By this Select Teaching, one obtaincth Buddhahood at the moment of death. Were the Buddhas of the Three Times [the Past, the Present, and the Future] to seek, They could not find any doctrine transcending this.
Thus is completed the Profound Hcart-Drops of the Bardo Doctrine, called The Bardo Thodol, which liberateth embodied beings, [Here endeth the Tibetan Book of the Dead] u See jo, Gig.
2 Lit., ‘ be recited always’.
® Text: Bsgrub (pron. Dub): Skt. Sadhana, ‘perfected devotion’, which ordinarily requires the very careful performance of a ritual more or less technical and elaborate.
* Fierce mastiffs are numerous in most Tibetan villages, and travellers protect themselves by special charms against them. This reference to seven mastiffs is purely Tibetan, and is additional internal evidence that the Bardo Thédol took form in Tibet itself, deriving much of its matter from Indian mythology and systems of Yoga philosophy.
Men EP APPENDIX} [In our Manuscript (but not in the Block-Print), directly following the text of the Bardo Théodol, there are thirteen folios of rituals and prayers (lit.,‘ paths of good wishes’), which all professional readers of the Bardo Thédol must know, usually from memory, and apply as needed;} and they are here rendered into English as follows:] [I: THE INVOCATION OF THE BUDDHAS AND BODHISATTVAS] [Instructions to the Officiant]: The invoking of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas for assistance, when [any one is] dying, is [thus]: Offer up to the Trinity whatever actual offerings can be offered [by the dying person, or by his family], together with mentally-created offerings; and, holding in the hand swect- smelling incense, repeat, with great fervency, the following: O ye Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, abiding in the Ten Direc- tions,? endowed with great compassion, endowed with fore- knowledge, endowed with the divine eye, endowed with love, affording protection to sentient beings, condescend through the power of your great compassion to come hither; conde- scend to accept these offerings actually laid out and mentally created.
O ye Compassionate Ones, ye possess the wisdom of under- standing, the love of compassion, the power of [doing] divine deeds and of protecting, in incomprehensible measure. Ye Compassionate Ones, (such-and-such a person) is passing from this world to the world beyond. He is leaving this world. He is taking a great leap. No friends [hath he]. Misery is great. [He is without] defenders, without protectors, without forces and kinsmen. The light of this world hath set. He 1 The directions for employing these rituals and prayers are contained in the Bardo Thédol above (pp. 88, 192). 2SCiapy rot.
198 TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD: APPENDIX goeth to another place. He entereth thick darkness. He falleth down a steep precipice. He entereth into a jungle solitude. He is pursued by Karmic Forces. He goeth into the Vast Silence. He is borne away by the Great Ocean. He is wafted on the Wind of Karma. He goeth in the direc- tion where stability existeth not. He is caught by the Great Conflict. He is obsessed by the Great Afflicting Spirit. He is awed and terrified by the Messengers of the Lord of Death. Existing Karma putteth him into repeated existence. No strength hath he. He hath come upon a time when he hath to go alone.
O ye Compassionate Ones, defend (so-and-so) who is defence- less. Protect him who is unprotected. Be his forces and his kinsmen. Protect [him] from the great gloom of the Bardo. Turn him from the red [or storm] wind of Karma, Turn him from the great awe and terror of the Lords of Death. Save him from the long narrow passage-way of the Bardo.
O ye Compassionate Ones, let not the force of your com- passion be weak; but aid him. Let him not go into misery [or the miserable states of existence]. Forget not your ancient vows; and let not the force of your compassion be weak.
O ye Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, let not the might of the method of your compassion be weak towards this one. Catch hold of him with [the hook of] your grace.’ Let not the sentient being fall under the power of evil karma.
O ye Trinity, protect him from the miseries of the Bardo.”
Saying this with great humility and faith, let thyself and [all] others [present] repeat it thrice.
1 See p. 109%.
? It is interesting to compare with this Northern Buddhist prayer the following medieval Christian prayer, to Saint Michael, from The Craft to Know Weill to Die, chap. VI, Comper’s ed. (pp. 84-5): ‘Saint Michael Archangel of God, succour us now before the right high Judge. O champion invincible, be thou present now and assist thou this (Name), our brother, which strongly labourcth towards his end, and defend him mightily from the dragon infernal, and from all the frauds of the evil spirits. O yet furthermore, we pray thee, which art the right clear and much fair shower of the divinity, to the end that in this last hour of the life of this (Name), our brother, thou wilt benignly and swectly receive his soul into thy right holy bosom; and that thou wilt bring him in the place of refreshing, of peace and rest. Amen,’ PRAYER FOR GUIDANCE 199 (l:] (TE PATH OF GOOD WISHES FOR*SAVING FROM THE DANGEROUS NARROW PASSAGE- Way OF THE BARDO’ ’ is [as follows]: [1] O ye Conquerors and your Sons, abiding in the Ten Directions, O ye ocean-like Congregation of the All-Good Conquerors, the Peaceful and the Wrathful, O ye Gurus and Devas, and ye Dakinis, the Faithful Ones, Hearken now out of [your] great love and compassion: Obeisance, O ye assemblage of Gurus and Déakinis; Out of your great love, lead us along the Path.
[2] When, through illusion, I and others are wandering in the Sang sara, Along the bright light-path of undistracted listening, reflection, and meditation, May the Gurus of the Inspired Line lead us, May the bands of Mothers be our rear-guard, May we be saved from the fearful narrow passage-way of the Bardo, May we be placed in the state of the perfect Buddhahood.
[3] When, through violent anger, [we are] wandering in the Saugsara, Along the bright light-path of the Mirror-like Wisdom, May the Bhagavan Vajra-Sattva lead us, May the Mother Mamaki be our rear-guard, May we be saved from the fearful narrow passage-way of the Bardo, May we be placed in the state of the perfect Buddhahood.
200 TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD: APPENDIX [4] When, through intense pride, [we are] wandering in the Sangsara, Along the bright light-path of the Wisdom of Equality, May the Bhagavan Ratna-Sambhava lead us, May the Mother, She-of-the-Buddha-Eye, be our rear-guard, May we be saved from the fearful narrow passage-way of the Bardo, May we be placed in the state of the perfect Buddhahood.
[5] When, through great attachment, [we are] wandering in the Sangsara, Along the bright light-path of the Discriminating Wisdom, May the Bhagavan Amitabha lead us, May the Mother, [She]-of-White-Raiment, be our rear-guard, May we be saved from the fearful narrow passage-way of the Bardo, May we be placed in the state of the perfect Buddhahood.
[5] When, through intense jealousy, [we are] wandering in the Saugsara, Along the bright light-path of the All-Performing Wisdom, May the Bhagavan Amogha-Siddhi lead us, May the Mother, the Faithful Tara, be our rear-guard, May we be saved from the fearful narrow passage-way of the Bardo, May we be placed in the state of the perfect Buddhahood.
[7] When, through intense stupidity, [we are] wandering in the Sangsara, Along the bright light-path of the Wisdom of Reality, May the Bhagavan Vairochana lead us, May the Mother of Great Space be our rear-guard, May we be saved from the fearful narrow passage-way of the Bardo, May we be placed in the state of the perfect Buddhahood.
PRAYER FOR GUIDANCE 201 [8] When, through intense illusion, [we are] wandering in the Sangsara, Along the bright light-path of the abandonment of hallucina- tory fear, awe, and terror, May the bands of the Bhagavans of the Wrathful Ones lead us, May the bands of the Wrathful Goddesses Rich-in-Space be our rear-guard, May we be saved from the fearful narrow passage-way of the Bardo, May we be placed in the state of the perfect Buddhahood.
[9] When, through intense propensities, [we are] wandering in the Sangsara, Along the bright light-path of the Simultaneously-born Wisdom, May the heroic Knowledge-Holders lead us, May the bands of the Mothers, the Dé@kinis, be our rear-guard, May we be saved from the fearful narrow passage-way of the Bardo, May we be placed in the state of the perfect Buddhahood.
[10] May the ethereal elements not rise up as enemies; May it come that we shall see the Realm of the Blue Buddha. May the watery elements not rise up as enemies; May it come that we shall see the Realm of the White Buddha. May the earthy elements not rise up as enemies; May it come that we shall see the Realm of the Yellow Buddha. May the fiery elements not rise up as enemies; May it come that we shall see the Realm of the Red Buddha. 3069 Dd 202 TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD: APPENDIX May the airy elements not rise up as enemies; May it come that we shall see the Realm of the Green Buddha.
May the elements of the rainbow colours not rise up as enemies; May it come that all the Realms of the Buddhas will be seen.
May it come that all the Sounds [in the Bardo] will be known as one’s own sounds; May it come that all the Radiances will be known as one’s own radiances; May it come that the Z7vz-Kaya will be realized in the Bardo.
[III:] Here beginneth ‘THE ROOT VERSES OF Tit SAE S=.
[x] O now, when the Birthplace Bardo upon me is dawning! Abandoning idleness—there being no idleness in [a devotee’s] life— Entering into the Reality undistractedly, listening, reflecting, and meditating, Carrying on to the Path [knowledge of the true nature of] appearances and of mind, may the 77z-K aya be realized: Once that the human form hath been attained, * May there be no time [or opportunity] in which to idle it [or human life] away. [2] O now, when the Dream Bardo upon me is dawning! Abandoning the inordinate corpse-like sleeping of the sleep of stupidity, May the consciousness undistractedly be kept in its natural state; » The Blue Buddha is Samanta-Bhadra; the White Buddha, Vajra-Sattva; the Yellow Buddha, Ratna-Sambhava; the Red Buddha, Amitabha; the Green Buddha, Amogha-Siddhi. Herein Samanta-Bhadra occupies the position often given to Vairochana, both deities being in essence the same, although sometimes Vairochana is depicted as being white in colour instead of blue. (Cf. the Bardo Thédol, the First to the Fifth Day.)
PRAYER FOR RIGHT-KNOWLEDGE 203 Grasping the [true nature of] dreams, [may I] train [myself] in the Clear Light of Miraculous Transformation: Acting not like the brutes in. slothfulness, May the blending of the practising of the sleep [state] and actual [or waking] experience be highly valued [by me].
[3] O now, when the Dhyana Bardo upon me is dawning!
Abandoning the whole mass of distractions and illusions, May [the mind] be kept in the mood of endless undistracted Samadhi, May firmness both in the visualizing and in the perfected [stages] be obtained: At this time, when meditating one-pointedly, with [all other] actions put aside, May I not fall under the power of misleading, stupefying passions.
[4] O now, when the Bardo of the Moment of Death upon me is dawning!
Abandoning attraction and craving, and weakness for all [worldly things], May I be undistracted in the space of the bright [enlightening] teachings,?
May I [be able to] transfuse myself into the heavenly space of the Unborn: The hour hath come to part with this body composed of flesh and blood; May I know the body to be impermanent and illusory.
[5] O now, when the Bardo of the Reality upon me is dawning, Abandoning all awe, fear, and terror of all [phenomena], 1 There is a very profound system of yoga in which the devotee’s aim is to enter the dream-state at will and carry on experiments therein in full conscious- ness of being in the dream-state, and then return to the waking-state with com- plete memory of the experience; thereby is realized the unreality of both states— that both are merely illusory, being based wholly upon phenomena.
2 Or, ‘ May I enter into the bright space of undistractedness [and enlightening] teachings’, 204 TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD: APPENDIX May I recognize whatever appeareth as being mine own thought-forms, May I know them to be apparitions in the Intermediate State; [It hath becn said], ‘There arriveth a time when the chief turning-point is reached; Fear not the bands of the Peaceful and Wrathful, Who are thine own thought-forms’.
[5] O now, when the Bardo of [taking] Rebirth upon me is dawning!
One-pointedly holding fast to a single wish, {May I be able to] continue the course of good deeds through repeated efforts;1 May the womb-door be closed and the revulsion recollected: The hour hath come when energy and pure love are needed; [May I] cast off jealousy and meditate upon the Guru, the Father-Mother.
[7] [‘O] procrastinating one, who thinketh not of the coming of death, Devoting thyself to the useless doings of this life, Improvident art thou in dissipating thy great opportunity; Mistaken, indeed, will thy purpose be now if thou returnest empty-handed [from this life]: Since the Holy Dharma is known to be thy true need, Wilt thou not devote [thyself] to the Holy Dharma even now?’
[EPILOGUE] Thus say the Great Adepts? in devotion. If the chosen teaching of the gurz be not borne in mind, Wilt thou not [O skzskya] be acting even as a traitor to thyself? 1 Lit., ‘{May I be able to] join with the remnants of good deeds by re- PRAYER FOR PROTECTION 205 It is of great importance that these Root Words be known.
[IV:] Here beginneth ite Path OF GOOD WISHES WHICH PRO- TEGVETH BROM FEAR IN THE LAKRDO’: [1] When the cast [of the dice] of my life hath become exhausted, The relatives in this world avail me not; When I wander alone by myself in the Bardo, [O] ye Conquerors, Peaceful and Wrathful, exercising the power of your compassion, Let it come that the Gloom of Ignorance be dispelled.
[2] When wandering alone, parted from loving friends, When the shapes of mine empty thought-forms dawn upon me here, {May the] Buddhas, exerting the power of their divine com- passion, Cause it to come that there be neither awe nor terror in the Bardo.
[3] When the bright radiances of the Five Wisdoms shine upon me now, Let it come that I, neither awed nor terrified, may recognize them to be of myself; When the apparitions of the Peaceful and Wrathful forms are dawning upon me here, Let it come that I, obtaining the assurance of fearlessness, may recognize the Bardo.
[4] When experiencing miseries, because of the force of evil karma, Let it come that the Conquerors, the Peaceful and Wrathful, may dispel the miseries; 206 TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD: APPENDIX When the self-existing Sound of Reality reverberates [like] a thousand thunders, Let it come that they be transmuted into the sounds of the Mahayana Doctrines.?
[5] When {I am] unprotected, [and] £armic influences have to be ~ followed here, I beseech the Conquerors, the Peaceful and the Wrathful, to protect me; When suffering miseries, because of the Zarmic influence of propensities, Let it come that the blissful Samadhi of the Clear Light may dawn [upon mel.
[6] When assuming supernormal rebirth in the Szdpa Bardo, Let it come that the perverting revelations of Mara occur not therein; When I arrive wheresoever I wish to, Let it come that I experience not the illusory fright and awe from evil arma.
[7] When the roarings of savage beasts are uttered, Let it come that they be changed into the sacred sounds of the Six Syllables;? When pursued by snow, rain, wind, and darkness, Let it come that I see with the celestial eyes of bright Wisdom. [8] Let it come that all sentient beings of the same harmonious order in the Bardo, Without jealousy [towards one another],° obtain birth on the higher planes; ? That is, into the sounds of the mantra Om-md-ni-pay-mé-Hing! and of other mantras of the Mahayana and Mantraydna Doctrines; (cf. stanza 9 below; also pp. 1491, 134”).
° This may also refer to the jealousy arising when one is taking rebirth either as a male or a female. (See p. 179.)
PRAYER FOR PROTECTION 207 When [destined to] suffering from intense miseries of hunger and thirst, Let it come that I experience not the pangs of hunger and thirst, heat and cold.!
[9] When I behold the future parents in union, Let it come that I behold them as the [Divine] Pair, the Conquerors, the Peaceful and the Wrathful Father and Mother; Obtaining the power of being born anywhere, for the good of others, Let it come that I obtain the perfect body, adorned with the signs and the graces,?
[10] Obtaining for myself the body of a male [which is] the better, Let it come that I liberate all who see or hear me; Allowing not the evil Zarma to follow me, Let it come that whatever merits [be mine] follow me and be multiplied.
[11] Wherever I be born, there and then, Let it come that I meet the Conquerors, the Peaceful and the Wrathful Deities; Being able to walk and to talk as soon as [I am] born,’ Let it come that I obtain the non-forgetting intellect and remember my past life* [or lives].
1 ‘Hunger and thirst’ refer to the sufferings concomitant with existence as a preta (or unhappy ghost); ‘heat and cold’, to existence in the hot and cold Hells.
2 This refers to the body of a Buddha, in which appear various supernormal signs and powers.
3 This is a reference to the Buddha, Who when born is said to have taken fifty-six steps, seven forwards and seven backwards in each of the four cardinal directions, and to have uttered a divine premonitory sentence at the end of each fourteen steps. After that supernormal performance He, like an ordinary babe, was unable to walk or to talk until normally old enough.
In the Samgiti Satta, Digha Nikaya, of the Pali Canon of Southern 208 TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD: APPENDIX [12] In all the various lores, great, small, and intermediate, Let it come that I be able to obtain mastery merely upon hearing, reflecting, and seeing; In whatever place I be born, let it be auspicious; Let it come that all sentient beings be endowed with happiness.
[33] Ye Conqucrors, Peaceful and Wrathful, in likeness to your bodies, [Number of your] followers, duration of your life-period, limit of your realms, And [in likeness to the] goodness of your divine name, Let it come that I, and others, equal your very selves in all these.
[14] By the divine grace of the innumerable All-Good Peaceful and Wrathful [Ones], And by the gift-waves of the wholly pure Reality, [And] by the gift-waves of the one-pointed devotion of the mystic devotees, Let it come that whatsoever be wished for be fulfilled here and now.
‘The Path of Good Wishes Affording Protection from Fears in the Bardo’ is finished.
Buddhism, there is the following explanation from the Buddha Himself as to the non-forgetting (and the forgetting) of past incarnations: ‘There are four conditions of entrance of the embryo into the womb: ‘Brethren, in this world, one cometh into existence in the mother’s womb without knowing, remaineth in it without knowing, and cometh out from the mother’s womb without knowing; this is the first.
‘Brethren, one cometh into existence in the mother’s womb knowingly, remaineth in it without knowing, and cometh out from it without knowing; this is the second.
‘Brethren, one cometh into existence in the mother’s womb knowingly, remaineth in it knowingly, and cometh out from it without knowing; this is the third, ‘Brethren, in this world, one cometh into existence in the mother’s womb knowingly, remaineth in it knowingly, and cometh out from it knowingly; this is the fourth,’ (Cf. the method, taught by the Buddha, of remembering past lives, pp. 40-1.)
ibe CONCLUDING SEVEN VERSES 209 [Vs THE COLOPHON] [The Manuscript concludes with the following seven verses by the dama or scribe who compiled it, but he—faithful to the old /amaic teaching that the human personality should be self-abased and the Scriptures alone exalted before the gaze of sentient creatures—has not recorded his name:] Through the perfectly pure intention of mine In the making of this, through the root of the merits thereof, [May] those protectorless sentient beings, Mothers, [Be] placed in the State of the Buddha:!
Let the radiant glory of auspiciousness come to illuminate the world;?
Let this Book be auspicious; # Let virtue and goodness be perfected in every way.
[Here endeth the Manuscript of the Bardo Thodol.| 1 In dedicating the whole of the spiritual merit, derived from the task of tran- scribing our copy of the Bardo Thédol, to mothers, irrespective of race or religion, to the end that they may be helped to attain Buddhahood, the scribe testifies to the position of respect and honour which the democracy of Buddhism has always assigned to woman, 2 Lit. ‘ Jambudvipa’, the proper Sanskrit name given to the realm of human beings, 3 The text of this verse is Mangalam: dGeho (pron. Gewo), the Sanskrit and the Tibetan term (each meaning ‘Let it [i.e. this Book] be auspicious’), in apposition, suggesting that the scribe possessed at least a limited knowledge of Sanskrit.
3069 18; (2 ‘Fill up, Punna, the orb of holy life, E’en as on fifteenth day the full-orb’d moon. Fill full the perfect knowledge of the Path, And scatter all the gloom of ignorance.’— Punna, a Bhikkhuni. Psalms of the Early Buddhists, 1. iii (Mrs. Rhys Davids’ Translation), Oe Dien 1) A These Addenda consist of seven sections, complementary to our Introduction and Commentary, concerning (1) Yoga, (2) Tantricism, (3) Mantras, or Words of Power, (4) the Gurz and Skiskya (or Chela) and Initiations, (5) Reality, (6) Northern and Southern Buddhism and Christianity, and (7) the Medieval Christian Judgement.
YOGA YOGA The word Yoga (frequently appearing in our annotations to the Bardo Thodol text), derived from the Sanskrit root yw, meaning ‘to join’, closely allied with the English verb Zo yoke, implies a joining or yoking of the lower human nature to the higher or divine nature in such manner as to allow the higher to direct the lower;! and this condition—essential to the successful application of the Bardo doctrines—is to be brought about by control of the mental process. So long as the field of the mind is occupied by such thought-forms and thought- processes as arise from the false concept, universally dominat- ing mankind, that phenomena and phenomenal appearances are real, a state of mental obscuration called ignorance, which prevents true knowledge, exists. It is only when all obscuring and erroneous concepts are totally inhibited and the field of the mind is swept clean of them that the primor- dial or unmodified condition of mind, which is ever devoid of these thought-formations and thought-processes arising from ignorance, is realizable; and, in its realization, there dawns Illu- mination, symbolized in the Bardo Thodol as the Primal Clear Light of the Dharma-K aya.
A mirror covered with a thick deposit of dust, or a crystal vase filled with muddied water, symbolize the mind of the normal human being darkened with the nescience arising from 1 Some scholars question this generally accepted explanation and think that the term yoga probably means ‘practice’ as opposed to theory in religion. If so, it would then imply yogic practice such as will produce indomitable control over the mental processes and lead to realization of Reality. In this sense, yoga may be regarded asa system of applied psychology far more highly developed than any known to Western Science, 212 TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD: ADDENDA heresies and false knowledge. Yoga is a scientific method of removing the dust from the mirror and the earthy particles from the water. It is only when the mind is thus made clear and limpid that it can reflect the Light of Reality and man can come to know himself. J/aya, or Illusion, is the Veil of Isis hiding from man the Unsullied and Unsulliable Reality; the piercing of this Veil and the secing of that which it hides is accomplished through methods as definite and certain in psychical results as those employed in a European or American chemical laboratory are in physical results. As gold can be separated from impurities by methods of chemistry, so can Truth be divorced from Error by methods of Yaga.
Like the root teachings of Buddhism, the root teachings of the Bardo Thodol are incapable of being practically applied without Right Knowledge; Right Knowledge to be at all effective in a devotee’s life should not depend merely upon belief or theory, but upon realization; and realization of Right Knowledge is impossible without such mind control as Yaga implics. That this is so, the canonical scriptures of all schools of Buddhism confirm.!
It is not our purpose to discuss here the intricacies of the various aspects and schools of Yoga; for, though technical terms and some of the purely philosophical or theoretical parts of the Hindu, Buddhist, and other systems of the science of mind-control often differ widely, we are convinced, after much research carried on while living among yogis of various schools, that the goal for all yogis is, in the last analysis of esotcricism, idcntical, namely, emancipation from the thraldom of sangsaric, or phenomenal, existence, the Hindus calling it Mukti and the Buddhists Mirvana?
Intellectual understanding of much of the Bardo Thédol is, 1 Yoga practice was introduced into Mahdyaua Buddhism by Asanga, a monk of Gandhara (Peshawar, India). He is said to have been inspired directly by the Bodhisat Maitreya, the coming Buddha, and so produced the Scriptures of the Yoga-carya (i. e. ‘Contemplative ’) School called The Five Books of Maitreya (cf. Waddell, The Buddhism of Tibet, p. 128).
* The editor possesses a number of very important translations, by the late Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup, of Tibetan treatises on Yoga, one of them having originated in ancient India. If there should be encouragement to publish them, the editor hopes then to put’on record in more detail the results of his own researches in Yoga, YOGA 213 therefore, obviously dependent upon at least some elementary explanation of Yoga, such as we have herein given. The Clear Light, so often referred to in our text—to take but one of the outstanding yogic doctrines—is best interpreted from the standpoint of the devotee of Yoga, though for all mankind alike it dawns at the all-determining moment of death. As such, the Clear Light symbolizes the visual condition in which one finds oneself at the moment of death and afterwards in the Intermediate State. If the vision be unclouded by karmic propensities, which are the source of all phenomena and appari- tional appearances in the Bardo, the deceased sees Reality as the Primordial Clear Light, and, if he so wills, can renounce the Sazgsaéra and pass into Mirvaua, beyond the Circle of Death and Rebirth.
Such clarity of spiritual insight is, of course, extremely rare, being the fruit of innumerable lifetimes of right living; nevertheless, the aim of the Bardo Thédol teachings is to attempt to place every one, when dying or deceased, in the Path leading to its realization. Unless, through the practice of mental-concentration, complete control over the thinking process be achieved, so as to arrive at Right Knowledge ere death, in virtue of having experienced Illumination (i.e. recog- nition of the Clear Light in an ecstatic condition while still in the human body), the /amas maintain that comprehension of the nature of the Clear Light is quite impossible for the unilluminated.
Il. TANTRICISM?
The Bardo Thidol being itself a work more or less Tantric,? and consequently largely based upon the Yoga Philosophy, some general acquaintance with Tantricism, as with Yoga, is 1 General references (also for Sections III and IV following): A. Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe), Tantra of the Great Liberation (London, 1913), Introduc- tion; and The Six Centres and the Serpent Power (London, 1919), passim; Sir John Woodroffe, Shakti and Shékta (London, 1920), passim; also Rama Prasad, Nature’s Finer Forces (London, 1890), passim.
2 To define what is and is not a Zantra is noteasy. According to its Tibetan etymology, Tantra (Tib. Rgyud—pron, Gyud) literally means ‘treatise’, or ‘ dis- sertation’, of a religious nature, usually belonging to the School of Yoga called Yoga-carya Mahayana (see p. 2t2!). Religiously considered, there are two a14 TIBETAN BOOK OF ZHE DEAD: ADDENDS desirable for all readers of this book. So we record here—in mere outline, and, therefore, more often than not undetailed and incomplete—the following complementary matter con- cerning Tantricism.
In the preliminary instructions, the Bardo Thédol makes reference to the vital-force or vital-airs, which, following the Tantras, may be described as follows: The Vital-Force (Skt. Prana).—The human principle of consciousness, the Knower, clothes itself, when incarnate, in five sheaths (Skt. Kosha), which are: (1) the physical-sheath (Anna-maya-kosha); (2) the vital-sheath (Praza-maya-kosha); (3) the sheath in which resides the ordinary human conscious- ness (Mano-maya-kosha); (4) that of the subconsciousness (Vijnana-maya-kosha); and (5) that of the all-transcending blissful consciousness of Reality (Azanda-maya-kosha).
In the vital-sheath resides the vital-force (Skt. raza) divided into ten vital-airs (vaya, derived from the root va, ‘to breathe’ chief groups of Tatras, one Hindu, the other Buddhist. The Hindu Janira is generally cast in the form of a dialogue between the god Shiva, as the Divine Guru, and his Shaktt Parvati, often in their wrathful forms as Bhairava and Bhairavi. In the Buddhist Tantra, these purely Hindu deities are replaced by Buddhist deitics, Buddhas and their Shakds, or by gods and goddesses. One characteristic of both classes of Tantras is that usually they are based upon the Yoga Philosophy. Which of the two classes is older is a disputed question; but the oldest Tantras are probably far older than European critics (who have placed their origin well within the Christian era) have thought. Some Tatras are indis- putably quite modern. According to orthodox Hindus, the Zan/ras are of Vedic origin, and designed to serve as the chief Scriptures for this age, the Kali Yuga. Some Buddhists claim a purcly Buddhist origin for the Yantras. The Hindu view is, however, the commonly accepted view.
As encyclopaedias of the knowledge of their times, the Zantras are very numerous. Some are concerned with the nature of the cosmos, its evolution and dissolution; the classification of sentient beings and of the various heavens, hells, and worlds; the divinely instituted rules governing human relations and conduct; the numerous forms of worship and spiritual training, ceremonial rites, meditation, yoga, duties of kings, law, custom, medicine, astrology, astronomy, magic; and, in short, the whole cycle of the sciences of the East.
In so far as the Bardo Thédol is a ritual based upon Yoga, and has for its chief matter the science of birth, death, and rebirth, interwoven with deserip- tions of the various states of existence and beings pcopling the universe, and teaches of the ways of obtaining salvation, it is a Tantric work, although, strictly speaking, not a Tantra.
For detailed knowledge concerning the Tantras, the student is referred to Principles of Tantra, Part 1, by Arthur Avalon (London, 1914).
TANTRICISM 315 or ‘to blow’, refers to the motive power of praza). As the daemons of Plato’s occultism are said to control the operations of the Cosmic Body, so these vayu, composed of negative praua, control the operations of the human body. Five are fundamental: (1) the praza, controlling inspiration; (2) the udana, controlling the ascending vital-force (or vital-air); (3) the apana, controlling the downward vital-force, which expels wind, excrement, urine, and semen; (4) the samdna, as the collective force of the vay, kindles the fire of the body whereby food is digested and then distributed by the blood; and (5) the vyaua, controlling division and diffusion in all metabolic processes. The five minor airs are the WVaga, kurmma, krikara, deva-datia, and dhananjaya, which produce, respectively, hiccuping, opening and closing of the eyes, assistance to digestion, yawning, and distension.
The Psychic Nerves or Channels (Skt. Nadi).—There are next mentioned in our text the Psychic Nerves. Sanskrit works on Yoga say that there are fourteen principal #@d@z and hun- dreds of thousands of minor z@dz in the human body, just as Western physiologists say that there are so many chief nerves and minor nerves. But the za@d@z of the East and the nerves of the West, although literally the same in name, are not syn- onymous. The zddz are invisible channels for the flow of psychic forces whose conducting agents are the vital-airs (vdyz).
Of the fourteen principal 2é@dz, there are three which are of fundamental importance. These are, to follow our text, the median-nerve (Skt. sushumna-nadi), the left nerve (7da-ndadi), and the right nerve (pimgala-ndadi). The sushumua-nadi is the chief or median-nerve, situated in the hollow of the spinal column (Skt. Brahma-danda), the Mt. Meru of the human body, man being regarded as the microcosm of the macrocosm. The ida-nadi, to the left, and the pingala-nadi, to the right, coil round it as the two serpents coil round the caduceus carried by the messenger-god Hermes. It is believed that this ancient herald’s wand symbolizes the sushumna-nddi, and the twining serpents the zda-nadi and the pingala-nadi. If so, we see again how the esoteric symbol-code of the West corre- sponds to that of the East.
216 TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD: ADDENDS