The Tibetan Book of the Dead — ed. W. Y. Evans-Wentz

Its quality, or passions, in man is Envy, or Jealousy. Its aggregate is Volition. The transmutation is into the All-Performing Wisdom, which gives perseverance and unerring action in things spiritual, personified in Amogha-Siddhi, the ‘Almighty Conqueror’, the Giver of Divine Power.

As explained above, in Section IV, the last Element, Ether, which produces the mind, or Knower, and the desire-body of the dwellers in the Intermediate State, does not dawn for the deceased, because—as the text tells us—the Wisdom Faculty of the Consciousness, that is to say, the supramundane Buddha (or Bodhic) consciousness, has not been developed in the ordinary humanity. To it is related—as in our text— Vajra-Sattva and the Mirror-like Wisdom and the Aggregate of Bodhic Wisdom, Vajra-Sattva being then synonymous, esoterically, with Samanta-Bhadra (who, in turn, is often personificd in Vairochana, the Chief of the Five Dhyani Buddhas), the Adi-Buddha, the Primordial, the Unborn, Unshaped, Unmodified Dharma-K aya.

When the perfection of the Divine Body-Aggregate is attained by man, it becomes the unchanging, immutable Vajra-Sattva. When the perfection of the Divine Speech-

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Principle is attained, with it comes the power of divine speech, symbolized by Amitabha. The perfection of the Divine Thought-Principle brings divine infallibility, symbolized by Vairochana. The perfection of the Divine Qualities of Goodness and Beauty is the realization of Ratna-Sambhava, their producer. With the perfection of Divine Actions comes the realization of Amogha-Siddhi, the Omnipotent Conqueror.

To one after another of these divine attributes, or principles, innate in every human being, the deceased is introduced, as though in a symbolic drama of initiation, to test him and discover whether or not any part of his divine (or dodhic) nature has been developed. Full development in all the bodhic powers of the Five Dhyani Buddhas, who are the personifications of them, leads to Liberation, to Buddhahood. Partial development leads to birth in one of the happier states: deva-loka, the world of the devas or gods ; asura-loka, the world of the asuras or titans; xara-loka, the world of mankind.

Partial development leads to birth in one of the happier states: deva-loka, the world of the devas or gods ; asura-loka, the world of the asuras or titans; xara-loka, the world of mankind.

After the Fifth Day the Bardo visions become less and less divine; the deceased sinks deeper and deeper into the morass of sangsaric hallucinations; the radiances of the higher nature fade into the lights of the lower nature. Then—the after-death dream ending as the Intermediate State exhausts itself for the percipient, the thought-forms of his mental-content all having shown themselves to him like ghostly spectres in a nightmare—he passes on from the Intermediate State into the equally illusionary state called waking, or living, either in the human world or in one of the many mansions of existence, by being born there. And thus revolves the Wheel of Life, until the one who is bound on it breaks his own bonds through Enlightenment, and there comes, as the Buddha proclaims, the Ending of Sorrow.

In Sections I to V, above, the more prominent occult teachings underlying the Bardo Thodol have been briefly expounded. In Sections VI to XII, which are to follow, the chief Bardo rites and ceremonies, the Bardo psychology, and other of the Bardo doctrines will be explained and interpreted. The last Sections, XIII to XV, will be devoted

3069 Dp. 18 to a consideration of our manuscript, its history, the origin of the Bardo Thédol texts, and our translating and editing.

In addition to these fifteen sections, there are, as Addenda (see pp. 211-41), six complementary sections, addressed chiefly to the student, who, more than the ordinary reader, will be interested in certain of the more abstruse doctrines and problems which arise from a careful study of the translation and its annotations.

VI. THE DEATH CEREMONIES

When the death-symptoms, as described in the first sections of our text, are completed, a white cloth is thrown over the face of the corpse ; and no person then touches the corpse, in order that the culminating process of death, which ends only upon the complete separation of the Bardo body from its earth-plane counterpart, shall not be interfered with. It is commonly held that normally the process takes from three and one-half to four days, unless assisted by a priest called the Zpho-bo (pron. pho-o) or ‘extractor of the consciousnessprinciple’; and that, even if the priest be successful in the extracting, the deceased ordinarily does not wake up to the fact of being separated from the human body until the said period of time has expired.

pho-o) or ‘extractor of the consciousnessprinciple’; and that, even if the priest be successful in the extracting, the deceased ordinarily does not wake up to the fact of being separated from the human body until the said period of time has expired.

The %pho-b0, upon his arrival, takes a seat on a mat or chair at the head of the corpse; he dismisses all lamentmaking relatives from the death-chamber and orders its doors and windows to be closed, so as to secure the silence necessary for the right performance of the Zpo-bo service. This consists of a mystic chant containing directions for the spirit of the deceased to find its way to the Western Paradise of Amitabha, and thus escape—if karma permits—the undesirable Intermediate State. After commanding the spirit to quit the body and its attachment to living relatives and goods, the /ama examines the crown of the head of the corpse at the line of the sagittal suture, where the two parietal bones articulate, called the ‘ Aperture of Brahma’ (Skt. Brakma-randhra), to determine if the spirit has departed thence, as it should have done; and, if the scalp be not bald, he pulls out a few of the hairs directly over the aperture. If through accident orp. 19 otherwise there be no corpse, the /ama mentally concentrates upon the deceased, and, visualizing the body of the deceased, imagines it to be present; and, calling the spirit of the deceased, performs the ceremony, which usually lasts about one hour.

Meanwhile, the ¢s¢-pa, or astrologer-/ama, has been engaged to cast a death-horoscope, based upon the moment of death of the deceased, to determine what persons may approach and touch the corpse, the proper method of disposing of the corpse, the time and manner of the funeral, and the sort of rites to be performed for the benefit of the departed. Then the corpse is tied up in a sitting posture, much the same as that in which mummies and skeletons have been found in ancient graves or tombs in various parts of the world, and sometimes called the embryonic posture, symbolical of being born out of this life into the life beyond death. The corpse, so postured, is then placed in one of the corners of the deathchamber which has not been assigned to the household daemon.