Tibetan Book of the Dead's Teachings
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- Secret Teachings of the Tibetan Book of the Dead
- Affirmations, alias Resolves and Invocations
- In the After-Life
- Choosing Birth Again
Secret Teachings of the Tibetan Book of the Dead
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| One is told to reflect how useless it is to frit life away without any aim. |
Below are great treasures of Tibetan sacred literature - very helpful information that is clearly annotated. - Tormod Kinnes
The Esoteric Dhyana-Buddhas
Giants, or spiritual beings, are
as real as you are
THE YELLOW Buddha is Ratna-Sambhava of touch - or the wisdom of equality [202n, xlviii].The Blue Buddha is Samanta-Bhadra. Reality is personified by Samanta-Bhadra, the All-Good [cf. 32, 202n].
The Green Buddha is Amogha-Siddhi, a personification of Omnipotence. The wisdom of equality is also into the green symbol [202n, cf. 32, xlviii].
No deity or spiritual being has any real individual existence any more than have human beings; these apparitions are your own thought forms [cf. 32]. (2)
Different Buddhas are used to
symbolise various attributes
THE RED Buddha is Amitabha - of feelings. Red is a sign of discriminative wisdom
too. [xlviii, 202n].The White Buddha is Vajra Sattva, and white represents mirror-like wisdom. [202n].
Five personifications of
elements
Each Dhyana-Buddha symbolizes definite spiritual attributes [cf.
220]. 
The five Dhyana-Buddhas are associated with dogmas of five elements that you may find in Saiva Hinduism and Acupuncture also [cf. 14-17] (7).
Affirmations, alias Resolves and Invocations
Go for highly valued returns
to come -
WHEN THROUGH intense stupidity you are wandering in the world (sangsara) [200]:- Let it come that I obtain the non-forgetting intellect and remember my past life [207 ].
- Let it come that I see with the celestial eyes of bright Wisdom [206].
- Mistaken will be your purpose if you return empty-handed from life [cf. 204].
- May we see a Buddha realm — There is an Unmade Realm [Buddha]. [202-3, cf. 68].
May the blending of the practising of the sleep [states] and actual [waking] experience be highly valued [cf. 203].
The [Tibetan] Judgement Scene as described in our text and that described in the Egyptian Book of the Dead seem so much alike in essentials as to suggest [a] common origin [35].
Like an earthly twilight, the astral light is quite bright enough [cf. 161n].
The secret mantra conferred at the initiation, like the Egyptian Word of Power, is the password necessary for a conscious passing into the blissful realms [cf. 224].
At the base of the spinal column a mighty occult power lies coiled. Once it is aroused into activity, it may rise "like mercury in a magic tube" through various yoga centres and reach the "thousand-petalled lotus" in the brain-centre. Spreading out in a fountain-like crest, it falls as a shower of heavenly bliss that feeds the mind and vital sheets - and fills one with yogic Illumination [cf. 216-17]. (2)
The Great Teacher [Buddha] has set aside, as being non-essential to mankind's
spiritual enlightenment, the belief and the non-belief in a Supreme Deity - more especially
in an anthropomorphic Supreme Deity [236].
Symbolism to mature on is to be
different from stupefying and awe-inspiring
MAY I not fall under the power of misleading, stupefying passions [203].
Symbolism similar to that used by Plato has been used by the recorders of the
Buddhist Scriptures [53-58]. (4)
Even beyond there are
entities and places that induce misery - stay away from them if you can
ABANDON all awe [203, 205, and elsewhere.].The Veil of Maya has been lifted, and the Clear Light shines into the heart [224].
To leave false concepts, one should know that . . . the best human thought of all things is only temporary and is not Truth Absolute. - Asvagosha [229].
You have to form resolves in your mind, even in the beyond, where earnestness and
pure love are thought to be necessary. [cf. 177].
As a man is taught, so he believes [33].
Let it come that I, obtaining the assurance of fearlessness, may recognize the Bardo and the apparitions of wrathful and peaceful forms dawning upon me [cf. 205].
Brutish pleasure must produce misery [cf. 47n].
There is a Clear Light of Reality [92].
May the consciousness undistractedly be kept in its natural state [202].
May I know the body to be impermanent [cf. 203].
May the bright light-path of Wisdom lead us — Let all this be auspicious [200, cf. 209].
Obtaining the power of being born, let it come that I see with eyes of bright Wisdom, obtaining for myself the body of a male (which is) better [cf. 206-7].
When I arrive where I wish, let it come that I do not experience the evil there — May the ethereal elements not rise up as enemies [206, 201].
May we be placed in the state of the perfect Buddhahood [cf. 200, 201, modulated extracts.].
The Essence: its true nature is that of a pure mind, eternally joyful, the true
being, divine, unspeakable, the Absolute - Asvagosha [cf. 230-31]. (8)
In the After-Life
Hope your own tutelary angel
will shine forth
IF YOU are going to be reborn as a male, attraction towards the mother and repulsion
towards the father, will arise on you - and if you are to be reborn as a female, attraction
towards the father and repulsion towards the mother, together with a feeling of jealousy
(for one or the other) will dawn on you. Yet, when the attraction or repulsion arises,
meditate: "Not through attraction and repulsion." [cf. 180].Think of all these fears and terrifying apparitions as being your own tutelary deity [acting for your real good], or as the Compassionate One. [168].
If you have been unable to apprehend [the teachings], henceforth 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. You will then think, "I shall go and seek my body," going here and there distractedly. Then lights will shine on you from the six world-realms, and the light of that place that you are to be born in, will shine most prominently, through karmic power:
- A dull white light from the world of gods.
- A dull green light from the world of titans.
- A dull yellow light from the human-world.
- A dull blue light from the animal (brute) world.
- A dull red light from the spirit (preta) world.
- A smoke-coloured light from the hell-world [173-74].
Prepare yourself for a good
after-life. In Western Europe, "Memento mori" is a phrase that has been used for it.
Have no feeling of miserliness, but be prepared to renounce your worldly goods
willingly [cf. 170]. (4)Form earnest resolves that
seem fit, just, and needed
They [the dwellers in the Bardo] live on odours — All these are like dreams
[[cf. 164n, 181]. You have to form resolves in your mind, even in the beyond, where earnestness and pure love are thought to be necessary [cf. 177].
If you see visions of females and males in union, withhold yourself from going
between them as you mentally worship the Great Spirit and ask for perfect guidance as to
what to do with it [cf. 178]. (7)
Choosing Birth Again
To win a lot, enter wombs
through foreknowledge of what would be really good for you
TO WIN a perfectly endowed human body one must inherently possess faith,
perseverance, intellect, sincerity, and humility - and also be born at a time when [a good
dharma] prevails - and then meet a fit guru [cf. 194n].
If you have to enter into a womb, choose according to the supernormal power of
foreknowledge you possess. A one-pointed wish for any Realm of birth will take you to that
Realm at once [cf. 188, 190].
Through birth-visions from the
other side, you can be alerted to dangers of various wombs (and families) and
circumstances
YOU CAN choose the land of the place of birth by help of premonitory signs or
visions [cf. 184]. (3)Next life be born as a god
if you are up to it, that is . . .
EVEN though a womb-door may appear to be good, do not be attracted; if it appear
bad, have no repulsion towards it. To enter in the mood of full impartiality is a most
profound art [cf. 191]. (5)
By accomplishing the Select Teaching [not shown in full here] one obtains Buddhahood
[Enlightenment] at the moment of death [cf. 196].
Teachings for selecting a womb-door [to a next life]: If the womb-door has not been closed, it is almost time to assume a body. Select your womb (according to the) best teaching. Listen, and hold it well in mind [cf. 183]. (7)
For one to be born as a god (deva in a heaven), delightful mansions of precious metals will be seen [cf. 184].
If to be born in hell, [wailing and wistful] songs will be heard. Lands of gloom and
black holes in the earth will appear (etc.) [cf. 185]. (8)
Hold fast to the Truth.
- From a saying by Gautama Buddha [Tiy
240].
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Literature
Words and phrases in square brackes are compiler-added. What is in round brackets, is in Evans-Wentz' edition.
The page references above are to: Til: Evans-Wentz, W. ed. The
Tibetan Book of the Dead: After-Death Experiences on the Bardo Plane, according to Lama Kazi
Dawa-Samdup's English Rendering. London: Oxford University Press,
Paperback ed. 1960.
And added: Tiy: Evans-Wentz, W. ed. Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines. 2nd ed. London: Oxford University Press, 1967.
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