5 Text: Sgrol-ma (pron. Dél-ma): Délma (Skt. Tara) = ‘Saviouress’. She is the divine consort of Avalokiteshvara. There are now two recognized forms of this goddess: the Green Délma, as worshipped in Tibet, and the White Dolma, as worshipped chiefly in China and Mongolia. The royal Nepalese princess who became the wife of the first Buddhist king of Tibet is believed to have been an incarnation of the Green Dolma, and his wife from the Imperial House of China an incarnation of the White Doélma. (Seep. 74.) The late Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup told me that, because Tibetans saw the likeness of Queen Victoria on English coins and recognized it as being that of Délma, there developed throughout Tibet during the Victorian Era a belief that Dolma had come back to birth again to rule the world in the person of the Great Queen of England ; and that, owing to this belief, the British representatives of the Queen then met with an unusually friendly reception in their negotiations with Lhassa, although probably unaware of the origin of the friendship.
* Text: Phyag-na-rdove (pron. Chag-na-dorje): ‘Bearing the Dore in hand’: Skt. Vajra-pani.
5 Text: Sgrib-pa-rnam-sel (pron. Dib-pa-nam-sel): ‘Clearer of Obscurations’ : Skt. Dipani, also Dipika.
® Skt.-Tib. hybrid of text. Corresponding Tib., Dri-chha-ma (Skt. Gandha), ‘She Spraying Perfume’, one of the eight mother goddesses (Matris) of the Hindu pantheon. She is depicted holding a shell-vase of perfume (a7).
7 Skt.-Tib. hybrid of text. Corresponding Tib., Zhal-gas-ma (pron. Shal-za- ma), ‘She Holding Sweetmeats’. Although a goddess like Gandhema, Nidhema (Skt. Wazvedya) cannot be included in the formal list of eight Matris, the eight already having been named in our text. Both goddesses are green in colour, like the light of the All-Performing Wisdom,
Part 1] Liberation by Amogha-Siddhi 117
bright] that thou wilt scarcely be able to look at it. Fear it not. That is the natural power of the wisdom of thine own intellect. Abide in the state of great resignation of im- partiality.
Along with it [i.e. the green light of the All-Performing Wisdom], a light of dull green colour from the Asura-loka, produced from the cause of the feeling of jealousy, coming side by side with the Wisdom Rays, will shine upon thee. Medi- tate upon it with impartiality——with neither repulsion nor attraction. Be not fond of it: if thou art of low mental capacity, be not fond of it.
Thereupon, through the influence of intense jealousy,’ thou wilt be terrified at the dazzling radiance of the green light and wilt [wish to] flee from it; and thou wilt beget a fondness for that dull green light of the Asura-loka. At that time fear not the glorious and transparent, radiant and dazzling green light, but know it to be Wisdom ; and in that state allow thine intellect to rest in resignation. Or else [think], ‘It is the hook-rays of the light of grace of the Bhagavan Amogha-Siddhi, which is the All-Performing Wisdom’. Believe [thus] on it. Flee not from it.
Even though thou shouldst flee from it, it will follow thee inseparably [from thyself]. Fear it not. Be not fond of that dull green light of the Asura-loka. That is the karmic path of acquired intense jealousy, which hath come to receive thee. If thou art attracted by it, thou wilt fall into the Asura-loka and have to engage in unbearable miseries of quarrelling and warfare.? [That is an] interruption to obstruct thy path of liberation. Be not attracted by it. Abandon thy propensities. Be not weak. Trust in the dazzling green radiance, and putting thy whole thought one-pointedly upon the Divine Father-Mother, the Bhagavan Amogha-Siddhi, pray thus:
1 Here, as in the previous and following paragraph, the jealousy referred to is the karmic propensities of jealousy existing as part of the content of the consciousness (or subconsciousness) of the deceased; and, erupting on this the Fifth Day of the Bardo existence, they produce their corresponding ‘ astral’ hallucinations.
2 Quarrelling and warfare are the chief passions of a being born as an asura in the Asura-loka.
118 Bardo of Karqnc Ierusions [Book 1
‘Alas! when wandering in the Sangsdra because of the
power of intense jealousy,
On the radiant light-path of the All-Performing Wisdom
May [I] be led by the Bhagavan Amogha-Siddhi ;
May the Divine Mother, the Faithful Tara, be [my] rear-
guard ;
May [I] be led safely across the dangerous ambush of
the Bardo;
And may [I] be placed in the state of the All-Perfect
Buddhahood.’
By praying thus with intense faith and humility, thou wilt merge into the heart of the Divine Father-Mother, the Bhagavan Amogha-Siddhi, in halo of rainbow light, and attain Buddhahood in the Sambhoga-K aya, in the Northern Realm of Heaped-up Good Deeds.!
[the Sixth Day]
Being thus set face to face at various stages, however weak one’s karmic connexions may be, one should have recognized in one or the other of them; and where one has recognized in any of them it is impossible not to be liberated. Yet, although set face to face so very often in that manner, one long habituated to strong propensities and lacking in familiarity with, and pure affection for, Wisdom, may be led backwards by the power of one’s own evil inclinations despite these many introductions. The hook-rays of the light of grace may not be able to catch hold of one: one may still wander downwards because of one’s begetting the feeling of awe and terror of the lights and rays.
Thereupon all the Divine Fathers-Mothers of the Five Orders [of Dhyani Buddhas] with their attendants will come to shine upon one simultaneously. At the same time, the lights proceeding from the Six Lokas will likewise come to shine upon one simultaneously.
The setting-face-to-face for that is, calling the deceased by name, thus:
O nobly-born, until yesterday each of the Five Orders of
1 The Block-Print has ‘Realm of Perfected Good Deeds (or ‘‘ Actions”)? ; and this is the more correct form.
The Great
Mandala of the Peaceful Deitie
Xi, Ti8
Described on pages xviti
The Tibetan Wheel of the Law
Described on page xxitt
Part Ii] the Five Dhyani Buddhas 119
Deities had shone upon thee, one by one; and thou hadst been set face to face, but, owing to the influence of thine evil propensities, thou wert awed and terrified by them and hast remained here till now.
If thou hadst recognized the radiances of the Five Orders of Wisdom to be the emanations from thine own thought- forms, ere this thou wouldst have obtained Buddhahood in the Sambhoga-K aya, through having been absorbed into the halo of rainbow light in one or another of the Five Orders of Buddhas. But now look on undistractedly. Now the lights of all Five Orders, called the Lights of the Union of Four Wisdoms,}! will come to receive thee. Act so as to know them.
O nobly-born, on this the Sixth Day, the four colours of the primal states of the four elements [water, earth, fire, air] will shine upon thee simultaneously. At that time, from the Central Realm of the Spreading Forth of Seed, the Buddha? Vairochana, the Divine Father-Mother, with the attendant
1 The philosophically descriptive Tibetan terms (which are not contained in our text) for these Four Wisdoms are: (1) Snang-Stong (pron. Nang-Tong), ‘Phenomena and Voidness’ ; (2) Gsal-Stong (pron. Sal-Tong), ‘Radiance and Voidness’; (3) Bde-Stong (pron. De-Tong), ‘Bliss and Voidness’; (4) Rig- Stong (pron. Rig-Tong), ‘Consciousness and Voidness’.
They correspond to the four stages of dhyana which arise in the same order. They probably also correspond, but in a less exact manner, to the Four Wisdoms: the Mirror-like Wisdom, the Wisdom of Equality, the All-Discrimi- nating Wisdom, and the All-Performing Wisdom.
‘Dhyana consists of progressive mental states: analysis (Skt. vzlarka), reflection (Skt. wichdra), fondness (Skt. fritz), bliss (Skt. @nanda), and concentra- tion (Skt. eka@gvata). In the first stage of dhyana, the devotee asks himself, ‘‘ What is this body? Isit lasting; is it the thing tobe saved?” and decides that to cling to an impermanent, corruptible bodily form, such as he thereby realizes it to be, is not desirable. Similarly, having gained knowledge of the nature of Form, he analyses and reflects upon Touch, Feeling, Volition, Cognition, and Desire ; and, finding that Mind is the apparent reality, arrives at ordinary concentration.
“In the second stage of dhydua, reflection only is employed; in other words, reflection transcends the lower mental process called analysis. In the third stage, reflection gives way to a blissful state of consciousness ; and this bliss, being at first apparently a physical sensation, merges into pure ecstasy, in the fourth stage. In the fifth stage, the sensation of ecstasy, although always present in a suppressed or secondary condition, gives way to complete concen- tration.’—Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup.
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 =
120 BARDO OF KARMIC ILLUSIONS [Book 1
[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: ‘ Vic- torious [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: ‘Horse- necked 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’ exoteri- cally, 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 ska&ti 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 direc- tions. 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 peace- ful 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’).