other · religious

Tibetan Book of the Dead — Bardo Thodol

Composed c. 8th century CE; revealed as terma c. 1326 CE · Tibetan Buddhism (14th century CE rediscovery; attributed to Padmasambhava, 8th century CE) · Tibet

The Moment of Death — Instructions for the Clear Light

1O nobly born! Now thou art experiencing the Radiance of the Clear Light of Pure Reality.
2Recognize it. O nobly born!
3Thy present awareness, vacant, naked, is itself the very Reality, the All-Good.
4Thine own awareness, having no birth nor death, is, in fact, the Immutable Light—
5Buddha Amitabha.
6Knowing this is sufficient. Recognizing the voidness of thine own intellect to be Buddhahood,
7and looking upon it as being thine own consciousness,
8is to keep thyself in the Divine Mind.
9O nobly born! When thy body and mind were separating,
10thou must have experienced a glimpse of the Pure Truth, subtle, sparkling, bright,
11dazzling, glorious, and radiantly awesome,
12in appearance like a mirage moving across a landscape in spring-time
13in one continuous stream of vibrations.
14Be not daunted thereby, nor terrified, nor awed.
15That is the radiance of thine own true nature. Recognize it.
16From the midst of that radiance, the natural sound of Reality,
17reverberating like a thousand thunders simultaneously sounding,
18will come. That is the natural sound of thine own real self. Be not daunted thereby, nor terrified.

The First Bardo — The Peaceful Deities

19O nobly born! Listen without distraction.
20On the First Day, a blue light—the light of the Voidness—
21will dawn upon thee from the central realm of the Densely Packed.
22Simultaneously, a dull white light from the gods will dawn upon thee.
23Practice in such a way that thou dost not take pleasure in that dull white light.
24O nobly born! The blue light is the Primordial Wisdom of the Dharma-Dhatu,
25transparent, shining clear as the sky—cool and sharp.
26Fear it not. Be drawn unto it.
27The natural light of the realm of gods—the dull white light—
28hath no power to liberate. Follow not after the dull white light.
29O nobly born! If thou art not able to recognize in this First Day,
30then—because of the power of evil karma—thou wilt be startled and flee.

The Second Day — White Light

31O nobly born! On the Second Day, Vajra-Sattva, the Lord of Wisdom,
32together with his spiritual consort, will dawn upon thee in dazzling white radiance.
33Simultaneously, a dull smoky light from Hell will come to tempt thee.
34Fear not the bright clear white light. It is the light of Wisdom.
35Be not attached to the dull smoky light.
36That is the path of accumulated evil karma arising from anger.
37If thou art attached to it, thou wilt wander in Hell, and suffer unbearable misery.
38That is an obstacle. Look not at it.
39The dazzling white radiance will strike against thy heart
40with a force so great that thou wilt not be able to endure it.
41Yet it is thine own Primordial Wisdom. Have no fear of it.

The Wrathful Deities

42O nobly born! Now the fifty-eight blood-drinking deities will come to dawn upon thee.
43They will come, issuing from within thy brain, and will shine upon thee.
44Fear them not! Recognize them! They are the radiances of thine own thoughts.
45O nobly born! When the lions of the Dharma rend the sky with their roar,
46thou must meditate upon them as being the radiances of thy mind.
47O nobly born! From the midst of the central sphere of the Mandalas will shine
48a dazzling dark blue light, awe-inspiring, which will strike against thy heart.
49Fear it not. Recognize it as thine own natural radiance.

The Bardo of Becoming

50O nobly born! If thou hast failed to recognize on the First and Second Days,
51and hast fainted away, thou wilt experience the Sidpa Bardo—
52the wandering in the between-state.
53At this time, the sky is as it were veiled in smoke.
54Thou wilt say to thyself: "I am dead! What shall I do?"
55And seeing the grey, dismal, gloomy light of the six realms,
56thou wilt feel great sorrow.
57O nobly born! At this time the great whirlwind of karma,
58terrifying, dark, and ominous, will be blowing thee from behind.
59Be not afraid. That is thine own illusion.
60A great darkness will come upon thee. Then voices will shout fearfully.
61Be not terrified. Recognize all these as thine own thought-forms.
62O nobly born! Now thou art in the Bardo; thou canst not stay long.
63Think thou upon the Precious Trinity. Think of thy guru.
64Think of the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha.
65Call upon the name of the Lord of Great Compassion, Avalokitesvara.

Prayer at the Moment of Death

66O Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, abiding in the ten directions,
67possessing the perfection of compassion:
68attend to this being according to your compassion;
69employ your divine power to save this being from the abyss.
70May this being be endowed with the eye of Wisdom to discern the Real.
71May this being be liberated from the ocean of existence.
72May this being, by recognizing the Clear Light, be freed from the bondage of karma.
73May this being not wander in the Bardo but be guided to liberation.

notes

The Bardo Thodol (literally "Liberation Through Hearing in the Intermediate State") is the Tibetan Buddhist scripture read aloud to the dying and recently dead to guide the consciousness through the stages of death and rebirth. It is attributed to Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche), who brought tantric Buddhism from India to Tibet in the 8th century CE, and was "rediscovered" (as a terma, or hidden text) by Karma Lingpa in the 14th century. The text describes three bardos (intermediate states): the bardo of dying (the clear light experience at the moment of death), the bardo of dharmata (visions of peaceful and wrathful deities, each representing aspects of one's own consciousness), and the bardo of becoming (where the consciousness wanders before rebirth). The fundamental teaching is recognition: the lights, deities, and sounds are all projections of one's own mind. If recognized as such, liberation is achieved. If not, fear and attachment drive one toward rebirth. W.Y. Evans-Wentz's 1927 translation was the first to bring this text to Western audiences; his introduction by Carl Jung brought it wide attention in European intellectual circles. Translation: W.Y. Evans-Wentz, "The Tibetan Book of the Dead," Oxford University Press, 1927. Public domain in the United States.

currently held: Various monastery libraries and the Bodleian Library, Oxford

MeditationTibetanBardoAfterlifeBuddhistReincarnation

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