TA BLE O F C O NTENTS
1 • BARD ARDO 1 • LINEAGE 5 • PREVIE VIEW IRTH A ND LIF LIFE 7 • BA RDO O F BIRT DREA M STA TE 14 • BA RDO O F THE DREA IO N 22 • BA RDO O F M EDITA TION DEA TH 25 • BA RDO O F THE M O M ENT O F DEA 25 • THE ELEM ENTS NTS 26 • C HAO S IN THE WINDS WINDS 27 • EA RTH DISS DISSO LV ES INTO INTO WA W A TER 28 • WAT WA TER EVA PO POR RA TES INTO FIRE IRE 28 • FIRE IRE DISS DISSIPA IPA TES INTO A IR 29 • WIND DIFF DIFFUSES INTO SP SPA C E 30 • SPA C E DISSO LVE VES S INTO C LEA R LIGHT IG HT 30 • WHIT WHITE, RED A ND BLA C K 34 • THE WAY WA Y O F THE A DEP DEPT 37 • M ANDALA ANDALA O FFERINGS 38 • PHOWA 41 • SUBTLE SIGNS IG NS 43 • SUMMARY MMARY BAR RDO O F THE LUMIN LUM INO O SITY O F THE TRUE NA TURE URE 44 • BA 51 • BA RDO O F BEC O M ING 52 • WANDE WANDER RING 58 • FULL C IRC LE 60 • Q UESTIONS IO NS & ANS A NSWE WER RS 66 • COLOP COLOPH HON
BARDO
Bardo is a Tibetan Tibetan word . Bar means between and do signifies place or island . So So it can can be tr anslated as "in-between "in-between p lace" lace" or "inter "inter med iate state." The term ba rd o is used to describe the primary tr ansitions throug h the va rious levels levels of experience experience constituting constituting th e process of of embod embod iment an d r eincarnation. eincarnation. There are many d iffe ifferent rent ways of und erstanding the conce concept pt of bardo.
Bard o teachings teachings are about the continu continu ity and ongoing natu re of mind and experience. These These instru ctions relate directly to everyd ay life life as well as deat h. If w e can recognize recognize wh at is happ ening right here, wh ile ile we are alive, w e can can go forwar d w ith confidence confidence.. According According to the Bud Bud dh a, all sentient sentient beings beings are natu rally rally enlightened an d have been p ur e since since the beginning. How ever, due to a sm all mistake, a littl littlee grasping d evelops evelops into ego-cli ego-clinging nging an d a state of delusion. delusion. As long as we ar e delud ed, aw areness of our tr ue na ture is obscured obscured . The The bard o is the interval from from the beginning of delusion delusion u ntil the return to the state of primord ial natu re. All All our w and ering in betw betw een is is the bardo. Until w e reach reach enlightenmen t, everything w e feel, feel, know and experience, experience, is bard o ph enomen a. Even Even now , we are wand ering in an interm ediate state. This This will continu continu e as long as we per sist in in d ua lism, lism, clinging clinging to the belief in the inh erent existence of self and w orld . The bardos d o not exist outside of us. They are the context of our experience. This is is very important to u nd erstand. Do not think that you are only in in the bard o at certain certain times. The entire entire un iverse of samsara samsara an d n irvana hap pens w ithin the bard os. From the onset of our d reams u ntil we comp comp letely letely wak e up is all bard o territory. As long as we are trapp ed by ego-cli ego-clinging nging an d attachm ent, we are in the bardo. Even Even h ighly realized realized beings and great p ractitioners ractitioners arise within this p rocess, rocess, but th ey are alread alread y awa ke so that they do not m ake false false distinctions distinctions betw een the bard o and p ristine ristine awar eness. They und erstand that everything w hich hich app ears is is a display of primord ial wisdom . LINEAGE
Where d o the bard o teachings come come from? These teachings cam cam e from from Bud dh a Shakyamu ni and continued continued through Gu ru Padm asambhava, wh o brought brought them to Tibet Tibet in in the eighth centu centu ry. Guru Pad masam bhava's instructions instructions and explanations regarding th e bardo are very sp ecif ecific ic and clear clear wh ile ile Bud Bud dh a Shakyam Shakyam un i's are more general and spread throu ghout his discourses. discourses. When Guru Padm asambhava came to Tibet, Tibet, he gave some bard o teachings teachings to his stud ents and w ith the help of Yeshe Ts'ogyal, Ts'ogyal, hid others in d iffe ifferent rent ar eas to be discovered in th e futur e. Over the generations, generations, many great tertons have brough t them forth, with the result that there are now extensive extensive teachings on the bardos. In order to aw aken sentient beings of various capacities capacities,, Bud Bud dh a Shakyam Shakyam un i offered offered m any levels of instruction w hich have been categorized into nine yan as.
The zhi-khro, wh ich tran slates as the p eaceful and wr athful deities, is considered part of the inner tantr a. It is actually a cond ensed teaching based up on the essential mean ing of the Guh yagarbha Tantra combined w ith the view s expr essed in the anu and ati yoga teachings. Many great m asters have said th at the zhi-khro teachings ar e the inner tan tra of the inner tan tra. In this case w e're not making d istinctions among the various inner tan tras, nor between the creation and comp letion stages, but joining th em all together . This is the un ion of rigpa and emp tiness, the oneness of birth, d eath, and life experiences. There is no basis for d iscrimina ting because all are asp ects of one tru e natu re. Noth ing is rejected or exclusively accepted . This teaching is known as the one that u nifies everything into a single state. Guru Padm asambhava transmitted the bardo teachings to a great many stud ents in Tibet, all of whom became enlightened . Historically, man y of these masters w ere Dzogchen adep ts, and that lofty view is central to the zhi-khro teachings. Bard o instru ctions were spr ead th rough both the kama an d terma lineages. The terma texts became very pop ular throu gh tertons such as Karm a Lingpa in the fourteenth century. H e was one of the great masters wh o d iscovered the zhi-khro treasure, a part of which contains the bardo t hodrol w hich has been translated into English as, The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Traditionally, there are five great tertons, Dorje Lingp a, Ratna Lingpa, Pad ma Lingp a, Karma Lingp a and Sangye Lingpa, w ho are r elated to the five directions: east, south , west, north and center. Karma Lingpa w as a reincarnation of one of the twenty-five stud ents of Guru Padm asambhava know n as Cokro Lüi Gyeltsen, a famous tran slator of the Kangyu r in ninth centur y Tibet. Many of the Bud dh a's vinaya teachings w ere rend ered into Tibetan by th is master. After receiving instructions from Gu ru Pad masam bhava, Shantar akshita and Vimalamitra, he practiced and became enlightened. Throu gh his bodhicitta comm itment and the w ishes of Guru Pad masam bhava, Master Cokro reincarnated m any times in Tibet as various tertons and great bodh isattvas. One of those reincarnations w ho lived in the 14th century w as a lay practitioner named Karma Lingp a. Karma Lingpa, the "northern " terton, w as born in sou th-eastern Tibet north of Takpo, Gamp opa's birthplace. Following Gur u Pad masam bhava's instructions, he discovered th e zhi-khro teachings and other treasures on Mount Gamp odar, wh ere the rock form ations resemble dan cing god s. After extracting the term as, he pra cticed th em in comp lete secrecy as requested by Gur u Pad masam bhava. H e only shared them year s later w ith his son, Ny inda Ch öje. Both Karma Lingpa an d Nyind a Chöje practiced th e zhi-khro in secret and acquired rainbow bodies. For three generations, these instructions w ere transm itted to only a single ind ividu al. Finally, the grand son of Karma Lingp a, Nam ka Chöki Gyamtso received the zhi-khro transm ission. Nam ka Chöki Gyamtso presented this teaching just thr ee times d ur ing his entire life. Since then, this cycle of teachings ha s been am ong th e most popu lar in Tibetan Bud dh ism. The first time, he taugh t a small group , amon g wh om w as Ena Lingp a, another famou s terton. Throu gh Ena Lingp a it spread to Sruming, w hich is Chogyam Trun gpa's lay monastery. The second time Nam ka Chöki Gyamtso presented these teachings w as to a larger gathering, and a s a result, it spread
through out the Katok monasteries. A very famou s master named H eba Chunyu ng, w as largely respon sible for pr opogating th e zhi-khro among th e Kagyus. Toward the end of his life Namka Chöki Gyamtso expoun ded on the zhi-khro one last time. Many of those present were from N ind al, a temple-monastery associated with both Kagyu and Nyingm a practitioners. Included in this gathering w as the famou s master Karma Cham ling, wh o also transmitted these teachings to m any stu dents. Althou gh N amk a Chöki Gyamtso only offered these teachings thr ee times, he gave rise to three separate lineages of transmission in the N yingma a nd Kagyu schools. The pr actices associated w ith this teaching quickly became very popu lar and are still practiced every d ay by m any h igh level practitioners, renown ed lam as and lay d evotees. Entire families w ill recite it early in th e m orning. Even those w ho d on't know how to read, learn to memorize it from h earing other members of the family chant it d aily. The zhi-khro does n ot just cover the ba rd os. It is a complete teaching. The Tibetan Book of the Dead is just a sm all part of the zhi-khro. The actua l text is huge an d contains detailed explanations of the visualization and completion stages, Dzogchen teachings, threg-chod an d thod-rgyal instru ctions. It is an en tire cycle, bu t only th e bard o section has been tr anslated. The rend ering of these teachings in th e Tibetan language is especially beau tiful. Each of Guru Padm asambhava's w ords has sp ecial man tric pow er, revealing the inner m eaning of many visions and experiences. That's a brief introd uction to the lineage behind these teachings. PREVIEW
This is a very pow erful and special teaching. The bard o instructions provid e us with a bod y of techniqu es and p ractices by which we can discover our Bud dh a natu re. If w e are well-acqua inted w ith the bardos, we w on't be surpr ised or confused wh en m ajor transitions take place dur ing life or between lives. Instead, w e will enjoy a continuity of und erstanding an d spiritual growth. To acquire such a pan oram ic view takes cour age, confidence and comm itment. In the terma d iscovered by Karma Lingpa, Guru Padm asambhava introdu ces six different bard os. The first bardo begins wh en w e take birth an d en du res as long as w e live. The second is the bard o of dream s. The third is the bard o of concentration or med itation. The four th occur s at the m omen t of death. The fifth is know n as the bard o of the lum inosity of the true natu re. The sixth is called th e bard o of transm igration or kar mic becoming. This is the sixfold d ivision of the bard os. I w ill go into a little more d etail on each of them . The first bard o of birth and life lasts from the time you are conceived in moth er's wom b unt il your last breath, when consciousn ess leaves the body at death . This is called th e shi-nay bardo. The second is the mi-lam or dr eam bard o and in other teachings, this is considered a subd ivision of the first bard o because d uring our lifetime, we frequently sleep an d have d reams. There are w ays to learn to integrate the d ream
state into the p ractice, so that even w hile sleeping, we can d evelop our realization. Third is the sam-ten bard o of m editation. Generally, this is only experienced by pra ctitioners and th ose who m editate or are looking for inner peace and un derstand ing. The onset and d ura tion of this bardo dep end s on the capability of the p ractitioner. The m editation bard o is also considered a subd ivision of the bardo of birth and living. Guru Padm asambh ava categorized them this way because dr eams and med itation are very imp ortant asp ects of life and pra ctice. Meditation is the primary m ethod of maturing our spiritual insight and und erstanding. It allows us to go beyond the confusion of the bard o into the clarity of the p rimord ial natu re. The fourth is the chik-khai bardo of the mom ent of death. It begins w hen the outer and inner signs indicate that death is app roaching, and continu es through the dissolution of the elements un til the m oment after the last breath or perh aps a few minu tes after the expiration of the last breath, when the inner breath has completely stopped. The fifth is the chö-nyid bard o of the lum inosity of the tru e natur e wh ich begins right after the last breath. In th e outer sense, this is usu ally considered the m oment of death; however, inward ly there is still a subtle movemen t of wind s wh ich continu e to d issolve in stages. At this point, pretern atur al forces in th e form of sound s and lights appear to bu rst forth w ith tremendous p ower. In the Dzogchen teachings, these are know n as thod-rgyal visions and they arise spontaneously, w ithout an yone calling th em u p. Along w ith these visions, there's an experience of profoun d p eace and p ristine aw areness. The dur ation of this could be anyw here from one second to half an hour or more. The sixth, or sid-pai bardo, is known as the bard o of becoming or transm igration. Ordinar y beings w ho have never pr acticed an d h ave failed to recognize the clear light at the momen t of death are usu ally delud ed thr ough out th e fifth bard o of lum inosity. Event u ally they arrive in th e sixth, the final stage before rebirth. This ph ase lasts un til w e have visions of our new paren ts and are conceived in a w omb. The average du ration of the p eriod between death and rebirth is forty nine d ays, althou gh it could be as short as thr ee. It is not always th e same for everyone. Und er certain cond itions it could be a lot longer, but on th e average it is forty-nine d ays. The bardo pr ocess mirrors the wh eel of interd epend ent origination. It turns on and on, so that after we d ie and transmigrate through the bardos, we again take birth and live. This cycle continues until we are totally enlightened. The purpose of stud ying the bard o sequence is not simply to hav e a general familiarity w ith these states but to become ad ept in recognizing them. Using th ese teachings w isely will develop your realization and pr ovide invaluable skillful means towar d accomp lishing benefits for all beings. Because of their sup reme imp ortance, Guru Pad masam bhava gav e extensive instructions on th e bardo. Since w e are all travelers on this highw ay, we shou ld be aw are of our circum stance and m ake good u se of these teachings.
BARDO O F BIRTH AND LIFE shi-nay bardo
The bardo of birth an d life refers to the present time an d experience. We have already taken birth and are still alive, so we are now in the first bardo. H ow sh ould w e use this time in a meaningful way? Guru Pad masam bhava m ade it clear that to take advan tage of this opp ortun ity and fulfill our asp irations d uring this life, we have to learn to focus ou r m inds. Ou r time here isn't going to last forever.
WHEN THE BIRTHPLACE BARDO IS DAWNING UPON ME, THERE IS NO SPARE TIME IN THIS LIFE; ABANDONING LAZINESS... We can n ever be sure how long we w ill be in the bard o of the living. No on e can say. When and where we will die is always uncertain. It is completely un pred ictable. No m atter how rich or clever you are, you can never know how mu ch longer you have to live. Since w e're not sur e how long this life will last, Guru Padmasambhava advises us to abandon laziness. Now is the time to increase app reciation and gratitud e for ou r life situation, to arou se ourselves and make a joyful effort to realize great resu lts. We shou ld develop confidence in ou r w ay and be happ y in our endeavors. Don't just assume that you are w orthless and incapable. Don't let this opp ortun ity slip by and have cause for regret. Learn to w ork effectively, happ ily, and w ith commitm ent. The biggest obstacle to sp iritual progr ess is laziness. There are man y forms of laziness but they all share th e feeling th at there is p lenty of time. "I won 't bother with this today. I'll do it later." When we think like this again and again, we miss man y importa nt opp ortun ities and lose sight of our goal. That is the worst thing about laziness. One typ e of laziness is based in d oubt: "How could I ever do th is?" You p ut yourself down , and even feel special in considering yourself so low and incapable. To overcome th is requires courage. Discover you r n atur al dignity. Feel the preciousness of this mom ent; how am azing it is to be alive! If you u nd erstand the truth of this, there's nothing th at you cannot accomp lish. That's exactly wh at the Bud dh a and many other great masters did. They w orked on th e basis of this inspiration. Since we all have the budd ha natu re, and have inherited the w isdom s, w hy can't we d o as they did? So learn to ap ply your self diligently and engage the pr actice fearlessly. Another type of laziness has to d o w ith attaching to lesser interests and missing the greater opp ortun ity. You kn ow th at the p ractice is special, you have some awareness that this is a very u nique mom ent, and you are inspired by this beautiful open ing, but you still waste time and cling to mean ingless, w orldly involvements. You ar e like a cat who is always try ing to catch an other m ouse. Guru Padm asambhav a taugh t that this kind of activity is as endless as waves on the ocean. Just w hen you think you 're going to finish, the next w ave arrives, and th en another. There is always something else to d o or acqu ire. This form of laziness
dep end s on staying distracted with coun tless things to achieve and do. There is no time wh en it could be said th at you've completed everything. Such p reoccupations never cease. Unaw are of the cause of this u nsettledn ess, you habitually cling to externals and are subject to an endless procession of wand ering thou ghts and impu lsive actions. This hap pens all the time w hen th ere is attachm ent to externals. But start looking inw ard ly and you w ill discover the sou rce of all those restless feelings. You will also find joy, tranquility and thoughts that bring peace and harmony. Don't just believe this because Guru Padm asambh ava said it. Look into the history of renown ed p eople, warriors, kings, or those w ith great artistic talent. All of them d ied w ith dr eams and projects un fulfilled. Everyone leaves this world with un finished bu siness. Inqu ire for you rself. You'll find that th is is really true. When w e see laziness in ourselves, what sh ould w e do? Respond immed iately and w ith vigor. Don 't fall for, "I will do it later." You d on't h ave to be p atient w ith laziness. Guru Padm asambhav a said that w hen you observe laziness in you rself, act like a timid p erson w ho has just discovered that a snake has crawled u p into h is lap. You w ould not just sit there to see w hat th e snake does next. You'd get right up , throw it off you an d run away! Guru Padm asambhava also said that to overcome laziness, you m ust act imm ediately, like a beau tiful lady w hose hair h as just caugh t on fire. These are very clear examp les about how to respon d to laziness. Amon g the six bard os, the first bard o of birth and living is the most importa nt one w e have to learn abou t. This is w here w e can really develop, grow strong , realize wh at is precious, and fully aw aken to our Bud dh a natu re so that we can easily hand le the remaining bardos. Throu gh p ractice and med itation w e can learn to recognize what is and move throu gh all the changes of birth and death w ith great confid ence and joy. You w on't hav e to worr y, be concerned or even hesitate. Everything you need w ill appear in th e palm of your han d; you'll be right on track. Guru Padm asambhava said th at if you p ractice w ell du ring this bardo, you can transmigrate without d oubt, returning hom e like a haw k w ho makes a safe nest high on a cliffsid e. She just flies up there an d w ithou t any h esitation or indecision, enters the n est. So if you really learn someth ing d ur ing this life, the rest of the bard os will not cause you any concern. You w ill move throu gh them w ith confidence and full awareness, so that it all becomes part of a glorious ad ventu re. Guru Padm asambhava is emp hasizing just how precious this time is, right wh ere we are now . Do not refrain from n on-virtuou s actions. Constantly be engaged in activities w hich w ill bring benefits for your self and other beings. Many teachings state that w here w e are now is an island of jewels: you can find all kinds of valuable gems here. You m ust take some in your h and , put som e in your p ocket and fill your backpack. If you r eturn emp ty-hand ed, the cycle of samsara revolves again. Time d oes not wait for us. We shou ld u se it to do someth ing meaningful. Of course, there are many things w e have to d o just to get along in this world, but we should really expand our view and adjust our attitude. Guru Padmasambhava
ad vises us to be attentive to the present, but not to neglect looking towa rd t he futur e; to think abou t tomorr ow , as w ell as the day after, next year, and th e following on es too. Thinking in this w ay, we w ill d evelop th e intelligence and compassion n ecessary to realize benefits for all living beings, today, tom orrow and continually. These teachings w ere given by the precious Guru himself. The same tru th has been sp oken by all the bud dh as and bodhisattvas. All of the great masters who have benefited beings for generations worked h ard to develop love, compassion and bodh icitta. That's the stand ard they kept. We should d o the same. Think of the men and wom en w ho became spiritual masters, and keep them in mind . Learn to do as th ey did . Do not deceive your selves. We might th ink w e are very smart, but if w e're still fooling arou nd , the cycle of karm ic bond age w ill rem ain intact.
ABANDONING LAZINESS ENTER UNDISTRACTEDLY IN THE THREE PATHS OF LISTENING, REFLECTION AND MEDITATION Guru Pad masambhava and Bud dha Shakyamu ni have both said that w e should d o three things: stud y, contemp late and med itate. At first, stud y and consider the teaching, then contemp late it. To settle the mind , we m ust first become aw are of the obstacles and obscurations m asking its true natu re. Finally, you are ready to med itate. Meditation is the fruit of stud y an d contemplation. In th is context, med itation doesn't m ean m erely sitting calmly and focusing th e mind on an external object. Rather, this is med itation on the tru e natur e. As the true natu re pervad es both internally an d externally, meditation on it clarifies our view an d helps u s learn to penetra te both su bjective and objective ph enomen a. The focus in m editation itself should be on the n ature of the m ind. This will reveal everything. Meditation on the true natu re yields a lucid clarity and profound openn ess which is very mysterious. Abiding continuously in that state will cause beautiful qualities, such as comp assion an d wisdom , to arise and shine natu rally. At first, thou ghts w ill become less interesting or insistent. As you learn to abide in deep med itation for longer period s, du alistic conceptions w ill be completely pacified. When you become freely established in the rad iance of the primord ial natu re, thou ghts w ill become like servants. At tha t point, you w ill have a greater capacity to take respon sibility for your m ental events. Gradually, a great blissfulness will arise. At that time there will be no more suffering bu t only an u nshakable equanimity as you m erge with the tru e nature. Once you gain auth ority over conceptions and the mind , you become more capa ble of mastering all the other asp ects of your life. Every m omen t becomes work able because you u nd erstand the bard o process. Listening, contemplating, and m editating are know n as the "three w isdoms." Each of these practices is vital to actu alize our Bud d ha n atu re and the ability to benefit others. First, listen carefully an d closely to the teachings you receive. This
should encourage an d inspire you to ma ke a joyful effort. Do not simp ly collect teachings; look into the implications and contemplate their m eaning. Then, ap ply them to you r self, so that w hat you receive does not m erely p enetrate your ear and brain. To really connect w ith the m eaning behind the instru ction, take it into your heart and reaffirm the truth of each w ord w ith your ow n u nd erstanding. That is know n as contemp lation. By d eeply contemp lating th e teaching, you w ill natur ally actualize the result known as m editation. Meditation will help ma ture w hat you've learned so that your know ledge is not simp ly intellectual or conceptual. Results will ripen as you gr ow. Although all three are indispensable, med itation is the most important. To apply these three p ractices, you mu st learn to r ecognize and release the tendency to indulge distractions. This is especially true when we are first beginning, but distractions can be a serious hindrance at every stage of practice, especially du ring m editation. In Dzogchen they say, "There is no med itation; non-distraction is the m editation." In the Prajnap aramita teachings, Bud dh a Shakyamu ni listed ten categories of distraction that can occur during practice. Distractions come u ninvited, so w e need a clear, vivid mind fulness to un d erm ine their influence and pr actice effectively. This doesn't alw ays come easily, even if we h ave the right m otivation an d can sustain a joyful effort. Learn to listen un distractedly. Do not let attention w and er du ring contemplation practice. Avoid clinging to ideas and images wh ile in med itation. To avoid following though ts, be mind ful and observe w ith relaxed alertness. The next line explains the result actualized throu gh th e p ractice of the thr ee wisdoms:
BRING APPEARANCE AND THOUGHTS TO THE PATH AND REALIZE THE NATURE OF THE THREE KAYAS. Actualization of the three kayas is the result of app lying th e three w isdoms. Dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and nirmanakaya r epresent three inseparable aspects of the Bud d ha. Accord ing to the inn er tantra s, the three kayas hav e no objective existence, rather th ey are n on-local and all-pervasive, encompassing both mind and app earances. This mean s that everyth ing is always in a condition of perfect enlightenment. All things are the disp lay of the kayas. The thr ee kayas are never separ ate from each other bu t exist primor dially within the singularity of the true natu re. The trikaya is what w e and all external phenom ena essentially are. When you fully realize wh at you are, you will know that you n ever had to d o anything or go anywh ere in ord er to be enlightened or see the pure land. The pur e land is the trikaya and all six bardos arise within these kayas. The display, activity, and true natu re of the kayas are all within u s. It is not a m atter of escaping from "this horrible place" to somew here else fancy and beautiful wh ere the three kayas d w ell. We must realize the three kayas as the tru e natu re and reality of all phenom ena. Infinite and un created, the tru e natur e of mind is great emp tiness or the
inconceivable openness know n as dh arm akaya. Great emp tiness is not blank, emp ty sp ace, a void or noth ingness. It is very lu minou s, clear and full. Brightness and clarity shine forth sp ontaneou sly. This un ceasing luminosity of the true natu re is know n as sambhogakaya. The mind is alwa ys active, radiating a w orld of transformations. Due to its inertia, it never stays the same for two instants. Each sp ark or rad iant mom ent of man ifest existence is non -separate from th e original state of the tru e natu re. Each spark is the u nion of emptiness and clarity. That rad iance man ifesting as p ointinstants of space/ time is known as nirmanakaya. Guru Padm asambhava taugh t that the three kayas are inherent in the nature of mind. Many people don't know this and are always w andering, looking for something ou tside of themselves. This search opens th em to m any experiences: good an d bad , high and low, deep an d shallow, sequences of gain and of loss. But in every case, these percepts are created by one's own mind . None of these qualities exist in a solid, objective sense. The p resent flows an d changes, and this imperm anence indicates that th ere is no inheren t being in objects and events. All perception an d conscious experience is nothing other than the expression of your mind . Everything you see, hear, feel, taste, smell and touch is mind . What d oes mind really refer to? Mind is open, emp ty and pu re from th e beginning. Mind is also the embod iment of the three kayas. Our pra ctice is to discover and expr ess the true natu re of the mind . We mu st study, contemplate, med itate on and ultimately actualize the trikaya realization. If w e are d evoted an d one-pointed in ou r efforts, all phenom ena reveal the trikaya. When the m oment of death comes, we w ill recognize this event as a lucid d isplay of the thr ee kayas, another d esign of the tru e natu re. There is no conflict w hen w e und erstand th at this is part of a natu ral process. The bard o of birth and life is a ver y sp ecial circum stance for p ractice. Since everything is pervad ed by the three kayas, we mu st come to recognize that our present vision and perception are u ltimately not an y d ifferent from th e original natu re of the mind . The u nd erstanding of the innate pu rity of all perception is the highest teaching of the inn er tantr as. All of our d ua listic conceptions, such as self and other, good and bad, assisting friend s and avoiding enem ies, arise as thoug hts in our mind s. Mind creates all of these fabrications. There's nothing amon g all of those nam es with a ny solid existence, yet the m ind creates notions and projects visions wh ich w e are inclined to believe and act on. Distracted an d un mind ful, we habitually grasp an d cling. What is grasping? To grasp m eans to be attached to wh at w e think. It is to believe that things actually exist the w ay the conditional m ind perceives them. That is called grasping. We continually cling to beliefs and create artificial divisions. We have d ecided that some th ings are invariably good a nd others are not. This clinging to concepts is based in the assum ption of perman ence. Even though p henom ena are constantly changing, mind projects a fixed image and holds onto it, assum ing things are a certain wa y all of the time. Trying to see the w orld as w e'd like it to be and hold ing on to th at imag e is referred to as ego-clinging. It is like you a re suffocating in a tight cocoon. Trapp ed by attachm ents, we ignore opp ortun ities to release our
hold and grow. To be confined to a small room w ith no sp ace to mov e back and forth creates a contraction in the bod y. When we w ant to shift our p osition there is no room, so we suffer; w e mov e a little to one sid e, but it is still un comfortable. We suffer at every turn, because our movements are constricted. This is the effect ego-clinging and grasping h ave on both body an d m ind. We create a small, cram ped space for ourselves and others by w ithholding love and compassion. Ego-clinging, grasping and d ualistic thinking make us narrow an d u ptight so that we naturally commu nicate these qualities to others. They tend to make everybod y un comfortable. The door to this room is wid e open, but if w e don't w alk throug h it, it may as w ell be sealed; we w ill suffer those limitations. When w e open our hearts and mind s, and love all beings equally, we are liberated into the infinite expan se, the reality beyond all limits, the original or primord ial nature of our m ind w hich is forever open a nd free. By releasing ego-clinging, we are m erely return ing to the primord ial natur e as it was an d as it is. In cherishing such dualistic notions as absolute good and evil, we subconsciously develop hopes and fears which lead to emotional cycles of elation and depression. We shun wh at we d on't like and assume that there's something good w e should attach to and be expectant about . If these assump tions go un challenged, hope and fear can destroy our vision and crush u s. We lose our pow er and tr ue identity un der th eir influen ce. Where do h opes and fears originate? In a mind d ivided by d ua listic concepts. Mind is the pr incipa l sour ce of everyth ing. Where is the mind ? To begin answering this, we should start ou r search know ing that w e're not going to find any solid, substantially existent mind . Everything is disapp earing as fast as it is arising. The d eeper w e look, the m ore it disapp ears un til w e come to the point w here w e can't find anyth ing at all. Now the search is complete. We really have no id ea wh at to do next! In one sense, we are comp letely lost. In anoth er w ay, we are qu ickly app roaching the p rimord ial state which the Bud dh a called great emptiness. H ere there are n o d ivisions, distinctions or bou nd aries. We've reached the u ltimate p oint: the original, infinite, true nature of the mind. By diligently chasing rainbows, we finally reach a hor izon wh ere there is no longer anyth ing to pu rsue. Everything merges in that u nfathomable state. As the mind dissolves in the bound less dim ension of the tru e natu re, relax and remain in m editation. This is the central place. When there is no disturban ce or d ualism of body and mind , that is real med itation. It requires no magic. Simp ly observe your ow n m ind. If you keep looking into it you will eventually arrive at th at blissful point of p erfect equanimity. BRING APPEARAN CES AN D TH OUGH TS TO THE PATH The practice of meditation teaches us to transcend the conceptual distinctions between a pp earances and thou ghts. Subject and object fuse into one single intensity. We no longer see a w orld of inherently existent things an d entities. In r eality, even atoms are not actually solid. Although they exhibit man y pr operties, they are not concrete, indep end ent objects. Every appar ent thing is an imp erman ent menta l construct based on th e interdep end ence of everything. Noth ing exists outside of this
interdep end ence. There are man y sub-atomic particles in even the sm allest atom. Any entity is comp letely redu cible to its parts w hich are also redu cible on dow n to infinity. Atoms and every thing they constitute are nothing bu t the mysterious lighting u p of the true na ture as ap pearan ces. This is w hy great m asters can w alk in the sky or tran smu te the elements. You could say they aren't really changing anything w hen th ey do these things; they're actually demonstrating the interdep enden t reality and tru e nature of w hat is arising. The primordial nature is wonderfully inconceivable. Void of inherent existence, great emp tiness is perfectly open and flexible. Each and every lum inous man ifestation is p recious and un ique. We can see this in man y w ays. For instance, all beings have slightly d ifferent p erceptu al systems. Animals, gods and hu man beings see very different w orlds. But th is is true even am ong hu ma ns from the same culture. Look at this (Rinp oche holds u p a bell). Although everyone can name this, we each have our ow n w ay of perceiving and u nd erstanding w hat it is. The w ay you see the color red is not th e wa y everyone sees it. Things do n ot inherently exist the w ay they ap pear. The mind has a very sp ecial way of speaking to each of us because different beings can look at a single object and not see the same th ing. This is very unique! Obvious discrepancies, such as the difference in our points of view, are part of the relativity of the external world . But inwar dly it goes deep er than this because we all have d ifferent ap proaches and make u nique associations that illum inate our particular w ay so that w e each see a personal version of the world . This is the reason wh y there are so m any d ifferent bu dd has. For example, there are five dh yani bud dh as. They each realized their Bud dh a natu re in a slightly different way and then d isplayed t heir special qualities for the ben efit of all beings. Like athletes w ho train for the Olymp ics to win a gold med al, the bard o of birth and life is the training groun d to exercise and actualize our skills so that the other bard os, particularly the fourth , fifth an d sixth, pr ovide the cond itions to acquire a gold, silver or bronze m edal. The first bardo is the best place to d evelop these v aluable skills. Empha sizing th is point, the text read s:
AT THIS MOMENT, WHERE WE HAVE FOR ONCE ATTAINED A HUMAN BODY It is very special and p recious to be hu man , to be surrou nd ed by all this wealth and beauty, and to have the op portun ity to realize bud dh ahood. This is a very crucial time. Don't take this p ossibility for gran ted and w aste it. Actualize your true natu re. The hum an realm is a unique place where we can w ork to accomp lish something m eaningful and d evelop our u nderstanding. Bud dh a Shakyamun i reiterated th is many times thr ough out h is life. This is not a pu re land, as w e can see by observing wh at goes on in the world , but it is the best place for us to learn and develop ou rselves. There are man y other w orlds. Some are exceptionally beautiful, luxurious an d
comfortable. In comp arison, ours m ight not look tha t w ond erful, but it is actually a very special place, because h ere we can matu re and transcend ourselves. There is a lot here that challenges us to grow , helping u s to discover and express our Bud dh a natu re. Qualities such as courage, confidence and love are called forth in r esponse to man y situations. If we accomp lish something meaningful here, w e w ill also be able to go other p laces and enjoy higher r ealizations. But for now , this is the p lace w here w e mu st do someth ing significant with ou r lives. By p racticing d ur ing the bard o of birth a nd life, great devotees can become enlightened w ithin one lifetime. Yogis and yoginis with h igh realizations are able to perceive the entire universe as the m and ala of the d eities, so that every form is seen as the Bud dh a's body, and all soun ds ar e perceived as the speech of enlightened beings, or m antra. Recognizing the tr ue natu re of this continu ally u nfolding vision is part of the spon taneous activity of pristine cognitiveness. Ultimately, everything app ears as a display of primord ial wisdom , and w ithin that realization, you can begin to help all sentient beings. As Guru Padm asambhava said:
IT IS NOT THE TIME TO CONTINUE FOOLING AROUND BARDO OF THE DREAM STATE mi-lam bardo
If you h ave a deep u nd erstand ing of the bard o of birth and life, you can also learn to ma ke good u se of the time you spend dr eaming. In Tibetan, this is called th e mi-lam bardo. Accord ing to th e Vajrayana teachings, the bard o of birth and life can be divided into tw o basic categories; the experience of the day and the experience of the night. Dur ing the d aytime, we w ork and are ph ysically active. At night, we lie dow n an d relax. Sleep then becomes ou r m ajor occup ation. Animals have similar habit patterns. Each d ay, we go out and engage in many activities with our bod y, speech and mind . Norm ally, people are not tr ying to cultivate positive qualities and accumu late merit. Most of the time w e are boun d up w ith feelings like jealousy and comp etitiveness, wh ich are based in ignoran ce and attachment. These are typical emotions characterizing hu man beings du ring the day. At night, m ost people go to sleep. While asleep, habit p atterns similar to those experienced d ur ing the day recycle through our m inds. So dream s follow th e pattern of activity that wa s established d ur ing the day. If you tend to be competitive, or d ram atize emotions such as desire or anger, those same qu alities will also arise in d reams and cond ition you r experience un til morn ing. Sleep is a very imp ortan t pa rt of our lives. Like nu trition, it is necessary for our ph ysical well-being. While w e sleep, our bod y and speech are not d oing anything. We need rest, so external activities cease. Our five senses become in active: the eye
does not see, the ear d oes not hear, the nose d oes not smell, the tongue does not taste and the bod y d oes not feel. At various places in th e Bud dh a's teachings, sleep is described a s a state of d ullness. It is also know n as "the little death ." All five consciousnesses merge into the sixth or m ind consciousness. This is wh ere dr eams occur. The mind consciousness w and ers through the channels und er the influence of affective tendencies and w e begin dr eaming. In the dr eam state, everything you see is a reflection of your habit p atterns. You m ight be falling from the top of a tw o hu nd red story bu ilding , or be flying throu gh the sky withou t a plane. You m ay sud den ly find you rself desp erately trying to escape you r captors or lazing aroun d in the lap of fantastic luxur ies. Perhap s you've w on the lottery or conversely, you are distressed over losing a million dollars. Whatever you experience is not hap pening anyw here except in th at space above your pillow. Everything you encounter in the d ream bard o arises entirely w ithin the d omain of your tiny consciousness and its habit patterns. Most of the d reaming w e do at n ight reflects the actions and attitud es of the daytime: accepting and rejecting, analyzing, arguing and fighting, all kinds of emotions and activities occur as they d o in our wa king experience. Our m ind is carried by the emotions according to h abit patterns, whether w e are aw ake or asleep. Most d reams, perh aps 80%, are related to conditioning acquired in th is lifetime. About 20% are connected to past lifetimes or relate to something wh ich has not yet ar rived , but becau se it potentially exists, our su btle consciousn ess reflects it throu gh d reams. Tw o or three percent relate to our sp iritual path, such as encounters w ith bud dhas an d bodhisattvas. These dreams strengthen our motivation and encourage the p ractice of pu re love and comp assion. But n o matter w hat typ e of dr eam it is, all are experiences comm un icated by the m ind to the m ind, so that even in sleep, our m ind is busy. The second line says:
STUPIDLY LYING LIKE A CORPSE, ABANDON CARELESSNESS Guru Padm asambhava uses strong w ords like these to arouse and aw aken us to the imp ortance of developing a continuity of mind fulness and clarity in the dr eam state, because w e spend a lot of our lives sleeping. If we live for a h un dr ed years, almost forty of them are sp ent sleeping. If w e can u se this time for p ractice, we can significantly increase the time we have in which to actualize a meaningful result. To this end, the Vajrayana dr eam yoga teachings prov ide us w ith an extremely skillful m ethod to expand the p ractice of mindfulness into the d ream state and not just sleep in the ord inary w asteful w ay. The third line, clearly explains how w e should sleep:
ENTER IN THE NATURAL SPHERE OF UNWAVERING ATTENTIVENESS Prepare for bed mind fully, keeping a pu re motivation. Aband oning carelessness, try to fall asleep in a stat e of relaxed alertn ess. H ow d o w e pr actice mind fulness in the d ream itself? This is explained in th e fourth line:
RECOGNIZING YOUR DREAMS, PRACTICE TRANSFORMING ILLUSION INTO LUMINOSITY In order to make the time we spend dream ing more meaningful, we mu st first recognize that w e are d ream ing. That is the initial exercise. The next step is called transforming the d ream; the third is know n as m ultiplying. The fourth practice is to un ify the d ream with the clear light. Recognizing, transforming, m ultiplying and un ifying the dr eam w ith the luminosity of the tru e natu re; these four ou tline the essential app lications of d ream yoga. You can d o these p ractices at any time, but n orma lly you w ill begin before going to sleep at n ight. Start by aligning your m otivation w ith the bodh icitta and the aw areness of natu ral pu rity. These tw o are the foun da tion and stru cture of the w hole path. Withou t these, your p ractice will fall apart, even if you've already grown a little. Bodh icitta aspiration an d awar eness of purity are ind ispensable. Feel a d eep love and compassion for all sentient beings, includ ing you rself. Really op en you r h eart to everyone. If you hav e any trouble with this, remem ber that you 're doing th is practice for all beings, and that everybod y need s love in order to awaken their Bud dh a natur e. Think d eeply about the m any good reasons to generate compa ssion for everyone. Then w ork on ap plying it in the pr esent mom ent by changing your attitud e. Aw areness of purity could be called a deep sense of app reciation and reverence towar d all the bud dh as, bodh isattvas and lineage masters, as well as a good feeling abou t you rself and sincere gratitud e for you r life situation. All of this is really importan t. In th is disposition, begin the d ream yoga p ractice. Relax your min d , let go of all conceptions except those associated w ith bodh icitta, and after a wh ile you even let go of these until you have reached the sphere of the tru e natu re, the infinite state. Relax your mind as long as you can in the op enness of the true na tur e, free of any m ental fabrication or d isturban ce by mu nd ane thou ghts. Eliminate an y trace of hope or fear, aband on analysis, discrimination, let go of any emotions su ch as anger, jealousy or attachment. Just release everything , let it go in all directions and d issolve; simp ly remain in t he pristine aw areness of the p resent m oment. Second ly, think, "Tonight, I'm d efinitely going to recogn ize the d ream as a dr eam." Develop a strong determ ination and en courage your self to recognize any dr eams you h ave this evening. Feel into the su pp ortive presence of the Bud dh a, Guru Rinp oche and the blessings of the bodhisattvas, all helping you to see the dream as a dream. What w e are at present is a type of dr eam. Ou r sense of self is like a dream . There's not really any w ay to make a fun d amen tal distinction betw een this whole vision before us now and wh at w e will dream tonight. We are in a w aking d ream and tonight w e will experience a sleeping dr eam. In this way, everything is a d ream. Think about this deep ly, because it's really true! Perceptions in th e w aking state are
a reflection of your m ind and mental events. This is also tru e of perceptions in dr eams. So wh at is the d ifference between the w aking state and th e dream state? Consider th e possibility that th ere is no basic difference. We're already in the d ream state. At night, your d ream self is lying in a dream bed u nd er dream blankets in a dr eam hou se. All of these visions are d reams, the bud dh as are dream beings, conceptions ind uce dream like states, day d reams, night d reams, they are all dr eams. Contemp late this point d eeply, because it is very imp ortant. Bud dh a Shakyam un i often told his disciples to regard all phen omena as dr eams. He u sed m any examp les, like an echo, a city in the cloud s or a rainbow to illustrate the illusory natu re of the ph enomen al world . Dreams represent just one typ e of illu sion. The w hole un iverse arises and d issolves like a mira ge. Everyth ing about u s, even the most enlightened qu alities, are also dr eamlike phenom ena. There's nothing th at is not encompassed w ithin the d ream of illusory being; so in going to sleep, you're just p assing from one d ream state to an other. With this und erstanding, lie dow n to sleep. It is suggested that you lie on your right side w ith your right han d und erneath your right cheek. Keep your left leg on top of the right leg, with your left arm placed along the left side of you r bod y. This is the same posture wh ich w as assum ed by Bud dha Shakyamun i as he prepared to enter mah apar inirvana. It is know n as the lion postu re. First you mu st generate comp assion an d love for all dream -like beings. Then combine this w ith an aw areness of the essential pu rity of all things. The third step is to mak e a very strong resolution to recognize that you are d ream ing. In fact, affirm your intention to realize that everything, includ ing your self, is a dream and that wh at hap pens d uring sleep is but another d ream. Intensify your d etermination toward this end and then concentrate. Various techniques may be u sed to sup port concentration, such as visualizing the bodies of the buddhas, seed syllables or ritual objects. One of the prim ary meth ods u sed to stabilize concentration du ring the transition from wa king to sleeping is to visualize a red lotus in the sp eech center. Imagine a very fat, red lotus w ith four p etals which is in th e process of blooming. The petals have not yet op ened , but are n ot completely closed either. In th e center of them is a bright light. Concentr ating on t he light is sufficient. If you can ma nag e another visualization, picture a small w hite triangle at your third eye, inside of w hich sits a tiny Vajrasattv a. As you lie there, focus on these forms. Let them become sm aller an d smaller, subtler and subtler, relax and let yourself go deeper and deep er. Then, the instant you th ink of it, Vajrasattva send s out a great w hite light from you r third eye wh ich covers your bod y. He then takes a seat in front of you. Go to sleep concentrating on that. Unless you've entered the alaya, sooner or later you w ill begin to d ream. If you're able to fall asleep w ithout d isturbing your concentration, you w ill easily be able to recognize that you are d reaming . Usua lly, when you recognize that you 're dr eaming, you also wake u p. Learn to m aintain this recognition wh ile continuing to sleep and d ream.
Dream pra ctice is imp ortant to d o regu larly, w ith joyful effort. If w e can recognize the d ream as a d ream, w e can recognize the truth of any situat ion, even if w e have died . Often peop le don't recognize that they've d ied, but I will say more about this wh en w e get to the fifth bard o. After you recognize the dream as a dream, and can m aintain that awareness w ithout w aking, continu e to observe the dr eam. This prep ares you for the second step in dr eam yoga, which is to transform th e contents of the dream. Now you're going to p lay around and have some fun. Here is where you can p ractice gymn astics. If you w ish, you can free fall from thirty-seven thou sand feet, touch the earth and not hu rt a thing before quickly jum ping back to your starting point again! In the reality of the dream you can tran sform a nyth ing, including you rself. If you w ant to be a lion, you'll imm ediately experience yourself as a lion and know how that feels. You can also be transformed into a mou ntain, a tree, the earth, w ater, a man or w oman , a child, or any of the beings in th e six realms. You're n ot boun d by p hysical circum stances. You can be free and indep end ent and do w hatever you like. There are no barriers here. You can be anyth ing. Go beyond th e limits of your h opes or fears. For instance, we tend to d istance our selves from w hat w e don't like; but in the d ream, w e can creatively restructure p henom ena, beings and events to penetrate our fixed assump tions and remove our preconceptions, revealing the d eeper truth beyon d th e bound aries and limitations of du alistic systems and trad itions. This is an exercise in openn ess and freedom an d is known as transforming. The third asp ect of dream yoga is called m ultiplying. Here, you're opening more op portu nities and expand ing qualities. In th e transforming p ractice, you change things, but stick to a single manifestation. This time you try to mu ltiply aspects of the dream , such as you r self, millions of times. You might take a h un dr ed forms, or become ten d ifferent th ings at on ce. You could be v arious god s, a few bud dh as, a naga, three bodhisattvas, a dozen hu man beings, many types of animals and a grove of trees, all at the same time. You can m ultip ly yourself in m illions of forms. Increase the variety and open you rself to the way that you embody the whole cosmic system. Understand that this is all you. The inconceivable vastness of our n ature is w hat is revealed by this practice. If you accomp lish this, you can tou r th e pu re lands and visit all five of the dh yani bud dh as at once, making offerings, receiving teachings and retur ning from all five directions simu ltaneously. While you are m editating in the p ure land of Ratnasambhava, listening to teachings, making offerings, mu ltiplying you rself and the offerings by thousan d s, you are also doing the same in the w estern pu re land of Bud dh a Amitabha, as well as in the n orth in the p resence of Amogh asiddh i and in the center, where Bud dh a Vairocana turns the w heel of the dharm a in his pure land . You can visit them on e by one or be w ith them all and receive their teachings simultaneou sly. In the dream bard o, mind is faster than th e space shu ttle or even the speed of light. You can be any w here in a m omen t. There are m any d ifferent pu re land s w here sentient beings can go and receive teachings, realize various benefits, and retu rn. This is really true.
All the great Nyingma tertons have gone to the pu re land of Guru Padm asambhav a in their dream state. Many also meet Guru Rinp oche and h is w isdom d akini, Yeshe Ts'ogyal, face-to-face in the w aking w orld , but th is often hap pen s in d reams too. Typically, a terton retu rn from one of these dr eams and write a beautiful guid ebook on the rou te he took, how he w as received, wh o he contacted an d oth er details. Sometimes the vision featur es a few w eeks or a month 's w orth of experience, but in our tim e they inevitably return th e very next mor ning. For example, Tsasum Lingpa , one of the renow ned N yingm a tertons, had a dream wh ile he w as camp ed on a m ountain in the center of Tibet. He had no tent or sleeping bag. He w as just sleeping on the mou ntain w hen five dakinis came and said, "Let's go now , you h ave to come.' So he asked , "Wh ere to?" "To see your pa rents," they replied a s they h eld ou t a big shaw l. "Sit here, we'll carry you." Tsasum Lingp a replied, "I don't w ant to go now . I'd rath er stay here." Bu t the d akinis told h im, "You h ave to come. N ow 's the time, so let's go." They practically had to force him. Each dakini held a corner of the shawl and carried him off into th e sky. As he flew over Ind ia, he looked d own and w ond ered, "Which moun tain is that? What is the nam e of that river?" H is description is similar to w hat w e experience when we trav el by plane. Upon arrival, he had an au dience with Yeshe Ts'ogyal and Gur u Pad masam bhava. Tsasum Lingp a mentioned th at Yeshe Ts'ogyal was very kind to him. He attended a big ceremony with Guru Padm asambhava and man y other realized beings. Yeshe Ts'ogyal had Tsasum Lingp a sit near her an d this mad e him feel very hap py. At the end, wh en they said he mu st return, he insisted that he didn't w ant to leave. Guru Padmasambh ava told h im that he should go now, but that he w ould be able to come back later. He h ad already been there about three weeks w hen Yeshe Ts'ogyal walked h im to the gate w here the four d akinis awaited his return. She told him that she wou ld never be apart from him, and after giving him more instru ctions, said good bye. When th e dakinis drop ped him off, he w as back on the moun tain, the sun w as shining over his head an d h e was sitting straight up . This type of vision was not u nique to Tsasum Lingp a; man y tertons have given similar accoun ts and details of wh at they saw in these pur e lands. Another great terton, named Dro-'du l/ Dud -'du l/ Chögyur Lingpa, was also carried off into the sky by da kinis. When h e arrived at Guru Padm asambh ava's pu re land, he could also see that it had four d oors. H is par ty app roached the eastern gate and h ad begun to open it when a great dakini appeared. She threw something in front of them t hat m ad e everything go totally dark, so they could n't enter. Then the dakini guid es led him to the south ern gate. As it opened, the same great dakini app eared again and th rew someth ing black w hich comp letely blocked the door. They went to the w estern and northern gates and the same thing hap pened. So Chögyur Lingpa asked the gate keeper dakini, "Why are you so mean?"
She said, "I'm not m ean, but y ou w ere very cruel to me!" The terton replied, "I don't rem ember d oing anyth ing like this to you." So she explained, "We w ere both th ere wh en Jetsun Lingp a w as giving teachings. I was the u gly old lady you w ere so mean to. Do you remem ber now? That's why I w on't let you see Guru Padm asambhava." Dro-'dul/ Dud -'dul/ Chögyur Lingpa said, "Forgive me. I was w rong, and apologize for my ru den ess. I'm very sorry; that wa s inconsiderate of me." With that, she opened the gate wid e. What I've said toda y is very brief, but m any terton s have given elaborate descriptions. For examp le, after the dakinis brou ght Tsasum Lingp a to th e palace, they all opened th e main gate together. H e describes the color of the door an d all of the things he saw w hen he w alked in, beautiful gardens, an emanation of Guru Padm asambhav a, some lamas, and man y other specific details. Everyone of the great terton s kept th orou gh record s of their experiences. If you're able to maintain awareness du ring the dream , you can do as these masters did . Such v isions w ill arise naturally. The great tertons d on't actually h ave to d o the pra ctices we're explaining here because they're always aw are of the dream -like natu re of existence; these events reflect that un derstan ding throu gh the sp ecific details of what they experience. The fourth step is to un ify the d ream w ith the clear light, the lum inosity aspect of the tru e natu re. That is the m ost imp ortant of these exercises. Learn to ma intain this und erstand ing throughou t the d ream state. Whether you simp ly recognize the dr eam or go on to mu ltiply and transform it, it is essential to maintain this unified awareness. Clear light or primor dial luminosity has ma ny d ifferent asp ects, but the most imp ortant is the comp lete absence of clinging and freedom from attachment. The best way to d o dr eam yoga is to not cling to the dr eam, not be attached to recognizing the d ream, not hold on to the results of mu ltiplying or transforming, and in general, to not cling to any of these p ractices. If you d on't cling, d reams them selves take on a radiant, transformed qu ality, becoming almost tran sparen t to the clear light. In th is way, d reams become an eman ation of the five wisdom s. This is called u nifying the d ream w ith the clear light or m erging the dr eam w ith the lum inosity of the tru e nature.
DON'T SLEEP LIKE AN ANIMAL In the fifth line, Guru Padm asambh ava is again encouraging u s to develop a pu re intention, to become p roficient in su staining m indfulness and relaxed alertness in the bardo of dream s. We are adm onished to take up the pra ctice that m ingles dreams and the w aking state, to unify the n ight's perceptions with th e day's perceptions. Throu gh the exercises of recognizing, mu ltiplying, transforming and
un ifying the d ream w ith the clear light, we learn to be free of all grasping and clinging to un real phenom ena. Form is a d ream, feeling is a dr eam, touch, sound and taste are dream s; the men tal state is also dream like. Samsara an d n irvana are dreams, and enlightenment is a great dream. Therefore Guru Padm asambhava urg es us to mingle the dr eam and w aking realities. In tru th, they are already mingled. There is ultimately no d ifference between them . As the Bud dh a instructed Subh uti in the Prajnaparam ita teachings, "See all phenom ena as dr eams." It's not just that th e Bud dh a said th is so we hav e to believe it. We can refer to our ow n experience. All these external activities are n o d ifferent from d reams. They are so very mu ch the same that n o absolute d istinction can be m ade betw een them, even w hen you consider it logically. For examp le, tonight w e are in West Palm Beach. I'm talking an d y ou're listening, but before this, w here w ere you? Where are the parents w e had wh en w e were youn g? Where is the old school? What kinds of friend s did you have? What did you talk about? What d id you d o? All of these are just m emories now . We can't bring any of that right her e except throu gh remem bering it. Last night's d ream is just like those mem ories because w e cannot prod uce it here in a tan gible w ay. Think abou t mem ories, which are conventionally held to be real, because they correspond w ith our p ast experiences in the w aking state, and d reams, w hich ar e usu ally considered to be un real. Investigate closely and I don't think you 'll find any d ifference betw een dr eams and mem ories except in your imagination. Consider h ow our p hysiology changes. As a new born, you're not very heavy. Maybe you w eigh six or seven p oun ds an d ar e about a foot long. You'll never be that small again. It is as if that hap pened in a dr eam. As for myself, I was born in Tibet, and grew up there. I remember m any events vivid ly, bu t they are all just m emor ies. Tibet has comp letely changed since then. If I go back, I w on't see anyth ing that is the same. When I was a little older, I crossed the H imalayas and suffered various h ardships un til I finally arrived in India, wh ere I lived for man y years. Now all that has p assed and another chapter of the dr eam is complete. Presently, I'm in th e United States w orking on a n ew chap ter. You cou ld say th at in th is life, I've alread y been bor n th ree times. This is just a personal examp le, but basically, that is how things are. When w e carefully observe ph enom ena, they are all dr eam-like, but very often w e d on't look that close; w e gloss over the su rface and cling to d ualistic tendencies, reinforcing old h abit patterns. In truth , even this mom ent is chan ging, moving, evanescent. There is nothing solid or p erman ent abou t any of this. What is past, can never come back to the p resent. Everyth ing is moving, noth ing stays the sam e, just like in our d reams. For that reason Bud dh a compared th e nature of all phenom ena to a m irage, a mag ician's illusion , a bubb le in a str eam, a flash of lightn ing, etc. This evanescence does not m erely ap ply to things that h app ened long ago, but even to this mor ning 's activities w hich exist only in mem ories. It's all gone now . That w as just another d ream sequence that we went through to get to this dream. This is the reality of the big dr eam. As practitioners of the Vajrayana , our mind s mu st be redirected. Continuou s
joyful effort is requ ired to perform mor e p ositive activities, to gain m ore un derstan ding, to develop w isdom, loving-kind ness and compassion. The more w e involve ourselves with this effort, the easier it is to transcend negative feelings and reactive emotion. Those wh o app ly themselves in this way d evelop an un interru pted insight into the bod y of enlightenmen t, the speech of enlightenment and the mind of w isdom, or the emanation-display of enlightenm ent. They see these three aspects of the Bud dh a all the time and h ave a deep u nd erstanding of their interplay. This same insight can also continue at night, in the dream state. This mean s you have established m ind in the sp here of w isdom, beautified by love and comp assion, for tw enty-four hours a d ay. Emp owered by an u nd erstand ing of the dream bardo, we can accomplish profoun d results and benefit all of the dream -like beings in samsara because we know w e aren't truly limited by conventional strictures and boun da ries. If you generate tremend ous vitality, coura ge and comm itment, liberating know ledge will manifest both in and out of dreams, transforming an d benefiting everyone. Since all ph enomena are of an illusory natu re, we are able to actualize the ultimate result. If things w ere really concrete and solid , we could n ever grow or d evelop. But becau se everythin g is dream -like, it is p ossible for us to discover and reveal all of the beau tiful qualities of enlightenm ent, and rad iate blessings like sunlight to all beings. With this und erstand ing, we can use d reaming to benefit others. To not know very mu ch about the d ream -like natur e of existence and seek the original natu re w ithin the p ur view of ego-clinging is an exercise in futility. That is a brief teaching on dr eam yoga.
BARDO OF MEDITATION sam-ten bardo
There are ma ny typ es of med itation. You h ave all heard about shamatha, vipasanna, creation stage m editation involving visualization, and the rtsa-rlung med itations of the comp letion stage. All of these help th e mind become m ore gentle, peaceful an d single-pointed so it is not disturbed by thou ghts. As in the dream yoga, every form of med itation m ust be based on the bodhicitta motivation and awareness of original purity. These two are always essential. Bodhicitta is the found ation and aw areness of original pu rity is the inner structure of every practice.
WHEN THE CONCENTRATION BARDO IS DAWNING UPON ME, ABANDONING ALL KINDS OF WANDERING AND DELUDED THOUGHTS Watch out for distractions, such as wan dering or discursive thoughts. These are a great hind rance to meditation. Maintain a comfortable posture, keeping you r spine straight, and let meditation deepen into a calm a nd clear state. Stay onepointed , do not be distracted by conceptions, and continue m aintaining the mind this way, w hatever you're m editating on. And that is basically it. As Guru Pad masambh ava said, 'N o d istractions, no grasping and free of all aspects.' These three qua lities are essential to every form of med itation.
Right m otivation an d joyful effort are also indispensable. During m editation you w ill be faced w ith obstacles, clinging, comp ulsive thou ghts an d feelings, and other hind rances. To stay on target, med itate without distraction in th e limitless expanse which transcends any territorial focus, the all-pervasive nature. Relaxing into that state is med itation.
OBTAIN FIRMNESS IN BOTH GENERATION AND COMPLETION STAGES The division of meditative practices into a creation/ visualization stage and a comp letion/ dissolution stage is uniqu e to the schools of Vajrayana Budd hism. These are the mean s for becoming firm and strong in our m editation. Creation stage practice is und erstanding th e pu rity of all phenom ena includ ing yourself, so that everything is perceived w ithin the bud dh a man dala. This mand ala is not a solidly existent thing; it is of the natu re of a reflection, a m irage, a dr eam or a rainbow . It is a w isdom d isplay of clear light, the lum inosity aspect of the true natu re. Even in th e shorter zhi-khro practice, all phenom ena ap pear as the m and ala of the peaceful and wrathful deities, and these deities dissolve into rainbow light. All speech and sound are mantra and all mom entary thou ghts are magical emanations of the open sky or space-like natu re. This un derstand ing characterizes the creation stage med itation, w hich m eans that you are relatively free of clinging, holding or grasp ing to self and phenom ena and are ad ept at merging with the true nature beyond all bias and limitation, where no dualities exist. Relaxing into that state of innate purity is known as the completion or p erfection stage pr actice. Awareness of pu rity can be d eveloped through devotion, by recognizing th e preciousness of this human rebirth, the lineage teachings and all sentient life. Ind eed, every situ ation is very sp ecial. So see this, learn to a pp reciate and enjoy it, explore and celebrate the beauty in the w orld and in yourself. Discover the ma nd ala and realize that th e pu re land is not far. It's right here. According to the zhi-khro teachings, the peaceful and wr athful bud dh as do n ot exist externally; one's body is the p alace of the deity and the entire u niverse is originally in an enlightened state. Aw aken to the preciousn ess and pu rity of each moment as it arises, and be devoted to this great realization. Guru Padm asambhava said:
IN THIS MOMENT OF ONE-POINTED MEDITATION, ABANDON ALL ACTIVITY Lay everything aside for the mom ent, even if it is for a good pu rp ose.
AND DON'T LET YOURSELF BE INFLUENCED BY DELUDED EMOTIONS. Bewar e of indu lging negative emotions. Guru Padm asambh ava emp hasizes this again because it is so crucial for the p ractice of med itation. To get specific, in the Vajrayan a, we m editate w hile visualizing Gur u Padm asambhava and reciting his mantra, until finally Guru Padm asambhava
dissolves dissolves into the primord ial expanse as the wisdom lights lights at his crow crow n, throat and heart, mingle comp comp letely letely with our body, speech and m ind in a state of pu re awa reness. To To abide in that p urity is m editation. This This is the m ain p art of the p ractice ractice.. After After th at, ded icate icate the m erit. Whenever you feel you've don e something good, do n ot hesitate hesitate to share the benefits benefits w ith all sentient sentient beings, withou t any exceptions. exceptions. Proceed Proceed w ith the m otive of love and comp assion assion and finish finish the session session by blessing blessing all beings beings throu gh th e ded ication ication prayers. H app ily ily share that goodness with the entire w orld. How w ill ill ded icating icating merit help us to develop enlightenm enlightenm ent? Sharing you r good karm a with all sentient sentient beings opens your heart an d m ind an d expan ds aw areness of love and compassion. Directing the blessing to all beings without exceptions, translates your prayer into the limitless limitless state. state. When n o d ualistic ualistic though ts block block the d edication, edication, you approach the infinite condition. If w e don 't share in this w ay, if we d on't feel love and compassion for all sentient sentient beings, we ar e creating creating false divisions divisions and w ill ill not grow in our capacity capacity to serve others. Eventu Eventu ally these self self-i -imp mp osed bord ers redu ce us to a state of intractable ego-c ego-cli linging, nging, w hich is wh ere w e w ere before we began to p ractice. ractice. EgoEgoclinging clinging obscures obscures ou r capacity capacity for wisdom and den ies us opp ortun ities ities for for meaningful involvement. Everything contracts contracts into a static and fixed fixed cond ition, ition, so that at times w e cannot cannot even help or p rotect rotect ourselves, ourselves, never mind others. So alway s begin in th e spirit of love, love, comp comp assion assion an d bodh icitta. icitta. Meditate Meditate on the Bud Bud dh a, recite recite mantr a and finally finally dissolve the visualization wh ile focusing focusing on the true natu re. Keep Keep your h earts and m inds open by ded icating icating the merit from from the pr actice actice to all sentient sentient bein gs at the en d o f each each session. This This is an extremely simp le explana tion of the form form al pra ctice. ctice. If you are an ad vanced vanced practitio practitioner, ner, the mom ent you recognize recognize the true natu re of the mind, the primordial condition, you are totally enlightened. This ability is the mar k of a yogi or yogini of the highest caliber. caliber. For For examp le, up on recognizing the true n ature of the m ind, the very famou s Dzogchen Dzogchen m aster, Garab Dorje, Dorje, was immed iately iately and fully fully aw akened. In other cases, there is a very short interval between recognition recognition and full enlightenment. enlightenment. After initial realizati realization on of the true natu re, these beings beings quickly quickly learned to p erceive erceive all all phenom ena as a d isplay of primordial wisdom. Guru Padmasambhava, the great m aster aster Vimalamitra, Vimalamitra, and Shri Singha ar e examples of this sec second ond type of ad ept. They realized realized themselves and everything else to be a manifestation manifestation of primord ial w isdom: the un ion of emp tiness and appearances. appearances. Other great m asters from from Ind ia and Tibet had to med itate for for a long time time before before coming coming to this un derstan d ing. Throu Throu gh years of meditation and pr actice actice,, they became enlightened . In Tibet, Tibet, for for examp le, there w as a m aster called called Jetsun Jetsun Sangye Wangchuk, wh o med itated itated for tw elve elve years and attained attained the rainbow bod y. Also, Mipham Gonpo m editated for a long time time an d eventu ally ally realized realized th e rainbow body . Master Dang Gangm a Lhan Lhan gyal med itated for for about six six years before before actualizing actualizing the transcendental rainbow body. All these masters p ractice racticed d med itation itation for years before before attaining the rainbow bod y of transcend ental wisdom .
The bard o of med itation is actually a big topic. You see, all the bard os are encompassed encompassed by the med itation itation bardo because it it is only through med itatio itation n th at w e come to recognize recognize the tru e natu re in the mid st of all the bard os. Once you aw aken to the tru e natur e, the confusi confusion on of the bard os comes comes to an end. This has been a brief teaching teaching on the m editation bard o. BARDO OF THE MOM ENT O F DEATH DEATH chik-khai bardo
Life Life is is followed followed by the b ard o of the mom ent of death . Death is inevitable inevitable on this highway we travel. All compounded things dissolve. Birth is followed by life and then d eath; that is the natu ral sequen ce of existence for all beings. Thing Thing s arise, abide for a momen t and then d ecay. ecay. Nothing an d n o one is exempt. exempt. This is true for for us also. It It is only a qu estion estion of w hen it w ill ill happ en. Relati Relatively, vely, you may have a longer longer or shorter am ount of time time left, left, but every creature creature w ho ever lived lived has d ied. ied. Worldly pow er, beauty and w ealth will not preven t it. Although w e tend to fear fear it, death is not evil, but a n atur al transform transform ation wh ich ich w e have all been throu gh man y times. Death serves the renew al of lif lifee and is a necessary necessary part of reality reality until we realize Buddhahood. Many of the great masters have w ritten in their songs songs that w e only die because because w e're ready to take anoth er birth. This This is pa rt of an ongoing pr ocess, ocess, w ith one form of experience experience foll follow ow ing after after anoth er un interru pted ly. As nu mber on e passes, num ber two arises. arises. Die bravely bravely and peacef peacefully ully,, be happ y w ith wh at you have achieved. Go joyou joyou sly. This This kind of insp insp ired acceptan ce of death is necessary, necessary, even for for ord inary peop le. Practic Practicee and med itation itation w ill ill help us learn to d ie with aw areness, to recognize recognize the tru e natu re and merge w ith the visions. These abiliti abilities es are an invalu able result of a life of pr actice. actice. To die satisfied satisfied an d p eacefully eacefully is cru cru cial cial to a good p assage. Let Let go of any fear or regret, do not be sad or hold on to any sense of loss loss or separation. Meanw hile, learn about th is pr ocess ocess and p repar e yourself in order to m ake a smooth tran sition. sition. The The presentation and stud y of these details alerts alerts us to wh at lies lies ahead so that w e can can preview th e obstacle obstacle course and learn to act app ropr iately iately and cour cour ageously throu gh every stage, withou t being distracted by the futility futility of hop es and fears. TH E ELEMENTS ELEMENTS
We are born an d live amid st the five five elements: elements: earth, water, fire, fire, wind and space. Space pervad es the others. It It is everyw everyw here. The The Bud Bud d ha tau ght th at the formation formation of the w orld is based u pon space, space, foll followed owed by strong w ind energy, w ater, earth earth an d fire. All internal and external external ph enomen a, everything everything w e perceive, perceive, the objec objects ts w e use, our bod ies, the p laces laces we stay, and the food w e eat, are composed of these five. five. We are intimately intimately involved w ith the elements and if any of them are ou t of balance, balance, it can can cause serious tr ouble. The health of this flower flower gard en an d all these trees trees d epend on th is balance. balance. You You mu st have some idea of the complex interp interp lay of elemen elemen ts wh ich ich ma ke up ou r external external env ironment. This is the same system constituting constituting ou r bod ies. ies. The The slightest
imbalance can lead to sickness. When the elements no longer co-ordinate and finally disintegrate, w e call call it it d eath. Guru Padm asambha va gave extensive extensive Dzogchen teachings teachings on th e interrelations interrelations betw een the internal and external elements, elements, describing how they function and dissolve, in The Self-Arising Awareness Tantra . Now let us look at the qu alities alities of the five elements elements as th ey occur occur in the bod y. Ou r flesh, flesh, bones and mu scles scles are all all part of the earth element. Blood, Blood, mu cus and other liquids are pa rt of the water element. Vital Vital w arm th or bod ily ily heat is du e to the fire fire element. element. Breath, Breath, circ circulation ulation and all movem ents dep end on the w ind element. element. Consciousness Consciousness or m ind is considered considered part of the sky or space elemen elemen t. All the op en, un comp comp oun ded spaces w ithin the body body are no d iffe ifferent rent than the space which is is occup occup ied by the un iverse of forms, forms, such as the sun an d m oon. These five five elements elements comp rise the basic basic ground of the wor ld w e exist exist in. When w e d ie, the five elements elements d issoci issociate ate and the bod y d isintegrates. isintegrates. The The vitality that brought th em together no longer has the energy energy to organize and maintain them in this form, so the elemen elemen ts are released back into the u niverse. When only consciousn consciousn ess is left, left, death has occurred . CHAOS IN THE WINDS
The primary signs ind icating icating the onset of death ar e caused caused by the d issolution issolution of the elements. Most of the time, these chan chan ges reflec reflectt the n atu ral degen eration of the bodily systems un der the influence influence of age and disease. The Dzogchen Dzogchen teachings of Guru Padm asambhav a state that the wind element element is the foun foun dation of our p hysical hysical system. system. Wind takes the p rincipal rincipal role in in establishi establishing, ng, maintaining and building u p the bod y. The The w inds give rise to all the chakras and channels. The The first sign sign of impending d eath manifest manifestss as a growing d isorder isorder in the w ind system. system. When the w inds are d isturbed, the other elements are immed iately iately affec affected ted an d d issolution issolution begins. At the mom ent of conception, conception, a subtle mind consciousness consciousness and w ind u nite to fuse the essence essence elemen elemen ts of the father and the m other into a zygote. The wind continues to organ ize the elemen elemen ts as the embr yo begins to d evelop. The The force of that w ind creates all the m ajor ajor channels, distributes distributes the elements and develops the nerv ous an d circulatory circulatory system s. Basic Basically, ally, w e have five win d s. The The life life force force w ind is connected connected to the heart, keeping it strong to continu continu e pu mp ing blood. The The up w ard moving w ind su stains the breath, helping us inhale oxygen oxygen and exhale exhale gases w e don 't need. The dow nw ard w ind p rocesses rocesses the materials we can't use and expels them. The wind of fire fire helps helps d igest igest food food an d send it to whatever p arts of the bod y need it. The The perva sive w ind is like like a reserve army w hich hich backs up the other w ind systems, systems, pervading the w hole body. When w e begin begin to d ie, ie, the normal coursing coursing of these winds w ill ill be disrup ted. First the pervasive wind becomes becomes disordered and all movement becomes becomes diffi difficcult. Your Your w hole body body m ay develop develop a nu mbness and your han ds and legs legs won't mov e easily. easily. This This in tur n affects affects the life life force force wind . When th is hap pen s, the mind becomes becomes clouded and frightened frightened , because because it cann ot identify objec objects ts or see w ell. ell. Imbalance Imbalance spreads, disrup ting the dow nw ard wind system. It It becomes becomes diffic difficult ult to
control your bow els. This affects the up w ard w ind so tha t shortness of breath may develop. Finally, the equalizing heat of d igestion is up set. With th e d isord er of the w ind of fire, bodily warm th d isperses. The feet and hand s grow cold as the balance of heat withd raw s. Body tem peratu re gradu ally drop s, w hich also contributes to poor d igestion. Such experiences usu ally ind icate the on set of death, and although cond itions could change, most of the time these signs indicate that consciousness is prep aring to dep art from the bod y. As disorder increases in the wind system, it creates d isturb ances in the chan nels. The first effect of this relates to the navel chakr a. EARTH DISSO LVES IN TO WATER
The navel is the prima ry root of the bod y. When you are conceived and start to form in your m other's wom b, the body d evelops through th e movement of w inds w hich emanate from the channel at the navel. Dur ing the process of dissolution, the chan ges begin w here they originally started , in the m ovement of the w inds associated w ith the navel chakra. As the navel chakra begins to disintegrate, the wind s grow m ore out of balance until the earth element begins to quake. Three signs will arise w hen t he nav el chakr a begins to cease functioning : an outer sign, an inner sign an d a secret sign. The m ost external sign is that your bod y becomes extremely heavy. When a ll five wind systems are in d isorder, this has an imm ediate effect on the n avel chakr a, causing you r bod y to feel very heavy and stiff. This is a result of the earth element d issolving into the w ater elemen t. It also indicates that th e pan creas, which is associated with the earth element, is malfunctioning. The person d ying may n ot be able to hold u p th eir hand if you p ick it up and let it go. They cannot w alk withou t sup port. Their comp lexion becomes very pale, and you may be able to see dark spots on their teeth. The inner sign is that t heir m ind becomes du ll, lacking clarity or stability. Consciousness seems to be fading, or sinking. In r esponse to this, the individu al may try to take off their clothes, feeling that this w ill help them feel lighter or m ore aw ake. They m ay seem to be hot, but th is is really in respon se to the chan ges hap pening w ithin. They may ask to be lifted or su pp orted w ith a higher pillow to coun ter th e feeling of sinking. These are the inn er signs of d issolution. Help them get comfortable and reassure th em th at everything is fine. If they are a p ractitioner, remind them of their practice, the Dhar ma, and their beliefs. N o matter w hat school they belong to, create a p eaceful environm ent, full of love and compassion. Even if the person is not interested in Dh arm a at all, serve him as he likes. Don't think that the Dha rm a is so great tha t you h ave to force it on anyone. This is the time to work with the ind ividu al's interests and passions. Be calm and peaceful, try to soothe an d relax the d ying one, help them be courageou s. This is crucial. Use kind word s and speak w ith respect. Do w hatever w ill help ease and comfort them . The secret sign consists of a mirage experience. It may seem like everything, even the external environmen t, is flowing an d m oving. Things m ay ap pear closer or farther away th an they actually are. Vision becomes un dep end able. Guru
Padm asambh ava comp ared th is to seeing a scintillating mirage m oving across the land scape in the sp ringtim e. These secret signs are all aspects of pr imord ial luminosity. Thou gh n ot continu al, the one d ying might experience a mirage of haze in the sky, and su btle, periph eral movemen ts as if fleas were jum ping ar oun d. These visions w on't stay very long and m ark the first app earance of the lum inosity of the true nature. Technically, you could say there's tw o bard os here; the bardo of d ying as w ell as a secret revelation of the fifth bard o. At this time, they share su ch a thin bor der that w e can har dly d istingu ish between them . In fact, the lum inosity bard o is secretly hap pen ing even before the d issolution of the elements in the bar do of birth and life. The secret signs happ en qu ickly and don 't take as long as th e external and internal do. Thus begins the d issolution of the elements, and du ring this time it is very importan t for the individu al and th ose around him to create a quiet, peaceful environm ent w ith as few em otions as possible. WATER EVAPORATES INTO FIRE
As the w ater element evap orates into the fire element , the heart chakr a begins to d isintegrate. There are also outer, inner an d secret signs associated w ith this ph ase. The external sign is that the mou th and respiratory p assages become very dr y and the nostrils constrict. The tongu e becomes d ry and difficult to m ove. The brightness of the complexion is gone. It is helpful to offer the individu al some w ater or a m oistened cloth at this point. The inner sign is strictly experienced by the ind ividu al wh o is und ergoing th e pr ocess. The mind becomes u nstable and one may feel agitated, mood y, fru strated and a little frightened. Aw areness can be qu ite sharp an d precise at times, but in other m oments th ere is no clarity and the m ind is very du ll. These states shift back and forth in an irregular way, so that the dying p erson might become a little shorttempered, or even angry. The secret sign is a vision of smoky, blue-grey cloud s repeated ly forming an d dissolving. This will not last very long, but it may h app en often. Again, these are signs of the p rimord ial lum inosity. The smoky v isions occur wh en the kid neys, w hich are associated w ith the w ater element, cease to function. During this phase, continue to make the p erson w ho is dying feel loved and app reciated, offer her supp ort and encouragem ent. Create a harmonious environment. If the person is a practitioner, remind th em of their par ticular w isdom d eity and help them maintain a continu ous m editation. This is extremely imp ortant. FIRE DISSI PATES INTO AIR
As the fire element is dispersed by the wind elemen t, disorder moves from the heart chakra to the sp eech chakra. The ou ter sign of this transition is that the h and s, feet and br eath become cold. H eat is rad iating aw ay from the body, grad ually cooling tow ard the heart center, as the fire element d issolves into the w ind element. There may b e hot an d cold flashes, wh ich finally settle into cold. On ce in a w hile, you w ill see a mist or vap ors rising off the dying p erson. The imm un e system disintegrates, along w ith the pow er to m ake distinctions between good and bad.
The inner sign associated w ith disorder of the speech chakra is that th e mind and vision become even m ore blurred and unstable. The dying person m ay recognize friend s and family one minu te, but n ot the next. The secret sign associated w ith the lum inosity of the tru e natu re is an inner vision similar to the flashings of light ning b ug s. At this time, the liver ceases to function. The liver correspond s to th e fire element. These stages may n ot last a long time, but they gen erally proceed in this order. Become familiar w ith the sequen ce so that d ur ing the p rocess of dissolution you are able to recognize all the signs an d courageously go forw ard . It is also very important for everybody p resent to be free of anger and attachm ent, because these attitud es are big obstacles to the person w ho is dying. WIND DIFFUSES IN TO SPACE
As the w ind element dissolves into th e space of consciousness, the fourth, or secret chakra becomes d isordered. The bod y shakes, movement becomes u nsteady and then is comp letely out of control. The external signs associated w ith this transition are a lengthen ing of the breath accompan ied by a subtle rattle. Speech becomes u nclear and mu mbled. It becomes d ifficult to inhale and exhale. The lun gs are collapsing. The eyes may roll up w ard . The inner sign of this stage is that th e mind is no longer quite as agitated, bu t is still very un stable. The p erson may feel quite happ y one m oment an d sad or a little angry the next. The emotions are continua lly changing. One m ay experience a rap id visionary d isplay of the habit p atterns and emotions characterizing the most recent lifetime. For examp le, if the dying person has been a good pra ctitioner, he w ill have a sublime experience of love and comp assion. A person w ith non-virtuou s habits w ill be having qu ite another experience. If he has an y good karm a, he may feel remorse an d ask for help getting over it at th is stage. Vivid m emories arise mom entarily and disapp ear before returning in new , effective combinations. It is similar to the head line new s in review . The natu re of one's habit patterns are m ad e quite clear du ring this period. Adv anced practitioners will now see the Bud dh a or Guru Pad masam bhava, so they are not afraid an d ar e even able to enjoy the process of dissolution an d b e hap py. Simply reciting some m antras w hile beholding th e Teacher, the mind is peaceful and relaxed. The equanimity this engend ers can be seen ou twa rd ly as well. The specifics of this phase depend on the activities performed during the lifetime. The secret sign of this stage is a vision of man y glow ing lights in d ifferent places. They are v ery small but they d o not blink on and off like lightning bugs. This is the fourth v ision of p rimord ial lum inosity. At this p oint, the lungs cease functioning. The lungs correspond to the w ind element, wh ich is dispersing into the spa ce of consciousn ess. When th e lung s cease to function, one exhales the last breath, and that's it. The ind ividual's heart center still maintains some heat and that is where consciousness finally dissolves. This marks the last stage of the bardo of dying.
SPACE DISSO LVES INTO CLEAR LIG HT
The four gross elements have all dissolved. Some teachings explain that after the wind element dissolves into consciousness, consciousness dissolves into the sky or the lum inosity of the tru e natu re, which is great open ness. The mov ement of the breath has stop ped . The five senses are inactive, there's no I-consciousness, so that eye, ear, nose, tongue and body consciousness are all interrup ted. This is know n as the comp letion stage. Noth ing is left ou tside of you, it's all comp letely w ithin at this stage. It is seen that everything w e perceive is mind an d n othing else. Having encompassed everything, perception comp letely d issolves into the clear light. Although other p eople can still perceive the world, the one d ying no longer registers external stimuli. For th e m oment, th at is all over. External ap pearan ces dissolve and although at the level of consciousness there are still a few m ore transitions to go, all du alistic concepts and thinking are su spend ed. There's no longer any activity. In the case of a pr actitioner wh o un derstand s the visualization and completion stages, recognition of each inn er or secret sign helps th em p erfectly abide in the process of enlightenmen t. Throu gh p ractice, you can merge you r mind w ith the visions of lum inosity the momen t they arise. This is a very pow erful time an d one of the best chan ces to realize our Budd ha nat ur e. We don 't even have to med itate to generat e these things; the inner an d secret signs w ill all arise natu rally. Practice prep ares us to connect at any p oint. Clear recognition of even th e first secret sign can lead d irectly to enlightenm ent. These are Guru Padm asambh ava's bodhicitta teachings on the natu re of mind , revealing the d etails of w hat w e'll have to face du ring and after d eath. It's kind of like the airline hostess show ing u s how to u se the life jackets and escape r amp s; but un like m ost airline p assengers, every on e of us w ill definitely have to make this exit. That's w hy w e're considering all of this in some detail. Guru Padm asambhav a said that w e should d eal w ith the bardo of dy ing like a beautiful w oman going to mar ket. She d oesn't have an y dou bt or fear about h er attractiveness. She is already very beau tiful, but she checks herself one last time before she leaves the h ouse to ensure tha t her hair and makeu p are p erfect. Similarly, we should prep are for d eath by develop ing a strong p ractice so that, w hen th e time comes, we too can make one last check and th en move forward w ith great coura ge, dignity, and hap piness. What I have said h ere relates to the grad ual p rocess of the d issolution of the elements that w e call "dy ing." Now let us go on to w hat hap pens after death. WHITE, RED AND BLACK
By this time, the dying p erson has stopp ed comm un icating w ith the external w orld. H e no longer sees form , hears soun d, smells odors, tastes flavors or feels anyth ing. There is no aw areness of the objects of sense. Breathing has stop ped , but there is a subtle wind or inner breath p resent, so consciousn ess is still associated w ith the bod y. Occasionally peop le have come back
from this p oint, because u ntil the inner br eath stop s there's a slight chance one could revive. At this time, the white and red elements begin to vibrate tow ard d isintegr ation. The inn er experience of this ph ase is associated w ith thr ee visions: a w hite vision, a red vision and a black vision. The white and r ed elements, which we received from ou r par ents in the form of sperm and egg, are known as the root elements of the body. The white essence, wh ich w e got from ou r father, pervad es the body, but m ainly resides w ithin the crown chakra . The red essence, received from ou r moth er, is also foun d th roug hou t the bod y, but is concentrated in a p lace about four finger-width s below th e navel chakra. As these two elements d rift tow ard disord er, the w hite element is affected first. In th e form of an up side-dow n Tibetan syllable HA M, it w ill start to d escend dow n the central chan nel from th e crow n chakra to the hear t center. At this time, the dying p erson will experience bright moonlight radiating throu gh everything, flashing silvery-w hite. For a shor t time, everything goes w hite, as when lightn ing strikes. This is the fifth exp erience of the clear light of reality w hich is know n as ngo bo or the v ision of brightness. HA M is the Tibetan m antric syllable w ith the p ower of ind ucing a sense of shock to the system. We make sound s like HA an d HO wh en there is any energy surging throu gh the crown because the wh ite H AM w hich resides there is stimulated into m otion. As the crown chakra begins trem bling, the w hite element starts dripping dow n throu gh the central channel toward the heart center. A few second s, or perh aps a m inute after the descent of the w hite element, the dow nw ard w inds begin to shake and dislocate the red element from its residence four finger w idths below the nav el chakra. In the form of a red AH syllable, the solar essence begins ascend ing tow ard the heart. As it starts rising, you w ill have a crimson vision, the color of flames or th e deep red of the sky before d aw n. In Tibetan this is called "skyes pa;" the eru pt ion or v ision of bu rn ing fire. This is the sixth app earance of the clear light of the tru e natu re. When th e wh ite element, contribu ted by the father, begins to drip from the crown to th e heart, all anger is dissolved. When the red ness comes u p from below the navel and merges with th e heart, attachm ent comes to an end. The thirty-three emotions associated w ith anger are stopped , and the forty emotions related to attachment cease. Now comes the third vision, known in Tibetan as "topa" or the completing vision. When th e red an d w hite elements m erge at the heart, consciousness is trapp ed betw een them. Finally the two elements d issolve. At this point, vision goes black, like the n ew moon. This darkn ess is the seventh vision of prim ordial lum inosity. Simu ltaneously, the seven ignorant em otions are completely stopped and the eighty gross emotions are inactivated. A few seconds after you ha ve the black vision, you enter a state w hich is similar to being u nconscious. You don 't have any m ore visions or experiences. It is as if you ha d fainted . This d oes not ju st happ en to hu man beings; it even h app ens to animals wh en they die. The mind goes comp letely blank for a sh ort tim e as consciousn ess settles in the clear light . Most beings stay in this space for a few second s or a few minu tes, but n ot mu ch longer.
Very soon, anot her exp erience called "regaining vision" arises. This is simp ly consciousness waking u p again. The eight subtle wind s wh ich are natu rally part of the mind begin to stir, and rays of prim ordial wisdom rad iate, wa king you up . The mom ent you come to, you are in the absolute state of the tru e natu re, beyond conception, free of all com plexity and emot ion, awa ke in the naked brilliance of pr istine cognitiven ess. You exp erience it d irectly now , unob scured by su bject-object du alism. Clear an d bright beyond description, this is an u nconditional experience of the absolute reality of the tru e natu re. Through p ractice, you may h ave had some experience of this true natu re wh ile alive, but due to the dissolution of the different elements, it is clearly revealed at this time, free of any p hysical, mental or emotional barr iers. If you pr actice regularly du ring life, your r ecognition in th is mom ent w ill be free of error, hesitation an d dou bt. You can fearlessly and effortlessly mingle your aw areness with th e true natu re, like a child crawling u p on to her m other's lap. If you're able to do th at, you w ill attain enlightenmen t in the bardo of the moment of death. Very su btle teachings abou t this condition are d ealt with extensively in the Dzogchen Tant ras. Master Jigme Lingpa d escribes the clear light as the mo st pristine openn ess, transp arent as the autu mn sky free of du st, cloud s and w ind. There is no longer any notion of separate self or an external w orld. All is perfectly u nified in the natu ral singularity of unqu alified aw areness. One is completely liberated by recognizing this non-du al state, thereby merging the Dh armad hatu with th e prim ordial groun d. In the coloph on to th is beautiful prayer Jigme Lingpa explained that he w rote it w hile med itating in the mou ntains near Samye m onastery. Early one morning he walked outside and wh ile gazing up on Mount H epori, he thought of how Guru Padmasambhava along w ith h is twenty-five disciples had d one many pra ctices there on behalf of the Bud dh ad harm a, almost a thou sand years before. Reflecting on th is, he thou ght, "Now w e only have th e history of these events because almost everyth ing from th ose days is gone. As for myself, someda y I too w ill be a pa rt of history or just a m emory. Therefore I shou ld try to realize all ph enom ena as a man ifestation of the three kayas so that I don't h ave to suffer this movem ent throu gh time." Then he comp osed this prayer spon taneou sly. It is know n as the pr ayer to help actualize realization of the three kayas at the momen t of death . Dzogchen p ractitioners can be classified int o high, m idd le and low levels. The top tw o won't have to go through the bardos and so won't need to app ly these techniqu es. These instructions are for ord inary beings w ho w ill have to go throu gh all the bard o tran sitions and experiences. This also app lies to inferior pr actitioners w ho m ay have alread y received a lot of teachings, but are so far un able to actualize the real meaning. Practitioners usually have a w ider horizon of spiritual opp ortun ities, more vitality, and better vision in the bardos than norm al people, but low level practitioners and ordinar y p eople are classified together here because even thou gh th ey might hand le it d ifferently, both w ill have similar experiences. The highest of the low level practitioners can realize the dh arma kaya the
mom ent it arises on the basis of having m editated an d practiced w hile alive. If they w eren't able to fully realize the tru e natu re w hile alive, they hav e at least become intimate with it thr ough med itation so that after d eath, they can easily identify and enjoy the ecstatic lum inosity of pristine cogn itiveness, free of obstacles, imp ur ity or impediments. Awareness merges with that realization in the dharmakaya. Having practiced d uring life, the practitioner finally sees w hat s/ he has been focusing on and merges w ith that u nd erstand ing. This is enlightenm ent or realization of the dh arm akaya, the absolute condition described in th e Prajnap aram ita as "inconceivable, inexpressible, unborn and unceasing, by nature like the sky, experienced solely by self-originated primordial wisdom." We med itate in ord er to realize the essential und erstand ing expressed in th e H eart Sutra: "Emp tiness is form and form is emp tiness." Release all conception s and abide in the sphere of pr istine aw areness. In the momen t immed iately after death , there is a direct seeing. It's not like you're m editating and hap pen to have a vision. This time you 're seeing it as it really is. Most of the time, gross conceptions block our tr ue vision so that med itation d oes not penetrate as deep ly as we'd like it to. There's always a feeling of separation, the d uality of a self and w hatever it is w e're med itating on . But in the bard o there w ill be no feeling of separation. There, we enjoy comp lete freed om from the eighty em otional conceptions. There are no hind ran ces; w e see everyth ing vivid ly, clear as crystal, in the m od e of d irect perception. As you learn the p ractice du ring this lifetime, you w ill be able to merge mind w ith that original brightness free of the usu al notion of separ ate self. For examp le, if d uring life you w ere able to med itate one-pointed ly for five minu tes, you m ight stay there for five minu tes. If you could remain in m editation for one week, you can extend th is phase for a week. If you can on ly stay nondistracted for one minu te, you might last a minu te. These period s are referred to as med itation d ays, ind icating the average length of time that you are able to remain in med itation. If you have not cultivated any m editative equanimity du ring your life, you p robably w on't be able to remain in the clear light for m ore than a second or two before you begin the n ext ph ase. In the Dzogchen teachings it is said th at pr imordial w isdom arises fresh and naked , withou t any coverings or shields. By recognizing it at th is time, w e make all further bar do experience unn ecessary. This is the best opportu nity to gain enlightenment in the d harmakaya, but if w e're somehow un able to recognize this opening, a furth er experience of the prim ordial lum inosity arises. It becomes p rogressively h ard er from h ere. Pristine cognitiveness is free of emotion. It begins op en, fresh, peaceful, tranqu il and clear, but as you slowly come back into the w orld of du ality, subt le comp lexities begin arising. The eighty emotions wh ich h ad temp orarily disappeared start to return. These stages of dissolution hap pen d uring th e process of death. An ord inary person w ith no m editative experience or spiritual know ledge will enter a state of overall dullness for a short time, after having been frightened , irritated, agitated an d so on. Dharm a pr actitioners, even th ough they m ay not be totally realized, can track every step. Their recognition of these signs allows th em to m erge the p rocess
of dissolution w ith the p ath. If they are fully aware of everything and can maintain that aw areness, they can be in a state of constant m editation. In p articular, towa rd the end of the process of dissolution, the mind becomes a bit m ore settled. At first this stability is irregular, but it grad ually becomes continu ous. Through recognition of the signs, awareness can be easily maintained . When great p ractitioners d ie, they become enlighten ed, but even ord inary peop le w ho are just beginning to un derstan d th ese pr ocesses can make good progr ess toward realization. If there is any w isdom in relation to th e stages of dissolution, the mind will be more settled an d calm. This peace allows on e to hand le the situation quite well. The dissolution p rocess could pass in one d ay, though subjectively it ap pears mu ch longer. To the d ying person it can seem like mon ths or w eeks, although it may on ly last for an h our. What I have explained here app lies to a gradu al process of dissolution. An acciden tal or sudd en d eath d oesn't alw ays allow en ough time to man ifest the outer, inner an d secret signs. Even in th e case of a natur al death, the bard o teachings state that you can experience the secret signs very quickly, particularly the final signs involving the d isorder of the two elements and the w hite, red, and black experiences. THE WAY OF THE ADEPT
H igh level practitioners don't hav e to go throu gh any of the bardo transitions. When they are dying, they already have a good u nd erstanding of the true natu re and are aware that everything is part of the mind . Although their body is dying, they are actually moving into the dh arm akaya. For such ad epts, death is a freeing of old habitual bind ings associated w ith this body. Their fully developed awar eness of rigpa or p rimord ial wisdom is realized and their consciousness continu es to man ifest on th at basis. This is not th e norm al way to d ie. They have a p rivate exit. They d on't go through all the changes that normal p eople have to. It is trad itional to use th e example of the space contained by a vase. When th e vase is broken, the inn er space and the outer sp ace interpen etrate withou t boun dar ies. Nothing h app ens except th is natural m erging of space into space. So it is with those wh o und erstand the true n ature; the moment th ey leave the body, they merge w ith the heart of Bud dh a Samantabhad ra in the great Dzogchen realization, free from th e stains of birth and death . This is great enlightenm ent. For these sublime beings, death is not a time of sad ness and sorrow , but of sup reme happiness. At death, the greatest Dzogchen ad epts display wh at are known as the four highest signs of realization, ind icating that they h ave reached enlightenm ent. The mom ent the m ost enlightened yogis and yoginis abandon their bodies, they dissolve in transcend ental wisdom and acquire the rainbow body. Their aw areness merges with the d harmakaya an d their bodily elements are transformed into transcendental w isdom en ergy, like the substance of a rainbow . This is also know n as the transcendental wisdom bod y.
Others leave th e body in a blaze of light or a heap of flames. Sometimes it is white light, sometimes blue or green. Occasionally they exhibit a multi-colored: w hite, yellow , red, blue and green. This light stays for a short tim e and then disapp ears. People see the fire, but w hen it is through burn ing, there is no trace of bod y, bone or ash; it all ju st dissolves. These are d efinite signs of enlight enm ent. Such p ractitioners have aw akened to their true n ature, and gain full realization the mom ent they leave the bod y. They m erge with th e luminosity of the clear light in the sambhogakaya. The third class of accomplished practitioners attain Buddhahood in the nirmanakaya. As soon as they d epart their bodies they merge with the lum inosity of the true n atu re. Externally you m ight see light, fire, water or other elements dissolve into th e nirman akaya. This is the highest way to die. For example, wh en the Dzogchen master Garab Dorje died , he was immed iately transformed into light. His foremost studen t, Manjushr imitra, yearned longingly for him, and in that mom ent he saw his master's right hand stretch ou t from a sp here of light in the sky and dr op a sm all cask containing the "Three W ord s That Strike The Essence," This w as Garab Dorje's final Dzogchen testamen t, given to Manjushrimitra before he disapp eared, and it exemplifies the third extraordinary w ay of dying. The fourth type of death is know n as the w ay of dakini transformations. As soon as awareness dep arts from th e body, it disapp ears. Only the nails and hair remain. Everything else dissolves. There are also great m asters wh ose body size decreases after death . After three d ays or a w eek, the bod y begins to shrink un til it totally disap pear s except for the n ails and hair. All of these pr ocesses are associated w ith the actualization of the rainbow body. Many Dzogchen m asters in both Ind ia and Tibet become enlightened th rou gh med itating on the space instruction (longde), and acquire a rainbow bod y. During the days of Guru Padm asambh ava, the eighty-four Mahasidd has attained rainbow bodies at th e time of their d eaths. Seven generat ions of practitioners in th e lineage of Vairocana enjoyed this attainment. Shri Singha and Manjushrimitra also realized this state. We have even h eard mor e recent new s from Ind ia along these same lines. In the Bud d ha's teachings the attainm ent of the rainbow body is equivalent to enlightenment or Bud dh ahood . This is the way of death for great adep ts in the Dzogchen trad ition, wh ere the rainbow bod y is a well-know n p henom ena. It is a sign wh ich tells us that after realizing Bud dh ahood, you don 't just d isappear into space; you begin to act spont aneou sly for th e good of all sentient beings. Those wh o d o not attain the rainbow body, but are n evertheless advanced pra ctitioners, d on't hesitate when it is time to d ie. They are beyond dou bt and fear, and don 't make any big deal about dying. They simply d ie and attain enlightenm ent. These cour ageous b eings let go like babies. They h ave n o regrets, they are not w orried or sad. Without any plans or expectations, they don't h ave any thought about w hat they like or don't like, and they are n ot afraid. H aving seen throu gh the d istinctions betw een life and death , they are not attached to staying here and are unafraid to d ie. They just go natu rally w herever they happ en to be, wh ether up on the m ountains near the glaciers or d own in the green valleys, they
die like lions w ithout an y fear. Although they ap pear to be experiencing d eath, they're actually leaping from sam saric ph enomen a to enlightenment. This is wh y Guru Padm asambhava and other masters taught th at such practitioners are not really d ying; they are p erfectly released into full aw akening. This m anner of death app lies to all those of the highest capacity. Those w ho h ave d eveloped spiritual awareness and mindful equanimity d o not experience any bard o after d eath. Most practitioners of Mahamu dra and Dzogchen leave the body through the central chann el. This ind icates a d egree of control over th e m ind, allowing th em to choose the direction an d destination of their next rebirth. Those wh o can merge w ith the clear light might rem ain in the meditative postur e. Some d rop th eir heads forwar d, but m ost don't and th ey stay in meditation for anywhere from three days to a week. This is a sign that they have m erged w ith the prim ordial luminosity. In Tibet, it is quite common for practitioners to d ie in a med itation p osture. They sit exactly as they hav e sat for med itation d ur ing their lifetime, so that they are resonant w ith that state. They merge their awareness comp letely with the tru e natu re, while externally remaining in the vajrasana. When the w isdom w ind forces consciousness to leave throu gh the central chann el, the head dr ops and often you see a little blood d rain from the left nostril. You'll also find a clear liquid or p erha ps a w hitish liquid, mixed with som e blood coming ou t of the lower p art of the urinary tract. That is a sign tha t the consciousness has left via the wisd om w ind . It is very impor tant to not d isturb the d eceased at this time. Be quiet and don 't touch them, so that they aren't distracted. In the 1960's wh en w e first arrived in Darjeeling, there w as a lama w ho d ied in the hospital. He stayed in the med itation postu re after d eath. Some Ind ians though t he w as still alive and had just fainted, so they tried to resuscitate him. Others realized that h e had died an d w as in m editation, and adv ised th at he be left alone. Before long his head d ropp ed and it was clear that he had d ied. When we asked wh o he was w e learned that h e was not a master, but an ordinary N yingma-Kagyu practitioner wh o app arently had a good realization. To die with clarity an d full awar eness, free of any external comp lications is also one of the favorite themes expressed in t he teaching songs of the m asters. Once Milarepa said h e wou ld be very hap py to d ie alone in a cave, with nobod y there to ask, "H ow are you feeling?" H e boldly sings, "Let me d ie here with no on e to lament my passing or to see my corpse afterward s." In our ow n time, it was the fifteenth d ay of the eleventh m onth of the Tibetan calendar when His Holiness Dilgo Rinpoche said, "Now I have completed everything." He said this to his wife and those close to him. Usually he w ould do a ll his regular practices and m editate and p ray for the people who requ ested his pray ers in many d irections, but on this day, he said, "I have comp leted everything, every pr ayer that h as been asked of me. Now I'm going to leave. Please be careful in the futur e to pay attention. Karma can be very subtle and tricky. We might think something is no big deal wh ich tu rns ou t to have serious consequen ces, so pay good attention to the karm ic process. This is what every pra ctitioner needs to p ay attention to, even those with th e highest realization. I've don e my p art." Upon
hearing this, many of those pr esent didn 't believe him. They though t he was making som e casual statement, but soon after he got sick and p assed aw ay. This is how the great ones move. MAN DALA OFFERING S
In Tibet, man y pr actitioners have very few p ossessions. Others have m ore things, such as money, property an d loved on es, to wh ich they m ight cling and feel attached. Do not d w ell on attachm ents or succumb to ego-clinging, anger or fear. Try to avoid these attitud es and generate more courage an d joy by m entally making m and ala offerings to the Bud dh a, to Guru Pad masam bhava and especially to the Bud dh a Amitabha. Here in th e west it is the custom to make ou t a w ill. If it is don e in the spirit of bodh icitta, such an exercise can h elp you prep are to give up attachment. When you see that your tim e has come, consider all the valuables that you ar e leaving behind , collect them in you r mind and make a beau tiful man dala offering to Bud dh a Amitabh a. Give away everything w ithout exception in your last momen ts. The merit of your g enerosity will accomp any you . If you know the m and ala pray er, do it as you offer u p every thing. Say, "I offer my bod y, speech and w ealth, my belongings and everyth ing else, to Bud dh a Amitabha . Please accept th ese offerings and lead m e to enlightenm ent on th e bodh isattva p ath, so that I can ben efit all sentient beings. May I fully un derstand this process and enter the d harmakaya. Please supp ort and help me throu gh these changes." Meditate and cherish these thou ghts and offer everything to Amitabha. Once you d o this, you shou ld no longer feel regret, clinging, or attachment to an y belongings or peop le, becau se once you give them to the Bud dh a, there is no need to cling to them . After you've given everything to Bud dh a, you don 't have to think about it any mor e. You alread y gave it up ! In Tibet, they ma ke torma offerings. Once you'v e offered them u p, you d on't care w hat hap pens to them or w ho takes them. It is no longer your concern. Try to die peacefully and happily, in this detached disposition without a sense of having left anyth ing u nfinished . Feel that everything has been completed. By sincerely making this offering, you w ill move beyond fear an d can joyfully prepa re to begin the process of death . If you h aven't d eveloped the man dala visualization, concentrate on Bud dh a Amitabha or Gu ru Padm asambhava. Feel their presence and look forward to this great tran sition. In the root text, Guru Padm asambhava has w ritten:
REMAIN IN THE SPHERE OF THE CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS WHEN THE BARDO OF THE MOMENT OF DEATH IS DAWNING UPON ME, ABANDONING ATTACHMENT AND CLINGING-DESIRE TO EVERYTHING This is the time to remem ber you r teacher's pith instru ctions, the heart essence
of the p ractice. Refresh you r mem ory and remind your self of the key points. There are tw o main stages of application in th e Vajrayana : the creation stage and the comp letion stage. The creation stage p ractices involve seeing every form in the un iverse as the body of the bud dh as, hearing all soun ds as the speech of the bud d has and know ing every level of aw areness and even sp ace itself as the mind of the bud dh as. This is to help you stabilize in the und erstanding th at you are already enlightened , it's simp ly a matter of continu ously abiding in that aw areness and clearly recognizing all thing s in th e sph ere of pristine cognitiveness. Because this is not accomp lished th rough the relative activities of aband oning and adop ting, the completion stage pr actice is referred to a s "beyond coming and going." If somehow you aren 't able to maintain this und erstand ing, then just m editate, and visualize the bud d has in the sp ace before you or visualize yourself as the Bud dh a, relax into th e inconceivable expanse of the real an d remain there, confiden t in liberation, full of love and compassion, calm and peaceful. That is another way to practice the completion stage. PHOWA
The mom ent of death is the time to imp lement th e phowa pr actice for the transference of consciousn ess. There is nothing ar bitrary abou t w hen to d o ph owa . If your pra ctice is on a h igh-level and you already see everything in the th ree-vajra states, it w ill not be n ecessary to emp loy it; you've a lready got it covered. If your pr actice is not on su ch a high level it is a good thing to d o. The tra nsference of consciousness is to be d one sp ecifically w hen w e see the signs of app roaching d eath or feel the need for rebalancing by p racticing on the Bud dh a Am itabha. Guru Padm asambh ava ad vocated doing the regenerative pra ctices at least three times before you transfer consciousness through th e pow er of phow a. Phow a has m any d ifferent m eanings; in Tibetan it mean s "transferring consciousness." The highest form is know n as the p how a of the dha rma kaya w hich is med itation on the great perfection. When you d o Dzogchen med itation, there's no need to transfer anyth ing, becau se there's nothing to tran sfer, no place to transfer it, nor an yone to do it. That's the highest, and greatest phow a pr actice. The second phow a is known as the phow a of the sambhogakaya. The sambh ogakaya ph owa involves seeing everything as the mand ala of the deities, wr athful and peaceful, as in the zhi-khro practice itself.
ALL PHENOMENA APPEAR AS THE MANDALA OF THE PEACEFUL AND WRATHFUL DEITIES. THESE DEITIES DISSOLVE AS A RAINBOW IN THE SKY. RELAX THE MIND IN THE NATURAL STATE WHICH IS THE UNION OF APPEARANCE AND EMPTINESS, FREE FROM COMPLEXITIES. ALL SOUNDS ARE THE SPEECH OF THE WRATHFUL AND PEACEFUL DEITIES. THIS EMPTINESS SOUND DISSOLVES AS THE DRAGON'S VOICE OF THUNDER DISAPPEARS IN THE SKY This d escribes the comp letion stage p ractice. Learn to m erge your mind w ith
everything in th e man dala, just be p art of the as-it-is and relax into th at natu re. This is know n as the transference of consciousness throu gh the sambh ogakaya. The third transference pra ctice is known a s the phow a of the nirma nakaya. Visualize Bud dh a Am itabha above you r head and your self as Vajrayogini or Yeshe Ts'ogyal. In th e center of your v isualized form, imagine the central chann el as being hollow and blue. In you r heart chakra, visualize your consciousness fused w ith the w ind element in th e form of light-blue thig-les. Using these mean s, eject your consciousness up throu gh the central channel and crown chakra all the w ay up to Bud dh a Amitabha's heart center. This requires imagining both you rself and Bud dh a Amitabh a in the form of the wisd om rainbow body . Do not per ceive any of this as solid . Practice it again and again. Engage th e exercise until signs ap pear . This is known as the nirmanakaya phowa and was p racticed w idely and openly in Tibet.
TRANSFER THE UNBORN SELF-AWARENESS INTO THE OPENNESS OF SPACE This is another reference to the ph ow a of the d harm akaya. There's nothin g to visualize in this case. Just stay m erged w ith un born aw areness.
WHEN WE ARE ABOUT TO LEAVE THIS BODY COMPOSED OF FLESH AND BLOOD, REALIZE THAT IT IS IMPERMANENT AND ILLUSORY In these two lines Guru Padm asambhava emp hasizes freedom from grasping and attachment to the body . We habitually cling to the body and attach to the notion of a sep arate self. This bod y of flesh and blood is on loan from t he five elements. It is comp oun ded and fragile, an imp erman ent, magical mirage. Why d o w e cling? What are w e holding on to? If you're still clinging, you d on't un derstan d the real situation. In case of sud den death, concentrate your m ind in m editation and visualize your y idam deity to help balance out the shock of the transition. Actually, when ever you come up on d isturbing situations, it's best to maintain the mind in m editation. Relax into the prim ord ial natu re and d o not give in to pa nic. Concentrate on your yidam d eity, feel the immanence of the Bud dha and Guru Padmasambhava, or simp ly meditate on the true natu re without th ought. In the Dzogchen teachings we are told to v isualize the d eities arising instan tly like a rainbow in the sky, or like a fish jump ing out of water. These are examp les of visualizations wh ere you imm ediately invoke the entire form of a d ivine being for a shor t time. The stages of elemental d issolution du ring death ar e usually so quick that there is not mu ch time to d evelop a visualization th rough different stages. This is because you r faculties are decomp osing an d increasingly dysfun ctional. That's wh y it's importa nt to med itate and develop you r p ractice now w hile you are still in good h ealth. When you see the signs of app roaching death , let go of all attachm ent and anger. Maintain equan imity, w hether it is your self or anoth er person w ho is dying. Try to a create a peaceful environm ent and harm onious conditions. Don't force anyth ing on them . If they don't believe in Dharm a, allow th em to d ie in tha t state of
non-belief. If they d o believe in Dharm a, help create an ap prop riate space in w hich to practice. Do whatever is suitable. The best w ay to sup port a nd benefit a dy ing per son is with love an d com passion. Above all, help them to die p eacefully. This is a crucial transition p oint, and if we let them get confused , it could mess them up , even if they w ere good p ractitioners. There are situations wh ere the dying p erson really believes in the Dh arm a although their relatives and friend s do n ot. In th at case, we shou ld not force any issues. We should just try to supp ort a dh arm ic environm ent. If we begin to perform som e dha rmic activities for the dying p erson and their family mem bers and friend s d on't ap preciate it, it could cause a big scene. This w ould be a great obstacle toward realization, and h ard on the d ying person. This is not necessary. Instead, we should ind irectly honor the Dharm a and create a meditative atmosp here for that p ractitioner. Sup port them in simple w ays like offering to raise their pillows. Find w ays to serve in the spirit of love and comp assion. Inward ly, med itate on Gur u Pad masam bhava, Vajrasattva or Bud dh a Amitabha. Recite some mantras qu ietly and invoke the presence of Dharma th rough your being. If you have the opp ortunity, right before the d issolving stages, you can move th e body some, adjust the p illow to help them assum e an up w ard , not-quite-sitting p osture. If that's not p ossible then try to get them into th e lion postu re. When the wind element dissolves into consciousness, and consciousness is leaving th e body, touch th e dying p erson on th e top of their head, creating a little sensation aroun d th e crow n chakra: even tug on som e of the hairs. This can m ake a big difference, because wh en th e consciousness leaves the body of an ord inary individual, it will leave through any op ening that is available. The bod y has nine holes, but leaving th rough the central chann el is always best because it provid es a very neu tral trajectory, free of anger a nd attachmen t. Even n on-practitioners, if they can somehow m anage to exit through the central channel, will mak e smoother transitions wh ich w ill help them to go to higher states of rebirth. To leave from the lower p arts of the body increases the likelihood of rebirth in th e lower realms. Most of the time the consciousness won 't stay aroun d too long. On the avera ge, it w ill be gone after three d ays. This is why in Tibet they keep th e corp se in the hou se for at least three an d a half day s. So it is good to occasionally pat t he top of their head after the breathing has stop ped to d irect consciousness to the exit. If it looks strange to others who are in the room, just touch them gently on the crown and hold your han d th ere for a mom ent. Avoid causing an y sensations in the lower p arts of the body. In a good d harm ic environm ent, you can discern the external signs and indicate the curr ent p hase of the process to the dying p erson. If she is a p ractitioner, and no on e is going to r eact, then a close sangha m ember, a friend or a relative can explain th at this is the p art of the p rocess wh ere consciousness leaves the bod y and remind them to let go of all attachment a nd ego-clinging. In Tibet, it is the cu stom to read The Tibetan Book of the Dead, very slowly and gently at the bed side of the one d ying. It is called the Bardo Thö-dröl wh ich m eans "Liberation Through H earing in the Bardo" and it is very p owerful. Chant it w ith great hon or an d respect, in a calm, gentle voice. This w ill help th em r ecognize the
signs and rem ember their pr actice. Sup port th e mood of med itation and faith. Even if the d ying p ractitioner has already learned to recognize the signs, you can still be of help by simp ly recoun ting them . It is especially helpful to point ou t some of the main tran sitions such as the d escent of the wh ite and th e ascent of the red elements and most importantly, to remind them to concentrate un distractedly and merge w ith th e clear light. To say all this in a calm and peaceful tone is very beneficial. This is also a good tim e for all of the sangh a mem bers to pra y together. Recite the Vajrasattva man tra and make offerings, med itate and make everything very calm and peaceful. Keep un necessary noise to a m inimum . Recite softly, meditate and practice in su pp ort of the d ying individual. A focused med itation on bodhicitta w ill truly p ut th e pow er and blessings of the Bud dh a into the ceremony an d affect the bard o voyager's men tal state, even if he is not a p ractitioner. It w ill help him be confident and brave, and orient him toward the pu re lands. SUBTLE SIGNS
Guru Padm asambhav a wr ote a small book in which he explains all the subtle signs associated w ith the ap proach of d eath. According to the zh i-khro teachings, there are two typ es of death : accidental death and natu ral karmic death. Karmic d eath is like a candle; it burn s for a certain nu mb er of hours, un til its time is up . This is an examp le of the sp an of karm ic life. Whether w e live for 100 years or 30 years dep end s on ou r karm a. Karm ic force is powerful, but it also allows for other things to hap pen. This is known as acciden tal death. A person's karm a might give him a 100-year lifespan, but an ad ventitious obstacle sud denly ap pears like a gu st of wind : instantly, the cand le of life is blown out, even th ough it still had fifty years to bu rn. There could be non-virtuous actions performed in the p resent life which wou ld hasten the coming of a natu ral karmic death, but th at is not necessarily the result. Non -virtuou s actions may not bear an y result du ring the p resent life time. Most adv entitious obstacles are actually part of our u np aid karm ic debt from p revious lives which has come du e, not anom alies that happ en at rand om. They always have causes. One section of the book d eals with how to tell the d ifference between a kar mic death an d an accidental death; accord ing to Guru Padm asambhav a, there will be indications. Another section d eals with r emoving th e obstacles associated w ith the signs of accidental death. These are divided into outer, inner, and secret signs. One p ossible outer sign is a personality change. Someone w ho w as basically calm and peaceful, sud den ly becomes short-temp ered, moody and small-mind ed. This may be a sign of the coming tr ansition. With oth er p eople, you can look at their head and see that their au ra or energy has d ecreased. The complexion becomes pale, certain ma rks ap pear on th e body or face, the fingernails become d ull, the hair on the n ape of the neck stand s up , even if you try to comb it dow n. When sneezing, there is involun tarily urination or they might p ass a stool at the same time. Hearing and vision begin failing, smell and taste no longer w ork very w ell. All of these indicate physical w eaknesses and imbalances in the system. Other signs app ear in dream s, but generally, they are not considered
significant if you on ly dr eam of them once or tw ice. If you h ave any of these dr eams regu larly, this is a definite sign. In on e dr eam, you are completely naked and run ning d own hill all the time. Another one is similar to run ning the gau ntlet and involves peop le trying to catch you and lots of han ds attem pting to grab and pu nish you. There are others, such as being comp letely naked or w earing heavy black cloth, riding certain anim als and tr avelling in certain d irections. In an other dr eam you are very calm bu t are hand cuffed or d iscover you are inside a place w ith no d oors, like an iron box, or you're alw ays traveling throu gh tu nn els. You m ay dr eam that you 're climbing a beautiful ladd er wh ich sud den ly breaks or that you have fallen into a big hole, or are interru pted by a broken br idge. You m ay be w ith man y peop le w ho have d ied, family members or friend s. Dream s in the earlier and mid dle par ts of the night tend to reflect habitual p atterns based in m emories. Early mor ning d reams often pertain to th e futu re. If one of these d ream s occurs repeatedly in th e early morning, this is a symp tom of p sychic or ph ysical imbalances and is a definite long-term sign of death. If you feel you ma y not live very lon g, exam ine you r life. Remem ber to cond uct your inquiry in th e spirit of bodh icitta with th e intention of gaining know ledge and mak ing the best use of your tim e here so you can accomp lish something m eaningful for yourself as well as all sentient beings. Signs ind icating t he p resence of life-threaten ing obstacles reflect our attachment to things in this world w hich act as a hindr ance and interrup tion to the continu ity of beneficial activities. In or d er to overcom e these, Gur u Pad masam bhava tells us to begin by making offerings to d evelop a strong feelingconnection with the Three Roots: the gur u, the yidam , the dakini and dh armap alas. Be really generou s with you r sangh a. Prepare a Vajrayan a feast, a ganachakra or ts'ok offering for your vajra broth ers and sisters. Expand that feeling of love and compassion ou tw ard to all sentient beings. Be charitable to others w ho you feel really need it, like homeless person s. In th e spirit of peace and love for all beings, you can even offer something to an an imal. Then p roceed to investigate the signs. Distant signs may a pp ear three or even five years before death . These are inausp icious omens, but if you recognize them for wh at they are, it may be relatively easy to mod ify the course of events by changing certain attitu d es and app lying p ractices to alter the d estiny associated w ith that sign. But w hen th e final signs appear, it is very difficult to change things. Once in awhile it might happen, but in most cases the p ortents of the final signs are irreversible. H owever in most cases, the possibilities implied by the longer-term indications can be changed relatively easily. Therefore, Gu ru Rinp oche gave extensive teachings on all of this. Of course, the signs w ill not occur for everyone in exactly the same w ay. If we respon d b y taking up the app ropr iate remed ies and things do not change, this is an ind icator of karm ic d ura tion, and there is nothing w e can d o to chang e it un less we transform our bod y into a rainbow b ody. In any case, w e mu st renew ou r pr actice, stabilize our m editation, and prep are to app roach this transition joyfully. Guru Padm asambhav a explains that these signs do not alw ays foreshadow death . In some cases they m ay signify the p resence of serious obstacles, which could lead to d eath if ignored. If you see any of these signs in yourself, it is good to
med itate and p ractice, particularly on Guru Pad masam bhava or Bud dh a Amitabha, and to rebalance your life-habits. There m ay be symp toms th at your vital energy is decreasing, and that you r p otential is degenerating. Daily practice and med itation w ill d efinitely help b alance and revitalize your life force. On the externa l level, efforts to preserve th e lives of others, such as giving m oney to charities, working in shelters or a h ospice, are restorative. You can help protect anim als as an expression of bodh icitta. It is also good to impr ove wash ed-out road s and rep air broken bridg es. These are very a usp icious activities wh ich w ill pr olong ou r life. In the four teenth century, there was an accomp lished m aster know n as Iron Bridge Builder w ho bu ilt over 108 bridges throu ghou t Tibet. He w as possibly the first person in the w orld to engineer m assive iron br idges able to span big rivers. A great terton wh o lived for m ore than 125 years, he wore a long beard. Throughou t Tibet, there are man y statues of him h olding an iron chain in his right hand to symbolize the bridges. He used a special metal that n ever rusted . Even the Ch inese app reciate him because he w as a pr actitioner wh o d irectly improved the lives of ordinary p eople. SUMM ARY OF THE CHIK-KHAI BARDO OF THE MOM ENT O F DEATH
Guru Padm asambhav a said, "N ever thinking death will come, we m ake long term p lans." Even happ y families and good friends m ust eventu ally p art. It's as if we are meeting in an airp ort, and w ill soon ha ve to go our separ ate way s. The signs of death sh ould n ot cause u s to be frightened , angry or up set. Death is a natural process. Withou t it, there is no birth. The tw o create an ong oing cycle that p ersists un til we reach enlightenm ent. Death can mak e it seem like w e are losing everything, but actually, if we are mind ful and hav e a good un derstan ding of the true n ature, w e obtain great spiritual benefits and can app roach full realization throu gh this transition. Therefore, w e should n ot be worried, sad, or up set about death. Life and d eath ar e tw o sides of a coin. They ar e as inevitable as the cycle of d ay and night. We may as w ell cling to the daytim e and be afraid of all ph enomena w hich occur after dark. From the viewp oint of higher realization, death is the experience of the dh arm akaya an d sambh ogakaya. The experience of life is a nirmanakaya manifestation. From the nirman akaya, we can enter into the sambhogakaya and the d harm akaya, so we should not be upset or hesitant around death . We should go forwar d w ith wisdom , and joyfully engage the process. Many p ractitioners in Tibet have recognized the signs of death ap proaching. When they u nd erstand that they are d ying, they don't feel up set or sad, but invite all their friend s and family mem bers to come to their dep artu re. A teacher w ill ask all his stud ents, a hidd en p ractitioner will invite sangha m embers and friend s to a big festival. They often p erform a ts'ok ceremony a s a farewell gift before they leave. With great joy, they host the festival, and th en aban d on their earth ly form to enter the dharm akaya and sam bhogakaya states alone. Death is anoth er d imension of our existence to be explored . You've been here
for awh ile. To stay here forever w ould be boring. Sooner or later you 're going to have a look at the other sid e of this life. Bud dh a Maitreya taugh t that for those w ho realize that ap pearan ces are the d isplay of the true n atur e of mind, th e cycle of life and death is like walking from par k to park, strolling from gard en to gard en. There is nothing strange or fearful about it. How beautiful it is! Read th e life stories of many of the great masters and you w ill be amazed an d astonished to see the simp le, joyful way th ey app roached d eath. The 15th Karmap a w as Khakyab Dorje, w hose first nam e means p ervasive sky. As he wa s about to d ie he sang , "N ow it's time for Khakyab D orje to perv ad e the sky!" When Longchenpa arrived at Samye m onastery, he said to h is studen t, "I'm going to d ie in th is place." He w asn't sick or anything, but h e called th e shot. "I would be happ y to die here rather than acquire a rainbow body somew here else." He w rote a beautiful p oem w hich says, "The time has come to go; like a traveler, I must b e on m y w ay. My joy in dying has been w ell earned: it is greater than a ll the w ealth in the ocean a merchant may h ave won, or the god like pow er of having conquered arm ies or the bliss foun d in med itation. So I wait no longer, but go to sit firmly on my seat in the bliss supreme th at know s no d eath." He continued teaching for about two or three weeks and then one d ay he said to his stud ents, "Now I'm going to enter the dh arm akaya, so let u s med itate together on e last time." Then w hile sitting in med itation, he dissolved h is mind into the primord ial natu re. We should not be frightened, hesitant or timid. These transitions are p art of the process of our tota l developmen t. If we don 't allow chan ge, we will never get new results or make any pr ogress toward enlightenmen t. This particular chan ge at the end of each life represents a great op portu nity to gain realization. Your mind becomes very influential at this time. Your intentions du ring the m oment of d eath have an extraordinary effect on you r futu re d irection. Even an expert archer can shoot p oorly if he is distracted at the m omen t of the arrow 's release. Similarly, you may be a g ood p ractitioner in this lifetime, but a m oment's carelessness du ring the dying pr ocess can dr astically affect you r chance for recognition d uring the bard o and a good rebirth. Likewise, increased concentration continu ing in a positive direction at this time w ill be of great benefit, even if you w ere not su ch a good practitioner d uring your life. This conclud es the teaching on th e bardo of the mom ent of death. BARDO OF THE LUMINO SITY OF THE TRUE NATURE chos-nyid bardo
The next stage is called the bar do of the luminosity of the tru e natu re. This is also known as the bard o of the clear light. After the momen t of d eath, wh en breathing has stopp ed an d th e gross elements have d issolved into the subtlest space of consciousn ess, w e reaw aken in the clear light of the dh arma kaya. Most ordinary beings with no spiritual know ledge or exposu re to bardo teachings will not recognize wh at is happ ening at th is point and it will last only a short time. There's no fixed du ration for the amou nt of time you w ill spen d in an y of these phases. Various elements such as the cond ition of the channels and the ma nner of death determ ine just h ow the changes p roceed. But even if the vision is fleeting an d only lasts a mom ent, a good p ractitioner can recognize and expan d on that flash an d ga in
enlightenment in the d harmakaya. If our recognition is full at that time, the confusion of the bard os comes to an end . This is the best opp ortu nity for enlightenmen t in the dhar maka ya, but if w e're unable to recognize it, a secondary form of clear light will arise. From here, liberation becomes progressively hard er. The eighty emotions w hich had been mom entarily inactivated, gradu ally retur n. Because one h as not yet recognized an d merged in the clear light, this bardo begins w ith an experience of awesome soun d s and beams of light. The sound s and sights that are experienced at this time d o not exist externally. All are emanations of your ow n p rimord ial nature, app earing in forms th at you have to recognize for w hat they tru ly are. During the final moments of the bardo of the mom ent of death w e had a chance to gain enlightenm ent at the level of the d harm akaya. If this does not hap pen , we enter the bard o of lum inosity where th ere is a chance to become enlightened in the sam bhogakaya. If you are familiar with the thöd-rgyal or "leap ing over" pra ctices w hich emp loy med itations involving light and color, you are prepared for transcendent recognition and liberation in the sambhogakaya. The visions that arise at this point are not created by any one, nor are they a reflection of conditional habit energy. They arise spontan eously from th e tru e natu re, the dom ain of prim ordial wisdom , and app ear to consciousness und er certain cond itions. In the Dzogchen teachings th ey m ention that these colors and lights are n atur al qualities inherent to th e pr imord ial wisdoms. These are visions of wh at we are intrinsically, as well as being the ground of all the sound s and colors per ceived d ur ing our lifetimes. But no w w e're really experiencing it all effortlessly, at full intensity, un obscur ed by the p oisons. If you're ab le to recognize the tru e natu re of these radiations and m erge awareness with th is luminou s display, you have an opp ortunity to gain enlightenment in the sambh ogakaya. First comes th e experience of soun d . This is actually th e fifth [?] exper ience of the lum inosity bardo, wh ich is know n as the voice of the true natu re, or the echo of primord ial w isdom. This sound is not soft and nice. It is much loud er and stronger than heavy m etal mu sic. Guru Padmasambh ava comp ared it to the soun d of a thou sand thu nd ers or the d estruction of the u niverse; it is a very big noise! But this aw esome turbu lence is not happ ening externally; it is an echo of the primord ial natu re. If you can recognize it as the reverberation of transcend ent w isdom an d n ot react, you can pu t an end to the bardo p rocess. If you don 't recognize this sound for wh at it is, things get a little bit hard er. The earlier experiences are r elatively gentle and peaceful. As you continu e, the w aves get a little roug her, like w hite-w ater rafting in the Rocky Mou ntains. If you are frightened by the sound s and miss the opp ortunity for recognition, concentrate in p reparation for the next visions, w hich involve light. Very pow erful, blazing lights will appear in front of you. Guru Padm asambhava states that this light is stronger than a thou sand sun s. It is shining so brightly it feels like it is going to pierce right th roug h you , like a shower of pow erful arrow s. This is followed by a vision of tiny beam s of light sh ining in five colors.
The soun ds m ay be irritating or frightening. You m ay get up set or angry, and start run ning to escape, but the soun ds follow you , the beams of light pu rsue you . You d esperately want to get away and all your h opes and fears begin to come on strong. This same d istress may continu e wh en you experience the lights of the peaceful and w rathful bud dh as. If you begin to cherish an attachm ent or become frightened, clinging to false discriminations, you w ill only be trap ped in m ore confusion. The oppor tun ity for liberation h ere is still wide op en for d etermined pra ctitioners. When h earing the soun ds, recognize the voice of the tru e natu re as w hat you w ere practicing du ring your lifetime by reciting man tra. The brilliant lights are p erceived w hile alive through the Dzogchen thod-rgyal pr actices. So w hen yogis experience these things after d eath, their recognition is perfect because they've seen it before. They d on't feel scared bu t quite natu rally und erstand and merge w ith the true n atur e of these visions, and ar e thus easily liberated. If you d on't recognize the lights and sou nd s, the next ph ase introd uces a procession of distinctly colored bright lights w hich arise one after anoth er, heralding the app earance of the dhyani bud dh as. Along with each bright light, a very du ll light glow s nearby. Ord inary beings w ho are afraid of the bright light will feel attra cted to the d u ller light. These du ll lights are the essence of the n egative emotions. Your ignorance is being p ut to the test. The tend ency to grasp phenomena has regenerated. When the soun ds, the lights, and the rays originally app ear du ring the second ary clear light, your m ind is still relatively lucid. N ow su btle obscur ations and emotions, such as anger, attachment an d jealousy, begin to reapp ear in an active form. People w ho d on't have an y pr actical experience of the Dhar ma w ill tend to react at this point. It is qu ite comm on for the recently deceased to feel as thou gh they are still associated with the old bod y and not un derstand that they are actually dead . It feels like a dream . This initiates a new ph ase of deta iled d isplays and reinvolves one's latent tend encies to further confuse the situation. In compassionate response to the n otion of embod iment, visions of various bud dh as arise. This is the second opp ortu nity for liberation thr ough recognition of the visions of the dhyan i bud dh as, as described in The Tibetan Book of The Dead. First, the peaceful bud dh as will appear, beginning w ith the five bud dh a families. A sky-like expa nse of great blu e light is p rojected o ut from one's hea rt center p reced ing the ap pearan ce of the bu dd ha forms. This is the light of the dh armad hatu wisdom. At first it is apparent that th e light emanates from you, but w hen th e bud dh as app ear, it is as if they w ere autonom ous. In the center of this rad iant blu e field, you 'll see a sm all circle of wh ite light. This is the sam e light that is w orked w ith in the Dzogchen creation stage or thod-rgyal pr actices. If you are ab le to recognize it now , you'll see that this point is no other th an Samantabh adr a and Saman tabhad ri in un ion. In this w ay, you attain enlightenment h ere and now w ithout further experience. Failing this, the white light expands, encompassing the entire visionary space.
If you ar e w ell acquainted w ith the p ractice of visualizing the bu dd has of the vajra family, you w ill easily recognize Bud d ha Vairocana and his consort sitting in yabyum in the center of this wh ite field. If you u nd erstand even for a second that th is vision is an eman ation of pr imord ial w isdom non -separate from your natu ral mind, you w ill completely change your karm ic mom entum and attain enlightenm ent in the p resence of Bud dh a Vairocana. If you fail to recognize Vairocana as a d isplay of your ow n p rimord ial wisdom and instead assum e the subject-object du ality in relation to w hat ap pears, another w hite light ap pears. This presents the n ext opportu nity for recognition w hich is d escribed a s "w hite lights followin g one after anoth er like cloud s." It is also know n as the light of Vajrasatt va and is associated w ith mirr or-like wisd om . If you recognize it as the radiance of your ow n m ind, this is the end of bewildermen t and there are no m ore bard os. The cloud s soon chan ge and from the center of this brilliant w hite light the Bud dh a Vajrasattva and his consort app ear surrou nd ed by the entire refuge tree. This is all emanated from the h eart center. The next phase is qualified by a golden-yellow light. Non-dual recognition of this light as the wisdom of equan imity leads to enlightenmen t in the sambh ogakaya. To welcome you, Bud dh a Ratnasam bhava an d h is consort will app ear from the m idst of that rad iance and you can be liberated without further wandering. This is followed by a d eep red light wh ich p ervad es the w hole of space. This is the rad iation of d iscriminating w isdom. H aving p racticed on the Bud dh a of Infinite Light, you can easily recognize th is light an d br eak the cycle of karm ic rebirth . Resplendent in sam bhogakaya d isplay, Bud dh a Amitabha an d his consort w ill app ear, surroun ded by the whole refuge tree. Sub sequen tly, an intensely green light rad iates. This is the light of allaccomp lishing w isdom. To have p racticed on th e d eities of the karma family w ill allow you to r ecognize the natu re of this display. If there is a clear und erstand ing of this vision, one can be imm ediately enlightened . From the center of that green field, the Bud dh as Amoghasidd hi and Tara w ill appear in un ion on the central lotus of the cosmic refuge tree. Bud dh as Saman tabhad ra and Saman tabhad ri, or Vajrasattva and his consort are the m ain d eities related to th e zhi-khro teachings. As they spo rt in the center, five other dh yani bud dh as, together with various bodh isattvas associated with these families, arise as their retinu e. These make u p th e forty-tw o peaceful deities, w hich are followed by the appearance of the fifty-eight wrathful deities. This is the man dala of the Guyagar bha tantra. All these bud dh as are a display of the original wisdom w hich structure our body and m ind. Through the inspiration of these teachings, begin to investigate the subtle dimen sion of the w orld, and you w ill discover that the wh ole man dala is appearing w ithin you. There is nothing that is outside of you. On the basis of this insight, practice and med itate so that w hen th e time comes to d ie, you w ill recognize all the visions as your own projections and blissfully merge w ith the transcenden t source
condition. To have regu larly practiced visu alizing th e deities and reciting ma ntra w ill be of immen se benefit in th is chös-nyid bard o. If you hav e good p ractice habits, you already kn ow th at these visions are pr ojections of our m inds w hich arise from the true n ature, laden w ith the energy of pure love, comp assion and w isdom. This is w hat the d eities or the dhya ni bud dh as represent. If you are familiar with this kind of meditation, you h ave a good chance of getting enlightened . You d on't hav e to introd uce yourself to your ow n moth er. By recognizing any one of these bud d has, you w ill be enlighten ed. In th at case, all bard o experiences will stop. It's all over in the m oment of recognition. The w hole external cosmos d issolves within you . Then, instead of being defined by th e limitations of karmic rebirth, you can go anyw here and take any form. You get a pass to the red carp et club, wh ile those wh o aren't practiced w and er aroun d for aw hile in a very busy p lace that looks something like Calcutta! If w e somehow overlook all of these opp ortu nities for liberation thr ough nonrecognition of the peaceful bu d dh as, we w ill be subject to the on set of the wrath ful bud dh as. So it gets even tough er. Not only is there the reapp earance of the blinding rad iance and intense beams of light shining right th rough one, but terrifying thund ers are resound ing and a th ousand fires burn as w e are introdu ced to the wrathful buddhas. The text read s: THE UNIMPEDED SKILL OF THEIR RADIANCE ARISES IN THE CON CH -LIKE MAN SION The "conch-like man sion" refers to th e brain. The chann els projecting aw ay from the brain rep resent the w rathful d eities. I won't go into all of the d etails, but presently, most of the peaceful bud dh as reside within th e heart center, w hile some abide in others chakras and channels of the nervou s system. All together these are know n as the forty-two peaceful bud dh as. Fifty-eight wrath ful budd has reside w ithin the conch-like dimension of the brain chakra. Together, the peaceful an d wrathful groups make one hund red budd has. You h ave probably seen w rathful budd has in thangkas w ith three eyes and four or six legs, and man y arm s, sur rou nd ed by a h alo of fire. These are the kinds of forms that w ill app ear before you n ow . All these visions are no other than a d isplay of your ow n p rimord ial wisdom. If you ar e experienced in the visualization of the peaceful and w rathful bud dh as, you u nd erstand these visions as inseparable from your ow n pr imord ial w isdom. They are comm un icative forms of the Bud d ha. Don't get in the habit of rejecting or ru nning aw ay from things that you don 't immediately recognize, or nervously assume you know wh at something is without inqu iring. By recognizing these form s you h ave anoth er chance to merge w ith the vision and attain enlighten men t. This is called the tertiary clear light, the th ird opp ortu nity for liberation. In Tibet there was an artist who w as a thangka painter. He was w orking on a painting of the one hund red p eaceful and wrathful bud dh as. His young d aughter w as alw ays by his side, but she d idn't p ay too mu ch attention to his art until he
painted a certain wrathful budd ha w ith the head of a snake. The little girl had a strong r eaction to this image an d asked h er father, "What is this strange looking creatu re?" "This is noth ing to feel strange ab ou t," the fath er said. "This is one of the m any forms of the Bud dh a. All these figures are bud dh as." Then she asked, "Where are these bud dh as now ?' H e explained , "While you are alive, you m ight not be able to see these bud dh as, but w hen you d ie, they will come and show th emselves. This budd ha w ith the snake's head is the last among all the budd has that you will experience at that time. When you see this form d on't be deluded into thinking you h ave not d ied." So this snake-head ed bu dd ha m ade a very big impression in the little girl's mind. She wou ld remember his form and how her father said it was important to remember that she w ould see the Bud dh a in this form after death. Throughou t her life, this thou ght w as in her mind , again and again. After she died, she wen t throu gh all the bard o experiences, but d idn't recognize what w as hap pening u ntil she saw the final, snake-headed bud dh a. At that momen t she remembered . "Oh! H ere is the vision of the Bud dh a my father told m e about. This is my own mind 's projection in the bard o. It d oes not exist externally, so I shouldn 't react and create more kar ma.' Simp ly remembering this helped h er relax and stopp ed her from d rifting into a more d eluded or confused state. She actually enjoyed a good realization du e to that understanding. The w rathful budd has emanate from ou r crown chakra accomp anied by a violent eru ption of light and sound . Visualization is extremely clear d uring this time. Everything is coming on strong. If you m editate well and kn ow th e imp ortance of concentration, you have an other op portu nity to recognize that all this is a projection of your ow n m ind, a d isplay of prim ord ial w isdom. Knowing this, all furth er stages become u nnecessary and you can rest on m other's lap. All the peaceful and wr athful bud dh as are no other than a reflection of our own primordial wisdom. They are our ow n eman ations, and d o not exist in and of them selves. They are like another d imension of the dr eam state, a disp lay of your own mind . You are actually traveling in a deeper d imension of the dr eam w orld. Let us look at the text to summ arize:
WHEN THE BARDO OF INTRINSIC REALITY IS DAWNING UPON ME ABANDONING ALL TERROR AND FEAR... This bard o begins with the m ost intense experience of the p rimord ial lum inosity of the clear light. Because w e cling to hop es and fears, Gu ru Padm asambhava u rges us not to be timid or afraid at this time. We need to know that w hatever is arising is the self-radiant energy of the mind and does not contain
one external or objective atom ; the entire experience is contained in ou r m ind, like a dream . When u nd erstood, this crucial point leads to liberation. Whether it's peaceful or wr athful:
RECOGNIZE THAT WHATEVER IS ARISING IS THE SELF-APPEARANCE OF AWARENESS, Everything w e see is a display of prim ordial wisdom , the lighting up of the true natu re. Why should w e be scared or frightened by our own mind? In considering the m oment w hen w e are presented w ith the clear light of our tru e nature, perhaps w e're a bit apprehensive and afraid, but Guru Padmasambhava an d the Bud dha both teach u s to regard birth and death as mere thoughts and du alistic notions.
REALIZE IT AS THE APPARITIONS OF THE INTERMEDIATE STATE The bardo of the lu minosity of the tru e natu re actually consists of tw o stages. At first you are completely trapped between the red an d wh ite elements and everything goes black as the night of the new moon . Then you have a vision of the true nature, unimpeded, completely transparent, beyond conceptions, un comp oun ded and beyond comp lexity. In Dzogchen, this is called th e primord ially pu re vision of khregs-chod wh ich is identical with Maham ud ra or Mah a-Ati realization. This is the emp tiness-aspect of the true na ture, coemergent w ith the clear light. You a re just h aving a n exper ience of it at this time. You a re one w ith th e cond ition of primord ial pu rity, the khregs-chod state of the true nature. Merging our aw areness with th at reality in the mom ent it is presented , resolving everything into one taste, is know n as "merging the child w ith the m other clear light." In this wa y you become enlightened in the dh armakaya. From th e mom ent the secret signs app ear du ring the dissolution of the elemen ts to the first glimp se of the tru e natu re, through th e subsequen t experiences of the sound s, lights, and rays, to the visions of the hu nd red bu dd has, everything is a ma nifestation of the bard o of the luminosity of the true n atu re. Recognition du ring the d escent of the white light, the ascent of the red light, or through one of the visions of the zhi-khro deities, are all forms of liberation in the bar do of lum inosity and lead directly to enlightenm ent in the sambhogakaya or nirmanakaya. If you practiced at all while alive, you can realize accomplishments du ring this bardo w hich may have seemed completely beyond you r capacities du ring life. This bardo features m any d ifferent visions, one following after anoth er, so there are end less opp ortun ities to become enlightened , especially if you have an y previous experience with thod-rgyal visualizations. If you 're pr acticing Kalachak ra, or th e Six Yogas of N arop a, there ar e six app lications, includ ing su ch exercises as tummo, an d gyü-lus. Both of these yogas are extensively d etailed w ithin the bod y of thod-rgyal practices, enabling the pr actitioner to m ake u se of many different states in the developm ent of transcenden t insight.
The continuity of pr imord ial experience embod ied in th ese visions is known as the lamp s in thod-rgyal practice. In thod-rgyal we see the very same h ues, rainbow s, rays an d a lso wh at are called v ajra-chains of light. These rep resent th e activity of transcend ental wisdom wh ich arises spontaneously as sound , color, and shapes in motion. Without m editating or visualizing anything, the visions we've been cultivating in p ractice appear before us now in all their intensity. To aw aken d uring this display is known as enlightenm ent in the ru pakaya. All of these visions are p art of the bardo of the clear light, the lum inosity aspect of the true nat ure. BARDO OF BECOM ING sid-pai bardo
H aving come th rough the tran sitions of the first five bard os, consciousness is now head ing tow ard its next, karmically d ictated em bodimen t. This is the Bard o of Becoming. Gu ru Padm asambh ava also refers to it as the Bard o of Karm ic Possibilities. This stage lasts from the end of the visions of the peaceful and w rath ful deities un til we are conceived in a w omb. This is know n as the tim e of the six uncertainties. There is still no certain place to settle. You only seem to be able to find mar ginal shelter, und er trees or between rocks. Often you are in wid e open spaces that offer no refuge. You are n ot sure w hat you are doing. On ly chan ge is certain. There is no continuity. You become involved w ith something, and then it totally changes, just as in dr eams. The source of your food is uncertain un less someone ded icates it to you throu gh med itation and man tra recitation. The mood s and concerns of friends ar e another un certainty, as are the visions and the view. The focus of awar eness and y our v ery identity hav e also become u ncertain. Generally the bard o experience lasts no longer than forty-nine d ays, but that 's just an average. The fourth and fifth bard os, includ ing the arising of the aw esome sound s, lights, and five-colored rays, and the visions of peaceful an d w rathful bud dh as, can all be experienced in as few as three d ays. It dep end s on the p erson. Seven weeks is an average. Guru Pad masam bhava said that th e lum inosity bard o is usu ally comp leted w ithin two or three w eeks and that th e rest of the time one is app roaching rebirth, as habit patterns grad ually develop toward a new birth and life. Some p eople have all these experiences very qu ickly. Others stay in the bar do for years, because th eir karm a is conditioned by strong ego-clinging, heavy attachmen ts and p ower ful anger, but genera lly, the bard o experience averages about seven w eeks. That's wh y Tibetans consider these forty-nine d ays very imp ortant. When I was a you ng boy in Tibet, they w ould often leave the body in place for forty-nine days after d eath. Of cour se, our legal system allowed for this. You see, Tibet was a very indep end ent and free country w ith its own w ays. After seven w eeks, they wou ld take the body ou t, and give it to the vultures in wh at is know n as a "sky bu rial." Many lamas insist on this in p lace of cremation or earth bu rial so that their d eath is of d irect benefit to sentient being s.
The process of rebirth is a complex situation w here ma ny th ings can h app en, so it is quite comm on for Tibetans to p erform ceremon ies on each of the forty-nine day s, med itating on love and compassion and generating bodh icitta on behalf of the deceased for the entire seven week p eriod. Since everything is u ncertain now , these blessings help them be mind ful and have a p ositive influence on tran smigration. Even if the deceased w as an accomp lished p ractitioner and has already taken birth, it is still good to d o these pray ers, and offer them encouragem ent. Mantra r ecitation and generosity pr actices are both v ery imp ortant . The Seven Line Prayer, the Vajra Guru Mantra, Tara's Mantra, or the H un dred Syllable Mantra will all remind th em of their d aily med itative pr actice, and h elp them to app ly themselves more fervently in the mom ent. At the end of each session, dedicate the merit to them by na me. This is a great sup port, w hich has an imm ediate influence on the impressionable mental body. There are special prayers you may w ant to recite from The Tibetan Book of the Dead w hich invoke all the budd has and bodh isattvas to guide and assist the bardo voyager. The ded ication of food to the d eceased is d one in every school of Bud dh ism. Generou s offerings are also mad e to sangha m embers and th e resultant merit is ded icated to ind ividu al beings. In the Vajrayana, w e perform special devotional ceremonies invoking A valokitesvara. We med itate and m ake offerings of fire and smoke. This is usually d one for forty-nine d ays after someone d ies. Water offerings and torma are also used in th ese rituals. There are practitioners w ho do th is pr actice all the time, even w hen n o one they know has d ied, because there are many beings w ho are w and ering in the bardo at th is very m oment. Even if they are not p ractitioners, to ded icate the merit gained th rough acts of kind ness and generosity is d efinitely of great benefit to th em. WANDERING
When highly realized beings die, their consciousness is ejected u p throu gh th e central channel and ou t the top of their head via the wisdom w ind. In ordinary beings, karm ic w inds d rive consciousn ess out thr ough a ny pa rt of the body except the central channel. Ordinary beings subject to dualistic confusion, commonly experience the familiar reality they lived during their lifetimes. The abhidharma and the Dzogchen Self A rising Tantra both state th at if you are not able to recognize the clear light, your habitu al patterns r eactivate and the correspond ing visions can remain v ery vivid for about tw o and a half weeks, or even a little longer. Because th ough ts are extremely pow erful in d etermining experience, beings in the sixth bard o h ave full-blown tactile hallucinations. Not recognizing w hat has hap pened , you just continue distracting you rself as you hav e always done. During this time, you w ill have experiences identical to w hat you typically saw and heard du ring your life. You w ill dress as you are used to and busy you rself in familiar ways. You w and er around the house or the p laces you used to work. Your p sychoph ysical habits are still pow erful. The transparent m ental body w ith wh ich you ar e iden tified is replete with feelings an d sense consciousnesses, althou gh your perception and experience are very un stable, as in a dream . The only ones wh o can see the mental bod y are those
w ho are in the same situation or highly developed beings with w isdom eyes. So after tw o and a half weeks, most of the visions will have su bsided. It helps to have been practicing med itation and mind fulness du ring your life because in the bard o, the m omen t you th ink of something, it manifests. There is no effort requ ired for this to be so. Thou ghts become extremely pow erful and you r mind is virtua lly controlled by habit patterns. Engrossed w ith our p hysical body and shielded by layers of karm ic involvement, w e don 't see such imm ediate effects wh ile we ar e alive. But in the ba rd o, althoug h d ua listic conceptions can still operate, certain psycho-physical barriers are completely gone. At this time, the continual w and ering of your m ental body may become tiresome and you m ay start to have some d oubts that you r p ractice will ever lead to a higher rebirth or to the pur e land s. Do not be discoura ged. Devoted p ractitioners can still have a liberating insight at this time an d com pletely change their d irection. The mind is very pow erful now , and wh atever you imagine w ill happ en imm ediately. If you r ecite the Seven Line Pray er thr ee times, chan t the Vajra Gu ru Mantra and visualize Guru Padm asambhava, he w ill definitely be with you. Any or all of the bud dh as will app ear the instant they are invoked . Thou ght is so pow erful at this point that the mind is immed iately and p rofoun dly transp osed into the context of one's men tal events. If one can take ad vanta ge of this, it can serve as a great sup port for a successful tran smigration. The true devotee is never separa te from th e guru . It is said that the gu ru takes up residence on the d evotee's doorstep. I will tell you a short story abou t this. The fifth Dalai Lama became th e King of Tibet, and although he w as a Gelugp a outw ard ly, his inner p ractice had strong roots in the Nyingm apa trad ition. He was also a great terton. A well known geshe nam ed Tugger w as his good friend. One day Tugger arrived and tried to climb into the Dalai Lama's room th rough the w indow . The Dalai Lama asked h im wh y he didn 't use the door and Tugger replied "I know that Guru Padm asambhava sits on your threshold, and I didn't want to crush him." In the Mahayana Sutras, Bud dh a Shakyam un i declared, "Whenever anyon e thinks of me, I am imm ediately present r ight there before them." This is not only true of the Bud dh a; if you focus on anyone w ith true love and compassion at this point, your experience is instantly changed . Simply m editating on th e true n ature for one mom ent transforms everything. It is extremely imp ortant to train our mind s in the w ays of love and comp assion. Whenever you are faced w ith a d ifficult situation, if you can simp ly relax your mind , feel back into m editation and reconnect with p ure love and the p resence of Guru Pad masambhava, you are developing a very imp ortant skill. In this way , the more frightening bard o experiences will remind you to return to the primordial source and merge your mind w ith Guru Rinp oche, Vajrasattva, or an y of the bu dd has. All the terrifying noises and un comfortable visions are related to the wind s. If you learn abou t these phen omen a now , the bard o experiences w ill be just like a fire alarm going off, and you w ill remember pr ecisely wh at you need to d o. Bard o beings can move freely in an y d irection w ithout en countering obstacles. The Bud dh a taught that the mental body could be stopped only by two things,
entry into the w omb of a female with w hom you share a karmic connection for conception, and dorje-den or vajrasana, the diamon d seat at Bodh gaya. There is a pow erful dou ble vajra directly un der the spot w here Bud dh a med itated. That place and you r own m other's w omb cannot be penetrated by the mental body. Other than this, you are free to go anyw here. The m ental body h as no visa or imm igration pr oblems. Travel is extremely qu ick. Maybe you 'll fly to Tibet, circle it thr ee times and zip back to Am erica. H ow ever, it is all a little un comfortable, becau se everything is so un stable. At this p oint, bardo v oyagers are restless, and their u ncomfortable feelings grad ually increase. This continu es for about tw o w eeks. You d on't like w ho you are or your circum stances even thou gh you m ay not recognize your r eal situation. For the ord inary individu al the speed and un controllable chaos is overwhelming. Fear and an xiety may come to dominate your mood . There are no gross elements p resent at this stage, but the bard o consciousness is developing in relation to the kar mic wind s of the four elements: earth, water, fire, and air. These four w inds interact with ou r habit pattern s and emotional instability and give rise to furth er visions, which tend to be rather frightening. When the earth wind becomes u nbalanced, it causes you to feel like there are land slides an d earthqu akes. As the w ater w ind is affected, you get storm y visions of heavy rain and crashing w aves, as if there were a h urr icane, and this makes your consciousness more u nsteady. When the fire w ind is influenced, you'll see houses, buildings, and w hole cities burning an d great fires spread ing throu gh m oun tain forests. When th e wind of air is affected, there w ill be intense pressures, how ling and rum bling, like a tornad o is app roaching. If you were a kind -hearted, loving person , a guide often app ears to assist you th rough this phase. This is very helpful because the situation is beginning to seem exhau sting and endless, wh ile new changes are developing rap idly. For those w ho h ave been involved in negative activities like tortur ing, killing hu man s or even butchering animals, malicious beings app ear wh o cause trou ble and confusion for them w herever th ey go. Any time they begin to feel safe and secure, someone sudd enly appears to disturb them and destroy their p eace of mind . This hap pens over and over again. Accord ing to the Vajrayana , the sun and moon are directly connected to th e red an d w hite elements w hich cause our experience of day and night. This is wh at w e usually experience, but on th e bardo, these two elements separate and disintegrate and w ithout them th ere is neither night nor day. So, du ring this part of the journ ey, the environm ent app ears in a dim tw ilight. After about thr ee weeks, the habit pattern s of your p revious life begin losing force and d issolving. Their energy begins to w ane and your norm al vision of things is show n to be false. At th is point, you r consciou sness comes to a crisis of deep un certainty abou t the natu re of existence. Everyone w ho w and ers this far into the bardo will have this kind of experience, regardless of their habits. Gradually, visions of a futur e life ap pear like the g low before sun rise. This gets stronger and clearer as you ap proach the daw n of future habit patterns and karmic rebirth. It is not yet very bright, bu t even so, it is attractive because one is tired of being afraid and wandering without support.
During th e fourth w eek the emergent pattern of the futu re becomes even stronger. You star t to feel comfortable w ith it. Association w ith the old body of habits is ending as the n ew form arises and you like the feel of the energy. It's like taking birth in th e god realm, with a rosy anticipation of some security as the light slowly increases. While the d aw n of the futu re life is inevitably ap pr oaching, lights of different colors and intensities will app ear. The natu re of your th ough ts and attachments determ ine w hich color is attractive and w here you w ill take rebirth. By the seventh w eek almost all attention to past mem ories is aband oned , and you r focus has shifted to th e new situation. Things become increasingly d efined un til, after fortynine days, the average person takes up residence in a wom b. In most cases, reincarnation is not a conscious d ecision; it is rebirth by th e pow er of karma. If you have n ot pr acticed, you w ill have d ifficulty recognizing the opp ortun ities for liberation in the clear light, and you w ill be carried by th e force of karmic wind . It w ill drive you along and you w on't have m uch choice. Practitioners w ho have some u nd erstand ing of the mind have the ability to influence their destination and choose a higher rebirth. They m ay even get to be born to parents they like. But m ost beings just w and er for awh ile, visiting different p laces in their men tal body. After an averag e of forty-nine days, they re-enter the bar do of birth and life in on e of the six realms according to their karm as. When consciousness begins to take rebirth it is conceived in the sam e w ay that it left: betw een the tw o elemen ts contribu ted by th e paren ts, the red element from the mother an d the w hite element from the father. During conception, consciousness is again trap ped between th e two elemen ts, where it is relatively comfortable for aw hile. In hu man beings, this usu ally results in birth from a w omb. Bud dh a described four w ays to take birth: from a w omb, through an egg, in the presence of moisture, and miraculously, or instantaneou sly. These are the four types of birth possible for beings. As Guru Padm asambhava said:
WHEN THE BARDO OF TRANSMIGRATION IS DAWNING UPON ME HOLDING ONE-POINTEDLY TO THAT SINGLE GREAT WISH Concentrating your a ttention with d evotion and sp iritual inspiration is wh at really matters now . Maintaining one-pointed mind is extremely imp ortant. You've heard me say m any times that th e mind is powerful; it's the engine for all our activities. But in th is bardo its pow er is so great th at if w e have even a little devotion and inspiration, w e can stop being scattered an d m ake significant progress toward accomp lishing our goals. Bud dh a Shakyam un i said, "Inspiration and devotion are the door to enlightenment." You m ust ha ve them in ord er for pr actice and med itation to ripen into realization. Withou t them , we close the door to aw akening. Inspiration an d devotion connect what you learn w ith the energy of the heart. You m ay have
mem orized all of the Bud dh a's teachings and be very educated an d culturally sophisticated, but w ithout inspired d evotion, this is dry know ledge and w ill be of no help in th e face of death. Even du ring you r life you'll only touch the su rface of the teachings and never come to a profound und erstand ing of yourself. If we stu dy the great realizers, we find that every one of them d emonstrated three things: a single-pointed mind , inspired vision an d great d evotion. These qualities led them to tran scend ent aw akening. The great Dzogchen master and scholar Longchenp a claimed that h is final realization w as d ue to the inspiration of the lineage masters and devotion to h is teachers. Look at the life of Milarepa, w ho had no m onastic edu cation. How did he attain enlightenment? He had tremendous devotion to h is teacher, cherishing Marp a's every word in his heart, like dr ops of golden nectar. Marpa's teachings inspired h im to attain Bud dh ahood . By simply accepting his gu ru's every w ord as true, Milarepa w as able to focus one-pointed ly on that single great w ish and became on e of the m ost accomplished m asters of Tibetan Buddhism.
CONNECT FIRMLY WITH YOUR FORMER GOOD KARMA Joyful effort creates the continu ity wh ich lies at the h eart of spiritual grow th. Therefore, joyfully reestablish a link w ith you r good karm a. The bod hicitta motivation must be uninterrupted. Courage, joyful effort, commitment and confidence are the essence of maintaining that connection. In Tibetan w e w ould say n' en jen tu t w hich means firmly re-connecting w ith our stream of merit, so that body, speech and mind are continually conjoined w ith the path. In Tibet and India farmers d ig irrigation channels to bring w ater to their fields. They clear out all the d ebris that collects so the w ater w on't flow over the sides, but can continue on to the fields. Guru Padm asambh ava used the examp le of renovating a broken channel to indicate how you shou ld correct your und erstanding an d try to ensure a reconnection w ith the Dharma in your future life. The Vajrayana is replete with effective techniques to help us reconnect with clarity. Having m issed all the previous op portu nities, coming to realization in the sixth bard o is like linking one continu um with another, so that the flow of virtue is un interrup ted across lives. By one-pointedly hold ing this single great wish, w e secure the w ay, leading consciousness d irectly to the h eart of Amitabha in the nirmanakaya pu re land. The bardos have to be learned through d iligent stud y and pr actice so that w e become intim ate w ith this territory, not just intellectu ally acquainted, but adep t in ou r respon siveness. With p ractice, you can d efinitely reach enlightenmen t either d ur ing or imm ediately after the momen t of death . If w e miss both those opportun ities, Guru Padm asambhava ad vises us to u se the technique of repairing th e channel to r econnect w ith our higher intelligence, because consciousness is looking to take rebirth.
CLOSING THE WOMB DOOR, REMEMBER TO TURN AWAY. IT IS THE VERY TIME WHEN COURAGE AND PURE PERCEPTION ARE NEEDED. N ow is the time to renew your joyful efforts, and p repar e to take rebirth. The
teachings explain that w e still have ma ny choices, which ap pear as different lights. Whenever d ull lights loom before you, try to avoid th em. If a light is bright an d strong, go for it, even if it makes you feel a little u ncomfortable. You're mov ing towa rd conception and rebirth and are in the process of choosing you r paren ts. The more brilliant lights lead to good paren ts who are kind an d su pp ortive. The weak, du ll glow m ay seem more easy-going, and attractive but w ill turn ou t to be a poor choice. Ideally, the couple should be very spiritual, open, kind, compassionate and intelligent; these are the best kind of parents to connect with. Coura ge, pur e perception, and high m otivations are really needed now , in order to avoid an inausp icious situation. When y ou see these lights in th e bard o of karmic possibilities, remem ber the instructions. If consciousness is d raw n toward the d reamy du ll lights, muster all your stren gth an d cour age to pu ll your self back from going in th at direction. Remem ber the teachings and recognize the p rimord ial nature of mind . If this is not possible, at least hold to p ure p erceptions and have good thou ghts. This will turn you aw ay from lower rebirths. Consciousn ess is conceived th rough the perfect un ion of the red and w hite elemen ts contribu ted by th e mother an d father. If the three hu mor s, the bile, wind s and flames are all in balance, consciousness w ill be bound up w ith the elements of conception. Imm ediately before you are ab out t o be conceived, you 'll see your par ents in un ion. If you are to be a girl, you n atur ally develop two em otions: attachm ent to the father and jealousy tow ard the mother. If you are going to be a boy; you'll attach to t he m other a nd be jealous of the father. To avoid th is reaction, meditate on your parents as the father and mother d eities in yab-yum . Regard them as Vajrasattva and his consort, or as Guru Padm asambh ava and one of his consorts. See the mother as wisdom and the father as skillful means, emp ow ering your consciousness throu gh th eir union. In this way, conception is a great mom ent, an extraordinary op portu nity to see everything as the mand ala of the deities and a man ifestation of transcend ent w isdom. In full aw areness of the innate p ur ity of the w orld you are ap pr oaching, see the wom b as a pure land , like Akanistha. The nine or ten mon ths you rem ain there symbolize the yanas or the bhu mis. Realized beings are conceived at a m oment w hen both the mother and father are in a very beautiful state. One-pointedn ess, devotion an d insp iration hav e come together in such a pow erful way that even th e parents notice remarkable signs. Wond erful dr eams and om ens often accompan y the conception and birth of a tulku. Tulkus born th is way are gen erally not totally enlightened . They ha ve a good und erstand ing of the true nature an d are able to maintain a continuity of awareness throu ghou t the p rocess of transmigration. This allow s a degree of choice regard ing rebirth. When th e fetus is comp letely developed , realized beings come forth w ith very special indications. For instance, they are often born w ithout causing the m other any p ain. Her state may even be blissful and tranqu il, accomp anied by gr eat signs like rainbows and other omens. Or perhap s immediately following the mom ent of birth the infant recites some m antra, or says a few ausp icious w ords. These babies take birth w ith great und erstanding and aw areness. Many of them remem ber part
of their life in the w omb, and some even remem ber wh o they w ere before conception. A num ber of the great masters could remember everyone th ey'd ever been in the p ast qu ite clearly. These mem ories of pa st lives usu ally fad e after the child is two or th ree years old, u nd er the influence of innate and acquired habit patterns. FULL CIRCLE
This comp letes the Transm igration Bard o and w e're back in th e Bard o of Birth and Life, w hich w as explained at t he beginn ing. We've comp leted a big circle, sightseeing all aroun d the island s, and finally have come back to wh ere we started . To really und erstand the bard os, it is necessary to take u p the p ractice. This is essential. Practice mean s to mingle our mind w ith w hat is positive; activities based in love, compassion an d the w isdom wh ich arises through p rofound meditation on the tru e natu re. One of the most valua ble activities in our lives is spiritu al practice. Although you may h ave many other priorities, try to und erstand w hy this effort is so importan t. You can cultivate ways n ow w hich w ill reap u ntold benefits not only du ring th is life, but also in end less futu re lives. From the viewp oint of enlightenm ent, transmigrator s in the bard os seem as if they are caugh t in their ow n im aginary visions, like a child w ho encloses himself w ithin a sand castle and then m akes a big fuss abou t getting out. To a good pra ctitioner, bardo p henom ena are like magical projections. It is obvious that none of it has objective existence. The whole mirage completely evaporates into the lum inosity of the true natu re. No longer do you experience confusion and strugg le. For those who ar e enlightened throu gh p ractice in this lifetime, there is no bard o experience at all. Everything is spontaneou sly transformed into the expanse of primord ial wisdom. This is the state w hich w as realized by Garab Dorje, Guru Padm asambh ava, Vimalamitra and other great m asters. The bardo cycle is completely terminated an d th ere is no return to d elusion. Again, it is very useful to inquire in wh at wa y is your current p erception of things any d ifferent from visions in the bardo or the d ream state? All phenom ena, all perceptions and all experiences encoun tered in an y realm or bard o are of the same na ture. The experience we are h aving in th is momen t is essentially no different from an y form of experience anyw here. Even th ough w e think th is is solid and real, what we are seeing n ow is no more substantial than th ese other dim ensions wh ich w e think ar e either less real or comp letely imaginary. In fact, they are all very mu ch the same. There is no difference as to their natur e. We think this experience is more real d ue to the strength of our h abitual clinging. Presently, this form seems to be established , and w e are accustom ed to gr asping in it, so we feel that th is naïve mod ality is real. Such concepts originate in our mind , wh ich is immersed in d uality and ego-clinging. In ignoran ce, mind creates elaborate notions and fabrications, defines bound aries, builds w alls, and invents rules and regulations that p erpetu ate cond itions w hich are suffered in tu rn, by the mind . Ultimately, neither conventional reality nor th e bard o experiences exist as w e believe them to. Our vision is obscured by d ualism. The tru th tran scends conceptions.
The du alistic mind may not believe the bard os exist in any sense, but this is a very narrow view. The bardos exist in other w ays than h ow we n ormally perceive things. They arise in the sp here of pr imord ial wisdom , beyond subject-object du alism an d all ego-clinging, but they d o not exist at all within th e territory of du alistic conceptions. For that r eason, Bud dh a Shakyam un i taught th at sentient beings live in a state of untru th. We arise in ignoran ce, rely on confusion and bewildered states, and create more confusion. Within this chaos w e are so totally involved w ith delusion and suffering that we don't see that everything w e experience is the result of w hat w e ourselves have set in motion. Trouble return s to us like an echo. This is karma an d it mu st be un derstood . Basically, there are tw o ways to p urify karma; the tough w ay is through experience, the smooth w ay is to pu rify it throu gh p ractice. Meditate deep ly on all of this and then p ractice diligently to remove any obstacles to clear un derstan ding . Great beauty exists in the prim ord ial expanse of the true natu re wh ere all beings and w orlds abide in p erfect union, beyond th e confines of du alism. Egoclinging and attachment create obstacles and block ou r aw areness of this. To overcome these barriers we p ractice and med itate according to the Bud dh a's teachings. We mu st learn to go beyond everything. That is w hat Av alokitesvara mean t w hen h e said "no eye, no ear, no form, no sou nd ," in the H eart Sutr a. We hav e to break w ith every p ossible style of ego-clinging and d ua listic thinking. This is the end of practice. The tru e natu re w ill not be discovered outside of your m ind. You w ill not en count er it by searching across the continen ts. The reality transcend ing d ualistic conceptions is d irectly revealed as the gr ound of mind. Discover this and abid e in the truth of pristine aw areness. Realization d epend s on p ractice and m editation. Begin by generating th e bodhicitta and then visualize the Bud dh a or Guru Padm asambhava w hile reciting the Vajra-Guru Mantr a. Receive the blessing energy from Gu ru Padm asambh ava in the form of lights and mingle it inseparably w ith your m ind. Meditate in that state w ithout m aking any p articular judgm ent or forming conceptions. This is the simplest way to meditate. Don't think practice has to be difficult and fancy. There is no need to take up an elaborate discipline. There was a famou s Ind ian master w ho came to Tibet around the 11th century nam ed Pha dam pa Sangye. H e believed that p ractice does not h ave to be all that formal or comp licated. As h e explained it, practice means keeping mind w ith the self. To be more loving an d compassionate and to maintain th at d isposition is the essence of it. You d on't hav e to go anyw here to get that because you a lready h ave that capacity within you . This is very true. You d on't have to d o anyth ing d ifficult or make a big deal about pra ctice. It is just som ething that you can d o very simp ly in this or any other mom ent. If you u nd erstand this, it becomes natu ral to develop courage and strength. Paltrul Rinpoche said that w herever you go, you h ave your bod y, your speech and your m ind. Simply ap ply your self to every situation with th e bodhicitta motivation. You d on't need an y other ingred ients. The spot w here you ar e sitting now is as good a s any. Actually, if you are loving and compassionate, you are alread y d isplaying the living form of the pr actice. Relax and rad iate peace to all
beings. In this way , you m ay even consid er you rself the veh icle of pr actice. That is wh at I think we should do. Through p ractice, we can accept an d u nd erstand th at death is a natu ral stage of life. After birth an d infancy w e become children, teenagers and grow n u ps; finally we grow old and die. Knowing this, why are w e afraid and attached? It makes more sense to see every aspect of our lives as part of a beautiful rainbow w hich has man y d ifferent colors. By clearly kno w ing the tr u th, d eath becom es a once in a lifetime opportu nity to attain enlightenment. QUESTIONS and ANSWERS
Q: Is the pr ocess of bard o and r ebirth the same for all hu man beings regardless of w hether they have Vajrayana training or not? A: Yes, everybod y goes throu gh this process, w hether th ey are Bud d hist or not. All sentient b eings take birth. They all have five aggregates. They m ust h ave par ents to contribu te the two elements and these elements are going to d issolve at death . Whether Bud dh ist or non-bud dh ist, earth d issolves into water, water evaporates into fire, and all physical systems degenerate. The details of the visionary sequences may vary accord ing to on e's beliefs, but basically everybod y w ill hav e similar exper iences. According to th e Vajraya na teaching s, the bard o visions are reflections of your m ental state, so the forms an d images d o not alw ays have to ap pear in the same w ay for everybody. There may be differences as to the color and the shap e of the visions, but th e main th ing is to recognize them a s projections of your own consciousness. Therefore in The Tibetan Book of the Dead , Gur u Pad masam bhava rep eats, "Do not be afraid of your ow n visions. Don't be afraid w hen th e wr athful deities appear. Do not be d istracted. Recognize them as your ow n m ind forms." He repeats that again and again throughou t these teachings. This is the basic message, the ma in p oint. Q: Eastern teachers postu late man y births and d eaths. Western teachers express only one birth an d d eath. Are western teachings incomp lete? A: In my heart I feel we are all considering th e same thing and are just u sing different m ethod s or d ifferent m aps. Western m asters use a one-life model, and eastern masters p refer a p arad igm that assum es many lives. One focuses exclusively on today and the other provides a schedu le for tomorrow and the day after tomorr ow. There is only one true natur e and it doesn't have an y divisions such as east or west. How ever, I strongly believe that w e have to come to this fund amental recognition in ord er to be liberated . Simply believing someth ing could lead you to some kind of a higher state for a time, but then you might have to rep eat the wh ole process again. On the other h and , if you come to un derstan d th e visions as projections of your ow n m ind, you can really bring an end to this cycle. The form of the visions are not as import ant as the recognition that w hat you see is part of your mind , without m aking du alistic jud gments. To have hop e and fear will not help u s. If you have a good u nd erstanding an d practice pu re perception, then the d emons, the god s and everything else are known to abide in one single state. Developing that u nd erstanding to the p oint of equan imity is the essential realization.
Q: Do you th ink it is possible for hu man consciousness to be reborn in the anima l realm or in the bod y of an insect, or in on e of the other r ealms? A: Yes, definitely. I didn 't mention th is because I did n't w ant to scare you! With the app ropr iate causes and conditions, you could be reborn anyw here. There are a wid e selection of op enings. Q: If consciou sness is coming into the bard o of p ossibilities and you ar e not pr acticed en ough to have control over rebirth, is your consciousn ess yanked ou t of the bardo all of a sud den and you find yourself in a wom b? A: You are n ot forcefully yanked but you r visions lead you there. You ar e dr aw n to a place that seems safe and comfortable. It happ ens natu rally, in the same way that w e like to go to the park. You see that environment and you w ant to go there and rest. Since you are very un stable and moved about by karm a, the womb looks like an attractive place to rest and find shelter. Once there, you w ant to stay. There is no force indirectly causing this to hap pen oth er than you r ow n karm a. When conception has taken place in a w omb, active consciousness subsides and aw areness becomes very d ark and du ll. Having associated with the d eveloping fetus, the four skan dh as wh ich w ere so restless du ring the p revious bardos exist in a subtle, latent state. Q: Is ther e a conscious d ecision taking p lace to abide in the pu re state or to return an d take rebirth as a great bodh isattva might? A: It hap pen s spontaneou sly. There is no mom ent of decision outsid e of one's bodh icitta comm itment. In this w ay, there is the ability to serve sentient beings more effectively. When you m erge with th e true n ature, you are comp letely aw are. You know w hat you ar e doing and wh at you w ill do in the clear light of w isdom. That is definitely a wond erful reward . From there, it is perfectly natu ral to emana te in some form to help sen tient beings, specifically, to ma nifest in th e most su itable w ays. You n aturally feel into the ap prop riate circum stance and follow th at course. The power of comp assion spontan eously orients the eman ation withou t any effort. You could enjoy the d harm akaya state for a w hile before ma nifesting in the sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya forms in respon se to the needs of sentient beings. And you are not limited to hu man birth. You can ma nifest as a god, an animal or w hatever w ould be m ost beneficial. Q: What happ ens wh en you don 't choose a womb? A: Are you thinking that you wou ldn't take birth at all? Q: Yes. A: Generally, you can't m ake the choice. There is nothing causing you to stay there. Your karm ic wind will carry you and you w on't be able to turn away, so you mu st choose; this is an opp ortun ity.
Q: If a person comm its suicide, is there karm ic retribution in the bard o? Do they hav e to stay longer? What hap pen s in the bard o after suicide? A: Generally, everybody follows th e same pattern of dissolution, but if someone died w hile angry an d h olding very strong attachmen ts such as jealousy, this could extend their stay in the bard o. Due to deep attachm ent and clinging to negative emotions, they might continu e to hover in th e bardo, bu t it w on't necessarily always hap pen th is w ay. A lot dep end s up on their last mom ent of consciousness before death . If they ar en't p articularly an gry or jealous, then th eir disposition could change and they w ould have a norm al bardo experience. But to die un der th e influence of pow erful emotions could comp letely change th is situation. Q: I had an exper ience after a fam ily mem ber died in wh ich I felt like they were p resent w ith me and trying to help by telling me something. Does this mean that they w ere still in the bard o and trying to commu nicate du e to attachment? A: I d on't think so. Sometimes that hap pen s, but if you experience w arm feelings an d a sense of goodn ess, this is usu ally a n ice reverberation they have left. In Tibet w e call this energ y lha. Even thou gh the p erson died a long time ago, there may still be blessing potential w hich remains from their being a good p erson w ith strong altruistic motivations. This lha is not ph ysical or m ental. It is the p ower resonance of that person and may rem ain for a long time. A good p erson has good lha and a bad person has bad lha. They say that an esp ecially good person's sp irit can affect family m embers for qu ite a few generations. Q: Is the w orld a chain of existence and nonexistence hap pening very rap idly in succession along a time line or is it all within an eternal moment? A: The world is based u pon continu al chang es of state. Everything is transformed , one subtle instant after another. This doesn't merely app ly to the external world; even w hat you call your self changes from m oment to m oment. These subtle instants are d iscrete, ind epend ent states w hich occur very rapid ly, following one u pon another, continuou sly. The first momen t is not the second mom ent, the second mom ent is not the third m omen t. These "spar ks" are also directly d epend ent on each other. The first becomes the cause of the second , and th e second becomes th e cause of the third . Things consist of these chains of m oving mom ents. In Bud dh ism this is called relative truth . We are all experiencing mom entary chan ge on the relative level, but on the absolute level, things neither exist nor d o they n ot exist. The categories of existence and non -existence are par t of a conceptu al game. The absolute level is beyond existence and n on-existence. Q: I've read that there are mind tu lkus, body tu lkus and speech tulkus which all eman ate from the sam e being. Do these three ever incarnate at the sam e time? A: Why n ot? That is their choice. They can all man ifest at once or keep some time between th em. They d on't hav e to follow a ny law s! (laugh ter) They can d o wh atever they like.
Q: Concerning the four kinds of enlightened d eaths, you said th at practitioners give up d oubt and fear, but do th ey really give up hope, too? A: Yes, they also give up hop e. They don't hop e and th ey have no fears. They go beyond both of these. H ope an d fear go together. In fact, they are very good friend s. If you lose one, then the other is kind of disapp ointed an d leaves, too. Q: How did you figure all this out? A: We have to refer to the Bud dh a and Pad masam bhava. These are their teachings. Guru Padmasambhava compassionately condensed them for presentation in a simp le form. In Bud dh ism, we believe that w hen you discover prim ord ial wisd om, you are fully awa re so that there is no imp edimen t to know ledge of all things. You can un derstan d everyth ing, even subtle ph enomen a, in detail. Primordial wisdom is that pow erful. Guru Padm asambhava and the Bud dh a have p erfectly realized that p rimordial natur e, and since their wisdom is actively involved w ith the liberation of sentient bein gs, in th e spirit of comp assion and loving-kindn ess, they ha ve given these teachings for ou r benefit. Q: N o one ever cam e back and said "This is it?' A: In Tibet, there have been some people who hav e returned from d eath. Their ou ter breath stop s comp letely so that th ey are effectively dead, bu t their inner breath is someh ow su spend ed. They might rem ain like this for an entire w eek and then come back and explain w hat they h ave been throu gh. Generally, in Tibet, they don 't cremat e the body imm ediately after death . They keep it aroun d for at least three d ays, and m any times p eople will w ait forty-nine days, so there is a lot of time to come back! In Tibet, those w ho come back are k now n as delog. Often they become very passionate sp iritual teachers. There w ere six or seven renow ned d elogs, pa rticularly in eastern Tibet. A: One w oman w ho d ied and came back related the d etails of her experience in a book. It may have been d estroyed by th e Chinese, but it was all written d own at one point. She m et many bardo beings wh o gave her m essages to deliver to people she did n't even know , living in different pa rts of the country. The bardo beings gave her their family nam es, described the p laces wh ere they lived, and asked her to deliver messgaes. When she return ed to life, she d elivered th em to the right p eople. Many of the visions and experiences of the w oman correspon d exactly to the d escriptions given in bard o teachings. Q: You w ere talking abou t how everyon e perceives things differently, I w as w ond ering if enlightened p eople perceive things similarly? A: Definitely. But even am ong the bu dd has, I think w e can see some ind ividu al differences according to th e wa y they express their w isdom. They all see pretty mu ch the same w orld w e see, but in sp ecific, the teachings speak of two kinds of know ledge; know ledge of variety and kn ow ledge of w hat is. Bud dh as can see the w orld w e see, but they also see it as it is. Ultimately, a bu dd ha's vision can't be explained . The famous Ind ian master Dh arm akirti wrote that the realization of an
enlighten ed being is inconceivable. Q: What happ ens if you rarely dream? A: You ar e in a state know n as deep sleep. The five consciou snesses have entered th e sixth consciousness and the sixth consciousness is subm erged in the alaya, the eighth consciousness or groun d of the mind . This is dream less, deep sleep. Practice and med itation w ill help lighten the m ind an d activate dreams. Q: In our society, if someon e is really sick and d ying in the hosp ital, instead of letting th e process happ en natu rally, they are either given chemicals or are attached to machines. What d oes this do to the journ ey? How does it affect the process? A: According to th e bardo teaching, it is imp ortant to let people die natur ally, and not to interfere with futile techniqu es or dr ugs th at d ull awar eness. If it is not going to cure them, perhap s it would be better not to emp loy such means. I have heard abou t these machines. Some p eople are left on them for a long time, and I don 't think that is really helping th em. If their time has expired a nd w e don't allow them to d epart, it is just like holding th em back and trying to han g on in the wron g w ay. Use medicines and all those techniques as long as they are u seful, but w hen it is time to leave, it is better to just let it hap pen Can you r pr ogress be hindered if you are connected to machines? That dep end s. If you are a very good pr actitioner, I really d on't think an ything w ill hind er you . But if you are just a beginning p ractitioner, it could d efinitely interfere w ith your p rogress and create a big distraction. At the time of death the inner sensations and feelings caused by th e machine may be very stron g and affect your ability to concentrate. If your m ind is not very clear at th at p oint, you could r emain in a d ull state for a long time. Q: Is the men tal body of a bard o being the same as a ghost? A: Ghosts or pret as, are called yi-dvags in Tibetan, and belong to the hun gry ghost realm. These beings have already gone th rough the bardo and have taken rebirth as h ungry ghosts. Birth as a hu ngry ghost is du e to prolonged greed an d attachment. Beings transm igrating in the bard o are not ghosts and d o not see ghosts. Ghosts exist in an other d imension. Beings in the sam e state can see each oth er. Transmigrators on ly see those who are also in transm igration. They can't p erceive other levels of existence. This is wh y w e don 't see any invisible beings, w e only see each oth er. The Bud dh a assures u s that there are d efinitely a m ultitude of invisible beings everywh ere. Althou gh w e rarely interact w ith each oth er, invisible beings can easily see us because hum ans are resplenden t w ith the qu alities of the Bud dh a natu re. Ou r capacity for love and compassion makes us more pow erful than m ost invisible beings. Therefore, wh en you are d oing a ritual, ask the invisible beings to come, even if they d on't w ant to. the Bud d ha's message is one of peace and harm ony, and w e need to get along with everyone. To insure that we're not trespassing and to dem onstrate that we are tru ly harmless, we acknowledge the
intention to realize our Bud dh a natu re for the benefit of all other beings, visible and invisible. So at th e beginning of any pow erful ceremon y, it is good to ask for the app roval of the local invisible beings. This is the m eaning behind the w hite and red torma offerings w hich precede every Gu ru Padmasam bhava sadh ana. These practices are d esigned to m ake friend s w ith the invisible beings of the local area. Q: Is there a w orld soul and if so, are there bard o places and reincarnations for the cosmos? A: In Bud d hism th ere is no belief in a universal consciousn ess. Withou t observing closely and inquiring, w e can emotionally evoke the notion of a un iversal mind , like a big dom e that covers everything. But if w e examine very carefully and investigate this through deep contemplation, we will find th at there is no universal consciousness. Q: You m entioned tha t there are different ap pr oaches to enlightenm ent, citing Garab Dorje as an examp le of the first kind, w hile Padmasam bhava an d Shri Singha illustrated th e second kind. What is the d ifference between the tw o types? A: Garab Dorje is an example of the type w ho realizes it instantly. Guru Padm asambh ava embod ies the second w ay, in that he received th e teaching and afterw ard s became realized. Garab Dorje immed iately recognized it withou t hesitating, wh ereas for Guru Padm asambhava and Vimalamitra, a few m oments passed before they u nd erstood perfectly. So w e study un der Gu ru Padm asambhava, because in our own case, there is a temporal gap betw een receiving th e teachings and attainment. There is also a third category of practitioners w ho u sually take longer than a few mom ents, but still man age to reach realization w ithin their lifetime. In term s of enlightenm ent, they are all identical, but the w ay they a pp roach realization is slightly different . All are considered extraordinary p ractitioners because th ey became enlightened w ithin one lifetime and attained th e rainbow body. This is not a method , but a spontan eous pr ocess in w hich the physical body is completely transformed into light. At the time of ph ysical death, these ad epts m elt or dissolve the bod y into light an d leave no trace. They just become pu re light.
[33,807 word s: 1/ 11/ 00]
Colophon:
