When all the symptoms [of death] are about to be completed, then enjoin upon [the one dying] this resolution, speaking in a low tone of voice in the ear:
"O nobly-born (or if it be a priest, O Venerable Sir), let not thy mind be destracted....
"that which is called death being come to thee now, resolve thus: 'O this now is the hour of death. By taking advantage of this death, I will so act...as to obtain the Perfect Buddhahood, by resolving on love and compassion towards the Sole Perfection.'"
...the reader shall put his lips close to the ear, and shall repeat it distinctly, clearly impressing it upon the dying person so as to prevent his mind from wandering even for a moment.
After the expiration hath completely ceased, press the nerve of sleep firmly; and, a lama, or a person higher or more learned than thyself, impress in these words, thus;
"Reverend Sir, now that thou art experiencing the Fundamental Clear Light, try to abide in that state which now thou art experiencing...Now thou art experiencing the Radiance of the Clear Light of Pure Reality. Recognize it. O nobly-born, thy present intellect, in real nature void, not formed into anything as regards characteristics or colour, naturally void, is the very Reality, the All-Good.
"Thine own intellect, which is now voidness, yet not to be regarded as the voidness of nothingness, but as being the intellect itself, unobstructed, shining, thrilling, and blissful, is the very consciousness, the All-good Buddha.
"Thine own consciousness, shining, void, and inseperable from the Great Body of Radiance, hath no birth, nor death, and is the Immutable Light - Buddha Amitabha.
"Knowing this is sufficient. Recognizing the voidness of thine own intellect to be Buddhahood, and looking upon it as thine own consciousness, is to keep thyself in the [state of the] divine mind of the Buddha."
Repeat this distinctly and clearly three or [even] seven times.
........
About this time [the deceased] can see that the share of his food is being set aside, that the body is being stripped of its garments, that the place of the sleeping-rug is being swept; can hear all the weeping and wailing of his friends and relatives, and, although he can see them and can hear them calling upon him, they cannot hear him calling upon them, so he goeth away displeased.
At that time, sounds, lights, and rays - all three - are experienced. These awe, frighten, and terrify, and cause much fatigue. At this moment, this setting face to face with the Bardo* of Reality is to be applied (*the state intervening between death and rebirth). Call the deceased by name, and correctly and distinctly explain to him, as follows:
"O nobly-born, listen with full attention, without being distracted: There are six states of Bardo, namely: the natural state of Bardo while in the womb; the Bardo of the dream-state; the Bardo of ecstatic equilibrium, while in deep meditation; the Bardo of the moment of death; the Bardo [during the experiencing] of Reality; the Bardo of the inverse process of sangsaric* existence (*intermediate state). These are the six.
"O nobly born, thou wilt experience three Bardos, the Bardo on the moment of death, the Bardo [during the experiencing] of reality, and the Bardo while seeking rebirth. Of these three, up to yesterday, thou hadst experienced the Bardo of the moment of death. Although the Clear Light of Reality dawned upon thee, thou wert unable to hold on, and so thou hast to wander here. Now henceforth thou art going to experience the [other] two, the Chonyid Bardo and the Sidpa Bardo.
"Thou wilt pay undistracted attention to that with which I am about to set thee face to face, and hold on:
"O nobly-born, that which is called death hath now come. Thou art departing from this world, but thou art not the only one; [death] cometh to all. Do not cling, in fondness and weakness to this life. Even though thou clingest out of weakness, thou hast not the power to remain here. Thou wilt gain nothing more than wondering in this (whirligig)..."
........
"Oh nobly-born, when thy body and mind were seperating, thou must have experienced a glimpse of the Pure Truth, subtle, sparkling, bright, dazzling, glorious, and radiantly awesome, in appearance like a mirage moving across a landscape in spring-time in one continuous stream of vibrations. Be not daunted thereby, nor terrifed, now awed. That is the radiance of thy own true nature. Recognize it.
"From the midst of that radiance, the natural sound of Reality, reverberating like a thousand thunders simultaneously sounding, will come. That is the natural sound of thine own real self. Be not daunted thereby, nor terrified, nor awed.
"The body which thou hast now is called the thought-body of propensities. Since thou has not a material body of flesh and blood, whatever may come, - sounds, lights, or rays, - are, all three, unable to harm thee: thou art incpabale of dying. It is quite sufficient for thee to know that these apparitions are thine own thought-forms...
"O nobly-born, if thou dost not now recognize thine own thought-forms, whatever of meditation or of devotion thou mayest have performed while in the human world - if thou hast not met with this present teaching - the lights will daunt thee, the sounds will awe thee, and the rays will terrify thee. Shouldst thou not know this all-important key to the teachings, - not being able to recognize the sounds, lights, and rays, - thou wilt have to wander in the Sangsara.
[The first day]
"O nobly-born, thous hast been in a swoon during the the last three and one-half days. As soon as thou art recovered from this swoon, thou wilt have thought, 'What hath happened!'
"Act so that thou wilt recognize the Bardo. At that time, all the Sagsara will be in revolution; and the phenomenal appearances that thou wilt see then will be the radiances and deities. The whole heavens will appear deep blue.
"Then, from the Central Realm, called the Spreading Forth of the Seed, the Bhagavan Vairochana, white in colour, and seated upon a lion-throne, bearing an eight-spoked wheel in his hand, and embraced by the Mother of the Space of Heaven, will manifest himself to thee.
"It is the aggregate of matter resolved into its primordial state which is the blue light.
"The Wisdom of the Dharma-Dhatu, blue in color, shining, transparent, glorious, dazzling, from the heart of Vairochana as the Father-Mother, will shoot forth and strike against thee with a light so radiant that thou wilt scarcely be able to look at it.
"Along with it, there will also shine a dull white light from the devas, which will strike against thee in thy front.
"Thereupon, because of the power of bad karma, the glorious blue light of the Wisdom of the Dharma-Dhatu will produce in thee fear and terror, and thou wilt [wish to] flee from it. Thou wilt beget a fondness for the dull white light of the devas.
"At this stage, thou must not be awed by the divine blue light which will appear shining, dazzling, and glorious; and be not startled by it. That is the light of the Tathagata called the Light of the Wisdom of the Dharma-Dhatu. Put thy faith in it, believe in it firmly, and pray unto it, thinking in thy mind that it is the light proceeding from the heart of the Bhagavan Vairochana coming to receive thee while in the dangerous (narow passage) of the Bardo. That light is the light of the grace of Vairochana.
"Be not fond of the dull white light of the devas. Be not attached [to it]; be not weak. If thou be attached to it, thou wilt wander into the abodes of the devas and be drawn into the whirl of the Six Lokas. That is an interruption to obstruct thee on the Path of Liberation. Look not at it. Look at the bright blue light in deep faith. Put thy whole thought earnestly upon Vairochana and repeat after me this prayer:
'Alas! when wandering in the Sangsara, because of intense stupidity,
On the radiant light-path of the Dharma-Dhatu Wisdom
May [I] be led by the Bhagavan Vairochana,
May the Divine Mother of Infinite Space be [my] rearguard;
May [I] be led safely across the fearful ambush of the Bardo;
May [I] be placed in the state of the All-Perfect Buddhahood.'
"Praying thus, in intense humble faith, [thou] wilt merge, in halo of rainbow light, into the heart of Vairochana, and obtain Buddhahood in the Sambhoga-Kaya, in the Central Realm of the Densely-Packed."
[The second day]
But if...through power of anger or obscuring karma one should be startled at the glorious light and flee, or be overcome by illusions, despite the prayer, on the Second Day, Vajra-Sattva and his attendant deities, as well as one's evil deeds [meriting] Hell, will come to receive one.
Thereupon (call) the deceased by name thus:
"O nobly-born, listen undistractedly. On the Second Day the pure form of water will shine as a white light...
"...through the power of anger, thou wilt beget fear and be startled at the dazzling white light and wilt [wish to] flee from it; thou wilt beget a feeling of fondness for the dull smoke-coloured light from Hell. Act then so that thou wilt not fear that bright, dazzling, transparent white light. Know it to be Wisdom. Put thy humble and earnest faith in it...
"Be not fond of the dull, smoke-coloured light from Hell. That is the path which openeth out to receive thee because of the power of accumulated evil karma from violent anger. If thou be attracted to it, thou wilt fall into the Hell-Worlds; and, falling therein, thou wilt have to endure unbearable misery, whence there is no certain time of getting out..."
[The third day]
"...On the Third Day the primal form of the element earth will shine forth as a yellow light...through the power of egotism, thou wilt beget a fear for the dazzling yellow light and wilt [wish to] flee from it. Thou wilt be fondly attracted towards the dull bluish-yellow light form the human [world]....
"Be not fond of the dull bluish-yellow light from the human [world]. That is the path of thine accumulated propensities of violent egotism come to receive thee. If thou are attracted by it, thou wilt be born in the human world and have to suffer birth, age, sickness, and death; and thou wilt have no chance of getting out of the quagmire of worldly existence...."
[The fourth day]
"...On the Fourth Day the red light, which is the primal form of the element fire, will shine...The six bodies of Enlightenment will shine upon thee from amidst a halo of rainbow light..."
[The fifth day]
It is impossible that one should not be liberated thereby. Yet...sentient beings, unable through long associations with propenssities...and, through bad karma and jealousy, awe and terror being produced by the sounds and radiances - the hook-rays of grace failing to catch hold of them - wander down also to the Fifth Day...
"...On the Fifth day, the green light of the primal form of the element air will shine upon thee..."
[The sixth day]
"O nobly-born, until yesterday each of the Five Orders of Dieties had shone upon thee, one by one...but, owing to the influence of thine evil propensities, thou wert awed and terrified by them and hast remained here till now.
"If thou hadst recognized the radiances of the Five Orders of Wisdom to be the emanations from thine own thought-forms ere this, thou wouldst have obtained Buddhahood...Now the lights of all Five Orders, called the Lights of the Union of Four Wisdoms, will come to receive thee. Act so as to know them.
"...forty-two perfectly endowed deities, issuing from within thy heart, being the product of thine own pure love, will come to shine. Know them.
"O nobly-born, these realms are not come from somewhere outside [thyself]. They come from within the four divisions of thy heart, which, including its centre, make the five directions. They issue from within there, and shine upon thee. The dieties, too, are not come from somewhere else: they exist from eternity within the faculties of thine own intellect. Know them to be of that nature.
"O nobly-born, the size of all these dieties is not large, not small, [but] proportionate. [They have] their ornaments, their colours, their sitting postures, their thrones, and the emblems that each holds.
"These dieities are formed into groups of five pairs, each group of five being surrounded by a fivefold circle of radiances...All these divine conclaves will come to shine upon thee in one complete conclave.
"...all those are the radiances of thine own intellectual faculties come to shine. They have not come from any other place. Be not attracted towards them; be not weak; be not terrified; but abide in the mood of non-thought-formation. In that state all the forms and radiances will merge into thyself, and Buddhahood will be obtained."
[The seventh day]
On the Seventh Day, the Knowledge-Holding Dieities, from the holy paradise realms, come to receive one. Simultaneously, the pathway to the brute world, produced by the obscuring passion, stupidity, also cometh to recieve one.
"...Be not attracted towards the dull blue light of the brute-world; be not weak. If thou art attracted, thou wilt fall into the brute-world, wherein stupidity predominates, and suffer the illimitable miseries of slavery and dumbness and stupidness; and it will be a very long time ere thou canst get out."
[The eighth day]
Now the manner of the dawning of the Wrathful Deities is to be shown.
In the above Bardo of the Peaceful [Deities] there were seven stages of ambuscade. The setting-face-to-face at each stage should have [caused the deceased] to recognize either at one or another [stage] and to have been liberated.
Multitudes will be liberated by that recognition; [and] although multitudes obtain liberation in that manner, the number of sentient beings being great, evil karma powerful, obscurations dense, propensities of too long standing, the Wheel of Ignorance and Illusion becometh neither exhausted nor accelerated. Although [all be] set face-to-face in such detail, there is a vast preponderance of those who wander downwards unliberated.
Therefore, after the cessation [of the dawning] of the Peaceful and the Knowledge-Holding dieties, who come to welcome one, the 58 flame-enhaloed, wrathful, blood-drinking dieties come to dawn, who are only the former Peaceful Deites in changed aspect...nevertheless, they will not resemble them.
This is the Bardo of the Wrathful Deities; and, they being influenced by fear, terror, and awe, recognition becometh more difficult.
...[Those] who have meditated upon the visualization and perfection processes and practised the [essence mantras], need not wander down this far...As soon as they cease to breathe, they will be led into the pure paradise realms by the Heroes and Heroines and the Knowledge-Holders.
...Therefore, this Thodol is the doctrine by which Buddhahood may be attained without meditation...
"O nobly-born, listen undistractedly. Not having been able to recognize the Peaceful [Deities] shown upon thee...thou hast come wandering thus far. Now, on the Eight Day, the blood-drinking Wrathful Deities will come to shine. Act so as to recognize them without being distracted.
"O nobly-born, the Great Glorious Buddha-Heruka, dark-brown of colour; with three heads, six hands, and four feet firmly postured; the right [face] being white, the left, red, the central, dark-brown; the body emitting flames of radiance; the nine eyes widely opened, in terrifying gaze; the eyebrows quivering like lightning; the protruding teeth glistening and set over one another; giving vent to sonorous utterances of 'a-la-la' and 'ha-ha,' and piercing, whistling sounds; the hair of a reddish-yellow colour, standing on end, and emitting radiance; the heads adorned with dried [human] skulls, and the [symbols of the] sun and moon; black serpents and raw [human] heads forming a garland for the body; the first of the right hands holding a wheel, the middle one, a sword, the last one, a battle-axe; the first of the left hands, a bell, the middle one, a skull-bowl, the last one, a plough-share; his body embraced by the Mother, Buddha-Krotishaurima, her right hand clinging to his neck and her left hand putting to his mouth a red shell [filled with blood], [making] a palatal sound like a crackling [and] a clashing sound, and a rumbling sound as loud as thunder; [emanating from the two deities] radiant flames of wisdom, blazing from every hair-pore [of the body] and each containing a flaming dorje; [the two dieities together thus] standing with [one] leg bent and [the other] straight and tense, on a dais supported by horned eagles, will come forth from within thine own brain and shine vividly upon thee. Fear that not. Be not awed. Know it to be the embodiment of thine own intellect..."
[The ninth day]
But if one flee from them, through awe and terror being begotten, then, on the Ninth Day, the blood drinking [deities] of the Vajra Order will come to receive one.
"...be not terrified. In reality, [they are] the Bhagavau Vajra-Sattva, the Father and Mother. Believe in them. Recognizing them, liberation will be obtained at once. By so proclaiming [them], knowing them to be tutelary deities, merging [in them] in at-one-ment, Buddhahood will be obtained."
[The tenth day]
Yet, if one does not recognize them, the obscurations of civil deeds being too great, and flee from them through terror and awe, then, on the Tenth Day, the blood-drinking [deites] of the [Precious]-Gem Order will come to receive one...
........
[The fourteenth day]
"O nobly-born on the Fourteenth Day, the Four Female Door-Keepers, also issuing from within thine own brain, will come to shine upon thee. Again recognize.
"...when the 58 Blood-Drinking Deities emanating from thine own brain come to shine upon thee, if thou knowest them to be the radiance of thine own intellect, thou wilt merge, in the state of at-one-ment, into the body of the Blood-Drinking Ones there and then, and obtain Buddhahood.
"O nobly-born, by not recognizing now, and by fleeing from the deities out of fear, again sufferings will come to overpower thee..."
[The after-death world]
"...[although] thou mayest have been, when living, blind of the eye, or deaf, or lame, yet on this After-death Plane thine eyes will see all forms, and thine ears will hear sounds, and all other sense-organs of thine will be unimpaired and very keen and complete...
"...now thou hast the power to go right through any rock-masses, hills, boulders, earth, houses, and Mt. Meru itself without being impeded...
"...thou canst instantaneously arrive in whatever place thou wishest..."
[The intermediate state]
"...the possessor of that sort of body will see places...and relatives...as one seeth another in dreams.
"Thou seest thy relatives and connexions and speakest to them, but receivest no reply. Then, seeing them and thy family weeping, thou thinkest, 'I am dead! What shall I do?' and feelest great misery, just like a fish cast out [of water] on red-hot embers. Such misery thou wilt be experiencing at present. But feeling miserable will avail thee nothing now. If thou hast a divine guru, pray to him. Pray to the Tutelary Deity, the Compassionate One. Even though thou feelst attachment for thy relatives and connexions, it will do thee no good. So be not attached. Pray to the Compassionate Lord; thou shalt have nought of sorrow, or of terror, or of awe...
"There will be a grey twilight-like light, both by night and by day, and at all times. In that kind of Intermediate State, thou wilt be either for one, two, three, four, five, six, or seven weeks, until the forty-ninth day...because of the determining influence of karma, a fixed period is not assured.
"...at about that time, the fierce winds of karma, terrific and hard to endure, will drive thee [onwards], from behind, in dreadful gusts. Fear it not...
"Others who have accumulated merit, and devoted themselves sincerely to religion, will experience various delightful pleasures and happiness and ease in full measure. But that class of neutral beings who have neither earned merit nor created bad karma will experience neither pleasure nor pain, but a sort of colourless stupidity of indifference.
"...thou canst not rest in any one place...
"...As to food, only that which hath been dedicated to thee can be partaken of by thee, and no other food. As to friends at this time, there will be no certainty...
"...Thou wilt see thine own home...and the corpse, and think, 'Now I am dead! What shall I do?' and being oppressed with intense sorrow, the thought will occur to thee, 'O what would I not give to possess a body!' And so thinking, thou wilt wander hither and thither seeking a body.
Even though thou couldst enter thy dead body nine times over...it will have been frozen if in winter, been decomposed if in summer, or, otherwise, thy relatives will have cremated it, or interred it, or thrown it into the water, or given it to the birds and the beasts of prey. Wherefore finding no place for thyself to enter into, thou wilt be disatisfied and have the sensation of being squeezed into cracks and crevices amidst rocks and boulders. The experiencing of this sort of misery occurs in the Intermediate State when seeking rebirth. Even though thou seekest a body, thou wilt gain nothing but trouble. Put aside the desire for a body; and permit thy mind to abide in the state of resignation, and act so as to abide therein..."
[The Judgement]
"...Then the Lord of Death will say, 'I will consult the Mirror of Karma.'
"So saying, he will look in the mirror, wherin every good and evil act is vividly reflected. Lying will be of no avail.
"Then [one of the Executive Furies of] the Lord of Death will place around thy neck a rope and drag thee along; he will cut off thy head, extract thy heart, pull out thy intestines, lick up thy brain, drink thy blood, eat thy flesh, and gnaw thy bones; but thou wilt be incapable of dying. Although thy body be hacked to pieces, it will revive again. The repeated hacking will cause intense pain and torture...
"Thy body being a mental body is incapable of dying even though beheaded and quartered. In reality, thy body is of the nature of voidness; thou needest not be afraid. The Lords of death are thine own hallucinations.
"...Meditate upon the Samadhi of the Great Symbol. If thou dost not know how to meditate, then merely analyse with care the real nature of that which is frightening thee...
"In that state wherein thou art existing, there is being experienced by thee, in an unbearable intensity, Voidness and Brightness inseperable -
"...Shouldst thou become distracted now, the chords of divine compassion of the Compassionate Eyes will break, and thou wilt go into the place from which there is no [immediate] liberation. Therefore, be careful.
"...If thou art to be born on a higher plane, the vision of that higher plane will be dawning upon thee...
" - thou mayest feel lack of faith and entire disbelief...Thinking thus, thou wilt be extremely depressed, and...thou wilt be certain to be born in one of the miserable states.
"...whatever thought occurs to thee now - be it pious or impious - will wield great power...Earnest prayer...will be sure to guide thee along..."
"O nobly born...the body of the past life will become more and more dim and the body of the future life will become more and more clear..."
[The process of rebirth]
[The closing of the door of the womb]
"O nobly born, if thou hast not understood the above, at this moment, through the influence of karma, thou wilt have the impression that thou art either ascending, or moving along on a level, or going downwards...gusts of wind, and icy blasts, hail storms, and darkness, and impression of being pursued by many people will come upon thee. On fleeing from these [hallucinations], those who are unendowed with meritorious karma will have the impression of fleeing into places of misery; those who are endowed with meritorious karma will have the impression of arriving in places of happiness...in whatever continent or place thou art to be born, the signs of that birthplace will shine upon thee then."
Now it is very important to employ the methods of closing the womb door...preventing the being who would enter from entering, and closing the womb-door which might be entered...
"O nobly-born...meditate, without any thought-forming, upon the vacuous Clear Light. This is a very profound art; in virtue of it, a womb is not entered.
"...but even though this be found inadequate to prevent thee from entering into a womb...there (are) profound teaching(s) for closing the womb door...
"...meditate...until the closing is successfully accomplished...
"...if the womb-door hath not been closed, it is almost time to assume a body...
"In observing the place of birth, choose the continent too.
"If to be born in the Eastern (Western...Northern) Continent...enter not.
"If to be born in the Southern Continent of Jambu, grand delightful mansions will be seen. Enter therein, if one is to enter...
"If one is to be born as a deva, delightful temples...will be seen. One may enter therein, so enter therein...
"If to be born among beasts...enter not therein...
"If to be born in Hell...go not there into the midst of that...
"Since thou now possessest a slender supernormal power of foreknowledge, all the places [of birth] will be known to thee, one after another. Choose accordingly.
"There are two alternatives: the transference...to a pure Buddha realm, and the selection of the impure sangsaric womb-door..."
[Transference to a paradise realm]
"...(meditate) thus:
'Alas! how sorrowful it is that I during all the innumerable kalpas since illimitable, beginingless time, until now, have been wandering in the Quagmire of Sangsara! O how painful that I have not been liberated into Buddhahood by knowing the consciousness to be the self hitherto ere this! Now doth this Sangsara disgust me, horrify me, sicken me; now hath the hour come to prepare to flee from it. I myself will so act as to be born in The Happy Western Realm, at the foot of the Buddha Amitabha, miraculously from amidst a lotus blossom.'
"...By doing so, birth will take place in that Realm instantaneously."
[Return to the human world]
"If, however, such a [supernormal birth] be not possible, and one delighteth in entering a womb...choose that in which religion prevaileth and enter therein."
Compiled and edited by W.Y. Evans-Wentz
(c)1960 by W.Y. Evans-Wentz
Oxford University Press
London