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Dzogchen Ponlop MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page i Mind Beyond Death MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page ii MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page iii Mind Beyond Death by Dzogchen Ponlop Snow Lion Publications ithaca, new york MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page iv Snow Lion Publications P.O. Box 6483 Ithaca, NY 14851 USA (607) 273-8519 www.snowlionpub.com Copyright © 2006, 2008 Dzogchen Ponlop All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced by any means without prior written permission from the publisher. Printed in the USA on acid-free recycled paper. ISBN-10: 1-55939-301-7 ISBN-13: 978-1-55939-301-0 Designed and typeset by Gopa & Ted2, Inc. The Library of Congress catalogued the previous edition of this book as follows: Dzogchen Ponlop, Rinpoche, 1965- Mind beyond death / by Dzogchen Ponlop. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-1-55939-276-1 (alk. paper) ISBN-10: 1-55939-276-2 (alk. paper) 1. Intermediate state—Buddhism. 2. Death—Religious aspects— Buddhism. 3. Spiritual life—Buddhism. 4. Buddhism—China— Tibet—Doctrines. I. Title. BQ4490.D96 2007 294.3'423—dc22 200603968 MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page v This book is dedicated to my beloved father, the late Dhamchoe Yongdu, and my kind mother, Lekshey Drolma, for giving birth to endless precious opportunities to develop wisdom and compassion. MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page vi MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page vii Table of Contents Foreword by Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche xv Foreword by Venerable Alak Zenkar Rinpoche Tibetan xvii English xxiii Editors’ Note xxix Introduction: Gambling with the Lord of Death 1 1.The Moment of Truth 9 The Bardo Teachings 11 What Is Bardo? 12 Conceptual and Essence Bardos 13 The Fork in the Road 14 Trapped in Time 15 Neither Here nor There 16 Day-to-day Business 17 Overwhelming Emotions 18 Message from the Lineage 20 Classifications of the Bardos 21 Sources of the Bardo Teachings 23 The Six Root Verses of the Six Bardos 25 2. Pure Delusion: The Natural Bardo of This Life 27 The Dance of Appearances 28 Pure and Impure Appearances 30 Embodied Mind 32 The Three Stages of the Path 34 MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page viii viii Mind Beyond Death The Stage of Study 36 The Stage of Contemplation 38 Practices for the Stage of Contemplation 39 Befriending Intense Emotions 42 The Stage of Meditation 43 Foundational Practices: Training and Purification 45 Settling the Mind: The Three Postures 46 The Actual Practice: Padmasambhava’s Instructions for Shamatha 49 Shamatha with External Object 50 Shamatha with White Bindu Visualization 51 Shamatha with Red Bindu Visualization 51 Shamatha without Object 52 Deity Yoga 54 Setting a Specific Intention for Our Practice 56 For Only So Long 58 3. Waking the Dreamer: The Bardo of Dream 61 Appearance-Emptiness 62 Impure and Pure Dreams 65 Entering the Dream State 65 Continuation of Confusion 66 Waking Up in the Dream 67 Training in the Illusory Body 68 Training in Dream Yoga 77 Training in Luminosity Yoga 86 Fruition of Training 87 Dreams and Dreamers 89 Looking at the Dream 89 Looking at the Dreamer 90 Looking at the Time Span 91 Lighting a Torch in the Darkness 92 4. Mastering The Mind: The Bardo of Meditation 95 Meditation as Bardo 96 MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page ix Contents ix Vipashyana 97 Domesticating Wild Mind 99 Stages of Training in Selflessness 100 Pointing-out Mind’s Nature 103 Looking Directly at Mind 104 Gaining Certainty in Liberation 107 Three Words That Strike the Vital Point 107 Dzogchen’s Four Great Modes of Liberation 108 Taking the Message of Liberation to Heart 110 Accepting and Rejecting 111 Self-existing Wisdom 113 Letting Go of Freedom 114 The Nature of All 115 Guarding Awareness 116 Path of Skillful Means 117 Connecting the Bardos of Life and Death 118 5. Evaporating Reality: The Painful Bardo of Dying 119 Attachment to This Life 121 Three Capacities of Practitioners 122 Preparing For Death 125 Dissolving of the Elements 126 Coarse and Subtle Bodies 126 The Coarse Dissolution Process 129 The Subtle Dissolution Process 134 The Stages of Luminosity 139 Practices For Dying 141 Path of Devotion 141 Recognizing a Last Chance 142 The Practice of Phowa 143 Methods of Transformation 147 Sudden Death 153 All Practices Are Phowa 154 Planning our Last Thought 155 Looking Ahead 156 Aiming for the Highest 157 MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page x x Mind Beyond Death 6. Egoless Journey: The Luminous Bardo of Dharmata 161 Exploring New Experiences 162 Dharmakaya Luminosity: The Luminosity of No Appearance 163 Ground Luminosity: The Wisdom of Dharmata 163 Meeting of Mother and Child Luminosities 166 Searching for Home 168 Auspicious Causes and Conditions 169 Generating Samadhi Mind 169 Sambhogakaya Luminosity: The Luminosity of Appearance 173 Spontaneously Arising Luminosity 174 The Four Wisdom Lights 183 The Light of Buddha Activity 184 Visions of Spontaneous Presence 185 Taking the Bardo of Dharmata onto the Path 187 Looking at the Nature of Mind 187 Visualization of the Hundred Deities 187 Taking Light as the Path 188 Taking Sound as the Path 190 Taking Pain and Sickness as the Path 191 Taking Delight and Misery as the Path 193 Taking Emotions as the Path 194 Knowing the Territory 195 The Two Kayas of the Bardo of Dharmata 195 Over in an Instant 195 Arriving at the Next Destination 196 7. To Be or Not To Be: The Karmic Bardo of Becoming 199 Nirmanakaya Luminosity 200 Unceasing Appearances 201 Reemergence of Confusion 203 The Miraculous Power of Karmic Mind 204 Creating Auspicious Connections 205 Dawning of the Six Realms 208 Becoming: Qualities of the Six Realms 210 MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page xi Contents xi Practices for Becoming 217 Creation Stage Practices 218 Completion Stage Practices 222 Transforming Through Renunciation 224 Plan A and Plan B 225 Vajrayana View of Practice 226 View of Creation Stage 228 View of Completion Stage 232 Mind Beyond Death 233 Editors’ Acknowledgments 237 Appendix I: The Sutra on Wisdom for the Time of Death Tibetan 239 English 241 Appendix II: Vajra Songs of Realization 243 All These Forms 243 The Eight Cases of Basic Goodness Not To Be Shunned 244 Guru Rinpoche Prayer 246 Seven Delights 248 Dedication 250 The Six Bardos by Rechungpa 251 Appendix III: Two Poems by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche 253 A Reminder To Myself 253 Heaven 254 Appendix IV: Looking Back: The Purpose of Ngondro 255 The Vajrayana Roller Coaster 256 Purpose of Ngondro 257 The Four Tantra Ngondro Practices 259 An Important Point 261 Appendix V: The Stages of Dissolution 263 Appendix VI: The Hundred Peaceful and Wrathful Deities 267 Notes 271 Glossary 275 MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page xii xii Mind Beyond Death Suggested Reading 297 Traditional Texts 297 Contemporary Commentaries 297 Audio and Video Tapes 298 Nalandabodhi Centers 299 Illustration Credits 303 Index 305 MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page xiii List of Illustrations Reclining Buddha: The Sleeping Lion Posture 78 Diagram of Channels and Chakras of the Subtle Body 127 Syllables Ha¯m and Ashe 138 Color illustration insert following page 160: Guru Padmasambhava Plate 1 Samantabhadra and Samantabhadri: Peaceful Manifestation of the Primordial Buddha Plate 2 Mahottara Heruka and Krodheshvari: Wrathful Manifestation of the Primordial Buddha Plate 3 Shitro Thangka: Peaceful and Wrathful Deities Plate 4 MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page xiv MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page xv Foreword Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche !, ,2<- 3J.- 0?- 2<- .R- 3J.- 0:A- 5B$?- 2&., , There is Nothing In Between, so the Bardo Does Not Exist—A Verse *J- .%- :(A- 2- %R- 2R-3J.- 0:A- KA<, , .J- $*A?- 2<- ;%- *J- 3J.- 3R?- V=- 43, , 2.$- .%- $8/-=- %R- 2R- 3J.- 0:A- KA<, , .J- $*A?- 2<- ;%- *J- 3J.- 3R?- V=- 43, , Birth and death have no essence, So in between those two is merely the unborn, free from fabrication. Self and other have no essence, So in between those two is merely the unborn, free from fabrication. 8J?-3#/-0R-5=-OA3?-o-35S-<A/-0R-(J?-:V$-!k-12-#J-.$R/-0<-,R=-L%- .-5?-?R, , Spoken extemporaneously by Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, Karma Drubdey Gonpa, Bhutan, October 9, 2006. Translated by Ari Goldfield. MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page xvi MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page xvii MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page xviii xviii Mind Beyond Death MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page xix Foreword: Venerable Alak Zenkar Rinpoche xix MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page xx xx Mind Beyond Death MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page xxi Foreword: Venerable Alak Zenkar Rinpoche xxi MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page xxii MBD_REV 05_08 7/7/09 12:23 PM Page xxiii Foreword Venerable Alak Zenkar Rinpoche In this life, you guide us with empowerments and key instructions. In the next life, you lead us down the path of liberation. In the bardo between those two, you free us from the chasms of fear. Unequalled guru, bestow your blessing upon me. The bardo, or intermediary state, has become a popular catchphrase in Buddhist circles. The appearances of this life, we are told, fade away, and for forty-nine days we experience awesome and terrifying visions in a dis- embodied state.
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