It is true that spirit-evocation of a kind is practised in Tibet, as throughout Mongolia and China, by /am#as who form a class of oracular priests, consulted on important problems of political policy even by the Dalai Lama himself. But the spirits called up are tutelary deities of a low order called the ‘executive-order’ (Tib. bkah-dod—pron. ka-dét, meaning ‘ one awaiting orders’) and never intention- ally the spirits or ghosts of men or women recently deceased. Some of these bkahdods are, so the Tibetans believe, the spirits of /émas and devotees who have failed—often through practising black magic—to obtain spiritual enlighten- ment when in the human world, or who otherwise, in the manner described in the text here, have been diverted from the normal path of progress, Thus, in many instances, they have become demoniacal and malignant spirits, whose progress has been arrested not by being bound to the earth-plane through having been called up by ‘mediums’ soon after their decease, but naturally through very evil karma. Such bkahdods, thus often presenting themselves with ordinary spirits of the dead, are, as obsessing demons, said to do much harm mentally and psychically to the untrained ‘medium’ and clients, insanity and moral irresponsi- bility not infrequently resulting. For these reasons, the /@mas maintain that psychic research should be conducted only by masters of the occult, or magical, sciences, and not indiscriminately by the guru-less multitude.
In Sikkim, where our translation was made, necromancy precisely like that now practised in the West has been practised for unknown centuries, as it still
188 BARDO OF SEEKING REBIRTH [Book I!
At this time, if one can recollect the Great Symbol | teach- ings] concerning the Voidness, that will be best. If one be not trained in that, train the [mental] powers + into [regarding] all things as illusion [or maya]. Even if this be impossible, be not attracted by anything, By meditating upon the Tutelary Deity, the Great Compassionate [One], Buddhahood will be obtained in the Sambhoga-K aya.
[THE ALTERNATIVE CHOOSING: SUPERNORMAL BIRTH; OR WOMB-BIRTH]
If, however, O nobly-born, thou hast, because of the influence of karma, to enter into a womb, the teaching for the selection of the womb-door will be explained now. Listen.
Do not enter into any sort of womb which may be come
by. If compelled by tormenting furics to enter, meditate
upon Hayagriva.
Since thou now possessest a slender supernormal power of
foreknowledge, all the places [of birth] will be known to thee,
one after another.? Choose accordingly.
There are two alternatives: the transference [of the conscious- ness-principle] to a pure Buddha realm, and the sclection of the impure sangsaric womb-door, to be accomplished as follows:
is. The Lepchas, descendants of the primitive races of Sikkim, who still form a large part of the rural population, are as thoroughly animistic in their worships as the American Red Men; and, largely through their influence, the evocation of the dead has become rather widespread among the Sikkimese Buddhist lay- folk, many of whom are of both Tibetan and Lepcha blood. Similarly, in Buddhist Bhutan, such spirit-evocation iscommon. In both countries, however, the /amas strenuously, though rather ineffectually, oppose it.
It is said that the retardation of a Bardo-bound spirit may be for any time from five hundred to one thousand years; and, in exceptional cases, for ages. All the while, escape from the Bardo being prevented, the deceased can neither pass on to a paradise realm nor be reborn in the human world. Ultimately, however, the womb will be entered and the Bardo come to an end.
1 Text: rtsal (pron, sal): ‘powers’; elsewhere in our text dvang-po (pron. wang-po) being rendered as ‘ faculties’.
# In a series of visions, the Knower will become aware of the lot or destiny associated with cach womb or place of birth seen. Here again we are reminded of the episode in the tenth book of Plato’s Republic, describing a band of Greek heroes in the Otherworld choosing their bodies for the next incarnation.
Part Ii] Consciousness Projection 189
[SUPERNORMAL BIRTH BY TRANSFERENCE TO A PARADISE REALM]
In the first—the transference to a pure paradise—the pro- jection is directed [by thinking or meditating] thus:
‘Alas! how sorrowful it is that I, during all the innumerable kalpas since illimitable, beginningless time, until now, have been wandering in the Quagmire of Sangs@ra! O how pain- ful that I have not been liberated into Buddhahood by knowing the consciousness to be the self! hitherto cre this! Now doth this Sangsara disgust me, horrify me, sicken me; now hath the hour come to prepare to flee from it. I mysclf will so act as to be born in The Happy Western Realm, at the feet of the Buddha Amitabha,? miraculously from amidst a lotus blossom.’ ®
Thinking thus, direct the resolution [or wish] earnestly
[to that Realm]; or, likewise, to any Realm thou mayst
desire,—The Pre-eminently Happy Realm, or The Thickly-
Formed Realm, or The Realm [of Those] of Long Hair,*
1 Text: vig-pa (‘consciousness’) + bdag (pro. dag, meaning ‘self’: Skt. dima). Should we consider ‘consciousness’ in this context to be the essential or true consciousness, i. e. the subconsciousness—and this meaning is implied— the passage would be in direct accord with the psychology of the West, which, on the basis of much accumulated data, might very well postulate that the sub- consciousness, being the storehouse of all memory-records, from this life or from hypothetical past lives, is the real self—the bed in which flows on un- brokenly the ‘life-flux’, from one state of existence to another, aud which, when transmuted by the alchemy of Perfect Enlightenment, becomes the supra- mundane consciousness, i. e, the Buddha consciousness. (Cf. W.Y.Evans-Wentz, The Fairy-laith in Celtic Countries, Oxford University Press, 1911, chap. XII.)
That this view is in keeping with the recorded teachings of the Buddha Himself is evident from the Lonaphala Vagga of the Anguttara Nikaya, wherein He expounds the yogic method of recovering memories, innate in the sub- consciousness (see our Introduction, pp. go-1). Sobhita, one of the Buddha’s disciples, was declared, by the Buddha Himself, to be pre-eminent in ‘ ability to remember former existences’ (cf. Etaddagga Vagga, Anguttara Nikdya), being credited with ability to recall systematically his former existences throughout soo falpas; and, in the same Vagga, the Buddha names, from among His female disciples, Bhadda Kapilanit as being pre-eminent ‘in ability to trace lineage of prior sandhas (or human bodies)’.
2 Here, as elsewhere through this treatise, the Buddha Amitabha is to be regarded not as a personal deity, but as a divine power or principle inherent in or emanating from The Happy Western Realm.
8 See p. 190%.
4 This is the Paradise of Vajra-Pani (sec p. 116+), and is not a Buddha Realm.
190 Bardo of Seeking Rebirth [Book Ii
or The Illimitable Vihara of the Lotus Radiance,! in Urgyan’s presence; or direct thy wish to any Realm which thou desirest most, in undistracted one-pointedness [of mind]. By doing so, birth will take place in that Realm instantaneously.
Or, if thou desirest to go to the presence of Maitreya, in the Tushita Heavens,? by directing an earnest wish in like manner and thinking, ‘I will go to the presence of Maitreya in the Tushita Heavens, for the hour hath struck for me here in the Intermediate State’, birth will be obtained miraculously inside a lotus blossom? in the presence of Maitreya.
[Womb-Birth: the Return to the Human World]
If, however, such [a supernormal birth] be not possible, and one delighteth in entering a womb or hath to enter, there is a teaching for the selection of the womb-door of impure Sangsara. Listen:
Looking with thy supernormal power of foresight over the
Continents, as above, choose that in which religion prevaileth
and enter therein.
If birth is to be obtained over a heap of impurities,* a sensa- tion that it is sweet-smelling will attract one towards that impure mass, and birth will be obtained thereby.
Whatsoever they [the wombs or visions] may appear to be, do not regard them as they are [or seem]; and by not being attracted or repelled a good womb should be chosen. In this, too, since it is important to direct the wish, direct it thus:
‘Ah! I ought to take birth as a Universal Emperor ;
If, as seems probable, the ‘long hair’ refers to wearing the hair in ‘ pigtails’ after the Chinese fashion, that would provide further internal evidence of our text having taken form in Tibet rather than in India,
' This is the Realm wherein the Great Guru Padma Sambhava (here called Urgyan) now reigns,
* Maitreya, the next Bodhic World-Teacher, now bides his time in the Tushita Heavens, where He reigns as King. (See p. 1085.)
8 Birth from within a lotus blossom, in the Tushita Heavens, as in the Deva- world, esoterically implies pure birth, that is, birth without entrance into a womb, womb-birth being considered impure.
4 That is, the sperm and the ovum in the impregnated womb.
PART 11] ART OF CHOOSING A WOMB 1g!
or as a Brahmin, like a great sal-tree;! or as the son of an adept in séddhic powers;? or in a spotless hierarchical line; or in the caste of a man who is filled with [religious] faith; and, being born so, be endowed with great merit so as to be able to serve all sentient beings.’
Thinking thus, direct thy wish, and enter into the womb. At the same time, emit thy gift-waves [of grace, or good-will] upon the womb which thou art entering, [transforming it thereby] into a celestial mansion.? And believing that the Conquerors and their Sons [or Bodhisattvas] of the Ten Directions, and the tutelary deities, especially the Great Compassionate [One], are conferring power thereon, pray unto Them, and enter the womb.
In selecting the womb-door thus, there is a possibility of error: through the influence of farma, good wombs may appear bad and bad wombs may appear good; such error is possible. At that time, too, the art of the teaching being important, thereupon do as follows:
Even though a womb may appear good, do not be attracted ; if it appear bad, have no repulsion towards it. To be free from repulsion and attraction, or from the wish to take or to avoid, —to enter in the mood of complete impartiality,—is the most profound of arts. Excepting only for the few who have had some practical experience [in psychical development], it is difficult to get rid of the remnants of the disease of evil propensities.
[Instructions to the Officiant]: Therefore, if unable to part with the attraction and repulsion, those of the least mentality
1 Text: sala: Skt. shala (the shorea robusta), one of the hardwood forest- trees of India, growing to great size; the Tibetan word for Brahmin is Bramze (pron. Tamze). The ancient Indians regarded the sal-tree, with its splendid foliage and beautiful blossoms, as the best of trees; and for the Buddhists it is sanctified by the birth and death of the Enlightened One which took place under its protecting shade.
2 Text : grub-pa-thob-pa (pron. dub-pa-thob-pa) : Skt. Siddha-purusha: ‘adept in siddhic (or yogic) powers.’
8 The meaning may otherwise be put thus: By exercise of thy supernormal powers, visualize, as a celestial mansion, the womb thou art entering.
4 These are: the four cardinal points, the four midway points, and the nadir and zenith.
192 BARDO OF SEEKING REBIRTH [B0oK II
and of evil karma will be liable to take refuge amongst brutes.? The way to repel therefrom is to call the deceased by name again, thus:
O nobly-born, if thou art not able to rid thyself of attrac- tion and repulsion, and know not the [art of] selecting the womb-door, whichever of the above visions may appear, call upon the Precious Trinity and take refuge [therein]. Pray unto the Great Compassionate One. Walk with thy head erect. Know thyself in the Bardo. Cast away all weakness and attraction towards thy sons and daughters or any relations left behind thee; they can be of no use to thee. Enter upon the White Light-[Path] of the devas, or upon the Yellow Light-[Path]? of human beings; enter into the great mansions of precious metals and into the delightful gardens.
[Instructions to the Officiant]: Repeat that [address to the deceased] seven times over. Then there should be offered ‘The Invocation of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas’; ‘The Path of Good Wishes Giving Protection from Fears in the Bardo’; ‘The Root Words [or Verses] of the Bardo’; and ‘The Rescuer [or Path of Good Wishes for Saving] from the Ambuscades [or Dangerous Narrow Passage-Way] of the Bardo’.® These are to be read over thrice. ‘The Zahdol’, which liberateth the body-aggregate,* should also be read out.
1 Or, esoterically, amongst wombs of brute-like human beings. (Cf. p. 1851.)
2 The text here contains, instead of Yellow Light, ‘ Blue Light’, evidently, as in like instances above, through error in copying.
3 These four Prayers (or ‘ Paths of Good Wishes’) are given in the Appendix, pp. 197-208.