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

2 Heretofore each of the chief deities has been called Bhagavan (‘The Victorious’), but, herein, Buddha (‘ The Enlightened’) is the designation. The text contains Tib. Sangs-rgyas (pron. Sang-yay) = Skt. Buddha: Sangs =

p. 120

[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 Amitabha, 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,t the Urn of Nectar; ° with the four female Door-keepers: the Goad-Bearer,® the Noose-Bearer,? the Chain-Bearer,2 and the Bell-Bearer ; ® ‘awakened [from sleep of stupidity]? + sgyas = ‘developed fully [in all attributes of perfection (or moral virtues) ]’.

1 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.

2 Text: Ruam-par-rgyal-va (pron. Nam-par-gyal-wa): Skt. Vaya: ‘ Victorious [One]’, the Door-keeper of the East.

8 Text: Gshin-rje-gshed-po(pron. Shin-je-shed-po): Skt. Yamdntaka: ‘ 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’vo-bo—pron. T’o-wo: Skt. Krodha).

4 Text: Rla-mgrin-rgyal-po (pron. Tam din-gyal-po): Skt. Hayagriva: ‘Horsenecked King’, the Door-keeper of the West.

5 Text: Bdud-rtst-hkhyil-va (pron. Di-tst-khyil-wa): Skt. Amrita-Dhara: ‘(He who is the] Urn of Nectar’, whose divine function is to transmute all things into nectar (in the esoteric sense of Tantric Yoga), amrita meaning ‘nectar’ exoterically, and, esoterically, ‘voidness’, He is the Door-keeper of the North.

6 Text: Chags-kyu-ma (pron. Chak-yu-ma): Skt. Ankusha: ‘She holding the
Goad’, the shaktt, or female counterpart, of Vijaya.

7 Text: Zhags-pa-ma (pron. Zhag-pa-ma) : Skt. Pashadhari: ‘She holding the Noose’, the shakti of Yamantaka.

® Text: Lehags-sgrog-ma (pron. Cha-dog-ma): Skt. Vajra-shringkhald: ‘She holding the Chain’, the skaâti of Hayagriva.

° Text: Dril-bu-ma (pron. Til-bu-ma) : Skt. Kinkint-Dhari: ‘She holding the Bell’, the shakti of Amrita-Dhara.

Pashadhari: ‘She holding the Noose’, the shakti of Yamantaka.

® Text: Lehags-sgrog-ma (pron. Cha-dog-ma): Skt. Vajra-shringkhald: ‘She holding the Chain’, the skaâti of Hayagriva.

° Text: Dril-bu-ma (pron. Til-bu-ma) : Skt. Kinkint-Dhari: ‘She holding the Bell’, the shakti of Amrita-Dhara.

All the Door-keepers and their shakits possess occult significance in relation

PART UI] AZANDALA OF PEACEFUL DEITIES 1a1 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 Shakyas, 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-Bhadra], 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 to the four directions and to the mandala (or conclave of deities) to which they belong. As Tantric faith-guarding deities (Tib. Ch’os-skyor : Skt. Dharmapala) 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.

1 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’).

2 Text: Thag-bzang-ris (pron. Thag-zang-ree): ‘[He of] Strong Texture’ (Skt. Virdchdra): a name referring either to the bodily strength of, or else to the coat of mail worn by, this Lord of the Asvva-loka, the world wherein warfare is the predominant passion of existence.

3 Text: Chés-kyt-rgyal-po (pron. Ché-kyi-gyal-po): Skt. Dharma-Raja.

Virdchdra): a name referring either to the bodily strength of, or else to the coat of mail worn by, this Lord of the Asvva-loka, the world wherein warfare is the predominant passion of existence.

3 Text: Chés-kyt-rgyal-po (pron. Ché-kyi-gyal-po): Skt. Dharma-Raja.

4 Text: Kiintu-bzang-mo (pron, Kiintu-beang-mo): ‘ All-Good Mother’; Skt. Samanta-Bhadraé. The Tantric School holds that every deity, even the Supreme, has its shakit, A few deities are, however, commonly depicted skakit-less—for example, Mafijushri, or Mafijughosha (see p. 113*); though there may be, as in the instance of the Prajid-Paramita (often called the Mother) which this deity holds, some symbolic representation of a shakt, 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-Kaya—the apparent dualism becomes monism.

3069 Rp. 122 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.2 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- Dhétw 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.

1 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,

2 Text: dkyil-hkhor (pron. kytl-khor): Skt. mandala, i.e. conclave of deities.