Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche:
Bardo
ALL SENTIENT BEINGS ARE IN A SITUATION called bardo. Bardo
means
an intermediate state which is between two points of time. Right
now
we are in the intermediate state between our birth and our death
called the
bardo of this life. This bardo lasts from the moment we take birth
until we
enter the circumstances that will cause our passing away. Two
other
bardos are sometimes included within the bardo of this life. They
are
called the bardo of meditation and the bardo of dreaming. We need
to
train in the bardo of meditation during the daytime and the bardo
of
dreaming during the night. Now, to train in the bardo of
meditation, we
need to understand what is meant by buddha nature.
Buddha nature is present in everyone, without any exception. It is
the
very core of our being, the very nature of our mind. It is nature
totally free
from all faults and fully endowed with all perfect qualities. What
we need
to do now is simply to recognize our nature, and then sustain
the
recognition of that. There is no need to create or manufacture a
buddha
nature through meditation. It’s also essential to realize that
every
experience manifests and vanishes within the expanse of our
buddha
nature.
The bardo of meditation takes place during the period of time we
are
able to recognize our buddha nature, the dharmakaya nature of our
mind.
Involvement in conceptual thinking is not called meditation.
Meditation in
this context refers to the time when the thought has ceased and
there is an
absence of conceptual thinking. To repeat that period over and over
again,
from the cessation of thought to its re-occurrence, is called
training in the
bardo of meditation. Unless we recognize this nature, we will
continue in
samsaric existence, taking rebirth in one realm after the other.
Sentient
beings take birth from one place to the next in samsaric existence
precisely
because of not recognizing their nature. This lack of knowing their
nature
is called ignorance.
Essential meditation teachings are called pith instructions, and
they are
both profound and direct. To illustrate this point I will tell
about pith
instructions given by Paltrül Rinpoche. Once, Chokgyur Lingpa went
to a
tent camp in the province of Golok to meet Paltrül Rinpoche, and
stayed
with him a week. During that week Chokgyur Lingpa and his
daughter
received transmission for the Bodhicharya Avatara and
essential
meditation teachings.
One evening Paltrül Rinpoche taught the daughter of Chokgyur
Lingpa, Könchok Paldrön, who was to become my grandmother.
She
remembered his words very clearly, and later repeated them to me.
She
imitated Paltrül Rinpoche’s thick Golok accent, and said, “Don’t
entertain
thoughts about what has passed, don’t anticipate or plan what will
happen
in the future. Leave your present wakefulness unaltered, utterly
free and
open. Aside from that, there is nothing else whatsoever to do!”
What he
meant was, don’t sit and think about what has happened in the past,
and
don’t speculate on what will appear in the future, or even a few
moments
from now. Leave your present wakefulness, which is the buddha
nature of
self-existing wakefulness, totally unmodified. Do not try to
correct or alter
anything. Leave it free, as it naturally is, free and wide-open
like space.
There is nothing more to do besides that. These are the vajra words
of
Paltrül Rinpoche, and they are truly meaningful.
Present ordinary mind is that quality or capacity that is conscious
in
everyone, from the Buddha Samantabhadra and Vajradhara all the
way
down to the tiniest insect. All sentient beings are aware or
conscious. That
which is aware or conscious is what we call mind, that which knows.
It is
conscious, yet it also is empty, not made out of anything
whatsoever.
These two qualities, being conscious and empty, are indivisible.
The
essence is empty; the nature is cognizant; they are impossible
to separate,
just as wetness can’t be separated from water, nor heat from a
flame.
Once this nature has been recognized, training in the bardo of
meditation
can begin. At the moment of not recollecting anything from the
past,
not being involved in contemplating the future and not being
preoccupied
with something else in the present; let your present wakefulness
gently
recognize itself. When you allow this, there is an immediate and
vividly
awake moment. Do not try to modify or improve upon this moment
of
present wakefulness. Leave it open and free as it is.
As for the bardo of dreaming, dreams only occur after we have
fallen
asleep, don’t they? Without sleep, there are no dreams. What we
experience
while dreaming is experienced due to confusion. After we
awaken,
from where did the dream come? Where has the dream experience
gone?
We cannot find either of those places. It’s exactly the same with
the
delusory daytime experiences of all the six classes of
beings.
Examine where your dreams originate from, where they dwell,
and
where they disappear to. Understand that although the dream does
not
truly exist, we are still deluded by it. Now, consider the dream as
an
example for our being conditioned by ignorance. The buddhas
and
bodhisattvas are like people who have never fallen asleep and
therefore are
not dreaming, while sentient beings, due to their ignorance, have
fallen
asleep and are dreaming. Buddhas exist in the primordial state
of
enlightenment, a state that is completely undeluded. This state
moreover is
endowed with all qualities and free from all defects. Cut through
your daytime
confusion, and the double delusion of dreaming atop deluded
samsaric existence ceases as well.
After the bardo of this life comes the bardo of dying. The bardo
of
dying begins the moment we catch an incurable disease that will
cause our
death, until the moment we draw our last breath. The period lasting
from
the inception of illness until our spirit leaves the body is called
the bardo
of dying.
It is said that the best possible achievement is to be liberated
into the
expanse of dharmakaya during the bardo of dying. If we have
recognized
our basic nature of self-existing wakefulness and grown accustomed
to it
through repeated training; a supreme opportunity arises at the
moment just
before physical death. If we are adept enough we can engage
in
dharmakaya phowa, the mingling of self-existing awareness,
the
dharmakaya nature of mind, with the openness of basic space. This
is the
highest kind of phowa: in it there is no ejector and no thing to
eject. You
remain in utterly pure samadhi; mind indivisible from basic
space.
Dharmakaya is like space in that it is all-pervading and impartial.
When
nondual awareness mingles with basic space, this all-pervasiveness
and
space are inseparable. The foundation for dharmakaya phowa is
the
realization of the self-existing wisdom that is present in each one
of us. It
is our awareness that needs to be recognized. Mingle awareness with
the
clear sky and rest in the phowa where nothing is moved, ejected
or
transferred. This liberation into primordial purity is the foremost
type of
phowa.
If you have not recognized nondual awareness, or have not
trained
sufficiently, and therefore can’t effect dharmakaya phowa, the
bardo of
dying will progress further. The ‘outer breath’ of perceptible
inhalation
and exhalation will cease, while the ‘inner breath’ of subtle
energies still
continues to circulate. Between the ceasing of the outer and inner
breaths
occur three experiences called appearance, increase and attainment.
These
take place when the white element from your father, situated at the
top of
the central channel at the crown your head, begins to move
downwards,
inducing an experience of whiteness that is likened to moonlight.
Next the
red element from your mother, situated below the navel, begins to
move
upwards to the heart center, generating an experience of redness
that is
like sunlight. The meeting of these two elements brings about
an
experience of blackness followed by unconsciousness.
Simultaneous with the unfolding of these three experiences, all
the
different ‘80 innate thought states’ arising from the three poisons
of desire,
anger and delusion cease. There are 40 thought states that arise
from
desire, 33 thought states that arise from anger and seven thought
states that
arise from delusion. Every one of these ceases at the moment of
blackness.
It is like the earth and sky merging: everything suddenly grows
dark. The
conceptual frame of mind is temporarily suspended. If you are
a
practitioner who is familiar with the awakened state of
nonconceptual
awareness, you will not black out and fall unconscious at this
point.
Instead, you will recognize the unceasing and unobstructed state of
rigpa.
To reiterate, first there is the whiteness of appearance, second
the redness
of increase and finally the blackness of attainment. These three
are
followed by the state called the ground luminosity of full
attainment,
which is the dharmakaya itself. People who are unfamiliar with
the
awakened state of mind revealed by the cessation of conceptual
thought
will at this point revert into a state of oblivion — the pure and
undiluted
state of ignorance that is the very basis for further samsaric
existence.
For most beings, this oblivious state of ignorance lasts until the
‘sun
rises on the third day’. However, an individual who has received
instructions
from a spiritual teacher and has been introduced to the true
nature
can recognize dharmakaya and attain enlightenment at this point,
without
falling into unconsciousness.
This recognition and awakening are often called the merging of
the
luminosity of ground and path, or the merging of the luminosity of
mother
and child. Through the power of genuine training in the bardo
of
meditation this recognition occurs as naturally and instinctively
as a child
jumping onto his mother’s lap: the mother and the child know one
another,
so there is no doubt, no hesitation. This recognition occurs
instantaneously. A tantra declares: “In one moment, the difference
is
made. In one moment, complete enlightenment is attained.” If this
happens,
there is no reason to undergo any further bardo experiences.
Liberation is attained right then.
For someone who fails to be liberated at the moment of death,
according
to the Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo known among Tibetans
as Bardo Tödröl, the ensuing bardo states are said to
generally
last 49 days, with a certain sequence of events occurring every
seven days.
This is true for the average person who has engaged in a mixture of
good
and evil deeds. For a person who has committed a great deal of evil
during
his lifetime, the bardo can be very short; he or she may plunge
immediately
into the lower realms. For very advanced practitioners the bardo
is
also very short, because there is immediate liberation. But for the
ordinary
person who is somewhere in between these two states, the
intermediate
state is said to last an average of 49 days.5
After the bardo of dying the bardo of dharmata begins.
Ordinary
people feel they have woken up after being in an unconscious state
for
three and a half days; to them it seems as though the sky unfolds
again.
Various dissolution stages occur during the bardo of dharmata:
mind
dissolving into space, space into luminosity, luminosity into
unity, unity in
wisdom and, finally, wisdom dissolving into spontaneous presence.
Here,
this unity refers to the form of the deities. First, colors, lights
and sounds
will occur. Only four colors appear at this time, and this is
called the
experience of the four wisdoms combined. The green light of
all-accomplishing
wisdom is missing at this point, because the path has not yet
been
perfected. ‘Luminosity dissolving into unity’ refers to the forms
of the
deities. Different deities begin to appear, first in their peaceful
and then in
their wrathful form. Some are as tiny as mustard seeds, while
others are as
big as Mount Sumeru. The most important thing at this point is
to
recognize that everything, whatever appears, is a manifestation of
your
nature. The deities are your own manifestations: they do not come
from
anywhere else. So, feel 100% confident that whatever is experienced
is
nothing other than yourself. Another way of explaining this is
that
whatever appears is emptiness, and that which experiences is
also
emptiness. Emptiness cannot harm emptiness, so there is no
point
whatsoever in being afraid. With that kind of confidence, it is
possible to
attain liberation at the sambhogakaya level.
The light from the peaceful and wrathful deities is intense and
overwhelming.
If you have received instructions regarding this stage, you
can
recognize them with confidence as expressions of your own
essential
nature. Otherwise, pale, soft lights representing the six realms
will appear
in different colors. Those who are unfamiliar with such phenomena
will be
naturally attracted to those more comfortable types of light, and
this
attraction is what pulls the mind back into the six realms of
existence. In
this way the fourth bardo, the bardo of becoming, begins.
During the bardo of becoming, your power of perception is seven
times
clearer than during the normal waking state in this life. You will
remember
whatever you have done in the past and will be able to
understand
whatever is taking place. You will possess six recollections: the
ability to
remember the teacher, the teachings, the yidam deity for whom you
have
received empowerment, and so on. When remembering the teachings
you
received and practiced, it is most important to acknowledge that
you have
died and are in the bardo state. Next, try to remember that
everything that
takes place in the bardo is deluded experience. While various
things are
perceived, they lack any self-nature, unlike in our present
experience.
Now, if we put our hand into boiling water or into a flaming
furnace it will
burn. Likewise, we can be crushed by the weight of huge stones. But
in the
bardo, nothing that takes place is real. Everything is just an
illusory
experience — so how can it harm you? This is very important to keep
in
mind.
At this point in the bardo, the force of your intention is
unobstructed. It
is thus possible to take rebirth in one of the five natural
nirmanakaya
realms, the five pure lands of the nirmanakaya buddhas. The easiest
place
to be born is in Sukhavati, the Blissful Realm of Buddha
Amitabha.
Buddha Amitabha made thirteen eminent vows in the past, and due to
the
strength of these it is not necessary to have purified all
disturbing
emotions before being reborn in his pure realm. To enter the
other
buddhafields, total purification is necessary, but this is not true
for
Sukhavati. What is most important here is to be free from doubt.
Engendering
one-pointed determination like an eagle soaring through the
sky,
think without any hesitation, “I will now go directly to the pure
land of
Amitabha!” If you can hold to this single thought in the bardo of
becoming,
that alone is sufficient to go there. As long as you are not
attached to
anything, nothing can tie you down or prevent you from
reaching
Sukhavati. To be sure that you are free of attachments, before
death, mentally
offer everything you own to Buddha Amitabha. Make a mandala
offering out of all your possessions and enjoyments, relatives and
friends.
Anything to which you remain attached, even something as small as
a
needle and thread; is enough to act as an anchor for your
mind.
When the body is left behind, only the consciousness continues on
—
all alone like a strand of hair plucked from a slab of butter. If
the consciousness
is not bound by attachment to anything in this world, then
nothing can hold it back, though the existence of doubt can make
some
difference. A consciousness that harbors doubt about rebirth in the
pure
land of Amitabha can still be reborn there, but it will remain
captive inside
a closed lotus bud for 500 years, until it has purified the
obscuration of
doubt. If you can surrender all attachment to the things you have
known in
this life and one-pointedly make the resolve, “I will go straight
to
Amitabha’s pure land,” then it is 100% certain that you will
arrive. There
is no hesitation or question whatsoever about this.
In the bardo of becoming you will remember, “My stability in
practice
was not sufficient for me to be liberated into dharmakaya at the
moment of
passing away. It was also not quite sufficient to be liberated
into
sambhogakaya during the bardo of dharmata. So now here I am in
the
bardo of becoming.” Acknowledging this, make up your mind to
be
completely free of attachment to anything. Otherwise, even the
smallest
attachment to relatives or possessions will obsess and worry your
spirit,
like a dog chasing a scrap of meat. Only such attachments can
really tie
your consciousness back to this world.
If you do have to be reborn in this world, you will continue
through the
bardo of becoming while seeking a new rebirth. When meeting the
parents
who will give birth to you, imagine them as the yidam deity with
consort.
Let your mind enter the womb in the form of the syllable HUNG, and
make
the resolve to become a pure Dharma practitioner.
The Vajrayana teachings provide many opportunities, many chances
on
different levels. If we miss one opportunity, we get another
chance, and if
we miss that there is still a chance to try again. As long as your
samayas
are unbroken, there are many precious teachings in Vajrayana that
will
help you cross the bardos.
When you are fatally sick or when you face death, make up your
mind
to combine the practice of recognizing mind essence with the
resolve to go
straight to the pure land of Sukhavati. As the great master
Karma
Chagmey said, “May I soar like a vulture in the sky directly to
Sukhavati,
without looking back for a single moment!” Don’t look back!
Remain
totally unattached to anything in this world. Don’t have any doubt:
then
there is no question that you will go straight there.
Always remember to begin with taking refuge and forming the
bodhichitta resolve to benefit all beings. For the main part of
practice,
imagine yourself as the yidam deity. This is called the development
stage.
Gently look into, “Who is it that visualizes? What is it that
imagines all
this?” Not finding anything which visualizes or imagines is called
the
completion stage. At the very same moment of looking into the
thinker,
the fact that there is no thing to see is immediately seen. Anyone
can see
that, if they know how to look. In the very first instant there is
an absence
of thought. This state is not like a black-out, in that you are
not
unconscious, but vividly awake. Yet this wakefulness doesn’t
form
thoughts about anything. It’s like space; not the night sky,
covered by
darkness, but like the sky lit by sunlight, where the sunlight and
space are
indivisible. That is the naked ordinary mind present in everyone.
It’s
naked because at that moment there is no conceptualizing, no
thought
activity. Ordinarily, every moment of consciousness is occupied
with
conceptualizing and creating something. Therefore, leave your
present
wakefulness totally unfabricated.
Remember always to conclude your practice by dedicating the
merit
and making pure aspirations. The pain may be very strong when we
are
seriously ill; we might be in agony and feel miserable. Give up
the
thought, “I’m suffering! How terrible it is for me!” Instead,
think, “May I
take away all the pain and sickness of all sentient beings, and may
their
stream of negative karmic ripening be interrupted! May it all be
taken
upon myself! May I take upon myself all the sickness, difficulties
and
obstacles which the great upholders of the Buddhadharma
experience.
May their hindrances ripen upon me so that they all are free from
any
difficulties whatsoever!” Such an attitude accumulates an
immense
amount of merit and purifies immeasurable obscurations. It is
difficult to
find anything that can create more merit than keeping this
perspective. It is
much, much better than lying there moaning, “Why should this happen
to
me! Why do I have to suffer?” That kind of self-pity is not of much
use.
The wishes we make when we are close to drawing our last breath
are
incredibly powerful. It is said that the resolve the mind forms at
the verge
of death will definitely be fulfilled, whether it is pure or evil.
Some people
die with the thought, “So and so did that to me! May I take
revenge!”
Through the immense strength the mind displays during the last
moments
before expiring, that person’s mind can be reborn as a powerful
evil spirit
with the ability to harm others. On the other hand, if we make pure
wishes
and aspirations, there is no question that they will be fulfilled.
With the
finality of our human life acutely on our minds, the wishes we make
and
resolves we form are immensely powerful. This is very important
to
remember.
At the moment of death, ‘time does not change, experiences
change’.
Time here means that there is no real death that occurs, because
our innate
nature is beyond time. It is only our experiences that change. All
these experiences should be regarded as nothing but a paper tiger.
When we
meet a real tiger, we will feel frightened, but if we see that it
is merely an
imitation — a paper tiger — we are not frightened at all. We have
no fear
that the paper tiger will eat us. In the same way, all the
different
experiences that occur after death all seem real, yet they’re not.
In the
bardo, flames cannot burn us, weapons cannot cut us; everything
is
illusory and insubstantial. It is emptiness.
At Tulku Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche’s monastery, called Bong
Gompa,
north of Central Tibet, the bursar was about to pass away. My
uncle,
Tersey Tulku was present. While the bursar was dying, he never
stopped
talking. He said, “Well, well, now this element is dissolving, now
that
element is dissolving, now consciousness is dissolving into space.
Now
space is split open and all the different manifestations are
appearing. The
vajra chains are fluttering around like crystal garlands and fresh
flowers.
Dharmata is truly amazing!” He was laughing, and then he died.
Of
course, he was someone who was quite stable in awareness.
The experiences that will appear at death and after are
inconceivable,
and cannot exactly be described beforehand. One thing is certain,
however:
whatever is experienced is a ‘mere appearance without any
selfnature,’
merely felt to be, yet insubstantial. Everything is the play of
emptiness.
Whatever is experienced is nothing other than a manifestation
of
your innate nature — visible, but with no concrete substance.
Not recognizing that whatever appears in the bardo is your nature;
you
can be terrified by the sounds, frightened by the rays and afraid
of the
colors. These sounds, colors and lights are the natural
manifestation of
buddha nature. They are, in fact, the Body, Speech and Mind of
the
enlightened state: the colors are the Body, the sounds are the
Speech, and
the light rays are the manifestation of Mind. They appear to
everyone,
without exception, because everyone has buddha nature.
Although these experiences appear to everyone, they can differ in
the
length of time they are experienced. This probably corresponds to
the
degree of stability in mind essence. Other than this difference in
duration,
the experiences are the same for everyone. The most important
thing to
remember is not to feel sad or depressed about anything — there is
no
point in that. Instead, have the attitude of a traveler who is
returning home
while joyfully carrying the burden of the suffering of all sentient
beings.
