O nobly-born, listen undistractedly. On the Third Day the primal form of the element earth will shine forth asa yellow light. At that time, from the Southern Realm Endowed with on earth and as liable to anger should he see them disputing over the division of his property, or if he perceives avarice on the part of the Jama conducting the funeral rites. But the prohibition touching anger is essentially yogic, yogis of all religions recognizing that anger prevents spiritual progress; and it
parallels the moral teaching against giving way to anger contained in the ancient Egyptian Precepts of Ptah-hotep.
1 Text: Rinchen-hbyung-ldan (pron, Rinchen-Jung-dan): Skt. Ratna-Sam- bhava, i.c. ‘Born of a Jewel’. He is the Beautifier, whence comes all that is precious ; a personified attribute of the Buddha.
Part 11] Dawning of Ratna-Sambhava 111
Glory, the Bhagavan Ratna-Sambhava, yellow in colour, bearing a jewel in his hand, seated upon a horse-throne and embraced by the Divine Mother Sangyay-Chanma,! will shine upon thee.
The two Bodhisattvas, Akasha-Garbha? and Samanta- Bhadra,* attended by the two female Bodhisattvas, Mahlaima and Dhupema,*—in all, six Bodhic forms,—will come to shine from amidst a rainbow halo of light. The aggregate of touch in its primal form, as the yellow light of the Wisdom of Equality, dazzlingly yellow, glorified with orbs having satellite orbs of radiance, so clear and bright that the eye can scarcely look upon it, will strike against thee. Side by side with it, the dull bluish-yellow light from the human [world] will also strike against thy heart, along with the Wisdom light.
Thereupon, through the power of egotism, thou wilt beget
a fear for the dazzling yellow light and wilt [wish to] flee
from it. Thou wilt be fondly attracted towards the dull
bluish-yellow light from the human [world].
At that time do not fear that bright, dazzling-yellow, trans- parent light, but know it to be Wisdom; in that state, keeping thy mind resigned, trust in it earnestly and humbly. If thou knowest it to be the radiance of thine own intellect—although thou exertest not thy humility and faith and prayer to it— the Divine Body and Light will merge into thee inseparably, and thou wilt obtain Buddhahood.
If thou dost not recognize the radiance of thine own intel- lect, think, with faith, ‘It is the radiance of the grace of the
1 Text: Sangs-reyas-spyan-ma (pron, Sang-yay Chan-ma): ‘She of the Buddha Eye (or Eyes)’
2 Text: Nam-mkhahi-snying-po (pron. Nam-khai-nying-po): Skt. Akasha- Garbha, ‘Womb (or Matrix) of the Sky’.
3 Text: Kuntu-byzang-po (pron. Kuntu-zang-po): Skt. Samanta-Bhadra, ‘All-Good’. This is not the Adi-Buddha Samanta-Bhadra (cf. p. 95°), but the spiritual son of the Dhyani Buddha Vairochana.
4 Text: Mahlaima, ‘She Who Holds (or Bears) the Rosary’; and Dhupema, ‘She Who Holds (or Bears) the Incense’. These are corrupt forms, hybrids of Sanskrit and Tibetan, their Sanskrit equivalents being Ma/d and Dhipa, and their Tibetan equivalents Hphreng-ba-ma (pron. Phreng-ba-ma) and Bdug-spis- ma (pron. Dug-pd-ma). The colour of these goddesses, corresponding to that of the earth-light, is yellow.
112 BARDO OF KARMIC ILLUSIONS [Book I
Bhagavan Ratna-Sambhava; I will take refuge in it’; and
pray. It is the hook of the grace-rays of the Bhagavan
Ratna-Sambhava; believe in it.
Be not fond of that dull bluish-yellow light from the human [world]. That is the path of thine accumulated propensities of violent egotism come to receive thee. If thou art attracted by it, thou wilt be born in the human world and have to suffer birth, age, sickness, and death; and thou wilt have no chance of getting out of the quagmire of worldly existence. That is an interruption to obstruct thy path of liberation. Therefore, look not upon it, and abandon egotism, abandon propensities; be not attracted towards it; be not weak. Act so as to trust in that bright dazzling light. Put thine earnest thought, one-pointedly, upon the Bhagavan Ratna-Sambhava; and pray thus:
‘Alas! when wandering in the Sanugsadra because of the power of violent egotism,
On the radiant light-path of the Wisdom of Equality,
May [I] be led by the Bhagavan Ratna-Sambhava ;
May the Divine Mother, She-of-the-Buddha-Eye, be [my]
rear-guard;
May [I] be led safely across the fearful ambush of the
Bardo;
And may [I] be placed in the state of the All-Perfect
Buddhahood.’
By praying thus, with deep humility and faith, thou wilt
merge into the heart of the Bhagavan Ratna-Sambhava, the
Divine Father-Mother, in halo of rainbow light, and attain
Buddhahood in the Sambhoga-K aya, in the Southern Realm
Endowed with Glory.
[the Fourth Day]
By thus being set face to face, however weak the mental faculties may be, there is no doubt of one’s gaining Liberation. Yet, though so often set face to face, there are classes of men who, having created much bad karma, or having failed in observ- ance of vows, or, their lot [for higher development] being alto- gether lacking, prove unable to recognize: their obscurations
Part It] Dawning of Amitabha 113
and evil karma from covetousness and miserliness produce awe of the sounds and radiances, and they flee. [If one be of these classes], then, on the Fourth Day, the Bhagavan Amitabha' and his attendant deities, together with the light- path from the Preta-loka, proceeding from miserliness and attachment, will come to receive one simultaneously.
Again the setting-face-to-face is, calling the deceased by name, thus:
O nobly-born, listen undistractedly. On the Fourth Day the red light, which is the primal form of the element fire, will shine. At that time, from the Red Western Realm of Happi- ness,? the Bhagavan Buddha Amitabha, red in colour, bearing a lotus in his hand, seated upon a peacock-throne and em- braced by the Divine Mother Gékarmo,? will shine upon thee, [together with] the Bodhisattvas Chenrazee* and Jampal,* attended by the female Bodhisattvas Ghirdhima® and Aloke.° The six bodies of Enlightenment will shine upon thee from amidst a halo of rainbow light.
1 Text: Suang-va-mthah-yas (pron. Nang-wa-tha-yay): Skt. Amustabha, ‘Bound- Jess (or Incomprehensible) Light’, As an embodiment of one of the Buddha- attributes or Wisdoms, the All-discriminating Wisdom, Amitabha personifies life eternal.
2 Text: Gés-dkar-mo (pron. Gé-kar-mo), ‘ She-in-White-Raiment’.
3 Text: Spyan-ras-geigs (pron. Chen-rd-2t): Skt. Avalokiteshvara, ‘ Down- Looking One’, the embodiment of mercy or compassion. The Dalai Lamas are believed to be his incarnations ; Amitabha, with whom he here dawns, is his. spiritual father, whose incarnate representatives are the Tashi Lamas. He is often depicted with eleven heads and a thousand arms, each with an eye in the palm—as ‘The Great Pitier’—his thousand arms and eyes appropriately representing him as ever on the outlook to discover distress and to succour the troubled. In China, Avalokiteshvara becomes the Great Goddess of Mercy Kwanyin, represented by a female figure bearing a child in her arms.
* Text: Hgam-dpal (pron. Jam-pal): Skt. Matjushri, ‘Of Gentle Glory’. A fuller Tibetan form is Hgam-dpal-dvyangs (pron. Jam-pal-yang): Skt. Maii- jughosha, ‘Glorious Gentle-Voiced One’. He is ‘The God of Mystic Wisdom’, the Buddhist Apollo, commonly depicted with the flaming sword of light held aloft in his right hand and the lotus-supported Book of Wisdom, the Prajza- Paramité, held in his left.
& Text: Ghir-dhi-ma and Aloke, corrupted from Skt. Gita, ‘ Song’, and Aloka, ‘Light’: Tib. Glu-ma (pron, Lu-ma) and Snang-gsal-ma (pron. Nang-sal-ma). Gita, commonly represented holding a lyre, personifies (or symbolizes) music and song, and Aloka, holding a lamp, personifies (or symbolizes) light. Related to the element fire, as herein, their colour is red,
114 BARDO OF KARMIC ILLUSIONS [Book 1
The primal form of the aggregate of feelings as the red light of the All-Discriminating Wisdom, glitteringly red, glori- fied with orbs and satellite orbs, bright, transparent, glorious and dazzling, proceeding from the heart of the Divine Father- Mother Amitabha, will strike against thy heart [so radiantly] that thou wilt scarcely be able to look upon it. Fear it not.
Along with it, a dull red light from the Preta-loka, coming side by side with the Light of Wisdom, will also shine upon thee. Act so that thou shalt not be fond of it. Abandon attach- ment [and] weakness [for it].
At that time, through the influence of intense attachment, thou wilt become terrified by the dazzling red light, and wilt [wish to] flee from it. And thou wilt beget a fondness for that dull red light of the Preta-loka.
At that time, be not afraid of the glorious, dazzling, trans- parent, radiant red light. Recognizing it as Wisdom, keeping thine intellect in the state of resignation, thou wilt merge [into it] inseparably and attain Buddhahood.
If thou dost not recognize it, think, ‘It is the rays of the grace of the Bhagavan Amitabha, and I will take refuge in it’; and, trusting humbly in it, pray unto it. That is the hook- rays of the grace of the Bhagavan Amitabha. Trust in it humbly; flee not. Even if thou fleest, it will follow thee inseparably [from thyself]. Fear it not. Be not attracted towards the dull red light of the Preta-loka. That is the light- path proceeding from the accumulations of thine intense attachment [to sangsaric existence] which hath come to receive thee. If thou be attached thereto, thou wilt fall into the World of Unhappy Spirits and suffer unbearable misery from hunger and thirst. Thou wilt have no chance of gaining Liberation [therein].!. That dull red light is an interruption to obstruct thee on the Path of Liberation. Be not attached to it, and abandon habitual propensities. Be not weak. Trust in the bright dazzling red light. In the Bhagavan Amitabha,
1 Lit. ‘Of Liberation there will be no time.’ Once the deceased becomes a preta, or unhappy ghost, the after-death attainment of Nirvdua is, normally, no longer possible; he must then wait for the opportunity afforded by rebirth in the human world, when his Preta-loka existence has ended.
Part 1] Dawning of Amogha-Siddhi 115
the Father-Mother, put thy trust one-pointedly and pray
thus:
‘Alas! when wandering in the Sangsdra because of the
power of intense attachment,
On the radiant light-path of the Discriminating Wisdom
May [I] be led by the Bhagavan Amitabha ;
May the Divine Mother, She-of-White-Raiment, be [my]
rear-guard ;
May [I] be safely led across the dangerous ambush of the
Bardo;
And may [I] be placed in the state of the All-Perfect
Buddhahood.’
By praying thus, humbly and earnestly, thou wilt merge
into the heart of the Divine Father-Mother, the Bhagavan
Amitabha, in halo of rainbow-light, and attain Buddhahood in
the Sambhoga-K aya, in the Western Realm named Happy.
{the Fifth Day}
It is impossible that one should not be liberated thereby. Yet, though thus set face to face, sentient beings, unable through long association with propensities to abandon propen- sities, and, through bad karma and jealousy, awe and terror being produced by the sounds and radiances—the hook-rays of grace failing to catch hold of them—wander down also to the Fifth Day. [If one be sucha sentient being], thereupon the Bhagavan Amogha-Siddhi, with his attendant deities and the light and rays of his grace, will come to receive one. A light proceeding from the Asura-loka, produced by the evil passion of jealousy, will also come to receive one.
The setting-face-to-face at that time is, calling the deceased by name, thus:
O nobly-born, listen undistractedly. On the Fifth Day, the green light of the primal form of the element air will shine upon thee. At that time, from the Green Northern Realm of Successful Performance of Best Actions, the Bhagavan Buddha Amogha-Siddhi, green in colour, bearing a crossed-dorje in
1 Text: Don-yod-grub-pa (pron. Don-yéd-rub-pa): Skt. Amogha-Siddht: ‘ Al- mighty Conqueror,’
116 BARDO OF KARMIC ILLUSIONS [Book I
hand,! seated upon a sky-traversing Harpy-throne,? embraced by the Divine Mother, the Faithful Délma,’ will shine upon thee, with his attendants,—the two Bodhisattvas Chag-na- Dorje4 and Dibpanamsel,® attended by two female Bodhi- sattvas, Gandhema® and Nidhema.’ These six Bodhic forms, from amidst a halo of rainbow light, will come to shine.
The primal form of the aggregate of volition, shining as the green light of the All-Performing Wisdom, dazzlingly green, transparent and radiant, glorious and terrifying, beautified with orbs surrounded by satellite orbs of radiance, issuing from the heart of the Divine Father-Mother Amogha-Siddhi, green in colour, will strike against thy heart [so wondrously
1 That is, a dorje with four heads, such as is depicted on the front cover of this volume. It symbolizes equilibrium, immutability, and almighty power,
2 Text: shang-shang, refers to an order of creatures like the fabulous harpies of classical mythology, having human form from the waist upwards, and from the waist downwards the form of a bird; but whereas the Greek harpies were female, these are of both sexes. That a race of such harpies exists in the world somewhere is a popular belief among Tibetans.