164 BARDO OF SEEKING REBIRTH [Book I!
intellect hath been separated from thine [earth-plane] body." Because of this inability to loiter, thou oft-times wilt feel per- turbed and vexed and panic-stricken. At times, thy Knower will be dim; at times, fleeting and incoherent. Thereupon this thought will occur to thee, ‘Alas! I am dead! What shall I do?’ and because of such thought the Knower will become saddened and the heart chilled, and thou wilt experience infinite misery of sorrow.? Since thou canst not rest in any one place, and feel impelled to go on, think not of various things, but allow the intellect to abide in its own [unmodified] state.
As to food, only that which hath been dedicated to thee can be partaken of by thee, and no other food.? As to friends at this time, there will be no certainty.‘ These are the indications of the wandering about on the Sidpa Bardo of the mental-body. At the time, happiness and misery will depend upon karma.
Thou wilt see thine own home, the attendants, relatives, and the corpse, and think, ‘Now I am dead! What shall I do?’ and being oppressed with intense sorrow, the thought 1 Like a person travelling alone at night along a highway, having his attention arrested by prominent landmarks, great isolated trees, houses, bridge-heads, temples, sftpas, and so on, the dead, in their own way, have similar experiences when earth-wandering. They are attracted, by karmic propensities, to familiar haunts in the human world, but being possessed of a mental or desire body cannot remain long at any one place. As our text explains, they are driven hither and thither by the winds of karmic desires—like a feather before a gale.
2 It should be remembered here that all the terrifying phenomena and the unhappiness are entirely karmic. Had the deceased been developed spiritually, his Bardo existence would have been peaceful and happy from the first, and he would not have wandered down so far as this. The Bardo Thédol is concerned chiefly with the normal individual, and not with highly developed human beings whom death sets free into Reality.
5 Like fairies and spirits of the dead according to Celtic belief, or the daemons of ancient Greek belief, the dwellers in the Bardo are said to live on invisible ethereal essences, which they extract either from food offered to them on the human plane or else from the general store-house of nature. In Zhe Six Doctrines, already referred to above (p. 1627), there is this reference to the inhabitants of the Bardo: ‘They live on odours [or the spiritual essences of material things].’
4 Friends may or may not exist in the Intermediate State, as on earth; but even if they do, they are powerless to counteract any bad karma of the deceased. He must follow his own path, as marked out by harma., PART I] ToS DESIRE FOR A BODY 165 will occur to thee, ‘O what would I not give to possess a body!’ And so thinking, thou wilt be wandering hither and thither seeking a body.
Even though thou couldst enter thy dead body nine times over—owing to the long interval which thou hast passed in the Chonyid Bardo—it will have been frozen if in winter, been decomposed if in summer, or, otherwise, thy relatives will have cremated it, or interred it, or thrown it into the water, or given it to the birds and beasts of prey.! Wherefore finding no place for thyself to enter into, thou wilt be dis- satisfied and have the sensation of being squeezed into cracks and crevices amidst rocks and boulders.?, The experiencing of this sort of misery occurs in the Intermediate State when seeking rebirth. Even though thou seekest a body, thou wilt gain nothing but trouble. Put aside the desire for a body; and permit thy mind to abide in the state of resigna- tion, and act so as to abide therein.
By thus being set face to face, one obtaincth liberation from the Bardo.
[THE JUDGEMENT] [Instructions to the Officiant]: Yet, again, it may be possible that because of the influence of bad karma one will not recognize even thus. Therefore, call the deceased by name, and speak as follows: O nobly-born, (so-and-so), listen. That thou art suffering so cometh from thine own karma; it is not due to any one else’s: it is by thine own karma. Accordingly, pray earnestly to the Precious Trinity; that will protect thee. If thou neither prayest nor knowest how to meditate upon the Great Symbol nor upon any tutelary deity, the Good Genius,’ who 1 All known forms of disposal of a corpse are practised in Tibet, including mummification. (See pp. 25-8.)
2 This symbolizes the getting into undesirable wombs, such as those of human beings of animal-like nature.
8 Text: Lhan-chig-skyes-pahi-lha (pron. Lhan-chig-kye-pai-lha) = ‘simultaneous- ly-born god (or good spirit, or genius)’, the personification of a human being’s higher, or divine, nature; popularly known in Sikkimese as Lha-kar-chung, ‘Little white god’, 166 BARDO OF SEEKING REBIRTH [BOOK II was born simultaneously with thee, will come now and count out thy good deeds [with] white pebbles, and the Evil Genius,' who was born simultaneously with thee, will come and count out thy evil deeds [with] black pebbles. Thereupon, thou wilt be greatly frightened, awed, and terrified, and wilt tremble; and thou wilt attempt to tell lies, saying, ‘I have not committed any evil deed’.
Then the Lord of Death will say, ‘I will consult the Mirror of Karma’.
So saying, he will look in the Mirror, wherein every good and evil act is vividly reflected. Lying will be of no avail.
Then [one of the Executive Furies of] the Lord of Death will place round thy neck a rope and drag thee along; he will cut off thy head, extract thy heart, pull out thy intestines, lick up thy brain, drink thy blood, eat thy flesh, and gnaw thy bones;? but thou wilt be incapable of dying. Although thy body be hacked to pieces, it will revive again. ‘The re- peated hacking will cause intense pain and torture.
Even at the time that the pebbles are being counted out, be not frightened, nor terrified; tell no lies; and fear not the Lord of Death.
Thy body being a mental body is incapable of dying even though beheaded and quartcred. In reality, thy body is of the nature of voidness;? thou needst not be afraid. The 1 Text: Lhan-chig-skyes-paht-hdve (pron. Lhan-chig-kye-pat-de) = ‘simultaneous- ly-born demon (or evil spirit, or genius)’, the personification of a human being’s lower, or carnal, nature; popularly known in Sikkimese as Bdud-nag-chung (pron. Diid-nag-chung), ‘ Little black mara (or demon)’, 2 These tortures symbolize the pangs of the deceased’s conscience; for the Judgement, as hercin described, symbolizes the rising up of the Good Genius in judgement against the Evil Genius, the Judge being the conscience itself in its stern aspect of:impartiality and love of righteousness; the Mirror is memory. One element—the purely human clement—of the consciousness-content of the deceased, comes forward, and, by offering lame excuses, tries to meet accusations against it, saying, ‘ Owing to such-and-such circumstances I had to do so-and- so’, Another element of the consciousness-content comes forward and says, ‘You were guided by such-and-such motives; your deeds partake of the black colour’, Then some more friendly one of such clements arises and protests, ‘But I have such-and-such justification; and the deceased deserves pardon on these grounds’. And so—as the lamas explain—the Judgement proceeds.
(Cf. pp. 35-7.) 3 Meaning that the ‘astral’ or desire-body is incapable ot ordinary physical THE JUDGEMENT THE MANTRA OF CHENRAZEE Fanaad Described on page xxiv PART 1] NATURE OF THE VOIDNESS 167 Lords of Death! are thine own hallucinations. Thy desire- body is a body of propensities, and void. Voidness cannot injure voidness; the qualityless cannot injure the qualityless.
Apart from one’s own hallucinations, in reality there are no such things existing outside oneself as Lord of Death, or god, or demon, or the Bull-headed Spirit of Dcath.? Act so as to recognize this.
At this time, act so as to recognize that thou art in the Bardo. Meditate upon the Samadhi of the Great Symbol. If thou dost not know how to meditate, then merely analyse with care the real nature of that which is frightening thee. In reality it is not formed into anything, but is a Voidness which is the Dharma-K aya?
That Voidness is not of the nature of the voidness of nothingness, but a Voidness at the true nature of which thou feelest awed, and before which thine intellect shineth clearly and more lucidly: that is the [state of] mind of the Sambhoga-K aya.