Recognising the death process.

This is a Tibetan Bardo supplication by Kunga Paljor. Translated by Gerardo Abboud.

 This is a short prayer, describing the process of so-called death, the intermediate state and reincarnation. It is basically is a reminder for practitioners of what to lookout for. This will give you a general idea of the Bardo experience.

 We have all been through this many times before but simply forget. We forget because we still believe and hold onto everything as being real/solid. It is that simple. There are those who have gone through this experience and have not forgotten.

 

Namo mahamudraya,

 1. Comprehending all phenomena as illusory,
Free from impure illusion, you discovered the pure kayas.
Leader who guide illusory beings,
To your illusory form I go for refuge.

 2.Lord, who has an illusory body,
Bless me and all beings tricked by illusion,
So that, undeceived by illusory phenomena,
We recognise the nature of illusion.



3. At the time of discarding this transient illusory body,
Bless us so that by cutting all ties of attachment, aversion and grasping,
And resting naturally in unfabricated mind essence,
We take death as the path.


 4.At death, outer phenomena cease:
Sight and the rest of the five senses gradually stop,
And forms and the rest of the objects dissolve one by one.
When this happens, bless us to recognise the stages of dissolution.



 5. As earth,water,fire and air dissolve into consciousness,
Vitality wanes, one is thirsty and mouth ans nose dry up,
warmth fades, breathing shortens and rattles.
At that time, bless us to take the pain of dying as the path.



 6. Consciousness dissolves into luminosity and the outer breath stops,
While the inner breath continues during the four instants:
Appearance, increase, attainment, and great luminosity.
Bless us to recognise them, one by one.


 7. The inner sign of appearance is smoke like, the outer sign the rising moon,
And the thirty-three concepts deriving from aggression subside.
Bless us that, at this time,
We remain clear, alert and determined.

 
8. The inner sign of increase, is like fireflies, the outer sign the rising sun,
And the forty concepts deriving from passion subside.
Bless us that, at this time,
Aware and mindful, we recognise them.


 9. The inner sign of attainment is like a burning lamp,
The outer is blackness, like an eclipse,
And the seven concepts deriving from ignorance subside.
Bless us that, at this time, we recognise all with perfect attention.



 10. When the fourth instant, the great luminosity, dawns,
The inner sign is like a cloudless sky,
And the outer sign is like the break of day.
Bless us that, at this time, mother and child luminosity merge.



 11. If consciousness does not rest there but instead shifts
To the navel, in between eyebrows, cranium, nose, ears,
eyes urinary tract, anus or mouth,
Bless us to block these nine and open the one exit.



 12. Gods of desire, form or formless; or gods, jealous gods,
Humans, animals, hell beings or hungry ghosts;
Bless us that we close the doors to rebirth as these,
And dakas and dakinis welcome us in the celestial realms.



 13. If consciousness were to wonder in the bardo,
Then, not knowing we are dead, we will despair of relatives and friend,
Who don’t respond even though we want to relate to them.
Bless us that , at this time,the ties of attachment and aversion are severed.



 14. When, endowed with full sense faculties and miraculous karmic power,
One may go anywhere unimpeded,
Except to Mount Meru, Vajrasana and one’s mother’s womb,
Bless us that we know it all to be an illusion.



 15. Sun and moon are invisible and the body casts no shadow.
Just by thinking, one can go around the billion solar systems,
Helpless, like a feather blown about by the wind.
When this happens, bless us to master our own minds.



16. One feeds on smell, and the mind rapidly flickers.
When myriad deluded experiences occur,
And afraid and sad we become depressed,
Bless us that we recognise these as delusions.



 17. At times, remembrance is extremely clear,
But immediately one forgets,
And one doubts whether one is dead or alive.
When this happens, bless us to know we are unequivocally dead.



 18. Three and a half days after death,
One realises one is dead,
And, depressed and disheartened, seek a refuge.
Bless us to know, at that time, our own awareness to be the refuge.



 19. When we realise that state is the bardo,
Visualizing our body as the deity, then meditate on luminosity,
And further meditating on their indivisibility,
Bless us that, by this, the pure illusory form arises.



 20. When terrifies at collapsing mountains, raging oceans, blazing forests,
And the sound resembling the howling gale at the end of times,
Roaring together with a thousand thunders,
Bless us to perceive these as the natural sounds of reality.

 21. When the five coloured light rays clash and shine,
And from seeming spheres of light of all sizes,
Appear terrifying wrathful forms roaring orders to strike and kill,Bless us to perceive these, our own projections, as the deity.



 22.When, terrified, we feel we are plummeting
Into the abyss of the whiteness, redness and blackness,
Arising from passion, aggression and ignorance,
Bless us to perceive this, our own projection, as pure.



 23. When the body of our next birth takes form,
And the white, red, yellow, blue and black lights,
Of gods, humans, animals, hungry ghosts and hell beings appear,
Bless us to know these five pathways one by one.


 24. When seeing gods enjoying sensual pleasures in celestial palaces,
Lakes adorned with swans, royal bulls and horses,
And in a mansion our parents in union,
Bless us that attraction, aversion and jealousy are purified.



 25. When, driven by gale, rain, clouds heat and cold,
We approach a cave, a ravine a wooden log, and so forth,
And feel like entering them to find refuge.
Bless us that we know these to be bad places for rebirth.



 26. Seeing house of slaughter, fire or iron,
Attracted to them, we feel like entering.
Bless us to recognise our own nature and be fearless,
And so turn away from these bad places for rebirth.



 27. Envy and jealousy in the case of birth through womb or egg;
Attraction to smell and taste in the case of birth by warmth and moisture;
Or attachment to the places of miraculous birth;
When these arise, bless us to have no desire, aversion and craving.

 28.When seeing one’s parents, or the other modes of birth,
Bless us that, free of attraction or aversion, knowing these to be illusory
And remembering the recognition of the natural state,
Without clinging, we close the door to the womb.
 

29. If, unsuccessful, we are to take birth,
Bless us that, upon remembering,
We are born in Sukhavati, Tushita or Abhirati;
Or as a chakavartin, or in the bramin caste.



30. As soon as we are born, may we remember our previous life,
And have the fortune of practising the Mahayana Dharma.
Through love, may we generate the purely altruistic attitude,
And persevering, quickly attain enlightenment.

31. By the blessing power of the buddhas and bodhisattvas,
The pure nature of absolute reality,
And also our pure wishes,
May we achieve these aspirations as expressed.


 

 

(When it talks of the red and white elements, these are the reversing elements of the mother and father seeds. I think the red descends from the throat, and the white ascend from the navel. They meet in the heart centre and that is when a blackness occurs, so from then one is unconscious for three and a half days.)