| Philosophy and Religion / The Tibetan Book of the Dead |
The Tibetan Book of the Dead or the After-Death Experiences on the Bardo Plane
English translation by Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup. Compiled and Edited by W. Y. Evans- Wentz
Book I. The Chikhai Bardo and the Chonyid Bardo: Part II. The Bardo of the Experiencing of Reality
[The Conclusion, Showing the Fundamental Importance of the Bardo Teachings]
Whatever the religious practices of any one may have been — whether extensive or limited — during the moments of death various misleading illusions occur; and hence this Thödol is indispensable. To those who have meditated much, the real Truth dawneth as soon as the body and consciousness-principle part. The acquiring of experience while living is important: they who have [then] recognized [the true nature of] their own being,1 and thus have had some experience, obtain great power during the Bardo of the Moments of Death, when the Clear Light dawneth.
Again, the meditation on the deities of the Mystic Path of the Mantra, [both in the] visualizing and the perfecting stages, while living, will be of great influence when the peaceful and wrathful visions dawn on the Chönyid Bardo. Thus the training in this Bardo being of particular importance even while living,2 hold to it, read it, commit it to memory, bear it in mind properly, read it regularly thrice; let the words and the meanings be very clear; it should be so that the words and the meanings will not be forgotten even though a hundred executioners were pursuing [thee].
It is called the Great Liberation by Hearing, because even those who have committed the five boundless sins3 are sure to be liberated if they hear it by the path of the ear. Therefore read it in the midst of vast congregations. Disseminate it. Through having heard it once, even though one do not comprehend it, it will be remembered in the Intermediate State without a word being omitted, for the intellect becometh ninefold more lucid [there]. Hence it should be proclaimed in the ears of all living person; it should be read over the pillows of all persons who are ill; it should be read at the side of all corpses: it should be spread broadcast.
Those who meet with this [doctrine] are indeed fortunate. Save for them who have accumulated much merit and absolved many obscurations, difficult is it to meet with it. Even when met with, difficult is it to comprehend it. Liberation will be won through simply not disbelieving it upon hearing it. Therefore treat this [doctrine] very dearly: it is the essence of all doctrines.4
The Setting-Face-to-Face while experiencing Reality in the Intermediate State, called 'The Teaching Which Liberateth By Merely Being Heard And That Which Liberateth By Merely Being Attached',5 is finished.6
Footnotes
1. Lit., 'intellect' or 'consciousness-principle'.
2. Cf. the following passage from The Book of the Craft of Dying, chap. V, Comper's ed.: 'That what man that lusteth, and will gladly die well and surely and meritorily, without peril, he must take heed visibly, and study and learn diligently this craft of dying, and the dispositions thereof abovesaid, while he is in heal [i.e. health]; and not abide till the death entereth in him.'
3. These are: patricide, matricide, setting two religious bodies at war, killing a saint, and causing blood to flow from the body of a Tathāgata (i.e. a Buddha).
4. Here the Block-Print has : 'This is the Tantra of all doctrines.'
5. This refers to the Thadol.
6. The Block-Print text, corresponding in all essentials, and in almost every important detail, word for word with the text of our Manuscript, contains (on folio 48 b), as the parallel concluding sentence of the Chönyid Bardo, the following, which differs from our own: 'The Teaching for the Intermediate State, the Setting-Face-to-Face while experiencing Reality, from The Great Liberation by Hearing While in the Intermediate State, Liberating by Merely Being Heard, And Liberating By Merely Being Seen, is finished.'
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
