Intermediate State; and third, the methods of closing the doors of the womb while in the Intermediate State when seeking rebirth.[1]
[PART 1]
[THE BARDO OF THE MOMENTS OF DEATH]
[INSTRUCTIONS ON THE SYMPTOMS OF DEATH, OR THE FIRST STAGE OF THE CHIKAAI BARDO: THE PRIMARY CLEAR LIGHT SEEN AT THE MOMENT OF DEATH]
The first, the setting-face-to-face with the Clear Light, during the Intermediate State of the Moments of Death, is:
Here [some there may be] who have listened much [to religious instructions] yet not recognized; and [some] who, though recognizing, are, nevertheless, weak in familiarity. But all classes of individuals who have received the practical teachings [called] Guides[2] will, if this be applied to them, be set face to face with the fundamental Clear Light; and, without any Intermediate State, they will obtain the Unborn Dharma-Kāya, by the Great Perpendicular Path.[3]
- ↑ The first Bardo is the Chikhai Bardo; the second, the Chōnyid Bardo; the third, the Sidpa Bardo. (See p. 1024–6.)
- ↑ See p. 856.
- ↑ Text: Yar-gyi-zang-thal-chen-po: the ‘Great Straight Upward Path’. One of the Doctrines peculiar to Northern Buddhism is that spiritual emancipation, even Buddahood, may be won instantaneously, without entering upon the Bardo Plane and without further suffering on the age-long pathway of normal evolution which traverses the various worlds of sangsdric existence. The doctrine underlies the whole of the Bardo Thödol, Faith is the first step on the Secret Pathway. Then comes Illumination; and, with it, Certainty; and, when the Goal is won, Emancipation. But here again success implies very unusual proficiency in yoga, as well as much accumulated merit, or good karma, on the part of the devotee. If the disciple can be made to see and to grasp the Truth as soon as the guru reveals it, that is to say, if he has the power to die consciously, and at the supreme moment of quitting the body can recognize the Clear Light which will dawn upon him then, and become one with it, all sangsāric bonds of illusion are broken asunder immediately: the
