Beyond one such universe there lies another, and so on to infinity.! Each universe, like a great cosmic egg, is enclosed within the iron-wall shell, which shuts in the light of the sun and moon and stars, the iron-wall shell being symbolical of the perpetual darkness separating one universe from another. All universes alike are under the domination of natural law, with which karma is commonly made synonymous; for, in the Buddhist view, there is no scientific necessity to affirm or to deny the existence of a supreme God-Creator, the Karmic Law furnishing a complete explanation of all phenomena and being of itself demonstrable.
Each universe, like our own, rests upon ‘a warp and woof’ of blue air (i.e. ether), symbolized by crossed dorjes (such as are depicted by the emblem on the cover of our book). Upon
1 Could we take the /@maic conception of a universe to be that of a world- system, and of a plurality of universes to be that of a plurality of world- systems forming a universe, we should then be able better to correlate the cosmography of Northern Buddhism (and of Brahmanism, from which it appears to have originated) with the cosmography of Western Science.
64 Introduction
this rests ‘the body of the waters’ of the outer Ocean. Each Ocean symbolizes a stratum of air (or ether), and each of the intervening mountains a stratum of congealed air (or ether), that is to say, material substance; or, from a more occult view-point, the Oceans are the Subtle and the Mountains the Gross, the one alternating with the other as Opposites.
Like the Seven Days of the Mosaic version of Creation, the numerical dimensions which the /amas assign to our universe are more often to be taken as suggestive or symbolical than literal. Mt. Meru, they say, towers 80,000 miles above the Central Enchanted Ocean and extends below the surface of the waters the same distance, the Central Ocean itself being also 80,000 miles deep and 80,000 miles wide. The succeed- ing girdle of Golden Mountains is just half that number of miles in height and width and depth, and the next Ocean, correspondingly, 40,000 miles deep and 40,coo miles wide. The consecutive circles of alternating pairs composed of Golden Mountains and an Enchanted Ocean gradually diminish as to width, depth, and height, being respectively 20,000, 10,000, 5,0CO, 2,500, 1,250, and 625 miles. This brings us to the Con- tinents in the Outer Ocean of Space.
Of these Continents, the four chief ones—as described in the Second Book of our Bardo Thodol—are situated in the Four Directions. On either side of each of these Four Continents are smaller or satellite Continents, thus making the total number of Continents twelve, which, again, is a sym- bolical number, like the number seven of the cosmographical arrangement.
The Eastern Continent is called in Tibetan Lii-pah (Lus- hpags), or ‘Vast Body’ (Skt. Viradt-deha). Its symbolical shape is like that of a crescent moon; and, accordingly, the colour white is assigned to it, and crescentic faces are ascribed to its inhabitants, who are said to be tranquil-minded and virtuous. Its diameter is given as being 9,000 miles.
The Southern Continent is our Planet Earth, called Jambu- ling (Skt. Fambudvipa), probably an onomatopoeic word— as the translator held—descriptive of the fruit of a jambu-tree falling into water, dmg itself meaning ‘place’, or ‘region’.
The Cosmography 65
The name _Jambuling would thus mean the region or continent wherein jambu-fruit fall into the water. Its symbolic shape is like that of the shoulder-blade of a sheep, that is sub- triangular, or rather pear-shaped, to which the faces of its inhabitants conform. Blue is the colour assigned to it. Riches and plenty abound in it, along with both good and evil. It is said to be the smallest of the Four Continents, being but 7,000 miles in diameter,
The Western Continent is called Balongchéd (Ba-glang- spyod), literally meaning cow+ox+ action (Skt. Godhana, or ‘Wealth of Oxen’). In shape it is like the sun, and red of colour. Its inhabitants, whose faces are round like the sun, are believed to be very powerful and to be addicted to eating cattle, as the literal meaning of its name itself may suggest. Its diameter measures 8,000 miles.
The Northern Continent is Daminyan, or Graminyan (Sgva- mi-snyan), equivalent to the Sanskrit U¢tara Kuru, meaning ‘Northern Kuru [Race]’. It is of square shape and green colour. Its inhabitants have corresponding faces, square like those of horses. Trees supply all their sustenance and wants, and the Kuru, on dying, haunt the trees as tree-spirits. This is the largest of the Continents, being 10,coo miles in diameter.
Each satellite Continent resembles the Continent to which it is attached, and is one-half its size. The left Satellite of our world (/ambuling), called Ngadyabling, is, for example, the world of the Rakshasas, to which Padma Sambhava, the Great Guru of Lamaism, is believed to have gone to teach the Rakshasas goodness and salvation, and to be there now as their king.’
Underlying this /amazc cosmology there is, as research will show, an elaborate symbolism. Take, for instance, the descrip- tion of Mt. Meru as given by Dr. Waddell: ‘Its eastern face is of silver, the south of jasper, the west of ruby, and the north of gold’*—which illustrates a use of ancient symbols very similar to that in the Revelation of John. The complete rational explanation of all the symbolism connected with
1 Cf. Gazetteer of Sikhim, pp. 320-3.
2 Cf. ibid., p. 322.
8069 K
66 Introduction
Hindu and in turn Buddhist cosmography would be—even if it were possible for us—quite beyond the scope of an intro- duction. Suffice it to say that the possession of a key to such explanation is claimed by expert professors of the Occult Sciences in India and in Tibet—compared to which, in the realm of mind and matter, our Western Science is, so they maintain, but at the Threshold of the Temple of Under- standing.
Xii. the Fundamental Teachings Summarized
Ere passing on to the final Sections of this Introduction, touching the Manuscript itself, we may now summarize the chief teachings upon which the whole of the Bardo Thédol is based, as follows:
1. That all possible conditions, or states, or realms of sang- saric existence, heavens, hells, and worlds, are entirely depen- dent upon phenomena, or, in other words, are nought but phenomena ;
2. That all phenomena are transitory, are illusionary, are unreal, and non-existent save in the samgsd@ric mind perceiving them ;
3. That in reality there are no such beings anywhere as
gods, or demons, or spirits, or sentient creatures—all alike
being phenomena dependent upon a cause;
4. That this cause is a yearning or thirsting after sensation, after the unstable sangsaric existence ;
5. That so long as this cause is not overcome by Enlighten- ment death follows birth and birth death, unceasingly—even as the wise Socrates believed ;
6. That the after-death existence is but a continuation,
under changed conditions, of the phenomena-born existence
of the human world—both states alike being karmic ;
7, That the nature of the existence intervening betwcen
death and rebirth in this or any other world is determined by
antecedent actions ;
8. That, psychologically speaking, it is a prolonged dream- like state, in what may be called the fourth dimension of space, filled with hallucinatory visions directly resultant from
The Fundamental Teachings 67
the mental-content of the percipient, happy and heaven-like if the karma be good, miserable and hell-like if the arma be bad ;
g. That, unless Enlightenment be won, rebirth in the human world, directly from the Bardo-world or from any other world or from any paradise or hell to which arma has led, is inevitable ;
10. That Enlightenment results from realizing the unreality of the sangsdara, of existence ;
11. That such realizing is possible in the human world, or at the important moment of death in the human world, or during the whole of the after-death or Bardo-state, or in certain of the non-human realms ;
12. That training in yoga, i.e. in control of the thinking processes so as to be able to concentrate the mind in an effort to reach Right Knowledge, is essential ;
13. That such training can best be had under a human guru, or teacher ;
14. That the Greatest of Gurus known to mankind in this cycle of time is Gautama the Buddha;
15. That His Doctrine is not unique, but is the same Doctrine which has been proclaimed in the human world for the gaining of Salvation, for the Deliverance from the Circle of Rebirth and Death, for the Crossing of the Ocean of Sangsdra, for the Realization of Mirvéua, since immemorial time, by a long and illustrious Dynasty of Buddhas, who were Gautama’s Predecessors ;
16. That lesser spiritually enlightened beings, Bodhisattvas and gurus, in this world or in other worlds, though still not freed from the Net of Illusion, can, nevertheless, bestow divine grace and power upon the shzshya (i.e. the chela, or disciple) who is less advanced upon the Path than themselves ;
17. That the Goal is and can only be Emancipation from the Saugsara ;
18. That such Emancipation comes from the Realization of Nirvana ;
19. That Mirvaua is non-sangsaric, being beyond all para- dises, heavens, hells, and worlds ;
68 Introduction
20. That it is the Ending of Sorrow ;
21. That it is Reality.
He who realized Nirvana, the Buddha Gautama Himself, has spoken of it to His own disciples thus:
‘There is, disciples, a Realm devoid of earth and water, fire and air. It is not endless space, nor infinite thought, nor nothingness, neither ideas nor non-ideas. Not this world nor that is it. I call it neither a coming nor a departing, nor a standing still, nor death, nor birth; it is without a basis, progress, or a stay; it is the ending of sorrow.
‘For that which clingeth to another thing there is a fall; but unto that which clingeth not no fall can come. Where no fall cometh, there is rest, and where rest is, there is no keen desire. Where keen desire is not, naught cometh or goeth ; and where naught cometh or goeth there is no death, no birth. Where there is neither death nor birth, there neither is this world nor that, nor in between—it is the ending of sorrow.
‘There is, disciples, an Unbecome, Unborn, Unmade, Un- formed; if there were not this Unbecome, Unborn, Unmade, Unformed, there would be no way out for that which is become, born, made, and formed; but since there is an Un- become, Unborn, Unmade, Unformed, there is escape for that which is become, born, made, and formed.’!
Xui. the Manuscript
Our manuscript copy of the Bardo Thédol was procured by the editor early in the year 1919 from a young /éma of the Kargyutpa Sect of the Red Hat School attached to the Bhutia Basti Monastery, Darjeeling, who said that it had been handed down in his family for several generations. The manuscript is unlike any other seen by the translator or editor, in that it is illustrated by paintings in colour painted on the folios of the text. All other similarly illus- trated Tibetan manuscripts seen by us have had the illustra- tions made on separate pieces of manuscript paper or else of cotton cloth, pasted to the folios. When procured, the
1 Udana, viii. 1, 4, 3; based on a translation from the original Pali by Mr. Francis J. Payne, London, England.
The Manuscript 69
manuscript was in a very ragged and worn condition, now remedied by each folio being inserted in a protective frame of Tibetan paper of the same sort as that upon which the manuscript is written. Fortunately, all of the illuminated folios, though faded, were in a fair state of preservation, One of the ordinary folios, folio number 111, was missing, but this has now been replaced by a faithful copy of the same passage found in a Block-Print version of the Bardo Thédol belonging to Dr. Johan Van Manen, Secretary of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta, well known as a Tibetan scholar. Reference to this Block-Print version is made throughout our translation. In all essentials, and, generally, word for word, our manuscript and Dr. Van Manen’s Block-Print were found to be identical. In some spellings of proper names of deities of Sanskrit origin there are variations in the two versions, and in both books a number of clerical errors. The manuscript is far older than the modern Block- Print and seems to have been copicd from an earlier manu- script.