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The Tibetan Book of the Dead Translated by Robert A Bantam Wisdom Editions TAO TE CHING: The Classical Book of Integrity and the Way Lao Tzu TRANSLATED BY VICTOR H. MAIR THE BHAGAVAD-GITA: Krishna’s Counsel in Time of War TRANSLATED BY BARBARA STOLER MILLER I CHING: A New Interpretation for Modern Times SAM REIFLER THE BOOK OF FIVE RINGS MIYAMOTO MUSASHI DHAMMAPADA: The Sayings of Buddha THOMAS CLEARY WANDERING ON THE WAY: Earliest Taoist Tales and Parables of Chuang Tzu VICTOR H. MAIR THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD TRANSLATED BY ROBERT A. F. THURMAN This book is dedicated to the brave and gentle people of Tibet, who have suffered and are suffering one of the great tragedies of our time. The entire world is turning its back, due to fear and greed, while the Chinese government pursues its systematic campaign of genocide. May the conscience of all people cry out in one voice! May the Chinese people inform themselves at long last, find out they have been lied to by several of their own governments, and realize they are in extreme contravention of the laws of humanity and of nature! May their hearts then soften and may they take concrete action to repair the great harm they have inflicted on this innocent people. May the Tibetan people soon regain the sovereign freedom they have enjoyed since the dawn of history! And may the sunlight of Tibetan Spiritual Science once again shine brightly upon a freshened world! THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD A Bantam Book / January 1994 All rights reserved. Copyright © 1994 by Robert A. F. Thurman. Color section design by Michael Mendelsohn/MM Design 2000 No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information address: Bantam Books. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Karma Lingpa, 14th cent. [Bar do thos grol. English] The Tibetan book of the dead: the great book of natural liberation through understanding in the between / composed by Padma Sambhava; discovered by Karma Lingpa; translated by Robert A. F. Thurman. p. cm. eISBN: 978-0-307-78402-5 1. Intermediate state—Buddhism—Early works to 1800. 2. Death—Religious aspects— Buddhism—Early works to 1800. 3. Funeral rites and ceremonies, Buddhist—Early works to 1800. 4. Karma Lingpa, 14th cent. Bar do thos grol. 1. Padma Sambhava, ca. 717-ca. 762. II. Thurman, Robert A. F. III. Title. BQ4490.K3713 1993 294.3′423-dc20 93-2891 Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words “Bantam Books” and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036. v3.1 CONTENTS Cover Other Books by This Author Dedication Title Page Copyright List of Figures List of Color Plates Foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama Preface PART ONE PREPARATIONS FOR THE JOURNEY CHAPTER 1 • BACKGROUND An Outline of Tibetan History Tibet: A Spiritual Civilization Tibet’s Present Plight Buddhism in Summary Tibetan Ideas About Death CHAPTER 2 • THE TIBETAN SCIENCE OF DEATH What Is Death? The Six Realms The Three Buddha Bodies The Body-Mind Complex Stages of Death The Reality of Liberation CHAPTER 3 • THE TIBETAN ART OF DYING Introduction Ordinary Preparations for Death Extraordinary Preparations The Preliminary Stage Mentor and Initiation The Creation Stage The Perfection Stage CHAPTER 4 • THE NATURAL LIBERATION LITERATURE The History of the Texts The Sections of the Book PART TWO THE GUIDEBOOK FOR THE JOURNEY The Great Book of Natural Liberation Through Understanding in the Between CHAPTER 5 • THE BETWEEN PRAYERS The Prayer of the Three Body Mentor Yoga The Prayer for Help from the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas The Prayer for Deliverance from the Straits of the Between The Prayer for Refuge from All Terrors of the Between The Root Verses of the Six Betweens CHAPTER 6 • THE GUIDEBOOK TO THE BETWEENS The Prayer of the Reality Between Preliminaries Using The Book of Natural Liberation Recognition of the Clear Light in the Death-point Between The Central Channel Reality Clear Light The Out-of-Body Reality Clear Light The Mild Deity Reality Between The First Day The Second Day The Third Day The Fourth Day The Fifth Day The Sixth Day The Seventh Day The Fierce Deity Reality Between The Eighth Day The Ninth Day The Tenth Day The Eleventh Day The Twelfth Day Orientation to the Existence Between Basic Introduction Powers and Problems of a Between-Being Encountering the Lord of Death Detachment from the Previous Life Avoiding the Dull Lights to Block Rebirth Blocking the Door of the Womb Choosing a Good Womb Taking Refuge in the Three Jewels PART THREE SUPPLEMENTARY TRANSLATIONS CHAPTER 7 • THE DHARMA PRACTICE, NATURAL LIBERATION OF THE INSTINCTS The Ten Branches of Accumulating Merit Enlightening, Protecting, and Purifying Vajrasattva Purification The Actual Visualization Self-Creation The Mild Deity Interior Mandala The Scientist Deity Interior Mandala The Fierce Deity Interior Mandala CHAPTER 8 • THE NATURAL LIBERATION THROUGH NAKED VISION, IDENTIFYING THE INTELLIGENCE The Quintessence The Need for This Identification The Detailed Identification The Three-Point Entrance The Forceful Method The Four Inerrancies and Four Nails The Oneness of Times Views, Meditations, Ethics, Fruitions This Knowing Mind Is All Glossary Essential Bibliography LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Structure of the Buddha Dharma Figure 2. The Three Buddha Bodies and their analogues Figure 3. The life cycle as the six betweens Figure 4. The gross, subtle, and extremely subtle body-mind complex Figure 5. The five aggregates of the individual life Figure 6. The subtle body’s wheels and channels Figure 7. The subtle mind’s intuitions, experiences, and instincts Figure 8. The stages of death: dissolutions and experiences Figure 9. The aggregates and wisdoms corresponding to the early stages of death Figure 10. The Five Buddhas, and the corresponding aggregates, poisons, colors, and wisdoms Figure 11. Movement of energy through the subtle body LIST OF COLOR PLATES 1. Padma Sambhava in His Copper Mountain Paradise 2. Avalokiteshvara as the Thousand-armed Lord of Compassion 3. The Buddha Akshobhya in the Eastern Pure Land, Abhirati 4. Wheel of Life 5. Fierce Chemchok Heruka and the Between Deities 6. Chemchok Heruka 7. Peaceful Deities All Together 8. Fierce Deities All Together THE DALAI LAMA FOREWORD The Bardo Thodol, which has become known in the West as The Tibetan Book of the Dead, is one of the most important books our civilization has produced. We Tibetans have a reputation of being very spiritual, though we usually consider ourselves quite down-to-earth and practical. So we think of our systematic study and analysis of the human death process as a cautious and practical preparation for the inevitable. After all, there is not a single one of us who is not going to die, sooner or later. So how to prepare for death, how to undergo the death process with the least trauma, and what comes after death—these are matters of vital importance to every one of us. It would be impractical of us not to study these issues with the greatest of care and not to develop methods of dealing with death and the dying in a skillful, compassionate, and humane way. The Book of Liberation Through Understanding in the Between has been quite popular for many centuries in Tibet. It is a manual of useful instructions for people who are facing their death, as well as for their relatives and friends. It is connected with a large literature in Tibetan that thoroughly investigates the phenomena of dying. Indeed, the reality of death has always been a major spur to virtuous and intelligent action in all Buddhist societies. It is not considered morbid to contemplate it, but rather liberating from fear, and even beneficial to the health of the living. I am delighted that my old friend, Professor Robert Thurman, has made a new translation of this important work. I am sure he brings to bear on this text a unique combination of reliable scholarship and personal dedication to produce an accurate, expressive, and lucid translation for Western readers, I hope they will find the book as essentially useful and illuminating as have Tibetans down through the centuries. January 29, 1993 PREFACE Years ago my original teacher, the Venerable Geshe Ngawang Wangyal of the Labsum Shedrub Monastery, gave me a copy of a Tibetan volume printed in India, entitled The Tibetan Book of the Dead. He had a way of saying certain things so that you remembered them long afterward, giving them a special impact, as if the words stood outside of time. “Here, you are going to need this!” At the time, working on this book was not a priority for me. But I kept it carefully, knowing my teacher’s insight, and thinking that some day I probably would need it. I had long known the old translation of this same text by Kazi Dawa Samdup and W. H. Y. Evans-Wentz, which had started the misnomer, The Tibetan Book of the Dead. I had read it and used it when relatives and friends died. It described a very real process through which we all have to go after death and before the next life that we will most probably have to face. I had also read the Francesca Fremantle and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche version, writing a review of it for a scholarly journal some time ago.
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