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1To the deceased translator—who combined in himself a greater knowledge of the Occult Sciences of Tibet and of Western Science than any Tibetan scholar of this epoch—the chief credit for its production very naturally belongs. In addition to that greatest of all debts which the student ever owes to his preceptor, I acknowledge my indebtedness to each of my many good friends and helpers who have personally aided me herewith. Some of them are of one Faith, some of another; some are far away in Japan and in China, some in the land of my birth, America; many are in Ceylon and in India; a few are in Tibet. Here in England I think first of all of Dr. R. R. Marett, Reader in Social Anthropology in the University of Oxford, and Fellow of Exeter College, who ever since I first came up to Oxford, in the year 1907, has faithfully guided my anthropological research. Sir John Woodroffe, late a Judge of the High Court, Calcutta, now Reader in Indian Law in the University of Oxford, and the foremost authority in the West on the Tantras , has read through our translation, chiefly in relation to the character of the work as a ritual more or less Tantric, and offered important advice. I am also very grateful to him for the Foreword. To Sj. Atal Bihari Ghosh, of Calcutta, Joint Honorary Secretary with Sir John Woodroffe of the Āgamānusandhāna Samiti , as to Sir E. Denison Ross, Director of the School of Oriental Studies, London Institution, and to Dr. F. W. Thomas, Librarian of the India Office, London, I am under a special obligation for important constructive criticism on the book as a whole. To Major W. L.
2Campbell, British Political Representative in Tibet, Bhutan, and Sikkim during my sojourn in Gangtok, I am indebted for much encouragement and scholarly aid, and for the gift of two valuable paintings prepared by his orders in the chief monastery of Gyantse, Tibet, to illustrate the symbolism of the Bardo Thödol text, and herein reproduced. To his predecessor and successor in the same post, Sir Charles Bell, I am also a debtor for important advice at the outset of my Tibetan research, when in Darjeeling. To Mr. E. S. Bouchier, M.A. (Oxon.), F. R. Hist. S., author of Syria as a Roman Province , A Short History of Antioch , &c., my heartiest thanks are due for the assistance which he has so kindly rendered in reading the whole of this book when in proof. Sardar Bahadur S.W. Laden La, Chief of Police, Darjeeling, who sent me to Gangtok with a letter of introduction to the late Lāma Kazi Dawa-Samdup, the translator of the Bardo Thödol ; Dr. Johan Van Manen, Secretary of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta, who lent me Tibetan books which proved very helpful while the translation was taking shape, and who afterwards contributed advice concerning translations; and Dr. Cassius A. Pereira, of Colombo, Ceylon, who criticized parts of the Introduction in the light of Theravāda Buddhism, are among many others to whom my thanks are due. Thus, under the best of auspices, this book is sent forth to the world, in the hope that it may contribute something to the sum total of Right Knowledge, and serve as one more spiritual strand in an unbreakable bond of good will and universal peace, binding East and West together in mutual respect and understanding, and in love such as overleaps every barrier of creed and caste and race. W. Y. E-W. Jesus College, Oxford, Easter , 1927 . I.
3RENUNCIATION ‘ Get thee away from life-lust, from conceit, From ignorance, and from distraction’s craze; Sunder the bonds; so only shalt thou come To utter end of Ill. Throw off the Chain Of birth and death—thou knowest what they mean. So, free from craving, in this life on earth, Thou shalt go on thy way calm and serene.’—The Buddha. Psalms of the Early Buddhists , I. lvi (Mrs. Rhys Davids’ Translation). II. VICTORY ‘ But anguish crept upon me, even me, Whenas I pondered in my little cell: Ah me! how have I come into this evil road. Into the power of Craving have I strayed! Brief is the span of life yet left to me; Old age, disease, hang imminent to crush. Now ere this body perish and dissolve, Swift let me be; no time have I for sloth. And contemplating, as they really are, The Aggregates of Life that come and go, I rose and stood with mind emancipate! For me the Buddha’s words had come to pass’.— Mittakalī, a Brāhmin Bhikkhunī . Psalms of the Early Buddhists , I. xliii (Mrs. Rhys Davids’ Translation). Contents Book I The Chikhai Bardo and the Chönyid Bardo Part I The Bardo of the Moments of Death Part II The Bardo of the Experiencing of Reality Book II The Sidpa Bardo Part I The After-Death World Part II The Process of Rebirth The Appendix Addenda Illustrations From a photograph of the Translator and the Editor in Tibetan dress, taken in Gangtok, Sikkim, during the year 1919.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
1To the deceased translator—who combined in himself a greater knowledge of the Occult Sciences of Tibet and of Western Science than any Tibetan scholar of this epoch—the chief credit for its production very naturally belongs. In addition to that greatest of all debts which the student ever owes to his preceptor, I acknowledge my indebtedness to each of my many good friends and helpers who have personally aided me herewith. Some of them are of one Faith, some of another; some are far away in Japan and in China, some in the land of my birth, America; many are in Ceylon and in India; a few are in Tibet. Here in England I think first of all of Dr. R. R. Marett, Reader in Social Anthropology in the University of Oxford, and Fellow of Exeter College, who ever since I first came up to Oxford, in the year 1907, has faithfully guided my anthropological research. Sir John Woodroffe, late a Judge of the High Court, Calcutta, now Reader in Indian Law in the University of Oxford, and the foremost authority in the West on the Tantras , has read through our translation, chiefly in relation to the character of the work as a ritual more or less Tantric, and offered important advice. I am also very grateful to him for the Foreword. To Sj. Atal Bihari Ghosh, of Calcutta, Joint Honorary Secretary with Sir John Woodroffe of the Āgamānusandhāna Samiti , as to Sir E. Denison Ross, Director of the School of Oriental Studies, London Institution, and to Dr. F. W. Thomas, Librarian of the India Office, London, I am under a special obligation for important constructive criticism on the book as a whole. To Major W. L.
2Campbell, British Political Representative in Tibet, Bhutan, and Sikkim during my sojourn in Gangtok, I am indebted for much encouragement and scholarly aid, and for the gift of two valuable paintings prepared by his orders in the chief monastery of Gyantse, Tibet, to illustrate the symbolism of the Bardo Thödol text, and herein reproduced. To his predecessor and successor in the same post, Sir Charles Bell, I am also a debtor for important advice at the outset of my Tibetan research, when in Darjeeling. To Mr. E. S. Bouchier, M.A. (Oxon.), F. R. Hist. S., author of Syria as a Roman Province , A Short History of Antioch , &c., my heartiest thanks are due for the assistance which he has so kindly rendered in reading the whole of this book when in proof. Sardar Bahadur S.W. Laden La, Chief of Police, Darjeeling, who sent me to Gangtok with a letter of introduction to the late Lāma Kazi Dawa-Samdup, the translator of the Bardo Thödol ; Dr. Johan Van Manen, Secretary of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta, who lent me Tibetan books which proved very helpful while the translation was taking shape, and who afterwards contributed advice concerning translations; and Dr. Cassius A. Pereira, of Colombo, Ceylon, who criticized parts of the Introduction in the light of Theravāda Buddhism, are among many others to whom my thanks are due. Thus, under the best of auspices, this book is sent forth to the world, in the hope that it may contribute something to the sum total of Right Knowledge, and serve as one more spiritual strand in an unbreakable bond of good will and universal peace, binding East and West together in mutual respect and understanding, and in love such as overleaps every barrier of creed and caste and race. W. Y. E-W. Jesus College, Oxford, Easter , 1927 . I.
3RENUNCIATION ‘ Get thee away from life-lust, from conceit, From ignorance, and from distraction’s craze; Sunder the bonds; so only shalt thou come To utter end of Ill. Throw off the Chain Of birth and death—thou knowest what they mean. So, free from craving, in this life on earth, Thou shalt go on thy way calm and serene.’—The Buddha. Psalms of the Early Buddhists , I. lvi (Mrs. Rhys Davids’ Translation). II. VICTORY ‘ But anguish crept upon me, even me, Whenas I pondered in my little cell: Ah me! how have I come into this evil road. Into the power of Craving have I strayed! Brief is the span of life yet left to me; Old age, disease, hang imminent to crush. Now ere this body perish and dissolve, Swift let me be; no time have I for sloth. And contemplating, as they really are, The Aggregates of Life that come and go, I rose and stood with mind emancipate! For me the Buddha’s words had come to pass’.— Mittakalī, a Brāhmin Bhikkhunī . Psalms of the Early Buddhists , I. xliii (Mrs. Rhys Davids’ Translation). Contents Book I The Chikhai Bardo and the Chönyid Bardo Part I The Bardo of the Moments of Death Part II The Bardo of the Experiencing of Reality Book II The Sidpa Bardo Part I The After-Death World Part II The Process of Rebirth The Appendix Addenda Illustrations From a photograph of the Translator and the Editor in Tibetan dress, taken in Gangtok, Sikkim, during the year 1919.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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