Padmasambhava’s final condensed teaching
part 2.

 [This could be rather unnerving if it’s the first time you have heard such a description. It is said that our awareness out of the body is nine time that of being in the body, so everything will seem more vibrant! But, as you will see, the appearances are merely our own projections, and have no reality. You can now see why we practise not believing everything we see as being real. Chogyam Trungpa’s book ‘The Tibetan Book of the Dead’ gives a very detailed description of the whole death to rebirth process. Deity Yidam practice is Tantric/Vajrayana practice. However, it all boils down to recognising our innate nature and not being distracted.]

 “…At the time of dying, you should practise as follows.

By earth dissolving into water, the body becomes heavy and cannot support itself. By water dissolving into fire, the mouth and nose dry up. By fire dissolving into wind, body heat disappears.

By wind dissolving in consciousness, one cannot but exhale with a rattle and inhale with a gasp.

 “At that time, the feeling of being pressed down by a huge mountain, being trapped within darkness, or being dropped into the expanse of space occur. All these experiences are accompanied by thunderous and ringing sounds. The whole sky will be vividly bright like an unfurled brocade.

 “Moreover, the natural forms of mind, the peaceful, wrathful, semi-wrathful deities, and the ones with various heads fill the sky, within a dome of rainbow lights. Brandishing weapons, they will utter “Beat! Beat!” “Kill! Kill!” “Hung! Hung!” “Phat! Phat!” and other fierce sounds. In addition, there will be light like a hundred thousand suns shining at once.

 “At this time, your innate deity will remind you of awareness, saying, “Don’t be distracted! Don’t be distracted!” Your innate demon will disturb all your experiences, make them collapse, and utter sharp and fierce sounds and confuse you.

 “At this point, know this: The feeling of being pressed down is not that of being pressed down by a mountain. It is your own elements dissolving. Don’t be afraid of that! The feeling of being trapped within darkness is not darkness. It is your five sense faculties dissolving. The feeling of being dropped into the expanse of space is not being dropped. It is your mind without support because your body and mind have separated and your breathing has stopped.

 “All experiences of rainbow lights are the natural manifestations of your mind….”

.. to be continued…