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

(See p. 102* 6.)

2 See p. 85°.

3 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 Thédol, 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 gurz 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 sangsaric bonds of illusion are broken asunder immediately: the

3069 N go BARDO OF THE DYING [BOOK I

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 vitalforce hath] rushed into the left nerve [after first having traversed the navel nerve-centre].

The time [ordinarily necessary for this motion of the vital-

Dreamer is awakened into Reality simultaneously with the mighty achievement of recognition.

1 Here, as elsewhere in our text, ‘nerve-centre’ refers to a psychic nervecentre. The psychic nerve-centre of Wisdom is located in the heart. (Cf. pp. 217 ff.)

2 Text: Shespa (pron. Shepa): ‘Mind’, ‘Knower’; i.e. the mind in its knowing, or cognizing, functions.

1 Here, as elsewhere in our text, ‘nerve-centre’ refers to a psychic nervecentre. The psychic nerve-centre of Wisdom is located in the heart. (Cf. pp. 217 ff.)

2 Text: Shespa (pron. Shepa): ‘Mind’, ‘Knower’; i.e. the mind in its knowing, or cognizing, functions.

8 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 dhyana (or deep meditation) when still united toa 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’.

5 Text: rtsa-gyas-gyon (pron. tsa-yay-yon): ‘right and left [psychic] nerves’; et Pingala-nadi (right [psychic] nerve) and Jda-nédi (left [psychic] nerve). Cf. p. 215.)

PART I] THE DEATH PROCESS . gi 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.2 Thereby the vital-force will not be able to return from the median-nerve * and will be sure to pass out

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.2 Thereby the vital-force will not be able to return from the median-nerve * and will be sure to pass out

1 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.

2 The dying person should die fully awake and keenly conscious of the process of death; hence the pressing of the arteries. (Cf. p. xxix.)

8 «Skt, of text: dhutth (pron. dufi), meaning “ median-nerve’’, but lit. “ trijunction’”’, V.S. Apte’s Sanscnit-English Dictionary (Poona, 1890) gives dhuiz 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 referencep. 92 through the Brahmanic aperture.!_ Now the real setting-faceto-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-K aya, 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 constitution, good or bad, and [the state of] the nerves and vitalforce. In those who have had evena little practical experience of the firm, tranquil state of dhyana, and in those who have sound nerves, this state continueth for a long time.* to the outgoing of the consciousness in the process of death,’—-Sj. Atal Bihari Ghosh.

1 See pp. 18, 878, 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 Thédol, the importance of holding the vital-force in the median-nerve till it passes out thence through the Aperture of Brahma.

2 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.

8 Text: nam-shes (pron. nam-she): Skt. vijzdna or, preferably, chaitanya: ‘conscious-principle’ or ‘ object-knowing principle’.