The Bardo of the Time of Death

Kyema! Now, as the bardo of the time of death appears, I should, by giving up all tendencies towards clinging, grasping and holding, Pass over from a clear understanding of the instructions into undistractedness And eject the unborn

self-awareness into the vastness of space. At the time of separating from my body of flesh and blood I should know that it is an impermanent illusion.

The fourth intermediate existence is called the bardo of the time of death. It describes the intermediate existence that begins with the dissolution of the appearances of this life in the process of dying. The eyes recognise no more forms, the ears no sounds, the nose no smells, the tongue no tastes and the

body is no longer sensitive. In this way the appearances of this life dissolve. The bardo of the time of death lies between their dissolution and the arising of the appearances of the following bardo of dharmata.

The bardo of the time of death will arise for all of us. When we leave the womb our life lies in front of us. The length of a human life differs according to individual karma. There is not one single being that does not have to die. The life of all beings ends with death. We can not avoid death. We can

however turn away the fear and suffering that are bound up with death. We should think about the fact that we are not the only ones who must die. All beings die. It is something quite normal. So developing fear and suffering is useless. It would be much better to rely on the special instructions of the teacher and practise them.

The Root Verses o f the Six Bardos have this to say:

Kyema! Now, as the bardo o f the tim e of death appears, I should, by giving up all tendencies towards clinging, grasping and holding, Pass over from a clear understanding of the instructions into undistractedness And eject the unborn self-awareness into the vastness of space. At the tim e o f separating from my body o ff lesh and blood I should know that it is an impermanent illusion.

Now, as the bardo o f the tim e o f death appears, I should, by giving up all tendencies towards clinging, grasping and holding

When we are dying and the bardo of the time of death appears we should give up all our clinging: clinging to food, wealth, friends, sons, daughters, in short to everything we own and know. It is precisely this clinging that is the cause of our wandering in the cycle of existences. It binds us to samsara. Therefore the necessity of abandoning all clinging and grasping is emphasised here.

If we happen to be wealthy as the time of death draws near, the following thoughts help: “Now it is time to die. After my death I leave my wealth to my children.” - “I will support hospitals with it.” - “I’d like it to be distributed amongst beggars and the poor.” - “I make all of it into an offering to

the three jewels, the buddha, dharma and sangha.” This is also the meaning of the mandala practice: giving up clinging to possessions. When, in the course of the mandala practice, we recite: “Through my sprinkling of this base with perfumed water and the scattering of it with flowers, may...”

we thereby mentally offer all our property, friends, food, and houses in order to abandon our clinging. Generally speaking, we should offer all our possessions in the form of a mandala to the lama and the three jewels.

Pass over from a clear understanding of the instructions into undistractedness

In order to be able to use death on the path to buddhahood we must apply at the time of death the practice that we have mainly practised during our lifetime.

A special teaching for the process of dying is the development of great compassion for all beings by meditating as follows: “It’s not just me, but all beings have to experience the suffering of death. Therefore may all suffering

of death be overcome by my present suffering.” - “May the suffering of all beings ripen in myself. May my perfect happiness and my joy, the merit and the virtue that I have collected penetrate to all beings.” This method is called ‘tonglen’ (sending and taking). We visualise that as we breathe out all our

positive qualities stream out as white light and reach all beings. As we breathe in we take into ourselves all the suffering and negativity of all beings as a black light. This is an exceptional instruction, in accordance with which we can practise during the dying process.

Someone who in life has primarily practised the generation phase and mantra recitation of a yidam deity clearly visualises the body of his yidam while dying. He imagines that his yidam deity is actually present above the

crown of his head. It is also possible to visualise your own root lama above the crown of your head, or as a third possibility to visualise yidam and root lama as inseparably connected, since yidam and lama are one in their inner being.

Someone who has primarily practised mahamudra, that is shamatha or vipashyana goes at the time of death into a condition of undistractedness by letting his mind rest in itself uninfluenced by the arising of thoughts. He liberates thoughts into their own nature by recognising them as thoughts. Then he remains in the true nature of the mind.

And eject the unborn self-awareness into the vastness of space.

Someone who in this life has primarily practised phowa can, at the time of his death, visualise Buddha Amitabha over the crown of his head and repeatedly send his own consciousness into Amitabha’s heart.

At the time of separating from m y body off lesh and blood I should know that it is an impermanent illusion.

The form skandha, which is the compounded body of flesh and blood, and my consciousness will separate at the time of death. There are therefore no grounds for the development of fear of suffering at the time of this separation.

As the Buddha taught, everything compounded is by its very nature subject to impermanence. This reveals itself now for me too. Everything compounded has the same nature. We should develop courage from this knowledge.

The body is composed of the following four elements on which consciousness is based:

- The earth element corresponds to the flesh of the body.

- The water element corresponds to the blood.

- The fire element corresponds to bodily warmth.

- The air element corresponds to the breath.

At the time of death the elements separate from each other step by step.

First the earth element dissolves into the water element. Our body changes at this stage. A feeling of heaviness arises, as if our body could no longer be lifted. This feeling comes at the beginning of the process of dying, as illness brings death nearer. The illness of those who are sick intensifies. The

body becomes so heavy that one cannot move any more. One can only still move the eyes. As a sign that the earth element is dissolving into the water element appearances arise to our inner consciousness like mirages, similar to the perception of water or other sensory illusions which result from summer heat on a wide plain.

After this the water element dissolves into the fire element. A sign of this is the drying out of the mouth and nose. We experience unquenchable thirst. At that moment our inner consciousness perceives everything as if through a veil of smoke. The consciousness loses its clarity and seems to be

darkened. It is taught that at this moment the thirty-three thoughts of anger dissolve.

Fading of the bodily warmth is a sign that the fire element is dissolving into the element of air. The feet, hands and head become cold. Regardless of how hard we try to warm them, they become cold all the same. At this moment the consciousness perceives appearances that are like glowing sparks or glow worms. There are altogether forty thoughts of desirous attachment which also dissolve as the fire element dissolves into the air element.

The movement of the breath corresponds to the air element which subsequently dissolves into the element of consciousness. With this dissolution breathing ceases and death arrives. Once the last breath has been exhaled, there may perhaps follow a single small inhalation which cannot however be followed by a further exhalation. At this moment the air element dissolves into consciousness. The inner consciousness experiences a special clarity like the flame of a butter lamp not flickering in the wind. At this stage the seven thoughts of dullness dissolve.

The thoughts which dissolve simultaneously with the elements are known as the eighty natural thoughts. They are:

- the thirty three thoughts connected to anger

- the forty thoughts connected to desirous attachment

- the seven thoughts connected to dullness.

This is the description of the coarse dissolution of the four elements. A distinction is made between two kinds of dissolution, namely coarse and subtle dissolution.

The subtle dissolution proceeds in three stages: appearance, increase and attainment.

The element of consciousness dissolves first into appearance. During this phase the bindu received from the father falls naturally downwards from the crown, where it was during life. At the same time all outer appearances are perceived in a white colour. This phase is also called the ‘white path’.

After this, appearance dissolves into increase. During this phase the bindu received from the mother rises naturally upwards from under the navel, where it was during life. All outer appearances are perceived in a red colour. This phase is also called the ‘red path’.

After this, increase dissolves into attainment. In this phase the white bindu of the father sinking from the crown meets the red bindu of the mother rising from underneath the navel and they merge in the centre of the heart. At this moment we lose consciousness and cease to perceive external appearances. This phase is also called the ‘black path’.

Subsequent to this unconscious condition the true nature of the mind free from all projections appears to us. It is the clear light, mahamudra. This condition of the true nature of the mind is also known as the ‘ground clear light’ or the ‘mother clear light’.

The mahamudra practice of our present life, which we exercise as long as we are on the path, is called the ‘path clear light’ or the ‘child clear light’. On the basis of the mahamudra practice of this life we can, in that moment after the condition of unconsciousness as the ground clear light appears, unify

this with the path clear light. This happens by recognising the ground clear light as the true nature of the mind and remaining within it. This meditation is called ‘tugdam’. Whoever has practised mahamudra in this life, be it a lama, a spiritual friend or someone else, can enter the tugdam at this moment.

Some people sit up to die, adopting the seven point bodily posture of Vairocana and die in this position. They perform clear light meditation and as the ground clear light appears transfer into tugdam meditation. There are many people who die in this way. Even if you cannot die in the seven point bodily posture but have to lie down, it is possible to go into tugdam in this way.

Normally, when death has arrived, the nostrils close, the walls of the nose pull together, blood drains from the face and beauty disappears. But this is not the case if the mind of the deceased transfers into tugdam meditation. The nose retains its form, the nostrils remain open and colour stays in the

face. Here in the west bodies are often kept in refrigerated mortuaries. That was not the case in Tibet in the past. When somebody died the smell of decomposition would begin within two or three hours. But if the deceased entered tugdam meditation, the smell of decomposition would remain absent for as long as the consciousness remained in the tugdam meditation.

After a normal death the skin loses its elasticity. If you press it, a dent remains. But the skin keeps the elasticity of life during the tugdam meditation. This is another sign that the consciousness of the deceased has entered tugdam.

The entire body becomes cold after a normal death. Warmth however continues to radiate from the hearts of those whose consciousnesses remain in tugdam after death.

The consciousness remains in mahamudra for the entire duration of the tugdam meditation. In this time all the stages which are still ahead on the path to buddhahood are passed through, and in this way the end of the path is reached. This is called the ‘attainment of buddhahood in the condition of mahamudra’.

If we practise in this life our first realisation will be the ‘lesser path of accumulation’. If we continue the practice we proceed step by step through the ‘middle path of accumulation’, the ‘greater path of accumulation’ and all the further stages to buddhahood. If however at the hour of our death we remain within the clear light of tugdam, we are able immediately to attain the tenth bodhisattva level from the lesser path of accumulation.

If one reaches buddhahood in the tugdam meditation, no bardo appears. There are three names for this kind of realisation:

- Highest capacity of buddhahood in the dharmakaya

- Using death as dharmakaya on the path

- Highest capacity of dharmakaya phowa

I constantly remind my students to meditate on shamatha and the true nature of the mind. Five minutes of daily practice brings within ten days the benefit of fifty minutes practice. Every one of us will meet death one day, maybe even tomorrow. Meditation in this life will then be of great value to us. Some people remain in tugdam for seven days, some for three days, some one day, one hour, two hours - it’s not significant. The reason is connected to the

composition of the nadis and winds. As the tugdam is left one goes into the pure lands of the buddhas. As a sign that the tugdam meditation is over, the colour of the face changes, while the smell and other signs of bodily decomposition begin.

Someone who has never in his life practised will not be able to recognise the ground clear light that appears to him. The ground clear light appears for a certain time following on the unconsciousness to everyone. If one does not recognise it the fifth bardo, the bardo of dharmata, appears.

Questions and Answers

QUESTION:

In the bardo of the time of death, the thirty- three, forty and the seven thoughts dissolve during the second, third and fourth dissolutions. Doesn’t anything dissolve as the earth element dissolves into that of water?

ANSWER:

No, earth is coarse. During life the element of earth, the element of the body is quite dominant. The composition of thoughts is considerably finer, so no thoughts dissolve as the element of earth dissolves into the element of water.

QUESTION:

If the ground clear light is not recognised, appearance, increase and attainment arise in reverse order. Does that mean that a white, red and black path also appear again?

ANSWER:

It is not taught whether a white, a red and a black path appear. But if one does not recognise the clear light and then loses consciousness, that is attainment. Increase arises out of attainment, and appearance arises out of increase. This is how the mental body of the bardo consciousness comes step by step into being.

QUESTION:

How important is the part of the body from which the consciousness leaves? It’s supposed to be important that consciousness comes out of the crown of the head. If it leaves from the lower doors one goes directly to the lower realms of existence.

ANSWER:

Those are the teachings about phowa, in which one speaks of the various bodily openings: nostrils, eyes, ears, mouth, navel, the lower orifices and the Brahma opening at the crown. At death, consciousness can leave through any of these openings. It is taught that if the consciousness leaves through the nostrils, one will take rebirth in a different realm from that reached if it leaves

through the navel. If it leaves through the Brahma opening at the crown, that is the path that leads to the pure lands of the buddhas. Therefore in the phowa practice consciousness is emitted through the Brahma opening, so that it melts directly into the heart of Buddha Amitabha who is visualised over the crown. The bardo does not appear if one uses the phowa practice in this way according to its teachings. As has already been explained, one does not go into the bardo through the dharmakaya phowa.