Round—there are four kingdoms of living creatures: (1) those of the Element Fire, (2) those of the Element Air, (3) those of the Element Water, and (4) those of the Element Earth. Over this collective life of innumerable myriads of lives man is king. If he be a Great King, filled with the transcendent consciousness of the triumphant Yogī (or Saint), to him the countless multitude of his elemental subjects severally reveal themselves in their true nature and place in his hand the Sceptre (symbolized by the Tibetan dorje, or thunderbolt) of Universal Dominion over Matter. Then, indeed, is he Lord of Nature, becoming in his turn Ruler by Divine Right, a Chakravartin, or Universal Emperor, God and Creator.[1]
V. The Wisdom Teachings
Also involved in symbolical language there are, as fundamental occult doctrines of the Bardo Thödol, what the translator called The Wisdom Teachings; and these—which are essential Mahāyāna doctrines—may be outlined as follows:
The Voidness.—In all Tibetan systems of yoga, realization of the Voidness (Tib. Stong-pa-ñid—pron. Tong-pa-ñid: Skt. Shūnyatā) is the one great aim; for to realize it is to attain the unconditioned Dharma-Kāya, or ‘Divine Body of Truth’ (Tib. Chos-sku—pron. Chö-Ku), the primordial state of uncreatedness, of the supramundane Bodhic All-Consciousness—Buddhahood. Realization of the Voidness (Pali, Suññata) is the aim of Theravādists too.
The Three Bodies.—The Dharma-Kāya is the highest of the Three Bodies (Tib. Sku-gsum—pron. Kū-sum: Skt. Tri-Kāya) of the Buddha and of all Buddhas and beings who have Perfect Enlightenment. The other two bodies are the Sambhoga-Kāya or ‘Divine Body of Perfect Endowment’ (Tib. Longs-spyod-rzogs-sku—pron. Long-chöd-zo-ku) and the Nirmāṇa-Kāya or
- ↑ Manu, in The Laws (xii. 10–11), says: ‘He, whose firm understanding obtains a command over his words, a command over his thoughts, and a command over his whole body, may justly be called a Triple-Commander.
‘The man who exerts this triple self-command with respect to all animated creatures, wholly subduing both lust and wrath, shall by those means attain Beatitude.’—(Cf. trans. by Sir William Jones.)
