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International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Volume 20 | Issue 1 Article 15

1-1-2001 , Identity, and Enlightenment in Lekshe Tsomo Jamyang Choling Institute

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Recommended Citation Tsomo, K. L. (2001). Tsomo, K. L. (2001). Death, identity, and enlightenment in Tibetan culture. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 20(1), 151–173.. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 20 (1). http://dx.doi.org/10.24972/ ijts.2001.20.1.151

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals and Newsletters at Digital Commons @ CIIS. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Journal of Transpersonal Studies by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ CIIS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Death, Identity, and Enlightenment in Tibetan Culture

Karma Lekshe Tsomo Jamyang Choling Institute Dharamsala,

Questions regarding death and the ephemeral of life and individual identity have been preeminent in for centuries. As Buddhism spread to new geographical regions, it accommodated itself to the local cultural and philosophical climate, often blending elements of belief about death and dying. When Buddhism entered in the seventh century, it was understood against a background of indigenous beliefs and cultural practices. In this cultural and philosophical environment, Tibetan scholars and practitioners evolved unique interpretations and practices related to death, the evolution of consciousness, and enlightenment. I examine Buddhist attitudes toward death, , and the between death and rebirth as understood within Tibetan culture. I first describe the cultural milieu within which Buddhist ideas were adopted and recast. Then I explore the centrality of death in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and the practices that arose to utilize the experience of dying and the intermediate state between death and rebirth () 1 as opportunities for psychological transformation.

I am not, I will not be. Donden, the private physician to H.H. the Dalai I have not, I will not have. That frightens all the childish , immediately replied, "Of course, you're going And extinguishes fear in the wise. to die! We're all going to die!" Clearly, his personal - (in Hopkins, 1998a, p. 97) perspective on life and death was intimately in tune with the descriptions of death and dying I had been s A SMALL child I was fascinated with the studying in Tibetan . question of what happens after death. Some years later, as I lay for three months in A An aura of mystery, fear, and avoidance hospitals in Delhi and then Tiajuana recovering seemed to accompany the topic of death. from a poisonous viper bite, the prospect of death Although I asked one authority after another, the loomed very near. Every day death was imminent, answers did not strike me as satisfactory. The particularly in of the medical care available. reward of or the threat of did not The medical staff in Delhi did not expect me to seem satisfactory to explain what happens to survive and for several weeks after receiving the human beings after the breath stops and the eyes poisonous bite, I dwelled in a liminal realm close. I continued to search and looked further between consciousness and unconsciousness that afield to find an explanation to this puzzle. My bore little relationship to ordinary waking . search led me to many countries in Asia and After one particular surgery, the staff saw me turn eventually to the Tibetan refugee settlement of blue and I awakened in what appeared to be Dharamsala in northern India. another realm of existence. The experience of After my third serious bout of hepatitis during living on the edge of death for so long rekindled the my studies in Dharamsala, I naively asked a questions about death that had fascinated me as a Tibetan doctor, "Am I going to die?" Dr. Yeshi child.

The International journal ofTranspersonal Studies, 2001, Vol. 20, 151-173 151 © 200 I by Panigada Press The Tibetan Pre-Buddhist Worldview funerary rites and were believed capable of discerning traces ofthe dead in substances, after a LTHOUGH THE Tibetan plateau is situated person's consciousness had departed. Bon priests A directly north of India and , the formulated 360 ways of dying, 4 ways ofpreparing enormity of the Himalayan mountain range graves, and 81 ways oftaming evil spirits (Bansal, made Tibet practically inaccessible to Indian 1994, pp. 41-43). Offerings to the dead, the Buddhist culture until the seventh century C. E. sacrifice of particular animals, and other rituals Several miraculous portents had drawn certain were performed to ensure a blissful for the Tibetans' attention to Buddhism as early as the of the dead. It was also believed that souls first century C. E., but it was not until the reign of could be exorcized by funerary specialists to (618-650)-through marriage benefit the dead. These early beliefs and practices alliances with princesses from Nepal and reveal an interest in the liminal aspects of death -that sacred images and monasteries and could explain the Tibetan Buddhist emphasis began to proliferate in Tibet. King Songtsen on death and dying in subsequent centuries. Even Gampo sent the scholar Tonmi Sambhota to India today, Bon practitioners in some Tibetan cultural to devise a script for the Tibetan language in areas continue to perform these rites order to facilitate the translation of (Bansal, 1994, p. 183). Buddhist texts. Subsequent kings continued to Sky , a Tibetan practice still in evidence send Tibet's brightest young scholars to India to in Tibet today, most likely springs from the Bon study, to invite teachers, and to acquire Buddhist tradition. Disposing of the dead in this manner texts and commentaries. Thus began a centuries­ surely reflects the environment: The earth was too long process of translating the Buddhist canon hard to dig graves, and fuel for was into Tibetan. scarce and costly. Cremation was only an option The Buddhism that prevailed in India during for wealthy or illustrious people such as renowned the period when the tradition was transmitted to . In sky burial, on a particular day that is Tibet (between the eighth and tenth centuries) determined by divination, the corpse of the included two major discernible streams: the deceased is chopped into pieces and fed to the analytical systems of philosophical tenets that birds. This practice, whichmayappeardisrespectful flourished in the great monastic universities, and of the dead, is performed as a final act of the esoteric Tantric systems that generosity. Rituals carried out to determine the were practiced in great secrecy in mountain caves karmic destiny of a dead person or to exorcize and other solitary spots. Under royal patronage, troublesome spirits apparently trace their roots to the Tibetans exerted enormous energy to import Bon and similar shamanic practices, and are Buddhist texts and teachings of various performed even today. traditions and lineages, and they spent the next Shamanic practices never died out in Tibetan thousand years analyzing and practicing them. societies and many complex indigenous rituals for death and other aspects oflife persisted long after Bon Thought and Ritual Buddhism was introduced. Samuel (1993, pp. HE RELIGIOUS traditions of pre-Buddhist Tibet 446-44 7) suggests that prior to Buddhism T are collectively known today as Bon. These funerary rituals were focused on protecting the indigenous traditions have absorbed so many surviving community from the spirits ofthe dead, Buddhist ideas and practices over the course of whereas after Buddhism was introduced emphasis time that they have in many respects become shifted to the welfare of the dead person in the nearly indistinguishable from Buddhism. These afterlife. Even though Buddhism is famous for confluences, combined with the lack of early rejecting the notion of an enduring , Samten historical documentation, make it extremely Karmay argues that "Buddhism was never able difficult to get an accurate idea of Bon civilization to suppress the concept of soul in Tibet" (in Lopez, as it existed prior to the advent of Buddhism. We 1997, p. 37). The la (bla), translated as spirit, life­ do know that pre-Buddhist shamanistic traditions force, or life-essence, is not the same as the self, were deeply concerned with the spirits ofthe dead. but nonetheless is highly individuated. In Tibet, Skilled ritual specialists carried out elaborate a person is believed to have an individualla that

152 The InternationaL journaL ofTranspersonaL Studies, 2001, VoL. 20 can wander away and be lost, and thus cause six as in , Bon speaks of psychological disorientation or psychosis. But three, each of which corresponds to a different there are specific rituals that can be performed to level of practitioner: superior, average, and lure the la back into the body. inferior. The superior practitioner is one who dies La is a concept not only associated with human with total awareness of the absolute view, beings, such as in a personal soul or life force, but liberating the mind into the essential nature of also with animals, natural elements, and places. reality like "a snowflake dissolving in the ocean" At the time of birth, the la appears in conjunction (Wangyal, 1993, p. 187). Despite these differences, with five other , representing life, female, there are obvious confluences between Bon and male, enemy, and locality. Just as Hawaiians Tibetan Buddhism. plant a breadfruit tree at the birth of a child, in some regions Tibetans plant a tree, usually a The Ephemeral Nature of Life juniper, which they call a "la tree" (la shing) (Samuel, 1993, p. 187). The la is related to fortune The Tibetan Mode of Dying in this life rather than to liberation, and does not EWCOMERS ARE often struck by the centrality seem to be related to rebirth (Samuel, 1993, p. of death in the Tibetan Buddhist 187).2 Samuel (1993) says that, "The la can leave N tradition. Images of , the Lord of Death, the body, weakening one's life and exposing one greet visitors at the door of most Tibetan temples. to harm. It can also be affected by damaging or Beginning meditators are taught to meditate on destroying its external resting-place" (p. 187). the oflife and to reflect that from The la must be protected from harmful influences the moment of birth, death stalks "like a and "returned" through rituals if stolen. The fact murderer with poised sword" (Wangyal, 1993, p. that rituals such as these continue up to the 187). To visualize one's own rotting corpse and present day in Tibetan societies is evidence that a the dissolution of body and mind at the time of covert theory of soul (la) has endured since pre­ death engenders insight into the impermanence Buddhist times and continues to coexist with the of life. This insight then acts as an antidote to Buddhist concept of selflessness. laziness and attachment. Through the practice of With regard to death, there is considerable cho (chad), accompanied by the rhythm of drums common ground between Bon and Tibetan and lyrical chanting, one perfects the virtue of Buddhism. Both draw analogies between death generosity by donating one's own severed limbs and sleep, death and dreaming, and exhort and internal organs to hungry ghosts and spirits. practitioners to maintain total awareness as the One learns to direct the 84,000 winds ofthe body internal and external signs of death are into the central psychic channel, through the encountered. Both Bon and Tibetan Buddhism crown of the head, and toward a rebirth in a Pure speak of: (a) ('pho ba) practice (transference Land. Another method ofteaching impermanence of consciousness); (b) visions in the bardo is the ritual of creating a three-dimensional sand (intermediate state); (c) prayers for the dead for mco:zr!,ala symbolizing the "" of the forty-nine days; and (d) liberation in the bardo. enlightened being which all sentient beings are But there are also some conceptual differences capable of becoming. After being carefully between Bon and Tibetan Buddhism. For constructed, the mco:zr!,ala is destroyed and example, Bon speaks ofthe Six Clear Know ledges thrown into moving water to symbolize the of: (a) death; (b) cause and effect; (c) complete ephemeral quality of all life. Ritual instruments knowledge; (d) clear light of the bardo; (e) nature used in the cham (monastic "dance") and other of the mind; and (f) (similar to the Tantric rituals symbolize cutting through the Buddhist trikaya, "three bodies of the Buddha"); attachment to self. In various ways, each of these and the Six Recollections on: (a) past lives; (b) practices offers methods to demolish stages ofthe bardo; (c) consciousness as without misconceptions about the self. Symbolically, ego support; (d) the master's instructions; (e) visions identification is transcended on three levels: (a) as mental projections; and (f) the pure essence of the outer, symbolizing external form; (b) the mind that opens onto one's ("meditational inner, symbolizing the emotions; and (c) the ") (Wangyal, 1993, p. 187). Instead offour or secret, symbolizing the subtle mind and body.

Death, Identity, and Enlightenment in Tibetan Culture 15 3 A huge corpus of literature generally referred on successive moments of consciousness, and lie to under the rubric of (The Graduated dormant in the mental continuum until Path to Enlightenment) arose in Tibet to facilitate conditions are conducive to their ripening, study and meditation on key Buddhist concepts; creating the conditions for further actions of meditation on death and dying is a principal body, speech, and mind. Each moment of topic. The texts provide instructions for actual consciousness conditions successive moments of meditation practice, including contemplation on consciousness. Actions ofbody, speech, and mind the inevitability of death and the stages of the thus generate further actions, whether wholesome dying process. In the texts are many slogans or unwholesome. Consciousness does not simply designed to remind the practitioner throughout cease at the time of death, but gives rise to the meditation that death is defmite, yet the time subsequent moments of consciousness, which of death is indefinite, and at the time of death continue into the intermediate state (bardo) that only practice will be of benefit. These exists between the moment of death and the on death and dying are done moment of the next rebirth. Because the moment repeatedly to help practitioners develop of consciousness at the time of death conditions detachment and equanimity and to prepare them subsequent moments of consciousness into the to meet death calmly and constructively. next rebirth, the quality of consciousness (or Death forces us to confront our yearning for "state of mind") at the time of death is critical for immortality, what Wallace (1993) calls "life's determining the quality of the next rebirth. oldest illusion," and to recognize how we are Consequently, Tibetan practitioners train their "enmeshed in the chain oftrivial concerns that fill minds to remain calm and attentive during the daily life" (p. 11). Attitudes toward death are thus stages of the dying process, throughout the closely connected to a sense of personal identity, intermediate state, and during the process of because death represents the loss of a person's rebirth. familiar identifications, especially the identification with this body and mind. Strong Rehearsing One's Dying emotions such as anger or attachment to friends N THE harsh climate of Tibet, death is a constant and possessions are viewed as serious I threat. Temperatures dip far below freezing impediments to mindful, meaningful dying and and life is generally at the mercy of the elements. causes for disagreeable future rebirths. Tibetan practitioners take the Buddha's teachings From a Tibetan perspective, it is assumed that on death very seriously. At the portal to the next the mental events or moments of mental life awaits Yama, the Lord of Death. Eager to consciousness that comprise an individual's snap up the unsuspecting, he metaphorically mental continuum continue to arise after the weighs the deceased's former actions, punishing physical elements disintegrate and eventually evil deeds with terrifying consequences and assume a new locus of physical components. This rewarding good deeds with a happy destiny in the cycle repeats endlessly, each successive rebirth next life. The physical components of the person bringing a different identity with unique disintegrate within a given time span, determined propensities as a result of its karmic ledger. by the quality of that person's spiritual practice Insight into the nature of consciousness is and the level of realization attained. The therefore central to the Tibetan Buddhist consciousness of an experienced practitioner may understanding of death and its consequences. remain in meditation for some time and delay the In the Tibetan Buddhist worldview, the of the body. After the physical "person" is a concatenation of physical and mental components disintegrate, what becomes of them components or momentary events. All functional is inconsequential, and thus to offer the flesh and phenomena belong to one of three mutually ground bones to is not grotesque, but distinct yet interrelated categories: matter (Skt: rather a commendable act of generosity. Since kantha), consciousnesses (Skt: ), and rotting flesh is of no use to the deceased or to the nonassociated compositional factors (Skt: continuity of consciousness, it is considered an viprayukta-sm:nskara) (Perdue, 1992, p. 354). act of to donate the flesh to animals, Actions ofbody, speech, and mind create imprints especially "higher" animals, such as birds. Cho,

154 The International journal ofTranspersonal Studies, 2001, Vol. 20 the ritual practice of one's body parts to disintegration from moment to moment. The spirits in meditation, appears to be a rehearsal Indian Buddhist perspective on life and death is for the dismemberment that follows actual death. congruent with its perspective on the bipolar Precisely what happens after the moment of modality of phenomena: a thing can be either death is a matter of ongoing dispute among permanent or impermanent; there is no third Buddhists, yet all schools concur that the mental alternative. Therefore, if a self were to exist, it continuum of an ordinary being takes another would have to be either a permanent or an birth. Whether the next rebirth is pleasant or impermanent phenomenon. unpleasant is the result of one's previous actions, vigorously denies that any component of the wholesome or unwholesome. For example, being is transmitted from one life to the next, and Buddhaghosa's (1964) relates his view is commonly held by that when the life-continuum ends, an evil person Buddhist practitioners today. The texts go to is enveloped by the store of his or her evil deeds. great lengths to establish that the "self," like all First, the death consciousness arises and ceases, compounded phenomena, is impermanent and then the rebirth-linking consciousness arises, lacking in any permanent core. and due to the negative karma previously In theAbhidharmako8a, describes created, the signs of an unhappy destiny (the an intermediate state (bardo) of indeterminate flames of hell, forests of knives, etc.) appear (p. length. A bardo being is said to be: (a) visible only 632). Conversely, when the life-continuum ends, to certain beings; (b) possessed of complete sense a virtuous person is enveloped by his or her good faculties; and (c) unimpeded by material deeds. After the death consciousness arises and obstacles. A bardo being lacks materiality, but ceases, the rebirth-linking consciousness arises, nevertheless has a form which, although not and the pleasant signs of a happy destiny visible to ordinary human beings, may be visible (pleasure groves, heavenly palaces, wish­ to other bardo beings, highly realized beings, and fulfllling trees, etc.) appear (pp. 633-634). beings with the special capacity to perceive such Buddhaghosa, the foremost commentator in a form. Because a bardo being is unimpeded by the p-ali tradition, describes how like gives rise to material obstacles, it is able to travel through like: The material (Skt: rilpa, form) gives rise to walls, mountains, and other barriers. Such a the material, while the immaterial (Skt: vijiiilna, being possesses complete sense faculties and is consciousness) gives rise to the immaterial. In able to see, hear, smell, taste, feel sensations, and accordance with dependent ansmg (Skt: cognize. The being lacks materiality (Neumaier­ pratityasamutpiida), the life-continuum begins Dargyay, 1997, p. 92), but still has the aggregates from the rebirth-linking consciousness and which are the basis for imputing the existence of continues until the death consciousness at the a self. The ultimate destiny of the being is end of the lifespan (1964, p. 719). One assumes or determined by its former actions (Skt: karma) in "takes up" the corporeal aggregates that begin previous lifetimes, or more properly speaking, the life continuum and leaves behind or "puts the being's destiny arises in dependence upon down" the corporeal aggregates at the time of causes and conditions which propel it to its next death. All the "formations" between birth and rebirth. Only one who has practiced intensively death-the varied experiences of life-are in advance and gained sufficient control over the characterized by impermanence (Skt: anitya), mind has the power to choose or avoid rebirth. unsatisfactoriness (Skt: dukkha), and selflessness Although the standard Tibetan explication of (Skt: anatman). The "formations" are described death and rebirth is somewhat more complex and as being selfless, because of being devoid of self, colorful, it is remarkably similar to Buddhaghosa's or "ownerless" (p. 721). The lifespan is divided explication in the Visuddhimagga. Only the into ten stages: "the tender decade, the sport momentary aggregate of consciousness continues decade, the beauty decade," and so on, with the after death, with one moment of consciousness formations disintegrating all the while and life giving rise to and conditioning the next. Unless careening uncontrollably toward its inevitable one has achieved a very high level of spiritual conclusion. The various stages of life are attainment, rebirth takes place "at the mercy of therefore in a ceaseless process of formation and karma and delusion."

Death, Identity, and Enlightenment in Tibetan Culture 15 5 All Buddhist schools assert that the mental experiences involved in seeking an appropriate continuum, being nonmaterial, may travel from next birth.4 The bardo of rebirth ceases with the one life to the next without any time lapse, bardo of birth, and the cycle begins again. especially in the case of a sudden accident. In contrast to Buddhaghosa, who argues that Enlightened Ways of Dying rebirth necessarily takes place immediately, Tibetans believe that the consciousness Navigating the Journey to the Next Life transverses an intermediate state (bardo) for a period of up to forty-nine days. The bardo being seeks an appropriate rebirth in a series of seven s DEATH approaches, the dying person is intervals, each up to seven days in length. At each A encouraged to reflect on the impermanent, stage, the bardo being assumes an identity that suffering, selfless nature of the mind and all presages that of its next rebirth. At the end of other composite phenomena, as described in the each interval, if an appropriate rebirth has not . In addition, a person who is been found, the being experiences a "small sufficiently trained will meditate on the death," takes birth in another intermediate state luminous, empty, knowing nature of the mind, as (bardo), and assumes a new identity similar in described in the texts, and be prepared form to the identity it will take in its eventual, to recognize the clear light nature of the mind material rebirth. Rather than appearing in the when it appears in the afterdeath state. In the same form as in the last lifetime, the bardo being Tibetan tradition, a practitioner will also have resembles the being it will become. These received instructions and training on the stages changing identities can be seen as analogs of the of the dying process and how to recognize the series of identities a single mental continuum physiological, psychological, and visionary assumes over the course of many, even infinite, indicators that occur at each stage. If the lifetimes. Under the influence of defilements, practitioner has rehearsed these practices and particularly sexual desire, the mental become thoroughly familiar with the stages of consciousness of an ordinary being eventually is dying, it is possible not only to avoid unfortunate attracted to a couple in sexual union. As a result "migrations" after death, but also to achieve high of this attraction, the consciousness enters the spiritual realizations, including enlightenment, mother's womb and conception occurs.3 during the stages of the dying process and the The term bardo (Skt: antarabhiiva) is most intermediate state. commonly used to refer to the intermediate state Tibetan medical lore explains how to between death in one lifetime and rebirth in the determine the time of death by analyzing the next. In fact, the term may denote one of six urine of the critically ill patient and by reading intermediate (bardo) states: (a) birth (skye ba'i the death pulse (Donden, 1986, pp. 99-101, 104- bar do); (b) dream (rmi lam gyi bar do); (c) 105). Of the four medical , the second meditative concentration (bsam gten gyi bar do); describes the signs of death in detail (p. 18). A (d) death ('chi ka'i bar do); (e) the afterdeath state composite of gross and subtle winds (bar do rlung of reality itself (chos nyi bar do, Skt: dharmata); lus, Skt: antarabhavayukiiya) is said to continue and (f) rebirth or "becoming'' (srid pa'i bar do). during the intermediate state after death. Death The bardo of birth includes all the experiences is regarded as a process rather than a unitary and actions of waking reality from birth until . The subtle winds and that death; the bardo of dream includes all continue after physical death are the basis for the experiences and mental events during sleep; the only semblance of identity that survives an bardo of meditative concentration includes all individual's death. mental events and realizations experienced In his translation of 's Book during meditation practice; the bardo of death ofNatural Liberation Through Understanding in includes all events during the process of dying the Between (Bar do thos grol), Thurman (1994) and the moment of death; the afterdeath bardo of says: reality itself includes all the mental events experienced once one regains consciousness after Western science holds that a "flatline" on the death; and the bardo of rebirth includes all the EEG means cessation of heartbeat and brain 156 The International journal ofTranspersonal Studies, 2001, Vol. 20 activity, and therefore represents death. The delusions that obscure the true nature of the illusion of the subjective "I" in the individual mind. The luminous, ultimately nonconceptual consciousness, assumed by materialists to nature of the mind is also alluded to in early texts correspond with the presence of brain wave activity, should cease with the cessation of brain such as the Anguttara Nikaya. Although this waves. Yet the picture of death as nothing in understanding may also be developed through consciousness is not a scientific finding. It is a meditation practice while one is alive, the dying conceptual notion. There are many cases of process presents an ideal opportunity to discover people being revived after "flatlining'' for some the clear light nature of the mind-the primary time, and they report intense subjective identifying aspect of all sentient beings. Without experiences. (p. 23) proper preparation, an individual is propelled Thurman (1994) applies Pascal's wager: If there after death into a new rebirth totally at the mercy is nothing after death, well and good; if there is of karma and delusion. Therefore, practitioners something, we will not regret being prepared for make efforts to gain control of the mind and train it. Karma is described by Thurman as a process of in navigating the stages of dying beforehand so as psychobiological evolution, and Buddhist practice to remain calm and aware during the "journey" as the evolutionary technology needed to die and achieve a desirable rebirth. lucidly and then to skillfully traverse the Actual practices vary according to the intermediate state. individual and the . If a person has been a practitioner of a particular meditational deity (yi Tibetan Funerary Practices dam) or lineage of transmission, it is common to incorporate that practice and lineage into funeral MONG BUDDHISTS, purifying the mind, proceedings. The goal is to achieve enlightenment A absolving negative karma, creating positive "in this life, in this very body," but in case one is karma, and loosening the bonds that bind an not able to accomplish this goal there still individual to the world are concerns not only for remains the opportunity to direct one's the living, but also for those in the intermediate consciousness to a Pure Land after death. An state after death. The Liberation Through extremely proficient adept can effect rebirth in a Hearing in the Bardo (Bar do thos grol ), the well­ Pure Land even without experiencing the bardo. known Tibetan instruction manual for guiding Such adepts are said to be "deathless"; the coarse the dying through the bardo between death and physical body transforms into a pure rainbow rebirth, is often an integral part of funeral body and leaves no corpse behind. When this rituals. The text, attributed to Padmasambhava occurs, rainbows appear in the clear blue sky and and discovered by (1326-1386), is the practitioner's hair and fingernails are all that an example of the hidden treasure text (gter ma) is left behind in the meditation cell. Reports of genre of literature associated with the such phenomena are not uncommon in Tibetan tradition. The text guides the dying in: (a) cultural lore. recognizing the fundamental clear light nature of the mind at the time of death; (b) recognizing the Phowa: Transference of Consciousness true nature of the wrathful and peaceful deities that appear; and (c) achieving liberation from HE UNIQUELY Tibetan meditation practice rebirth. Just as a prisoner on death row may T known as phowa, "transference of experience a spiritual breakthrough, the intensity consciousness," is a means of preparing for the of the experience of dying can serve as a catalyst journey to the next rebirth. By learning to control for spiritual awakening. It is believed that a the winds ofthe body and consciously direct them highly competent practitioner may even achieve through the psychic channels, practitioners also enlightenment in the bardo. learn to successfully guide their consciousness The Tibetan Buddhist tradition teaches that from this life to a rebirth in a Pure Land at the no matter how defiled one's ordinary consciousness moment of death. For one sufficiently trained in may be, at its center lies a core ofluminosity-the phowa, death is the culmination of the practice. potential to become a fully enlightened Buddha. Not only can one avoid an unfortunate future To realize the luminous nature of the mind at the rebirth, but a competent phowa practitioner is moment of death is itself a liberation from the able to collect the 84,000 winds of the body into

Death, Identity, and Enlightenment in Tibetan Culture 157 the central psychic channel and direct the subtle identifying with the meditational deity, to eject mind to a rebirth in a "fortunate migration" or a the consciousness from the body and die Pure Land. prematurely is not only equivalent to suicide-a The of Consciousness Transference text serious ethical transgression- but also slays the by Tsechokling Yeshe Gyaltsen, the of the deity that is the object of identification. It is a eighth , describes a phowa practice widely shared value that Dharma practitioners that focuses on Buddha "wherein all should attempt to prolong their lives in order to energies of the body are withdrawn just as at the fulfill their spiritual objectives. Long life time of death and a meditational experience empowerments (tse dbang) are among the equivalent to death is aroused" (Mullin, 1998, p. numerous ritual enactments to prevent untimely 175). The practice preliminaries include the death and prolong life. Collectively, these elimination ofnonvirtuous mental states and the practices are designed to "cheat death" cultivation of virtuous ones by: (a) generating (Padmasambhava, 1998, pp. 196-197). , the enlightened attitude of wishing to achieve the state of perfect in order Cho: Deconstructing the illusory Self to liberate all sentient beings from suffering; (b) accumulating merit; (c) meditating repeatedly on HE MAHAYANA teachings emphasize compassion, bodhicitta, and meditation techniques that bodhicitta; (d) eliminating negativity through T erode the self-cherishing attitude. One well­ purification practices; and (e) aspiring never to become separated from bodhicitta (Mullin, 1998, known practice for eradicating self-cherishing p. 177). In the actual practice session, one first and perfecting the virtue of generosity is cho, or "cutting through." In this practice, one visualizes visualizes Maitreya Buddha in Tu~ita Pure Land, cutting off one's limbs and other body parts, and surrounded by countless , and then symbolically offering them to hungry ghosts and invokes him to manifest at the place of practice. other beings in need: Next, one recites liturgies ofoffering, purification, invocation, and dedication, and visualizes a The Ch6d [cho] rites were reputed to have nectar of purification and blessings streaming been begun in the eleventh century by the from Maitreya into oneself. One visualizes Tibetan female mystic, Machig Labdron. In blocking the subsidiary pathways of the body and the myth surrounding her life, a male in India transferred his consciousness into the invites Maitreya to the crown of one's head. body of a female foetus in Tibet and she was Concentrating on a drop of light in the central born with miraculous powers. It was during energy channel as being in the nature of one's her reading of the Prajfi.iiparamitil that she own mind, one invokes Maitreya, who fills the achieved insight pertaining to the emptiness central channel with brilliant light. One then of all things, and developed the practice which uses visualizations of demons to overcome repeatedly visualizes the light drop at one's fears and dispel the notion of a belief in a heart, along with the vital energies, shooting up "self." In the practice, the meditator beats the until it reaches the crown aperture and rhythm of the chant with a large hand-held descending. In order to achieve the signs of drum and simultaneously rings a bell, which perfect accomplishment, the practitioner must is said to represent the feminine. At intervals bear in mind the illusory nature of the a thigh bone trumpet is blown to summon the demons to a feast of the meditator's ego. practitioner, the consciousness, and the process (Campbell, 1996, p. 209) of transference-the emptiness of "the three circles" (Mullin, 1998, pp. 181-187). The practice aims at cutting through the As the actual time of death approaches, one delusions of the mind, particularly attachment to accumulates merit by giving away all one's the body and the illusion of an independent self. possessions and then, lying on the right side in The practice of cho that developed in Tibet has the "lion posture," begins the practice. Great care its roots in early Buddhist texts, specifically the must be taken in the practice ofphowa, however, Jataka tales, the past life legends about Buddha to ensure that one's consciousness does not Sakyamuni. In a past life as a , the accidently leave the body before one's lifespan is Buddha is believed to have cut off the flesh from exhausted. Because the practitioner is consciously his own thigh and given it to a hungry tigress to

158 The International journal ofTranspersonal Studies, 2001, Vt>l. 20 save her and her cubs from starvation. N amo individuated mental continuum evolves Buddha, the sacred site in Nepal that independently toward its own liberation or commemorates this compassionate deed, is a enlightenment. Individual mind streams do not popular destination for Buddhist pilgrims from simply conjoin. The statement that "one's mind around the world even today. becomes inseparable from the mind of the guru" In one of the few academic studies of cho, therefore represents a conundrum. The most Gyatso (1985) traces the practice to four main common interpretation is figurative: One's mind Indian sources: 's Tsigs bead, Naro's Ro becomes enlightened just like the mind of the siioms, Orgyan's 'Khrul gcod, and especially guru. Because the mind is by nature empty, all Phadampa Sangye'sZi byed (p. 325). The practice sentient beings have Buddha nature, the is traditionally linked with the potential for enlightenment. Because one's mind tradition, wherein offering one's body to sentient is empty by nature, one can realize the guru's beings is extolled as an ideal practice of enlightened state. generosity (Skt: diinaptiramitii), and generally The Tantric meditations use procreative features or another female deity or metaphors to symbolize transformation: the ifiikini. Codified by the Tibetan yogin Machig divine conjugal couple as the parents, the Labdron (Ma gcig lab kyi sgron ma, 1055-1143), mco:u;lala of the deity as the environment, the chO is a method for severing the tendency to cling womb as the genetrix, and the practitioner as the to the body and the illusion ofself(Powers, 1995, embryo of enlightenment (Stablein, 1980, pp. pp. 370-374): 213-226). The Tantric meditations also speak Through offering up one's body- the focal about "generating the pride of being the deity," point of physical attachments- one that is, pride in the visualization of oneself as undermines the tendency to reify such inseparable from the meditational deity (yidam): dichotomies as subject and object, self and Avalokitesvara, Mafiju8ri, Vajrapfu;J.i, , and others, and conventional ideas of good and others. This identification of oneself with a evil. Thus one recognizes that one's fears are meditational deity-selected from an infinite only the result of mental afflictions, which number of different manifestations of themselves are empty of inherent existence. In order to confront them directly, a cho enlightenment-is not merely symbolic. One practitioner enacts a complex drama consisting takes pride in actually ''being" the deity, of visualizations, rituals, and prayers in manifesting all that being's enlightened qualities: which deities and demons are initially compassion, wisdom, power, enlightened activity, conjured up, butlaterfound to be insubstantial, and so forth. Since enlightened beings are also utterly lacking inherent existence, and individuated, each one being the result of a long products of the mind. (p. 371) process of evolution, the identification of the Machig's birth narrative recounts her previous practitioner with the deity is similarly life as a dialectician in India. Advised by problematic. In order to be consistent with the a ifiikini to flee his opponents, the purified Mahayana hermeneutical framework, the consciousness abandons the male brahmin body identification must, again, be taken figuratively, in a cave near Varfu;J.asi and takes birth as Machig that is, by juxtaposing the obscured mental in Tibet. From early childhood, Machig gains continuum of the ordinary being and the renown as a yogin and eventually becomes the unobscured enlightened awareness of the progenitor of the deconstructionist cho rite. As enlightened being. Powers (1995) notes, she ''holds the distinction of being the only Tibetan lama whose teachings Relaxing Identifications: Self as Metaphor were transmitted to India" (p. 374). HE BUDDHIST literature that was transmitted to Tibet included extensive discussions on Guru, Deity, and Self T the nature of the self. Misconceptions about the HE TANTRIC path speaks about one's mind self are among the three fundamental Tbecoming inseparable from the mind of the misconceptions that lie at the root of all guru and the meditational deity. In the orthodox afflictions: (a) viewing what is impermanent as Buddhist context this is not possible, since each permanent; (b) viewing what is undesirable as

Death, Identity, and Enlightenment in Tibetan Culture 159 desirable; and (c) viewing what is selfless as In the Collected Topics (bsDus grva), the having self. Clinging to the selfis integrally linked primer used in the monastic universities of Tibet, with grasping at permanence, and both are causes the five psychophysical aggregates (Skt: ) of suffering. The identities we take from life to life constitute the basis of designation of the person, are illusory and the images we have of ourselves but the five aggregates are also said to include all are mere projections. Identifying strongly with impermanent ("functional") phenomena. these ephemeral identities is a source of great Impermanent phenomena that do not belong to suffering and confusion, particularly when they the categories of form, feeling, discrimination, or shatter at the time of death. consciousness are subsumed in the remaining The existence of a person does not require that category, compositional factor. Functional all five of the psychophysical aggregates (Skt: phenomena such as time, directional space, skandhas) be present, but can be imputed on the karma, sarrtsiira, and persons belong to this basis of one or more of the aggregates: form, category. On the basis of the aggregates, a person feeling, perception, karmic formation, and can be imputed to exist; without at least one ofthe consciousness. For example, a being in the aggregates (for example, consciousness), a person formless realm who possesses only the aggregate cannot be imputed to exist. If a person's of consciousness may be imputed to exist on the consciousness can be shown to survive death, it basis ofjust that one aggregate. Existent objects, can be concluded that a conventionally operative including persons, are necessarily the objects of a "person" survives death, even though it will no perceiving consciousness. The existence of a longer have the same identity as while alive. person, therefore, is imputed to exist by a In addition to the standard Buddhist perceiving consciousness that cognizes one or description of the nature of self and selflessness, more of the five aggregates, for example, seeing Tibetan scholars analyze the self in accordance the person's form or hearing the person's voice. It with the Mahayana doctrine of the two truths. is not necessary to perceive all the aggregates of a The self is a functional phenomenon that, like all person to generate a valid cognition ofthe person; phenomena, exists at the conventional level of one may validly infer the presence of a person by truth, but is empty of true existence at the hearing the person's familiar voice or seeing the ultimate level. Conventional and ultimate levels person's form. of truth are mutually entailing in the same way Mahayana texts explain that the theory of that dependent arising (Skt: prat'ityasamutpada) selflessness applies not only to persons, but to all and emptiness are mutually entailing. That is, composite phenomena. This view is not limited to each existent (to take the classic example, a vase) Mahayana, for the three characteristics of all is empty and each has its specific emptiness (e.g., phenomena are dissatisfaction (Skt: dukkha), the emptiness of the vase). Even permanent impermanence (Skt: anitya), and selflessness phenomena can be termed dependent arisings, in (Skt: anatman). Like persons, the other "things" the sense that they arise in dependence on their of everyday experience also exist as conventional parts or in dependence on a consciousness that which lack inherent reality. "1," "self," conceives them (Hopkins, 1983, p. 432). and "person" are mere labels; upon analysis, no The nature of the self is explained in terms of ultimate referent can be found. The doctrine of two distorted attitudes to be eliminated: self­ selflessness does not mean that persons do not cherishing and self-grasping. Self-cherishing exist but only that permanent, partless, denotes cherishing oneselfmore than others; self­ independent persons do not exist (Perdue, 1992, grasping denotes grasping at oneself as being p. 364). Ultimately, in the Prasailgika truly existent. The conventional antidotes to self­ defmition, "self' denotes inherent cherishing are loving kindness and compassion­ existence. Hopkins (1983) enumerates seventeen cherishing others more than oneself. The synonyms of self in this sense: true existence, ultimate antidote to self-cherishing is bodhicitta, ultimate existence, substantial existence, objective the enlightened attitude ofwishing to achieve the existence, and so forth (p. 36). Even nonexistent state of perfect Buddhahood in order to liberate phenomena are said to be selfless, for a self all sentient beings from suffering. The cannot be found anywhere. conventional antidote to self-grasping is

160 The International journal ofTranspersonal Studies, 2001, vol. 20 meditation on impermanence-realizing the the responsibility for establishing each and every fragile, fleeting nature of one's own existence. one in the state of perfect Buddhahood." Is the The ultimate antidote to self-grasping is the wish to liberate all living beings a form of self­ wisdom (Skt: prajfiii) that directly understands sacrifice or is it, as Trungpa reportedly the emptiness (Skt: sunyata) of all phenomena. once said, "the biggest ego trip that ever This is an awareness of things "as they are," happened?" without false projections such as "1," "me," and In the early Buddhist texts, a Buddha like "mine." The self is mistakenly perceived by Sakyamuni is portrayed as an ordinary human ordinary beings as being truly existent, even being who, through diligent practice, achieves though it exists in dependence on the five the state of nirvtirJ,a and passes away ("enters aggregates.5 Further, the five aggregates are paranirvtirJ,a"), more or less like any other person, mistakenly perceived to truly exist, even though although perhaps with more equanimity and they exist on the basis of their constituent parts wisdom. Prior to enlightenment, a bodhisattva is ("bases of imputation"). This imputed existence a selfless practitioner who aims at liberating all (Skt: prajfiaptisat) is then misinterpreted as true sentient beings, but is otherwise vulnerable to existence.6 death and rebirth, just like everyone else. As the Once the practitioner eliminates the Mahayana teachings evolved, these concepts misconception ofthe selfas existing independently began to change as the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of its bases of imputation, ignorance or progressively assumed more mythic proportions. "unknowing" (Skt: avidya )- the root of all other Even in pre-Mahayana texts, a practitioner delusions- is eradicated. When ignorance is who successfully attains the state of a fully eradicated, the first link in the chain of enlightened Buddha is no longer subject to birth dependent arising that binds beings within and death and is therefore liberated from cyclic sa7?'Lsiira is simultaneously destroyed. Nagarjuna existence (sal?'Lsiira). The Mahayana texts (2nd/3rd c.) expresses it this way: explicitly state that one who has achieved the status of a bodhisattva has also achieved the Having seen thus the aggregates as untrue, The conception of! is abandoned, power to determine one's future rebirth. Unlike And due to abandoning the conception of I ordinary beings who are "thrown" to the next The aggregates arise no more. rebirth "at the mercy of karma and delusion," a (In Hopkins, 1998, p. 97) bodhisattva achieves the power to emanate multiple bodies in multiple world systems in When the aggregates are no longer conceived as order to benefit sentient beings. The motivating being truly existent, there is no self in which force behind the bodhisattva's endeavors is not suffering can inhere, hence liberation from pride or egotism, but boundless compassion. suffering is achieved. In Tibet, the belief in the bodhisattvas' power to reincarnate intentionally became Persons, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas institutionalized in the system, in which FURTHER TOPIC to consider is what death reincarnate lamas are recognized in childhood, A means to a bodhisattva or a Buddha. Do revered as being the reembodiments of specific bodhisattvas and Buddhas die like ordinary highly realized practitioners, and singled out for mortals or are they beyond death? What does special treatment and education. The word death mean for an embodied Buddha such as "tulku" is the Tibetan translation of the Sanskrit Sakyamuni who has transcended conceptual word "nirmfu:t,kaya," signifying the emanation thought? What does it mean for a bodhisattva body in the trikaya theory of the Buddha. The who willingly defers liberation for the good of the oldest tulku lineage, that of the , began world? Does the bodhisattva ideal contribute to with Tiisum Khyenpa (1110-1193) and continues the illusion of self or undermine it? To strive for until the present, with the 17th , Ugyen Buddhahood requires not only much dedication Trinley Dorje, who recently escaped Chinese and conviction, but also tremendous self­ domination and defected to India. confidence, even pride: the aspirant must vow "to Unlike the bodhisattvas who intentionally liberate all beings without exception, and to take take rebirth in sal?'Lsiira to benefit sentient

Death, Identity, and Enlightenment in Tibetan CuLture 161 beings, Buddhas are viewed as perfectly the body is very fragile. In the last part of the enlightened beings who benefit sentient beings meditation, one reflects on the fact that at the through methods that do not necessarily require time of death, only mental cultivation is of taking an ordinary birth. For this reason, the texts benefit, by considering that: (a) friends and refer to the ultimate attainment ofBuddhahood as relatives are of no further use; (b) possessions are achieving "the deathless " (formless, of no further use; and (c) one's body is of no enlightened wisdom aspect ofthe Buddha). These further use. Serious reflection on these topics can various identities and permutations within the motivate a person to abandon worldly concerns different Buddhist traditions are, like all and concentrate intensively on spiritual practice. phenomena, ultimately devoid ofabiding identity. Another method of meditating on death is to Whereas the enlightened awareness of a Buddha visualize the dissolution of the elements of the is permanent, the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, , body and mind that occurs during the stages of and ordinary beings alike are identity-less, dying (Coberly, 2001; Lati Rinpochay & Hopkins, operating on a ceaselessly changing, conventional 1979, pp. 32-48). The dissolution ofthe elements of level of reality. Even the bodhisattva who is the mind and body (earth, water, fire, wind, and recognized as the reembodiment of a spiritual consciousness) occurs in conjunction with the adept, manifesting the predispositions of an dissolution of the five aggregates, accompanied by earlier incarnation, represents simply another specific physical, external, and internal signs. For phase in a continuous series of conventional example, as the earth element, representing the identities. form aggregate, dissolves, the most solid constituents of the body (bones, teeth, and nails) Consciously Dying begin to disintegrate, and the body feels weak and heavy; internally, one feels depressed and sees a HE TIBETAN Buddhist tradition has developed mirage-like appearance. In this way, a practitioner a panopoly of methods to cultivate conscious T meditates on each of the signs that appear as all of dying. By training in mental discipline, the subsequent elements dissolve in sequence: practitioners learn to control their various levels earth, water, fire, and wind. Next, consciousness of conscious awareness and reach a point where it dissolves in three stages: the consciousness of is even possible to separate the gross and subtle white appearance, the consciousness of red levels of the mind and the body. Proficiency in controlling the levels of consciousness is increase, and the consciousness of black specifically useful during the dying process. For appearance. As the last ofthese dissolves, the clear this reason, the experience of dying is simulated light ofdeath appears. The luminous refractions in and rehearsed in meditation practice. Learning rainbow colors represent the six realms of rebirth: to recognize the "clear and knowing" nature ofthe white for the god realm, green for the demigod mind enables a practitioner to understand the realm, yellow for the human realm, blue for the mind not only while living, but also, and more animal realm, red for the hungry ghost realm, and importantly, while dying, and during the critical black for the hell realm. At this point, the junctures between life, death, and rebirth. consciousness of most beings takes rebirth, The preliminaries for conscious dying include impelled to one realm or another by familiar a series of reflections on the nature of death, its longings and projections. implications, and its inevitability (Coberly, 2001; A uniquely Tibetan method ofdeath meditation, Mullin, 1998, pp. 54-58). Meditating on death, mentioned earlier, is cho (chod), "cutting one first reflects on the fact that death is definite, through.'' Other examples are the visualization by considering that: (a) death comes to everyone; techniques described in the Tantric texts (b) the lifespan is constantly diminishing and transmitted from India and still practiced in the cannot be extended indefinitely; and (c) while one Tibetan tradition today. Through meditative is alive, little time is spent on mental cultivation. experience, imagining oneselfto be an enlightened In the second part of the meditation, one reflects being, the developing stage of Tantric practice on the fact that the time of death is indefinite, by aims at purifying birth, death, and the intermediate considering that: (a) the human lifespan is state between death and rebirth (Guenther, 1986, uncertain; (b) the causes of death are many and p. 44). The visualization of meditational deities, the conditions for supporting life are few; and (c) female and male, consciously and continuously

162 The International journal ofTranspersonal Studies, 200I, val. 20 during these critical stages has the effect of possible existences (Skt: ) mentioned in the eliminating unproductive and unwholesome states Saptabhavasutra, as an incipient being in the of consciousness, or "impure manifestations." In Asvaliiyanasutra (vol. 2, pp. 386, n. 500) and as this way, "death is not a passage into nothingness, one type ofaniigtimin ("non-returner") mentioned but a way of existing as an end attained; everything in various texts in the Pali canon: that has prevented authentic being, has 'died'" The Blessed One teaches that there are five (Guenther, 1986, p. 45, n. 5). types ofAnagihnins: one who obtains Nirvfu.la in During the intermediate state, the aim is to be an intermediate existence (antaraparinirvayin ), completely aware when death occurs and to one who obtains Nirvfu;la as soon as he is reborn recognize the clear light nature of consciousness (upapadyaparinirooyin), onewhoobtainsN:i.rvaQ.a when it appears, without fear or distraction. The without effort (anabhisamskiiraparinirvayin), process of purification and attunement that occurs one who obtains NirvBQ.a by means of effort (abhisa"f?2skiiraparinirvayin), and one who when one remains alert and fully mindful of the obtains NirvBQ.a by going higher (urdvasrotas). clear light nature of the mind during the bardo is an (vol. 2, p. 386, n. 507) opportunity for successive levels ofrealization, even liberation. Just as during the dream state between A classification ofthree types ofantarftparinirwyin sleep and wakefulness (rmi lam bar do), the subtle by duration and place appears in both Pali and consciousness is said to "ride" on a subtle body. Sanskrit texts (vol. 2, pp. 386, n. 507). The Because this state is an opportunity to recognize the Marasutra mentions the case of a negative spirit "indivisibility ofmotility and mentality," that is, the (Skt: ) named Diisin who, because of his changing nature of consciousness, Guenther (1986) grave transgressions, was reborn immediately in calls it an "intermediate state of possibilities" (pp. hell without any intermediate (antara) dwelling 83-86). It is not that these subtle states of (vasa) (vol. 2, p. 389). consciousness are not present during ordinary In time, the concept of an intermediate state waking life, it is just that most people are so (bardo; Skt: antarabhava) became elaborated absorbed with grosser levels of consciousness that into four stages: (a) birth, (b) life, (c) death, and they remain unaware of them. However, after the (d) the interval between death and rebirth. Three gross body disintegrates, along with the grosser of these stages gradually became identified with levels of consciousness, most people have an the three bodies (Skt: trikaya) of a Buddha: increased opportunity to become more aware of dharmakaya, sambhogakaya, and . these subtle levels ofconsciousness. Unfortunately, By understanding the nature of one's own mind unless people have familiarized themselves with as the union of clear light and emptiness, one these more subtle levels of consciousness through recognizes the clear light of death as the meditation practice, they will be unable to dharmakaya, or "truth body." By consciously recognize and work with them during the directing the visions and experiences of the intermediate state and the opportunities presented intermediate state, one transforms the bardo into at death will be wasted. the sambhogakaya, or "enjoyment body." And by consciously directing the rebirth process, one Personal Identity in the transforms birth into the nirmanakaya, or AfterdeathState "emanation body" (Powers, 1995, p. 289). The synthesis thus represents an integration of the Bardo: Between Death and Rebirth ordinary processes of death, intermediate state, and rebirth with the generation and completion CCORDING TO the historical overview of the stages ofTantric practice. Through the practice of A bardo by Cuevas (1999), the concept of an "deity yoga," visualizing oneself in the aspect of intermediate state (Skt: antarabhava) that was an enlightened being, one simulates the state of originally presented in the literature, enlightenment. In this way, the adept becomes especially that of the school, skilled at closing the door to further rebirth, a referred specifically to the intermediate state practice known as "obstructing the bardo." At the between death and rebirth (pp. 2-6). In the same time, the practice of assuming an Abhidharmakosabhar;yam, Vasubhandu (1988) alternative, enlightened identity undermines the cites mention of the antarabhava as one of seven individual's allegiance to accustomed mistaken

Death, Identity, and Enlightenment in Tibetan Culture 163 identifications. By extension, the practice tendency to grasp at the perception of a undercuts the individual's customary perceptions substantial self. Because it accustoms the of reality in toto. individual to a different mode of perception and The eleventh-century Indian master engenders an awareness of the arbitrary and (1016-1100) innovatively drew correlations flexible nature of personal identifications, it is between several sets of three. He relates life, recommended in preparation for death: death, and rebirth to the trikaya doctrine, to the If you gain realization in this practice of the three levels of practitioners (dull, medium, and pure body, then during the transitional sharp), and to the visions that appear to the process following death, it is certain that you dying, in what has become a standard Tantric will be liberated. It is best if you can be practice formula in the New Translation Schools liberated when the peaceful emanations arise of Buddhism in Tibet. Naropa's Tibetan disciple and, if not then, when the wrathful (Rje btsun lho brag pa, 1012- appearances arise. (Padmasambhava, 1998, 1097) further developed this schema by pp. 149-150) integrating a three-fold doxographical formulation To visualize oneself in the form of a meditational of the bardo into foundation (correct view of deity removes all fear when the peaceful and emptiness), path (practice method), and fruit wrathful archetypes of enlightened mind appear (attainment of enlightenment). Marpa's disciple in the bardo. Further, by identifying with the (Mi la ras pa, 1040-1123) further form and enlightened qualities of the deity at all elaborated these ideas in The Song of the Golden times, one actualizes or ''becomes" the deity.7 Rosary. Building on the ideas of Milarepa and Through a process of simulation, one's ordinary others, Yangonpa (Yang dgon pa) arrived at a identity and environment become transformed modified list of six bardos, namely: (a) the natural into an enlightened identity and pure state; (b) ripening from birth to death; (c) environment. Ordinary deluded pride based on meditative stabilization; (d) karmic latencies and self-cherishing and grasping is replaced by the dreams; (e) dying; and (f) becoming. The ultimate pride of being the deity, based on compassion and objective of the practice is to utilize the stages in the wisdom which directly realizes emptiness. the process of dying and becoming to achieve The Profound Dharma of the Natural realization and avoid rebirth. The "bardo of Liberation Through Contemplating the Peaceful reality itself' (chos nyid bar do) began to appear and Wrathful: Stage of Completion Instructions in the twelfth century, apparently derived from on the Six Bardos, a treasure text (gter ma) the Nyingma (rNying ma) tradition. attributed to Padmasambhava and discovered by Grasping is said to be the root cause of KarmaLingpa(Karmaglingpa, 14c.), names the continual rebirth in cyclic existence. Two types of intermediate states slightly differently than grasping are elucidated by the Mahayana Yangonpa does.8 It also lists them in a different tradition: grasping at persons (the "self') and order as the bardos of(a) living, (b) dreaming, (c) grasping at phenomena as being truly existent, meditative stabilization, (d) dying, (e) reality although they are not. To counteract grasping, itself, and (f) becoming. Yangonpa's description of the Buddha taught the impermanent, the bardo of the natural state is roughly unsatisfying, illusory nature of self and equivalent to Padmasambhava's bardo of reality phenomena. He taught that all phenomena are itself. The following discussion will consider empty like foam, water bubbles, mirages, echoes, these six states one by one. plantain trees, dreams, reflections in a mirror, and conjurers' tricks. Other means of The Bardo of Living counteracting grasping at personal identity are found in the visualization practices taught in the HERE ARE four contemplations that are tradition. Here, one imagines oneself T fundamental for subduing one's mind and in the form of an enlightened being (the yidam, or attaining liberation: (a) the preciousness and meditational "deity") in a completely pure realm rarity of a human rebirth; (b) death and surrounded by other similarly enlightened impermanence; (c) the sufferings of cyclic beings. This type of visualization practice is existence; and (d) the law of cause and effect taught as a means to cut through the habitual (Padmasambhava, 1998, pp. 3-51; Dhargyey, 164 The International journal ofTranspersonal Studies, 2001, val. 20 197 4, pp. 39-97). These are known as "the four bardo concept may still have practical value in thoughts that turn one's mind to the Dharma." facilitating a positive experience of dying. Next, one settles into the posture with seven features, and rests the body, speech, and mind in The Bardo of Dreaming their natural states.9 While generating the pure motivation of wishing to achieve awakening for HE INSTRUCTIONS on dreaming go hand in hand the good of all beings, an unwavering awareness T _with the instructions on the illusory body, that extends beyond the meditation session into cultivated through meditation during the the actions of everyday life is cultivated. Some daytime. Retreating into solitude and generating me?itation methods focus on a specific object, an altruistic motivation, one meditates on the wh1le others have no focus, like boundless space. mutable, illusory nature of one's body and all Generally speaking, these approaches are typical other appearances, and how grasping at these of the ?elug (dGe lugs) and Nyingma schools, binds beings within cyclic existence. On the basis respectively. The school presents a gradual of this practice, called the "pure illusory body," approach in which the mind is purified of one also trains in the practice of . The delusion and eventually transformed into the first step in dream yoga is to begin seeing the perfectly enlightened knowing of a Buddha; the phenomena of everyday waking reality, as well as Nyingma presents a Ch'an Buddhist-like approach the one perceiving them, as lacking in any in which the mind is regarded as being essence and thus not different from a dream or an primordially liberated and the Buddha nature illusion. Next, one goes to bed in the evening and 10 (Skt: tathiigatagarbha) as already manifest lies in the "lion posture," while clearly (Dhargyey, 1974, pp. 103, 207). Both schools, and visualizing oneself as one's preferred meditational the (Sa skya) and (bKa' brgyud) deity (yidam). The immediate aim is to learn to schools as well, turn their attention to meditation recognize dream states for what they are, in on the true nature of the mind itself. According to anticipation of apprehending the intermediate Gyatrul Rinpoche, a Nyingma lama, this state after death for what it is. A series of naturally luminous awareness is "the cause of visualization exercises are employed to sharpen omniscience." this awareness. For example, during the dream state, one may imagine jumping into a raging Th~ awareness in question is simply natural, river, then experiencing it as bliss and emptiness. ordinary awareness without any type of Understanding the illusory nature of the modification, without any fabrication. It is phenomena that appear in dreams, one practices without beginning; it is without birth, remaining, or cessation. Failing to recognize transforming them-multiplying, collapsing, its nature, we enter into dualistic grasping, and changing them into various shapes and sizes. grasping onto ourselves, grasping onto others, Progressively, as one continues to practice, a grasping onto ow· own personal identity, clear recognition of the dreamlike, illusory grasping onto the identity of other phenomena. nature of all phenomena and all appearances, In this way we grasp onto that which is waking and sleeping, occurs. nonexistent as being existent. As a result of that, we continue to wander in the cycle of Central to the practice of dream yoga is vivid existence. (Dhargyey, 1974, p. 124) visualization on the clear light that appears as one falls asleep, until eventually the clear light In the words ofPadmasambhava, this awareness is dawns naturally, clear and empty, during the "inseparable clarity, awareness, and emptiness," dream state: "the stainless sole eye of primordial wisdom" (Dhargyey, 1974, p.l26). In this view, the present To apprehend the clear light in the nature of reality-itself, you who nakedly identify human life is the most precious window of awareness should position your body as opportunity for manifesting primordial wisdom. before, subdue your awareness, and in vivid By transforming the bardos of living, dreaming, clarity and emptiness focus your awareness at meditative stabilization, dying, reality itself, and your heart, and fall asleep. When your sleep is becoming, those with sharp faculties are able to agitated, do not lose the sense of indivisible manifest enlightened, omniscient awareness in clarity and emptiness. When you are fast asleep, ifthe vivid, indivisibly clear and empty this very body, in this very life. Failing that, the

Death, 1dentity, and EnLightenment in Tibetan Culture 16 5 light of deep sleep is recognized, the clear light stream of consciousness and an entirely new, is apprehended. (Dhargyey, 1974, p. 164) omniscient state of awareness. The clear light appears to all sentient beings at the time of death, but one must be skilled to The Bardo ofMeditative Stabilization recognize it for what it is. The clear light also MONG THE five aggregates that comprise the appears at the junctures between wakefulness A Buddhist sense ofself-identity, consciousness and sleep, and sleep and wakefulness; but again, is unquestionably central. Consciousness, which one must be skilled in order to glimpse it (Varela, is synonymous with awareness, is defmed as 1997' pp. 122-130): "clear knowing." Thus, according to the teachings [The mind of clear lightJ manifests at periods of Padmasambhava, to overcome the instinctive when the grosser levels of consciousness cease grasping at personal identity, it is necessary to either intentionally, as in profound states of relinquish grasping at awareness itself. This can meditation, or naturally, as in the process of be accomplished through practicing the bardo of death, going to sleep, ending a dream, meditative stabilization. fainting, and orgasm. Prior to its manifestation, there are several stages during which a No matter how profound the teachings or our practitioner experiences increasingly subtler realizations, there remains the possibility of levels of mind ... The winds (or currents of pride and attachment, further obstacles to energy; rlung, priina) that serve as foundations liberation. To prevent pride and attachment from for various levels of consciousness are arising, one must go beyond a merely intellectual gradually withdrawn, in the process of which understanding to a state of direct awareness. one first has a visual experience of seeing an appearance like a mirage ... billowing Gyatrul Rinpoche comments, "Just as a sword smoke ... fireflies ... sputtering butter-lamp ... a cannot cut itself, and the eye cannot see itself, we steady candle flame. With the withdrawal of have been unable to recognize our own nature" conceptual consciousnesses, a more dramatic (Padmasambhava, 1998, p. 172). This seems to point phase begins, at which point profound levels of to a self-aware consciousness such as is posited by consciousness that are at the core of the Yogaciira school, but Padmasambhava does experience manifest. (Hopkins, 1992, p. 244) not analyze it as such. In any case, the reference Even the interval between the cessation of one is to the unenlightened, untrained mind. It is moment of consciousness and the arising of the through training the mind that one becomes next may be an opportunity for glimpsing the aware of one's own mind. Questions about clear light. whether a separate consciousness is required to The identification of one's consciousness with observe mental consciousness and whether the the clear light totally supplants identification mind resembles a mirror that sees itself are not with ordinary personal identity. Thus dream questions that concern contemplatives; for them, yoga is an opportunity to rehearse recognizing the goal is to go beyond conceptual thought, and the clear light that will appear during the bardo. experience is the only relevant teacher. Done well, with perfect wisdom and awareness, The notion of going beyond conceptual thought the identification of one's consciousness with the is not limited to any particular Buddhist school, clear light will serve as a catalyst for the of course. For example, the rigorously analytical manifestation of the dharmakaya-the perfectly Gelug and Sakya schools acknowledge that direct enlightened awareness of the Buddha one insight into emptiness is a nonconceptual becomes. This obviously is the culmination ofthe awareness. In these schools, practitioners on the practice: the "clear light natural liberation of ten bodhisattva stages from the Path of Insight delusion" (Padmasambhava, 1998, p. 168). One's until enlightenment meditate by alternating usual deluded identification is replaced by a theoretical analysis of emptiness with calm thoroughly awakened identification that is abiding (Skt: ), using emptiness as the beyond the ability of ordinary consciousness to object of meditation. The meditation session perceive. Whether achieved while awake, asleep, begins with theoretical analysis of emptiness meditating, dreaming, or dying, the dharmakaya that continues until a very clear realization of is at once an evolution of one's ordinary deluded emptiness is gained. At that point, the

166 The lnternationaL]ournai ofTranspersonaL Studies, 2001, \t0f. 20 practitioner meditates single-pointedly on ultimate truth, have crystallized into what is emptiness itself until meditative stabilization known as the rang tong/zhen tong debate. (Skt: ) is achieved. When the power of concentration begins to decline after meditating The Bardo of Dying for some time, the practitioner returns to analytical meditation focused on emptiness. In OR THOSE who have not had time to meditate or this way, the two practices are alternated­ Fare not trained in the practices of the illusory analysis of emptiness and unwavering body, dream yoga, and the clear light, concentration on emptiness-for the duration of Padmasambhava provided instructions on the the session. When the meditation session ends, bardo of dying. If one engages in the transference an intellectual understanding of the empty of consciousness before actual death has occurred, nature of all phenomena is retained, ordinary it is equivalent to committing suicide, therefore it phenomena continue to appear on the conventional is crucial to ascertain without doubt that death level. In the postmeditation state, the practitioner has occurred before phowa is begun. For a accumulates merit through various other means; practitioner of deity yoga who practices direct insight into emptiness (Skt: vipa.Syanli) is identification with a yidam, to transfer the achieved primarily through formal meditation consciousness prematurely is said to be equivalent practice. to murdering the deity. There are various means of In Tibet, a doctrinal dispute developed "cheating death"-specific Buddhist practices for between adherents of two different views of longevity such as saving animals' lives and the emptiness. The rang tong (rang stong, "self­ practices of Amit.ayus and White Tara-that may empty'') view, which is prevalent in the more be attempted. Ifthese are unsuccessful and death analytical Gelug and Sakya schools, asserts the becomes certain, one prepares to experience the emptiness of all phenomenon, including stages of dying as the gross body and mind emptiness, and denies the existence of an disintegrate.U When the clear light of death absolute reality. The zhen tong (gzhan stong, appears, the gross self imputed to exist in "other-empty'') view, which is more prevalent in dependence on the gross body and mind has the Kagyu and Nyingma schools, asserts that the disintegrated, and a subtle self imputed to exist in "other"- apparent reality- is empty, but there is dependence on the subtle energy-mind has taken an ultimate reality (Skt: buddhajfiiina) that truly its place (Varela, 1997, p. 125). exists. Adherents of the rang tong view interpret The practice of phowa (transference of tathagatagarbha (Buddha nature) as the consciousness) begins with a review of the four emptiness of inherent existence of the mental thoughts that turn one's mind to the Dharma: the continuum that enables sentient beings to precious human rebirth, impermanence, suffering, achieve enlightenment. The tathagatagarbha and the law of cause and effect. After gaining was taught for non-Buddhists and needs to be clear insight into the defects of cyclic existence, interpreted because, if it were taken literally, it would amount to the same thing as a soul one develops renunciation-the determination to (Williams, 1989, p. 106). Adherents of the zhen be liberated from cyclic existence. Sitting in tong view take the tathagatagarbha teachings meditation posture, one then visualizes blocking literally and accept the existence of an ultimate the "apertures of cyclic existence" (anus, genital reality that exists inherently (Williams, 1989, p. opening, urinary opening, navel, mouth, nostrils, 107). The fact that all beings have the eyes, and ears), departure through which results tathagatagarbha means that they have the in rebirth within the six realms of cyclic enlightened awareness of a Buddha, which is just existence. One visualizes a central psychic temporarily obscured. When the obscurations are channel extending from below the navel to the removed, the dharmakiiya is revealed; therefore, crown at the top of the head and flanked tathagatagarbha and dharmakiiya are identical. by subsidiary channels on the right and left. One While both approaches aim at nondual, then concentrates on forcefully drawing the nonconceptual awareness, their philosophical winds and energies of the body up through the differences, especially their articulations of central psychic channel along with a radiant

Death, Identity, and Enlightenment in Tibetan Culture 167 white "drop" (Skt: bindu) in the nature of highest "pristine dharmakiiya transference of awareness, and directs them out through the consciousness" is successful, it is confirmed by Brahma aperture at the crown of the head. serene skies and a sustained physical radiance. Except at the time of death, one then visualizes Ifthe dharmakiiya transference is unsuccessful, the white drop descending and coming to rest at a one attempts the transference ofthe sambhogakiiya point below the navel. ("enjoyment body''), the aspect of an enlightened When it becomes clear that actual death is being that manifests in a Pure Land. Sitting in sure to soon occur, it is beneficial to first give meditation posture, ifpossible, one visualizes the away all one's possessions. Whether the meditational deity at the crown of the head and generosity is actual or visualized, it creates merit focuses single-pointedly on a white drop (Skt: and prevents attachment-the greatest hindrance bindu) or seed syllable at the base of the central at the time of death. In fact, objects of attachment psychic channel. As in the phowa meditation, the or aversion are best removed from a dying vital energies are driven up the central psychic person's room, lest they spark unwholesome channel to the crown aperture and absorbed into mental states. Next, one regrets transgressions the heart of the meditational deity visualized of the precepts and "restores" them through a there. If the transference is successful at death, ritual confession of faults. Then, sitting in one becomes a Buddha in sambhogakiiya form, meditation posture, if possible, or in the lion confirmed by the appearance of deities, rainbows, posture, if not, the practice of phowa is begun. and relics. If the transference is not successful at One reflects: the moment of death, one continues the practice during the intermediate state. Now I am dying. So in general in the three If the sambhogakaya transference is realms of the cycle of existence and in particular in this degenerate era, I rejoice unsuccessful, one attempts the transference of that I can transfer my consciousness while the nirmaTJ,akiiya ("emanation body''), the aspect having the companionship of such profound of an enlightened being that manifests in the instructions as these. Now I shall recognize , for example, in ordinary human the clear light of death as the Dharmakaya, form. Lying on one's right side, offerings ofbody, I shall send out immeasurable emanations speech, and mind are made to the representation to train others according to their needs, and I must serve the needs of sentient beings Buddha visualized in front of one. Such a until the cycle of existence is empty. visualization helps to break through the (Padmasambhava, 1998, pp. 208-209) possessiveness that arises from a strong identification with one's ordinary body, speech, If the practice of phowa is successful, a drop of and mind. Imagining a red and a white drop in blood or lymph will appear at the crown of one's the central psychic channel, one pushes them head. forcefully upwards until they emerge from the If the practice is not successful, one continues left nostril and dissolve into the heart of the through the visualizations, either summoning Buddha visualized in front. If the transference is the visualizations oneself or by having a spiritual successful, once death occurs one becomes a mentor or friend recite the instructions in one's Buddha in nirmiiTJ,akiiya form, attested by the ear. If the clear light of death is recognized as appearance of clouds and rainbows in auspicious inseparable from the clear light nature oft he mind shapes, and flowers falling from the sky. If the or dharmakiiya, it is possible to become freed body is cremated, the skull remains undamaged. from rebirth once and for all, and to achieve If the transference is not successful at the either perfect enlightenment or rebirth in a Pure moment of death, one continues the practice Land where enlightenment can be quickly during the intermediate state. attained. This is called "the meeting of the The crown aperture is regarded as the mother and child clear light," because it mixes pathway to the Pure Land, whether this be the the "mother" clear light of death with the "son" Pure Land of Am.ita.bha, another Buddha, or the clear light which dawns, through meditation, Qii,kinis (enlightened beings in female form), and during sleep and the waking state (Lati the departure of the consciousness from this Rinpochay & Hopkins, 1979, pp. 47-48). If this aperture signals the achievement of liberation.

168 The International journal ofTranspersonal Studies, 2001, VoL 20 Departure of the consciousness from the awareness over time, one eventually emanates apertures in the upper part of the body is said to the sambhogakaya effortlessly. The "vision of lead to fortunate "migrations," while departure extinction into reality itself' is the ultimate from the lower apertures indicates rebirth in attainment achieved through the Tantric unfortunate states. Because one's state of mind, tradition of . Proponents assert that especially at the moment of death, is such a this culminating attainment is higher than what powerful indicator of one's immanent destiny, is possible in the (non-Tantric) tradition, even beginning practitioners are advised to go for although the descriptions of omniscient (in the Buddha, Dharma, and ), Buddhahood ("knowing all that is, as it is") are generate the bodhicitta, take precepts, and identical both in Dzogchen and other Tantric generate wholesome thoughts as death traditions. approaches. Mter a practitioner has died, a companion may even direct the deceased's The Bardo of Becoming attention to a Buddha on the crown of the head, touch the crown, or gently pull the hair at the HE FINAL bardo, the bardo of becoming, is for crown aperture to nudge the consciousness T those who have not succeeded in any of the toward a higher realm of rebirth. Reciting the preceding five transitional processes and are names of the Buddhas (Ratna5ikhin, Amitabha, therefore subject to taking rebirth. Mter etc.) and reading the Liberation Through realizing oneself to be dead and wandering in the Hearing (known as the Tibetan Book of the Dead) intermediate state, one visualizes arising in the are also beneficial for helping a person in the form of a meditational deity in a pure Buddha bardo achieve liberation or a higher rebirth. realm where all beings are in the form of the deity and all sounds are the sound of the deity's The Bardo of Reality Itself . Generating a visualization of oneself as the deity, as in the generation stage of practice, HE FIFTH intermediate state, the bardo of one becomes a vidyadhara ("knowledge holder") T reality itself, is an opportunity to identify the in the form of one's yidam. By tbis practice, one nature of reality itself (Skt: dharmafii) and erodes the illusion of a fixed personal identity and achieve the natural liberation of seeing. In the learns how to close the door to future rebirth in a Nyingma tradition, this is understood as the womb. As a vidhyadhara, one can travel to any practice of Dzogchen, "the Great Perfection." Pure Land or anywhere else. Dzogchen involves prescribed postures and Padmasambhava's text describes several gazes, awareness of the outer and inner "absolute ways of"closing the entrance to the womb": (a) by natures" (apprehended as the cloudless sky and a becoming a divine embodiment; (b) by imagining lamp), and learning to hold, expel, and stabilize your spiritual mentor with consort; (c) by the the vital energies of the body, aimed at realizing practice of the four blisses; (d) by the antidote of primordial wisdom. These practices cause four renunciation; (e) with the clear light; and (f) with visions to arise: (a) the direct vision of reality the illusory body (Lati Rinpochay & Hopkins, itself; (b) progressing experience; (c) consummate 1979, pp. 257-273). Due to habitual attachments awareness; and (d) extinction into reality itself to sexual desire, untrained sentient beings (Lati Rinpochay & Hopkins, 1979, p. 243). Unlike ordinarily and automatically gravitate to the practices discussed earlier that employ situations of sexual activity. One who will take extensive visualizations and recitations, these rebirth as a female feels attracted to the male visions arise independently without ideation. partner and one who will take rebirth as a male Absolute nature refers to primordial wisdom: feels attracted to the female partner, and due to clear luminous awareness and emptiness. With this sexual attraction one enters the womb of practice, "bindus of the strand of one's own one's future rebirth. However, if one is awareness" appear in the form of primordial consciously able to turn away from the womb and wisdom, emanating lights and containing the five visualize oneself in the form of a meditational divine embodiments of Buddhas with their deity in union with the deity's consort instead, it consorts. Stabilizing a vision of consummate is possible to "block the entrance to the womb,"

Death, Identity, and Enlightenment in Tibetan Culture 169 meaning that one will not take rebirth in the "deceased" indicates that an individual is ordinary way. Although rebirth may still occur, clinically dead, it should be understood that the the practice sows the seeds for the achievement of consciousness, in this view, may continue to be (extraordinary accomplishments) both in active. A number of pertinent factors can affect a the present and in future lifetimes, including the person's experiences not only at the time of death, supreme of perfect enlightenment. The but also in the bardo (if there is one), and in the practices for closing the entrance to the womb are next rebirth. For example: (a) the circumstances therefore one last opportunity for attaining surrounding the death; (b) the person's level of realization and final awakening. mental development; (c) the person's actions in the present and previous lifetimes; (d) the quality of Analyzing the Bardo the last moment of consciousness; and (e) the environment surrounding the person during the HE CONCEPT of a bardo being who traverses an transition from one life to the next all have an T intermediary liminal stage between death effect. Let us consider these factors one by one. and rebirth makes sense within a context that First, the circumstances surrounding the death accepts karma and the recycling of consciousness may be peaceful or traumatic. Many factors as fundamental. Although Theravada Buddhist determine this, such as whether the death is adherents deny the existence of such an interval timely or untimely, or the person is conscious or and insist that rebirth occurs the moment after unconscious, or in or not in pain. The most death ("arising- immediately follows falling­ favorable circumstances are a peaceful death that away-citta"), Harvey (1995) fmds evidence in the is the result of natural causes and takes place in a early texts to support the idea of an intermediate pleasant environment. The least favorable state (Patthana 1.312-13, in Harvey, 1995, p. 98). circumstances are a sudden violent death that In a pa~~age from the SaJ?tyutta Nikaya, the occurs in an angry, fearful, or hateful atmosphere. Buddha refers to a time, fueled by craving, "when Second, the person's level of mental a being lays aside this body and is not arisen (Skt: development will determine what intellectual anuppanno) in another body." Harvey shows that resources the person brings to the experience of the time referred to here cannot be the period of dying. The level of mental development can also gestation in the womb, because "arising" (Skt: determine, at least in part, whether the person is anuppanno) can be distinguished from "becoming'' conscious or unconscious in the moments leading (Skt: bhava), the condition for birth (Skt:jati) in up to death, and whether the person is mindful at the twelve links of dependent arising (Skt: the moment of death and during the transition to pra{ityasamutpada), and therefore refers to the next rebirth, if there is one. The optimum conception (Harvey, 1995, p. 99). The Abhidharma circumstance, from a Buddhist point of view, literature of asserts that both exists for the practitioner who has gained the mind and body sense bases are present from mastery over the mind, eliminated all negative the time of conception, and therefore conception mental factors, cultivated all positive mental is clearly the start of new life (Harvey, 1995, p. factors, and is able to die consciously. The worst 99).12 The SaJ?tyutta Nikaya passage leaves open circumstance exists when a person has no control the possibility of an interval between death and over the mind, is thus under the influence of rebirth. negative emotions (whether conscious or Even if the bardo being is impervious to unconscious), and therefore cannot help but physical harm, Tibetan texts make it clear that the generate thoughts of anger and hatred during the body ofthe deceased should not be disturbed, since process of dying. From a Theravada Buddhist to disturb the body can disrupt the consciousness. perspective, the skilled practitioner described Unless the deceased has developed excellent here will become an without remainder powers of concentration and compassion while (Skt: nirupadhi.Se$anirvfn:i,a), that is, he or she alive, this disturbance is likely to distract the mind will achieve liberation from rebirth and leave no and can arouse anger that will affect the aggregates behind. From a Mahayana perspective, consciousness adversely and negatively influence the skilled practitioner will die peacefully and be the being's future rebirth. Although the term able to concentrate on following the bright

170 The International journal ofTranspersonal Studies, 2001, Vol. 20 colored lights associated with the Buddhas, and concentration, completely eradicated all mental as a result achieve either rebirth in a Pure Land delusions, and developed all positive mental or attain the perfect enlightenment of a Buddha. qualities, it is impossible for an unwholesome A Tibetan Buddhist practitioner can achieve this consciousness to arise, for the person is either an through such practices as phowa, cho, and arhat or a Buddha and therefore not subject to various other Tantric practices. All Buddhist rebirth, or a bodhisattva and therefore not traditions agree that a person who has no control subject to uncontrolled rebirth. A person who has over the mind will take rebirth at the mercy of not attained these qualities, however, is karma and the delusions present in the mind. vulnerable to outside influences and it is possible The bardo texts further state that beings who are that an unwholesome consciousness may arise. unaware or frightened by their experiences will Even a highly skilled practitioner can conceivably naturally gravitate, in accordance with their be affected by anger, hatred, or desire in the karma, to the dull lights associated with the six immediate environment and may as a result realms of rebirth. generate an unfavorable last moment of Third, the person's actions in the present as consciousness. Similarly, a person who has well as in previous lifetimes will condition the negative karma and an uncontrolled, nonvirtuous experiences during the dying process and the mind is vulnerable to outside influences and it is bardo. A virtuous person will have accumulated possible that a wholesome consciousness may the merit required to be reborn in a fortunate arise. For example, such a person could realm, whereas a nonvirtuous person will not conceivably be affected by a calm, loving, and have accumulated such merit, and will be reborn compassionate immediate environment that in an unfortunate realm. The strongest imprints results in the generation of a positive state of on the mental continuum are said to ripen first mind at the moment of death. and the imprints that are the most recent are For this reason, Buddhists are concerned with likely to be the strongest. creating a peaceful, loving environment for the Fourth, the quality of the last moment of dying. A teacher or spiritual friend may be consciousness is said to be a decisive factor in invited to advise the dying person in accordance determining the quality of the next rebirth. For with the Buddha's teachings, and especially to example, even if the circumstances of death are remind the person that death and dissolution are unfavorable, the person's past actions have been inevitable for all living beings. Tibetan Buddhists generally negative, and the mind is untamed, may place images of enlightenment, such as there is still a possibility of generating a positive Buddhas and bodhisattvas, within the dying final moment of consciousness that could lead to person's range of vision. Family and friends who a positive rebirth. Because each moment of believe in the efficacy of merit will make offerings consciousness is conditioned by the moments that to monasteries and the Sangha, donate charity to have gone before it, the likelihood of an the needy, chant siltras (scriptures) or prayers or untrained, nonvirtuous person being able to the Buddha's name, and dedicate the merits of generate a positive moment of consciousness at these practices to the dying or just deceased this critical juncture is extremely unlikely, person. All these efforts are aimed at creating a especially when the death occurs under favorable environment, accumulating positive unfavorable circumstances, such as violence. karma, and nurturing a positive state of mind to Still, according to the texts and commentaries, ensure a favorable transition from this life to the there is a possibility. next. Even those who are not convinced about the Finally, the environment surrounding a existence offuture lives, the efficacy of merit, the person facing death can have a powerful existence of the bardo, or the possibility of influence. Even a skilled practitioner with good attaining higher rebirth and enlightenment karma who is dying a natural death under generally feel that it is worthwhile to observe favorable conditions may experience an these traditions, just in case there may be some unwholesome moment of consciousness at the benefit. time of death, due to some unexpected negative The result of these beliefs and practices is circumstance. If a person has developed perfect fulfilling, both personally and socially. For

Death, Identity, and EnLightenment in Tibetan CuLture 171 example, providing a serene environment for a school accepts the inherent existence of phenomena but, dying trajectory brings a sense of peace and well­ along with the Pra.sangika Madhyamaka, does not accept being not only to the dying person, but to the true existence. family and friends as well. To conduct one's life in 7. The term "deity" is a misnomer. The meditational accordance with Buddhist guidelines (e.g., deities (yidam) visualized in these practices are not engage in wholesome actions, avoid unwholesome denizens of the god realms, but fully enlightened beings such as Amita.bha, , Hayagriva, Vajrapii.ni, ones, cultivate mental discipline, concentration, andYamantaka, or bodhisattuas visualized as enlightened and compassion) helps to allay everyone's fears beings. about a person's future after death and can put the mind in a positive frame at the moment of 8. Zab chos zhi khro dgongs pa rang grollas rdzogs rim bar do drug gi khrid yig. Translated by B. Alan Wallace, death. To engage in positive actions on behalf of with commentary by Gyatrul Rinpoche, in the deceased-the practice ofgenerosity, recitation Padmasambhava (1998), pp. 81-273. of siltras, and other meritorious actions- is psychologically beneficial for survivors, and 9. Legs crossed, hands in the lap, spine straight, shoulders level, chin tucked in, lips gently shut, tongue helps to alleviate grief, a sense ofloss, or a sense against the upper palate, and eyes gently shut. of remorse. In this way, Buddhist beliefs and practices are of practical benefit for both the 10. Lying on one's right side, with the right hand placed under the right side of one's head and the left hand placed dying person and the family. As an added benefit, on the left thigh. This posture is said to facilitate the if there is a bardo, the deceased is in a position to transfer of consciousness to a Pure Land at the time of negotiate it with maximum skill and benefit. death. And, if there is a future life, the deceased is more 11. These stages are desctibed in detail in Lati Rinpochay assured of a favorable one. Therefore, quite and Hopkins (1979), pp. 13-20, 29-48. independently of its ontological status, the primary value of the bardo concept may be that it 12. According to Harvey (1995), the Kathi:iuathu mentions helps to facilitate a positive experience of dying. the opposing view that all the sense organs are present from the beginning. There is no mention of implantation in the early accounts. Notes 1. Italicized words in parentheses are Tibetan unless References otherwise noted. Bansal, B. L. (1994). Bon: Its encounter with Buddhism in Tibet. Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers. 2. Samuel suggests that la (soul) and lha (deity) are Buddbaghosa. (1964). The path of purification related concepts that may have a common source, but (Visuddhimagga) (Bbikkbu Nyamoli, Trans.). Colombo, Sri according to my sources the two concepts axe distinct. Lanka: A. Semage. While there may be some ovedap, la resembles a personal Campbell, J. (1996). Traveller in space: In search of female soul whereas lha is an external deity. identity in Tibetan Buddhism. New York: Braziller. 3. Brrth fxom a womb is actually only one possible mode of Coberly, M. (2001, in press). Sacred passage: How to prouide brrth mentioned in the Indo-Tibetan tradition, the others fearless, compassionate care for the dying. Boston: being birth from an egg, birth from warmth and moisture, Sbambbala. Cuevas, B. J. (1999, August). Speculations on the develop­ and birth by miracle. ment ofthe intermediate-state doctrine in Tibet. Paper pre­ 4. The bardos are described variously in a number of sented at the XIIth Conference ofthe International Asso­ books. 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