Chikhai Bardo: The Primordial (Clear Light) and the Awareness-Body
The Chikhai Bardo is the after death state described in the Bardo Thodol (Tibetan Book of the Dead) wherein the consciousness of the dead person fully enters into the light of the dharmakaya or "truth body." (explained in the first part of this series).
In this state, the person temporarily experiences for the first time the state of awareness without a second, that is to say, a state of pure consciousness.
This is the state of non-duality. The first experience here is the sight of the Primordial Clear Light or the "Clear Light of Reality." This is the pure mind of the Buddha, Christ, and all the perfected saints and mystics.
It is generally accepted among various spiritual traditions that the total amount of time it takes to transition between two consecutive earthly incarnations is 49 days. During this period, the first 3 to 4 days are spent in the Chikhai Bardo wherein the Awareness-body is formed. The formation of the awareness-body is a significant point in this process since it will carry one’s consciousness when it travels the path through the afterlife.
Before I go further in explaining the Chikhai Bardo and the Primordial Clear Light, let me first describe what takes place during and immediately after death according to the teachings of the Bardo Thodol.
The Three-fold Process of Dying
Phase 1
The dissolution of the physical senses and the cessation of awareness of the physical body
When a person dies, the light of the eye disappears and everything becomes blurred, then the sense of hearing is turned off. Then, the sense of smell fails, followed by the sense of taste. Then the sense of one's body disappears and one can no longer feel anything by touch. Thus, before a person experiences complete death, what takes place first is a sinking of bodily phenomena into a state of non-functioning. When this is completed, there is no more sense-activity or awareness of the material world.
Phase 2
The dissolution of the elements and the psyche
This is a process of dematerialization from the heaviest element (earth) up to the most spiritual of the five elements. Based on commentaries of Buddhist texts, this process is comparable to experiencing samadhi, and achieving spiritual enlightenment in this life is actually equivalent to experiencing the primordial clear light in the Chikhai Bardo.
During Phase 2, the element earth sinks into water, and the water of the body can no longer be sustained. Water sinks into fire which dries out speech; fire sinks into air and it dissipates the heat of the body. Then the element of wind sinks into ether which holds the mind substance. Lastly, the outer breath and inner breath consume one another. When the last elements and their interconnected properties are dissolved, pure awareness remains and is freed from all attachments to the material world, then the primordial clear light is experienced boundlessly in a non-dimensional space. This is where you say, "OMG!"
Phase 3
The illumination of consciousness after death
This describes how the signals which pass through our senses while still alive gradually turn into a self-representation of awareness at the moment of death. The "inner space" turns into an infinite dimension as the perception of external physical reality ends. The third phase has five stages:
- Everything you perceive from the outside slowly appears as coming from the inside.
- What you see outside then emerge just like the light of the moon. As time passes, what you see inside appear like sparks of fire.
- What you see outside appear as the light of the sun which slowly becomes dark. Then what you see inside appear as candlelight.
- What you see outside appears faint and remote then your consciousness slowly enters the primordial clear light. This is like seeing the light of dawn.
- Lastly, consciousness itself appears like the clear sky. With the absence of thought, the primordial clear light now appears, infinite and without a central perspective. If your consciousness is free of karma, you immediately achieve enlightenment, obtain the dharmakaya (truth body), and can stay here within the realm beyond all becoming, the deathless realm. If not, then you will go down to experience the other intermediate states in the Bardo.
What is The Primordial Clear Light?
The primordial clear light serves a highly important role in the symbolism of the Bardo Thodol. In Tibetan Buddhism, it is considered as the state of pure wisdom and the peak of experience. In Zen Buddhism, the experience of the primordial clear light is regarded as the highest state of meditative experience known as Satori. Others call it "the radiance from the seed of emptiness” or “the primordial wisdom of great bliss.”
The experience of the primordial clear light may be two-fold depending on a person's spiritual attainment:
1. The Primary Clear Light
The primary clear light is the clear untainted light that represents a highly evolved form of the spirit or a clear presence of the totality of consciousness. In the presence of the clear light “all things are like the void and cloudless sky, and the naked, spotless intellect is like unto a transparent vacuum without circumference or centre.”
The primary clear light immediately experienced at the time of death is also equivalent to enlightenment — the highest level of spiritual experience for people in various mystical and spiritual schools — since it is well-known among these circles that consciousness can be transformed into wisdom by means of spiritual practice.
At the time of death, the dead person is reminded by the lama or guru not to let this clear light slip away. A message is repeated many times through the ear of the dead person to abide in this state without being enthralled or mesmerized. If the person's consciousness cannot hold on to this experience because of its overwhelming power, then the secondary clear light will soon appear, which will be followed by the visionary deities.
2. The Secondary Clear Light
The secondary clear light is less intense. While in this state, the person becomes concerned with his or her individuality, but cannot determine whether he or she is dead or not. The consciousness of the dead person drifts within familiar places. It even gets a glimpse of its relatives and people it had been close to as if one is having a lucid dream.
The terrifying karmic apparitions have not yet begun at this point, but will soon start if one's consciousness still cannot hold on to this state. In this case, the dead person is again reminded, through the ritual, not to be distracted and to meditate upon his/her tutelary deity to help focus the mind on the clear light.
Departure From The Chikhai Bardo
After three to four days, the awareness-body is completely formed and the dead person is now able to entirely witness the events of the Bardo as if it still possesses all the five senses that belong to the physical world. If the awareness-body fails to dwell in the dharmakaya (truth body), then the peaceful and wrathful deities begin to appear progressively.
Buddhist teachers say that the consciousness of an ordinary person wanders through the afterlife like a stray animal. For that reason, the purpose of the deities is to direct one’s consciousness to its proper place of rebirth, which is determined by one’s karma and by the spiritual attainments that one has gained during the previous life.
Spiritual Practice and Eliminating Karma
Karmic tendencies clouds the consciousness of the dead person with thoughts of dualism. Since the Chikhai Bardo is a state of non-duality, as soon as the awareness-body begins to have reflections of personality or individuality, it loses balance and falls away from the Primordial Clear Light. The energy that Karma creates overcomes consciousness and allows the various forms of reality to manifest as psychic projections.
It is, therefore, necessary for the individual entering the Chikhai Bardo to be cleared of karmic debts to be able to withstand the overpowering force encountered during this state. If one is able to reach this state, by means of spiritual practice right now as a human, the cycle of rebirth is ended and one immediately attains liberation. This is called “moksha” in Indian religions.
Nonetheless, it is said that such an ability is so uncommon in our time. Even if it is true for everyone who enters the death state to experience an extremely positive event, the power of dying consciously by emptying the mind and releasing the ego is something that is usually attributed only to saints and spiritual adepts who are rarely found within the confines of our society. They are the ones who can instantly recognize the ecstasy that dawns upon consciousness once brought face-to-face with the primordial clear light — a space without dimensions, a positive realm of emptiness, and an infinite world of transcendent nothingness.
For many, this description of death may not mean anything because being "nothing" and the concept of "emptiness" for them offers a negative connotation. Indeed, it takes a certain amount of wisdom to come to terms with the teachings found in spiritual texts such as the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and sadly, only few people have it. In the next article, I’ll discuss the Chonyid Bardo and the vision of the peaceful deities.
