If at this stage one do not meet with this kind of teaching, one’s hearing [of religious lore]—although it be like an ocean [in its vastness]|—is of no avail. There are even dis- ciplinc-holding abbots [or dAzkkhus] and doctors in meta- physical discourses who err at this stage, and, not recognizing, wander into the Sangséara.
As for the common worldly folk, what need is there to mention them! By fleeing, through fear, terror, and awe, they fall over the precipices into the unhappy worlds and suffer. But the least of the least of the devotees of the mystic mantrayana doctrines, as soon as he sees these blood-drinking deities, will recognize them to be his tutelary deities, and the meeting will be like that of human acquaintances. He will trust them ; and becoming merged into them, in at-one- ment, will obtain Buddhahood.®
the brain psychic-centre ; they are the excited, or wrathful, reflex forms of the Peaceful Deities (who, when contrasted with their wrathful aspects, include the Knowledge-Holding Deities). (See p. 858 and Addenda, pp. 217-9.)
1 The fear, terror, and awe (or fascination)—on the part of the deceased on beholding the deities—arise only in the case of the ordinary devotee, who, as the text explains, has not had adequate yogic training, ere death, to enable him to recognize the Bardo as such, immediately upon dying, and pass beyond it. For the adept in yoga, who can take the Bardo ‘by the forelock’, as the text puts it (p. 100), mastering Death, and who knows that all apparitional appear- ances are unreal and powerless, both in this world and in all other worlds, there is no Bardo to experience; his goal is either an immediate and conscious rebirth among men or in one of the paradise realms, or, if he be really ripened— which would be an exceedingly rare circumstance —Nivvana,
2 No sooner does one radiance cease than another dawns; the deceased not having a moment of distraction, his intellect becomes concentratedly (i.e. one- pointedly) alert.
8 The blood symbolizes sangsdric existence ; the blood-drinking, the thirsting for, the drinking of, and the quenching of the thirst for, sangsdric existence.
Part | the Bsoteric Doctrines 133
By having meditated on the description of these blood- drinking deities, while in the human world, and by having performed some worship or praise of them; or, at least, by having seen their painted likenesses and their images, upon
witnessing the dawning of the deities at this stage, recogni- tion of them will result, and liberation. In this lieth the art.
Again, at the death of those discipline-holding abbots and
doctors in metaphysical discourses [who remain uninstructed in these Lardo teachings], however assiduously they may have devoted themselves to religious practices, and however clever they may have been in expounding doctrines while in the human world, there will not come any phenomenal signs such as rainbow-halo [at the funeral-pyre] nor bone- reliques [from the ashes]. This is because when they lived the mystic [or esoteric] doctrines were never held within their heart, and because they had spoken contemptuously of them, and because they were never acquainted [through initiation] with the deities of the mystic [or esoteric] doctrines ; thus, when these dawn on the Bardo, they do not recognize them. Suddenly [seeing] what they had never seen before, they view it as inimical; and, an antagonistic feeling being engendered, they pass into the miserable states because of that. Therefore, if the observers of the disciplines, and the metaphysicians, have not in them the practices of the mystic for esoteric] doctrines, such signs as the rainbow-halo come not, nor are bone-reliques and seed-like bones ever produced [from the bones of their funeral-pyre]:1 these are the reasons for it. For the devotee who—even at this stage—can be made to realize that these deities are thus but the karmic personifications of his own propensities, born from having lived and drunken life, and who has, in addition, the supreme power to face them unwaveringly (as in Bulwer Lytton’s Zanoni the Neophyte to succeed must face the ‘ Dweller on the Threshold’), meeting them like old acquaintances, and then losing his personality in them, enlightenment as to the true nature of sangsaric existence dawns, and, with it, the All-Perfect Illumination called Buddhahood.
1 The belief, prevalent among almost all peoples since immemorial time, that unusual phenomena commonly mark the death (as the birth) and funeral of a great hero or saint, also prevails among the Tibetans; and the Jamas hold
that such phenomena have a purely rational explanation, such as our text herein suggests. Furthermore, the /dmas maintain that, if a reputed saint be
134 BARDO OF KARMIC ILLUSIONS [Book I
The least of the least of mantrayanic [devotees ],—who may seem to be of very unrefined manners, unindustrious, untactful, and who may not live in accordance with his vows, and who in every way may be inelegant in his habits, and even unable, perhaps, to carry the practices of his teachings to a successful issue,—let no one feel disrespect for nor doubt him, but pay reverence to the esoteric [or mystic] doctrines [which he holdeth]. By that, alone, one obtaineth liberation at this stage.
Even though the deeds [of one paying such reverence] may not have been very elegant while in the human world, at his death there will come at least one kind of sign, such as rain- bow-radiance, bone-images, and bone-reliques. This is because the esoteric [or mystic] doctrines possess great gift-waves.’
[Those of, and] above, the mystic mantrayanic devotees of ordinary [psychic development], who have meditated upon the visualization and perfection processes and practised the essences [or essence mantras],? need not wander down this far on the Chényid Bardo. As soon as they cease to breathe, they will be led into the pure paradise realms by the Heroes and Heroines and the Knowledge-Holders.? As a sign of
really a saint, among the charred bones from his funeral pyre there will be found some shaped into beautiful forms like images, and that small pearl-like (or, as the text has it, seed-like) nodules will appear in the ashes of the bones cremated.
1 That is to say, the esoteric doctrines being realizable—because based on Truth itself—one who follows or even reverences them is, thereby, auto- matically brought into rapport with very definite psychic forces.
2 That is to say, those devotees who have practised, in a thoroughly scientific manner, under a competent guru, the intonation of certain sacred mantras called essence mantras. Examples of such mantras are: Om Mani Padme Him (‘ Hail to the Jewel in the Lotus !’ or ‘Hail to Him Who is the Jewel in the Lotus !’); Om Wagi Short Mam (‘Hail to the Lord of Speech! Mam’); Om Vajra Pant Him (‘Hail to the Holder of the Dorje!’): the three essence mantras of ‘The Three Protectors’ of Lamaism; the first being the essence mantra of the Bodhisattva Chenrazee (Skt. Avalokita), ‘The Seer with keen eyes’, The Great Pitier; the second, that of the Bodhisattva Jampalyang (Skt. Maiijughosha), ‘The God of Mystic Wisdom’; and the third, that of the Bodhisattva Chakdor (Skt. Vajra-Pani), ‘The Wielder of the Thunderbolt’.
8 Cf. the following passage, from a prayer on behalf of the dying person, in The Book of the Craft of Dying, Chap. VI, Comper’s ed. (p. 45): ‘When thy soul passcth out of thy body, [may] glorious companics of angels come against thee : the victorious host, worthy judges, and senators of the holy apostles meet
Part Ii] Paths of Liberation 135
this, the sky will be cloudless; they will merge into rainbow radiance; there will be sun-showers, sweet scent of incense [in the air], music in the skies, radiances; bone-reliques and images [from their funeral-pyre].
Therefore, to the abbots [or discipline-holders], to the doctors, and to those mystics who have failed in their vows, and to all the common people, this 7ddol is indispensable.} But those who have meditated upon the Great Perfection and the Great Symbol? will recognize the Clear Light at the moment of death; and, obtaining the Dharma-Kaya, all of them will be such as not to need the reading of this Thodol. By recognizing the Clear Light at the moment of death, they also will recognize the visions of the Peaceful and the Wrathful during the Chényid Bardo, and obtain the Sambhoga-Kaya; or, recognizing during the Szdpa Bardo, obtain the Virmana-K aya; and, taking birth on the higher planes, will, in the next rebirth, meet with this Doctrine, and then enjoy the continuity of karma.®
with thee: the fair, white, shining company of holy confessors, with the victorious number of glorious martyrs, come about thee: the joyful company of holy virgins receive thee: and the worthy fellowship of holy patriarchs open to thee the place of rest and joy, and deem thee to be among them that they be among, everlastingly.’
1 The /émas maintain that, while mere goodness and book knowledge are desirable in devotees seeking Liberation, spiritual wisdom coupled with un- shakable faith, and the setting aside of all intellectualisms, are indispensable. One of the precepts of the great Tibetan yogis, taught to all neophytes, is: ‘ Difficult indeed is it to obtain Liberation through intellectual knowledge alone ; through faith, Liberation is easily obtained.’
2 ¢The Great Perfection’ refers to the fundamental doctrine concerning the gaining of Perfection or Buddhahood as taught by the School of Guru Padma Sambhava. ‘The Great Symbol (Tib. Chhag-chhen: Skt. Maha Mudra)’ refers to an ancient Indian system of yoga, related to the same School, but more especially practised nowadays by the followers of the semi-reformed Kargyutpa sect, founded in the latter half of the eleventh century a.p. by the learned Tibetan yog? Marpa, who, having sojourned in India as the disciple of the pandtt Atisha and of Naropa, Atisha’s disciple, introduced the Great Symbol into Tibet. Milarepa, the most beloved of all Tibetan yog?s, who was Marpa’s successor, developed the practice of the Great Symbol and made it the foundation teaching of the Sect. (See pp. 78-9.)
3 If there be recognition of Reality when it first dawns, i.e. if the Dreamer in sangsaric existence be awakened into the divine state of the Sambhoga-Kaya during the Chényid Bardo, the normal cycle of rebirth is broken; and the Awakened One returns voluntarily and fully conscious to the human world as
136 BARDO OF KARMIC ILLUSIONS [Book 1
Therefore, this 7Zcdol is the doctrine by which Buddhahood may be attained without meditation ; the doctrine liberating by the hearing [of it] alone; the doctrine which leadeth beings of great evil Aarvma on the Secret Path; the doctrine which produceth differentiation instantaneously [between those who are initiated into it and those who are not]: being the profound doctrine which conferreth Perfect En- lightenment instantaneously. Those sentient beings who have been reached by it cannot go to the unhappy states.
This [doctrine] and the Zahdol [doctrine]', when joined to- gether being like unto a mandala of gold inset with turquoise, combine them.
Thus, the indispensable nature of the 7ddol being shown,
there now cometh the setting-face-to-face with the dawning of
the Wrathful [Deities] in the Bardo.
[the Eighth Day]
Again, calling the deceased by name, [address him] thus:
O nobly-born, listen undistractedly. Not having been able to recognize when the Peaceful [Deities] shone upon thee in the Lardo above, thou hast come wandering thus far. Now, on the Eighth Day, the blood-drinking Wrathful Deities will come to shine. Act so as to recognize them without bcing distracted.
a Divine Incarnation, to work for the uplifting of mankind. If recognition be delayed till the Sidpa Bardo, and the Mirmana-Kaya be attained, that is but a partial awakening, not an unclouded realization of Reality, the Szdpa Bardo being a much lower plane than the Chéuyid Bardo; but even then there will be won the great boon of spiritually enlightened birth on one of the higher planes— deva-loka, asura-loka, or the human-/oka—and, upon being born anew in the human world, the devotee will take up, in virtue of acquired propensities gained in the previous earth-life, the study of the mystic mantraydua doctrines and yogic practices from the point where it was broken off by death—this being the continuity of karma,
* Text: Btags-grol (pron. Tah-dol), a small Tibetan work, consisting wholly of mantras, used as an accompaniment to the Bardo Thédol. If the deceased dies knowing the Tahdol mantras, they, being powerful talismans, give him safe passage through the Bardo and a happy rebirth. Very often a copy of the Tahdol (or perhaps merely some of its mantras copied on small strips of paper and wound together in a tiny roll) is tied to the corpse and burned or buried with it—just as a copy of the Egyptian Book of the Dead was ordinarily interred with a mummy.
cru wae aS ety MANE DOT amt
THE GREAT MANDALA OF THE KNOWLEDGE-HOLDING AND WRATHFUL DEITIES
Described on pages xix-%%, 127-8, 217-20
THE DORJE THE LAMAIC SCEPTRE