Death
Through the afflictions of desire, hatred and ignorance,
contaminated karma (actions) are performed, which establish
potencies in the mind in the form of predispositions. When a
lifetime finishes, a person who has such predispositions is born
again in cyclic existence with a mind and body appropriated through
these contaminated causes.
Some persons die upon the full exhaustion of the impetus of that
action which, in another lifetime, laid the foundation for this
one. Others die without having used up their allotted time, through
the incompletion of the causes of sustaining life, such as lack or
necessities. This is called untimely death, or death upon the
consumption of merit; for the impetus of the action that
established this life remains, but external concordant
circumstances that are achieved through other meritorious actions
in previous lives do not.
A person dies within a virtuous, non-virtuous or neutral mind.
In the first case, the dying person might take to mind a virtuous
object such as the Three Jewels (Buddha, his Doctrine and the
Spiritual Community) or his own lama, thereby generating a mind of
faith. Or he or she might cultivate immeasurable equanimity,
becoming free from desire and hatred toward any sentient beings, or
meditate on emptiness or cultivate compassion. This can be done
either through one’s own remembering to do such or through others’
urging. If such attitudes are cultivated at the point of death, one
dies within a virtuous mind, through which one’s rebirth is
improved. It is good to die in this way.
Sometimes, however, it happens that others, even though not
purposely seeking to arouse anger, annoy the dying person with
their nervousness, thereby making him or her angry. Sometimes,
also, friends and relatives gather around the bed lamenting in such
a manner that they arouse manifest desire. Whether it be desire or
hatred, if one dies within a sinful attitude to which one is well
accustomed, it is very dangerous.
Some die within a neutral attitude, neither taking a virtuous
object to mind nor generating desire or hatred.
These three attitudes virtuous, non-virtuous and neutral
occur until the point of the subtle mind of death. According to the
sutra system, this final subtle mind necessarily neutral; for,
unlike Highest Yoga Tantra, sutra does not describe techniques for
transforming subtle minds into virtuous states, only for treating
coarse ones. A qualified practitioner of tantra, however, can
convert the subtle minds associated with death into a virtuous path
consciousness. At that point one’s practice is very profound.
In any case, the attitude just before death is very important;
for, if even a moderately developed practitioner is disturbed at
that time, manifest desire or hatred will be generated. This is
because we all have predispositions established by former
non-virtuous actions, which are ready to be activated upon meeting
with disadvantageous circumstances. It is these predispositions
that provide the impetus for lifetimes as animals, and so forth.
Similarly, we have predispositions established by former virtuous
actions, which, upon meeting with advantageous circumstances, will
provide the impetus for lifetimes in happy migrations as humans and
so forth.
These capacities that are already in our mental continuums are
nourished by attachment and grasping, leading to a bad or good
rebirth. Thus, if the predisposition left by a bad karma is
activated, a life as an animal, hungry ghost or hell-being will
result.
Similarly, if a person who usually behaves sinfully dies within
a virtuous attitude, he or she will probably be reborn in a good
situation. Therefore, it is very important for both the dying
person and those around him or her to avoid creating situations of
desire or hatred and instead to foster virtuous states of mind. We
need to know this.
Those who die within a virtuous attitude have a sense of passing
from darkness into light, are free of anxiety and see pleasant
appearances. There are many cases of very ill persons who, near the
time of death, speak of being in great comfort despite their
illness. Others with little illness fall into great fright, with
labored breathing. These latter are sunk in non-virtuous thoughts,
have a sense of going from light to darkness and see unpleasant
forms.
Some whose physical warmth has diminished through illness become
desirous of heat, thereby fortifying predispositions for rebirth as
a being in a hot hell, whereupon they take rebirth in a place of
extreme heat. Others become attached to a feeling of coolness
wishing, for instance, for a drink water, they fortify
predispositions to be reborn as a being in a cold hell, thereby
making the connection to such a rebirth. Thus it is very important
to avoid desirous thoughts at the time of death and direct the mind
to salutary objects.
In everyday life, attitudes of desire, hatred, jealousy and so
forth, to which we are well accustomed, become manifest with only
slight provocation; but those with which we have little familiarity
take considerable provocation, such as recourse to reasoning, to
manifest themselves. Similarly, at the time of death, attitudes of
long familiarity usually take precedence and direct the rebirth.
For this same reason, strong attachment is generated for the self,
since one fears that one’s self is becoming non-existent. This
attachment serves as the connecting link to the intermediate state
between lives (bardo); the liking of a body, in turn, acts as a
cause establishing the body of the intermediate being.
For those strongly involved in non-virtuous actions, the warmth
of the body withdraws first from the upper part of the body and
then from other parts; whereas, for those strongly involved in
virtuous actions, the warmth first withdraws from the feet. In both
cases, the warmth finally gathers at the heart, from which the
consciousness exits. Those particles of matter, of combined semen
and blood, into which the consciousness initially entered in the
mother’s womb at the beginning of the life, become the center of
the heart; and from that very same point the consciousness
ultimately departs at death.
Intermediate state
Immediately thereupon, the intermediate state begins except
for those reborn in the formless realms of infinite space, infinite
consciousness, “nothingness” or peak of cyclic existence, for whom
the new life begins immediately upon death. Those born within the
realms of desire and form must pass through an intermediate state,
during which a being has the form of the person as whom he or she
is to be reborn. The intermediate being has all five senses, but
also clairvoyance, unobstructiveness and an ability to arrive
immediately wherever he or she wants. He or she sees other
intermediate beings of his or her own type hell-being, hungry
ghost, animal, human, demigod or god and can be seen by
clairvoyants.
If a place of birth appropriate to one’s predispositions is not
found, a small death occurs after seven days, and one is reborn
into another intermediate state. This can occur at most six times,
with the result that the longest period spent in the intermediate
state is forty-nine days.
Rebirth
This means that those beings who, even a year after dying,
report that they have not found a birthplace are not in the
intermediate state but have taken birth as a spirit.
If taking rebirth as a human, one sees one’s future mother and
father as if lying together. If one is to be reborn as a male, this
sight generates desire for the mother as well as hatr ed for the
father and vice versa if one is to be reborn as a female. Being
desirous, one rushes there to engage in copulation; but upon
arrival, one sees only the sexual organ of the desired partner.
This creates anger, which causes cessation of the intermediate
state and makes the connection to the new life. One has entered the
mother’s womb and begun a human life. When the father’s semen and
mother’s blood are conjoined with this life or consciousness, they
naturally and gradually develop into the elements of a human.
One is desirously attracted to one’s future birthplace, even if
it is to be a hell. For instance, a butcher might see sheep in the
distance as in a dream; upon his rushing there to kill them, the
appearance would fade, causing him to become angry, whereupon the
intermediate state would cease and his new life in hell begin.
Also, as said before, those to be reborn in hot hells are attracted
to heat; in cold hells, to coolness. The intermediate state of one
who is to be reborn in a bad migration is itself very frightful; in
the end, one rushes to the place of rebirth and, when one’s wish is
not achieved, gets angry, whereupon the intermediate state ceases
and the new life begins.
The connection to a life is, therefore, made under the influence
of desire, hatred and ignorance. Until these afflictions are
overcome, one is as if bound in chains without freedom. Indeed,
there are good and bad rebirths; but, while one is still bound, one
must bear the burden of mental and physical aggregates that are
under the influence of contaminated actions and afflictions. This
is not done just once, but again and again without break.
To overcome the sufferings of birth, aging, sickness and death,
desire, hatred and confusion must be overcome. Their root, in turn,
is ignorance the conception of an inherent existence of persons
and other phenomena. External medicines alleviate superficial
suffering but cannot cure the central problem. Internal practices
such as resorting to specific antidotes to desire and hatred are
more helpful, but their effects are temporary however, if one can
destroy ignorance their root then all of these cease of their
accord.
If ignorance is eliminated, then the contaminated actions that
depend on it are stopped.
Furthermore, without ignorance, the attachment and
predispositions established by previous actions cease to operate,
whereupon the cycle of uncontrolled rebirth is ended.
Published as the foreword to Death, Intermediate State and
Rebirth by Lati Rinpoche and Jeffrey Hopkins. Reproduced in the
September/October 1997 issue of Mandala with the
permission of Snow Lion Publications
, Ithaca, New
York.
