If thou recognizest in that manner, exerting thy faith and affection towards the tutelary deities and believing that they have come to receive thee amidst the ambuscades of the Bardo, think, ‘[1] take refuge [in them]’; and remember the Precious Trinity, exerting towards them [the Trinity] fondness and faith. Whosoever thine own tutelary deity may be, recollect now ; [and] calling him by name, pray thus:
' Text: khram-shing (pron. htam-shing), referring to a board—cither a flogging- board such as that on which culprits are stretched and flogged in Tibet, or else, as here, a board written over with karmic records of the deceased’s life. Khram is the name given to a scroll of records or an inventory like a rent-roll; shing alone means ‘wood’, Hence we may render the two words as ‘ wood-register’ or ‘record-board’. In the great Tibetan Arthurian-like saga called in Tibetan Ge-sar-bsgrungs (pron. Ke-sar-doong), or Kesar Saga (of unknown author, but probably dating from the eighth or ninth century a.p.), which is so much the popular saga of Tibet that many Tibetans know it by heart, a boy, thirteen years of age, who, when wishing to join in a battle, is held back by fond relatives, brushes them aside, saying, ‘ The place of illness, the place of death, and the place of cremation are in accordance with the [karmic] register of the Lords of Death’; and here the Tibetan word for register is khram.
The verification of our rendering of this passage is important because, like other passages in the Bardo Thédol, particularly the closely-related passage describing the Judgement, coming in the Second Book (pp. 165-9), it has striking correspondence with parts of the Egyptian Book of the Dead,
Part Ti] Prayers for Liberation 149
‘Alas !], wandering am I in the Bardo; run to my rescue ; Uphold me by thy grace, O Precious Tutelary!’
Calling upon the name of thine own gura, pray thus:
‘[Alas!] wandering am I in the Bardo; rescue me! [O] let not thy grace forsake me!’
Have faith in the Blood-Drinking Deities, too, and offer up this prayer: ‘Alas! when [I am] wandering in the Sangsara, through force of overpowering illusions, On the light-path of the abandonment of fright, fear, and awe, May the bands of the Bhagavans, the Peaceful and Wrathful Ones, lead [me] ; May the bands of the Wrathful Goddesses Rich in Space be [my] rear-guard, And save me from the fearful ambuscades of the Bardo, And place me in the state of the Perfectly-Enlightened Buddhas. When wandering alone, separated from dear friends, When the void forms of one’s own thoughts are shining here, May the Buddhas, exerting the force of their grace, Cause not to come the fear, awe, and terror in the Bardo. When the five bright Wisdom-Lights are shining here, May recognition come without dread and without awe ; When the divine bodies of the Peaceful and the Wrathful are shining here, May the assurance of fearlessness be obtained and the Bardo be recognized. When, by the power of evil karma, misery is being tasted, May the tutelary deities dissipate the misery ; When the natural sound of Reality is reverberating [like] a thousand thunders, May they be transmuted into the sounds of the Six Syllables."
1 These are of the essence mantra of Chenrazee (Avalokiteshvara), being Ow- Ma-ni-Pad-me-Him (pron. Om-Ma-ni-Pay-mé-Hing). (See p. 1342.) Chenrazee being the patron-god, or national tutelary deity, of Tibet, and this being his mantra, its repetition, both in the human world and on the Bardo plane, is credited with bringing to an end the cycle of rebirth and thereby giving entrance
150 BARDO OF KARMIC ILLUSIONS [Book I
When unprotected, Zarma having to be followed here,
I beseech the Gracious Compassionate [One]! to protect me ;
When suffering miseries of karmic propensities here,
May the blissfulness of the Clear Light dawn ;
May the Five Elements? not rise up as enemies ;
But may I behold the realms of the Five Orders of the Enlightened Ones.’
Thus, in earnest faith and humility, offer up the prayer ; whereby all fears will vanish and Buddhahood in the Sambhaga- Kaya will undoubtedly be won: important is this. Being un- distracted, repeat it in that manner, three or [even] seven times.
into Mrvdua; hence its importance in the Bardo prayer. In the Tibetan work called Mani-bkah-hbum (pron. Ma-nt-kah-boom), i.e. ‘ History of the Mani (or Mantra of Chenrazee)’ this #antra is said to be ‘the essence of all happiness, prosperity, and knowledge, and the great means of liberation’ ; also it is said that the dm closes the door of rebirth among the gods, md, among the asuras (or titans), ##, among mankind, pay, among sub-human creatures, mé, among pretas (or unhappy ghosts), and hing, among the inhabitants of Hell. Accord- ingly, each of the six syllables is given the colour of the light-path corresponding to the six states of existence, thus: 6, the white light-path of the deva-loka (or world of the gods); md, the green light-path of the asura-loka (or world of the titans) ; »?, the yellow light-path of the manaka-loka (or human world); pay, the blue light-path of the “#ryaka-loka (or brute world); sé, the red light-path of the preta-loka (or ghost world) ; and hing, the smoke-coloured or black light- path of the naraka-loka (or Hell world).
There is an old Tibetan folk-tale concerning a religious devotee who tried to incline his irreligious mother to devotional observances and merely succeeded in habituating her to the recitation of this santva. Her bad karma predominating over her good karma, at death she passed into the Hell-world, whereupon her son, being proficient in yoga, went to her rescue; and she, upon seeing him, was able, in virtue of having recited the santra on earth, to recite it in Hell, and instantaneously she and all who heard it were liberated from Hell: for, as the tale at its end teaches, ‘Such is the power of the mantra’.
The origin of this mantra is traceable through /evion works concerning the introduction (during the eighth century) of Tantric Buddhism into Tibet. Dr. Waddell is inclined to doubt that these feryton works were hidden away then (i.e. in the time of Padma Sambhava) and in later centuries recovered, as the tertons (i.e. ‘takers-out’ of such lost books) claim, and suggests that their compilation dates from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century—a tentative and possibly unsound theory (cf. L. A. Waddell, Lamatsm in Sikhim, in the Gaget- teer of Sikhim, ed. by H. H. Risley, Calcutta, 1894, p. 289 ; also our Introduction, Pp. 73-7). In any case, the mantra, at least by tradition (which ordinarily is as reliable as recorded history), seems to have come into, or been originated in, Tibet contemporaneously with the introduction of Buddhism into Tibct.
1 That is, Chenrazee,
2 These are: Earth, Air, Water, Fire, and Ether.
Part It] Winning of Liberation 151
However heavy the evil kava may be and however weak the remaining karma may be, it is not possible that libera- tion will not be obtained [if one but recognize]. If, never- theless, despite everything done in these [stages of the Bardo], recognition is still not brought about, then—there being danger of one’s wandering further, into the third Bardo, called the Sidpa Bardo—the setting-face-to-face for that will be shown in detail hereinafter.
[THE CONCLUSION, SHOWING THE FUNDAMEN-
TAL IMPORTANCE OF THE BARDO TEACH-
INGS]
Whatever the religious practices of any one may have been, —whether extensive or limited,—during the moments of death various misleading illusions occur; and hence this 7%ddol is indispensable. To those who have meditated much, the real Truth dawneth as soon as the body and consciousness-principle part. The acquiring of experience while living is important : they who have [then] recognized [the true nature of | thcir own being,! and thus have had some experience, obtain great power during the Bardo of the Moments of Death, when the Clear Light dawneth.
Again, the meditation on the deities of the Mystic Path of the Mantra, | both in the] visualizing and the perfecting stages, while living, will be of great influence when the peaceful and wrathful visions dawn on the Chonyid Bardo. Thus the training in this Bardo being of particular importance even while living,? hold to it, read it, commit it to memory, bear it in mind properly, read it regularly thrice; let the words and the meanings be very clear; it should be so that the words and the meanings will not be forgotten even though a hundred executioners were pursuing [thee].
1 Lit,, ‘intellect’ or ‘ consciousness-principle’.
2 Cf. the following passage from The Book of the Craft of Dying, chap. V, Comper’s ed. (p. 37): ‘That what man that lusteth, and will gladly die well and surely and meritorily, without peri], he must take heed visibly, and study and learn diligently this craft of dying, and the dispositions thereof abovesaid, while he is in heal [i.e. health}; and not abide till the death entereth in him,’
152 Bardo of Karmic Illusions
It is called the Great Liberation by Hearing, because even those who have committed the five boundless sins! are sure to be liberated if they hear it by the path of the ear. There- fore read it in the midst of vast congregations. Disseminate it. Through having heard it once, even though one do not comprehend it, it will be remembered in the Intermediate State without a word being omitted, for the intellect becometh ninefold more lucid [there]. Hence it should be proclaimed in the ears of all living persons; it should be read over the pillows of all persons who are ill; it should be read at the side of all corpses: it should be spread broadcast.
Those who meet with this [doctrine] are indeed fortunate. Save for them who have accumulated much merit and absolved many obscurations, difficult is it to meet with it. Even when met with, difficult is it to comprehend it. Liberation will be won through simply not disbelieving it upon hearing it. There- fore treat this [doctrine] very dearly: it is the essence of all doctrines.?
The Setting-Face-to-Face while experiencing Reality in the Intermediate State, called ‘The Teaching Which Liberateth By Merely Being Heard And That Which Liberateth By Merely Being Attached ’,° is finished.‘
1 These are: patricide, matricide, setting two religious bodies at war, killing a saint, and causing blood to flow from the body of a Tathagata (i.e. a Buddha).
2 Here the Block-Print has: ‘ This is the Tantra of all doctrines.’
8 This refers to the Thadol. (See p. 1924.)
4 The Block-Print text, corresponding in all essentials, and in almost every important detail, word for word with the text of our Manuscript, contains (on folio 48b), as the parallel concluding sentence of the Chénytd Bardo, the following, which differs from our own; ‘The Teaching for the Intermediate State, the Setting-Face-to-Face while experiencing Reality, from The Great Liberation by Hearing While in the Interinediate State, Liberating by Merely Being Heard, And Liberating By Merely Being Seen, is finished,
(BOOK If) [PIO E Sie A BARDO|
THIS ts KNOWN AS THE GOOD HEAD-PART
Om THAT GALEED ‘THE PROFOUND BSSENGE
OF THE LIBERATION BY HEARING’,—THE RE-
MINDER, THE CLEAR SETTING-FACE-TO-FACE
IN THE INTERMEDIATE STATE WHEN SEEKING
REBIRTH?
1 Text: SRID-PA BAR-DOHI NGO-SPROD GSAL-HDEBS THOS-
GROL ZHES-BYA-VA ZAB-PAHI NYING-KHU ZHES-BYA-VAHI DVU-
PHYOGS LEGS (pronounced: SID-PA BAR-DOI NGO-TOD SAL-DEB
THO-DOL SHAY-CHA-WA ZAB-PAI NYING-KHU SHAY-CHA-WAI
U-CHO LAY).
In the Block-Print, the Bardo Thédol being divided into two distinctly separate books—-whereas in our MS. Book II is an unbroken continuation of Book I—the first four folios of its second book contain—unlike our MS.—a summary of the introductory parts of the first book; and the title of Book II of the Block-Print is as follows: Bar-do Thés-grol Chen-mo Las Srid-pa Bar- dohit Ngo-Spréd Bzhugs-so (pronounced: Bar-do Thé-dol Chen-mo Lay Sid-pa Bar-doi Ngo-Téd Zhu-so), which means, ‘Herein Lieth the Setting-Face-to- Face in the Intermediate State of [or when seeking] Worldly Existence (i. e. Rebirth), from “The Great Liberation by Hearing on the After-Death Plane’’’.
‘The essence of all things is one and the same, perfectly calm and tranquil, and shows no sign of ‘‘becoming” ; ignorance, however, is in its blindness and delusion oblivious of Enlightenment, and, on that account, cannot recognize truthfully all those conditions, differences, and activities which characterize the
phenomena of the Universe.’—Ashvaghosha. Zhe Awakening of Faith (Suzuki’s Translation).
Introductory Sections 155
[the Obeisances]
To the assembled Deities, to the Tutelaries, to the Gurus,
Humbly is obeisance paid:
May Liberation in the Intermediate State be vouchsafed by nem
[Introductory Verses]
Above, in the Great Bardo-Thodol,
The Bardo called Chonyid was taught ;
And now, of the Bardo called Sidpa,
The vivid reminder is brought.
(PAs ST}