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PRIMORDIAL EssENCE MANIFESTS
Primordial Essence
Manifests
by
Chamgon
Kenting Tai Situpa
PALPUNG ZHYISIL CHOKYI GHATSAL PUBLICATIONS

AACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to express our sincere thanks and appreciation

to Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa for his great compassion and
wisdom in bestowing these precious teachings.
We would also like to thank Venerable Lama Tenam and Rishi

Jindal for making these available and Ani Tsumo, Noeleen
Lam, Dr Heather Buttle, Marion Sallis and Judy & Laurie
Reiner for transcribing, additional editing and proofreading.
May this supreme, peerless teaching,
The precious treasure of the Victorious Ones,
Spread and extend throughout the world
Like the sun shining in the sky.
Copyright © 2011
Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa &
Zhyisil Chokyi Ghatsal Charitable Trust
Published by
Palpung Zhyisil Chokyi Ghatsal Publications
PO Box 6259 Wellesley Street, Auckland, New Zealand
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.greatliberation.org
National Library of New Zealand Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Pema Donyo Nyinche, Tai Situpa XII, 1954-

Primordial essence manifests / the Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa.
ISBN 978-1-877294-49-5
1. Karma-glin-pa, 14th cent. Bar do thos grol. 2. Intermediate state—Buddhism.
3. Death—Religious aspects Buddhism, I. Title.
94.3423—dc 22
Cover, Guru Rinpoche, colour plate, Amitabha's pure land of Dewachen,

calligraphy on page 3 spontaneous arising-
by Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa
CONTENTS
The Main Verses of the Six Bardos
Introduction 11
Overcoming the Fear of Death 13
Kye-Nay Bardo 21
Milam Bardo 23
Samten Bardo 31
Care of the Deceased 45
Chika Bardo 49
Sidpa Bardo 59
Conclusion 75
10. The Five Strengths 79
Appendixes 105
About Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa 109

THE MAIN VERSES OF THE
SIX BARDOS
Now when the bardo of birth is dawning upon me,

I will abandon laziness for which life has no time,
Enter the undistracted path of study, reflection and meditation,
Making projections and mind the path, and realize the three kayas;
Now that I have once attained a human body,
There is no time on the path for the mind to wander.
Now when the bardo of dreams is dawning upon me,

I will abandon the corpse-like sleep of careless ignorance,
And let my thoughts enter their natural state without distraction;
Controlling and transforming dreams in luminosity,
I will not sleep like any animal
But unify completely sleep and practice.
Now when the bardo of samadhi-meditation dawns upon me,

I will abandon the crowd of distractions and confusions,
And rest in the boundless state without grasping or disturbance;
Firm in the two practices: visualization and complete,
At this time of meditation, one-pointed, free from activity,
I will not fall into the power of confused emotions.
10 Primordial Essence Manifests
Now when the bardo of the moment before death dawns upon me,
I will abandon all grasping, yearning and attachment,
Enter undistracted into clear awareness of the teaching,
And eject my consciousness into the space of unborn mind;
As I leave this compound body of flesh and blood
I will know it to be a transitory illusion.
Now when the bardo of dharmata dawns upon me,

I will abandon all thoughts of fear and terror,
I will recognize whatever appears as my own projection
And know it to be a vision of the bardo;
Now that I have reached this crucial point,
I will not fear the peaceful and wrathful ones, my own projections.
Now when the bardo of becoming dawns upon me,

I will concentrate my mind one-pointedly,
And strive to prolong the results of good karma,
Close the womb-entrance and think of resistance;
This is the time when perseverance and pure thought are needed,
Abandon jealousy, and meditate on the guru with his consort.
With mind far off, not thinking of death’ coming,

Performing these meaningless activities,
Returning empty-handed now would be complete confusion;
The need is recognition, holy dharma,
So why not practice dharma at this very moment?
From the mouths of siddhas come these words:
If you do not keep your guru’s teaching in your heart
Will you not become your own deceiver?
1. INTRODUCTION
S REQUESTED I will teach on the

bardo and the book which became
i very well-known throughout the world
as The Tibetan Book of the Dead. \ don’t know who translated it,
but when I first saw the title it gave me a big jump. Bardo actually
means intermediate, so bardo is not only about death it is also
about birth and about life. It is one teaching that covers everything
— every teaching covers everything, and in the same way the bardo
teachings also cover everything. Therefore when we learn about
bardo most of the time we think we are learning about death and
what happens after death, but we also have to know that we are
learning about life and what happens.after birth. So this covers a
whole range of subjects, which is summarised into six aspects of
bardo. My translations for each of the titles of the bardos might not
be very good, so you can look in the Tibetan Book of the Dead and
there you will find the proper translations for each of the titles.
The first of the six bardos is the kye-nay bardo — kye means birth
and nay means remaining. The second is milam bardo — milam
means dream. Third is samten bardo — samten means meditation,
or meditative state. The fourth is chika bardo, which means about
to die — chi means dying and ha is like at the door of death, at the
mouth of death. Fifth is chonyi bardo — cho means dharma and nyi
means thusness, as-it-isness, itself, dharmata in Sanskrit. Then the
last one is the sidpa bardo — sidpa literally means the opposite of
impossible. Impossible is mi sidpa, so sidpa is the opposite of that,
it literally means that. But the meaning in the context of bardo is
manifestation — the cause and conditions manifest in the result, or
manifest as a result. So make it possible, make it manifest, that is
sidpa, the sidpa bardo. So those are the six aspects of bardo.
Now all of these six bardos explain about death but specifically
the sidpa and chonyi bardos are very much about death. Then the
sidpa bardo has three bardos —a first bardo, second bardo and third
bardo — which are about death. But the sidpa bardo’s three bardos
have nothing to do with the order of the six bardos. However,
the third bardo of the sidpa bardo is actually the dharmata or
chonyi bardo — when the sidpa bardo is taught about as death,
as three bardos, then the third bardo is the exact teaching of the
dharmata, the chonyi bardo (this is explained in chapter 8). This
way I think the basic text, the subject, is clearly laid out so that
you don’t get confused.
2. OVERCOMING THE
FEAR OF DEATH
ENERALLY THE definition of death

is a very simple thing, but when we
say death it is a frightening thing, a
terrible and unspeakable thing. In some cultures you don’t even
speak or talk about it. But actually it is a very simple and natural
thing — you are born, therefore, you will die. Everybody who is
born is going to die, so if death is such a terrible thing then birth
also has to be a terrible thing. But we are overjoyed by birth and we
celebrate birthdays every year and look forward to them. But then
we have terrible fear about death. For somebody like me, I grew
up with such teachings, but I understand of course that nobody
wants to die, especially me, I don’t want to die. I have a wonderful
life. I really enjoy every moment of my life. Sometimes a month
seems to be a second and sometimes one hour seems to be a month,
but this is very interesting, I really enjoy it. There are problems
and all kinds of complications, but they are all very entertaining;
there is not a moment of time worrying or no chance for me to get
bored because so many things are happening; it is very interesting.
Sometimes there are things I can’t imagine and others times things
Iam able to imagine, which is very entertaining as well. One game
that I play to myself, which I think is good for me, is that I try to
make, or I seemed to have developed a habit and sort of allergy of
making fun of everything. So if I have a problem, I just see it in a
very funny way, and that I think is good for me, but not necessarily
good for everybody.
For example, when I look at my dharma notes here, I respect them

as‘what my gurus taught me, and I wrote them down asI learnt
them, but when I really look at them it is so funny — somebody
made something called paper and cut it into squares, then somebody
else made something called ink, somebody else made something
called a pen and people created alphabets and then you write them
down so you have a note. Don’t you think that is funny? I think it’s
very funny. So when we look into anything, there is nothing that
is not funny, everything is funny. But then I have to pull myself
together because if I go on like that then I will be very odd, I will
be the oddest fellow in the universe. But I have to be dignified so I
somehow try to remedy that allergy of seeing everything as funny,
as almost ridiculous.
Now death, natural death, when it occurs is when our body cannot
be the vessel for our mind any more and the mind leaves the body.
It is like a bubble on the surface of a river, it hosts a little bit of air
or oxygen in it and when that bubble does not have the condition
to hold the air or the oxygen any more, then poof — no more
bubble-— the air and oxygen are gone, somewhere. That is death, this
body is a bubble. When this body has no more conditions to host
the limitless mind in this limited condition, then mind leaves the
body; that is what we call death. So when that happens, naturally
— sometimes it happens before we are born, sometimes just after
we are born, sometimes when we are a child, sometimes when we

are a teenager or an adult, sometimes at a ripe old age — then we are
dead. Until that happens we are alive. But with that definition we
should not be confused that death is the end because ‘alive’ means
that our body is alive, which is because mind is functioning through
it, so our body is alive. Dead means our body is dead — our mind
is not functioning through our body any more so it does not do
the things that it is supposed to do.
You can also have part of your body as dead. For example, ifa terrible
accident happens and one of your limbs gets separated from you
then that limb is dead, it doesn’t function anymore. It rots every
minute and it does not work. Then you can’t put it back unless
you are right next to a good hospital with available doctors. So if
everything is there they might be able to put it back so it becomes
alive again, otherwise that limb is dead, but the rest of your body
is still alive.
Then when the whole body is dead we call that death. But mind
never dies. It’s very simple. When you see people with no legs
and no arms, their arms and legs are dead but they are still alive,
arent they? So in the same way, when the whole body is dead the
mind is still alive, but not through the body, it is functioning in
its own way without the body, and then it will have another kind
of body. So now, by knowing this, although we should cherish life
and do everything we can to live as long as possible — we should
take medicine, we should take good care, we should save others,
we should make others live as long as possible, we should respect
and appreciate life, that is very important — there is no reason to
be afraid of dying when the time comes because it is a natural
thing; especially if we have done our best in this life then we will
not be afraid. If we have done all kinds of terrible things in this
life and even if nobody knows about it, still we know, so when we
die we will die in fear, we will be very afraid. But there is a reason
for that. Why? Because as long as we are in this body, what can
happen to this body is limited. For example, this body is not capable
of withstanding limitless pain. When you have pain or sickness,
when it is too much you will become unconscious, because it is
too much. The body cannot take more than its capacity, it cannot
suffer limitless pain.
Somehow deep in there we know, as long as we have this body we

feel kind of secure —I am me, and my name, my looks, my size, my
friends and my favourite things. So all of these things, everybody is
so clear and so used to, which we have developed during a pretty
short time. For example, I am fifty-one, so everything that I have
developed in this life is fifty-one years old. Some of you are older
than me and so that many years old and some of you are younger
than me so that much years old. So that we have and we are quite
secure, and fear comes from losing all of this and then being
somewhere that has no connection at all to what we are connected
to in this life. That is what we are afraid of, when you are one who
thinks you are afraid of dying.
But it is almost certain that the same connections that we have

in this life are going to continue in our next life in certain ways
— good connections and bad connections. I will give you an
example of bad connections first. There was a great omniscient
Master who was watching a person eating a fish, holding a baby
very dearly and kicking a dog away that was begging for the fish
bones. The Master knew what was happening, so he said or wrote

a few sentences. He said “Eating the flesh of the father, kicking
the mother and holding the person who killed you very dearly;
samsara is very peculiar.”
So the person in the example was killed in a past life by the person
who was now born as the child and the person’s father in his past
life was born as the fish and his mother previously was born as the
~ dog. So everybody was together there, they didn’t get away from each
other, but in different relationships. That is how karma continues.
So connections continue, some are negative connections, but also
the same connections can be positive, also the other way around as
well, not always negative like the example, but that one happened
to be like that.
Then a positive thing is; Prince Siddhartha was born to his father
the King Shuddhodana and his mother Mahamaya. He was Prince
Siddhartha and then his Queen was Yashodhara and his son was
Rahula. Then he left the palace and went into the forest, with
renunciation, and he tried to learn from five sadhus. Then later
he attained enlightenment and those five sadhus became his first
five disciples to whom he turned the wheel of dharma, the Four
Noble Truths. He went to seek teachings from them and then later
he taught them the Four Noble Truths after he became Buddha
Shakyamuni. That is positive karma, and it is all connected —
connected for many, many, many lifetimes.
This way, the fear of death is only correct when you know you have
done many bad things so that your next life is going to be very bad.
When you know that, then fear of death is really justified and you
should be afraid to die. But you should do your best to undo those
bad things that you have done and you should do good things and
purify all the negative things that you have created against you and
against others. Then you will not be afraid of death.
Other than that, life is what we should cherish, but we should not
fear death. I cannot sayI am not afraid of dying. Why, because I am
afraid of flying in big aeroplanes at night. Other than that I am not
really afraid of dying. Honestly, I can be awake, then I can be dead
in-my bed and tomorrow morning you will find a dead body there.
That is possible, many people go like that. I am not afraid to die
like that, naturally, right now, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
I am not afraid but there is this one thing, this one fear I have.
That way I know I have some fear of death somewhere, but I can’t
quite get to where it comes from. I talk to pilots — I have friends
who fought in the Second World War piloting Flying Fortress’ that
had glass bubbles on top and underneath, and they were manually
throwing bombs and shooting their machine guns. Those pilots
flew so many sorties during the Second World War and then after
that they became commercial pilots, flying for twenty or thirty
years and then retired. I have quite a few friends like that. Some
of them are even flying today — not the Second World War ones,
and they do not necessarily happen to have a background of flying
in such dangerous conditions. One of my friends who flew one of
those Flying Fortress’ said that there was a large number of them
flying together, and in those days, from underneath they were shot
by anti-aircraft guns — exploding here, exploding there — normally
at night, but even if nothing hit the plane, because of the sound
waves, the sheer power of the explosions, it was like turbulence.
Then a plane below goes down and another from above goes down.
One time one of his propellers — they had four propellers on those
planes — was shot. Many times he had lots of holes in his aeroplane
and sometimes the men in the glass bubbles got killed. So he is so
lucky to still be alive, therefore why should I be afraid of flying in
such safe aeroplanes as those today?
Then he told me one thing, he said, “you should not think like
this (being afraid of flying), because each one of us has a whole
good life ahead of us, we are commercial airline pilots and are very
successful people, and some of us even have kids at home. Therefore
none of us would fly a plane if we knew that it would not make
the journey. We double check everything, so your fear is absolutely
unnecessary.” Then he said, “Turbulence is nothing; when we are
driving a car there are pot holes in the roads, so a car going into
that is more dangerous than the air pockets in space, because there
is nothing that you can hit. Also an aeroplane is like a bird, the
wings can move, so a little bit of turbulence doesn’t matter, it will
never break the wings, there is no such thing. Only takeoffs and
landings are dangerous.” But that I am not afraid of, which is very
strange — I enjoy takeoff and landing — the problem is cruising at
altitude in the middle of the night and if I have an aisle seat. So
something is there, but maybe it is a chemical thing, because once
somebody gave me something to wear around my wrist, a little bit
like a button that presses on acupuncture points. Then if I wear it
about an hour before flying I am much, much better, so maybe it is
a little bit more physical than mental. But I don’t like that because
when I get to where I am going there are people there to receive me
and then I have to get to a Centre and give a blessing to everybody
and my hand looks like I am an escaped prisoner. So I don’t like
it, it leaves a terrible mark. When you have an international flight
it is there for eighteen or twenty hours, it is terrible. But anyway,

the fear of death is I think like that.
3. KYE-NAY BARDO
OING BACK to the original subject

of the six bardos, the first bardo is
the kye-nay bardo. In this we have to
know that when we are alive, when we are living, that we are in
an intermediate state, from birth to death, and we have to make
the best use of each moment of this intermediate state. So we live
a meaningful life and we try to make the best of this life. That
will somehow cover the first bardo, the kye-nay bardo. Actually
the kye-nay bardo is advised as body, speech and mind that makes
the best use of the potential of the body, speech and mind. When
body, speech and mind are in unity, which is like now, here, then
it is a miracle. For example, if I want to touch a flower I can, and
if I want to think of something I can, and if I want to talk to you
I can, and you can hear me say things. This is wonderful, so make
the most of it, make the best use of it; make this as positive and
meaningful as possible. That is the advice in the kye-nay bardo. Of
course the details of the kye-nay bardo in the bardo text will be a
lot of pages, but then the details are not within our capacity here.
4. MILAM BARDO
HE NEXT BARDO, the milam bardo,

i f - is a very good practice opportunity for
each one of us, because milam (dream)
is also a bardo state. In dreams, whatever is in a dream is true — we
cannot dream something that has nothing to do with us, we cannot
have an accidental dream, .a mistaken dream. A mistaken dream is
something we are not supposed to dream but we do. So we cannot
have a dream that has nothing to do with us. Everything that we
dream has causes and conditions; it is according to our karma,
according to our subconscious, according to all aspects of our body
and mind connections.
I will give you a very simple example. If you forgot to take off your
glasses because you were watching TV and you fell asleep, then
what will happen is that if you move a little, because your glasses
are metal, maybe it pinches you a little bit, and hurting you a little
bit, then in your dream you will see a dog biting you there. That
is what happens. It could be a snake biting you, but that sort of
thing because it is all related with your environment — the sounds
that you hear, the temperature, the kind of physical conditions that
you are in, the kind of sickness you have, the kind of blockages in
the body, imbalances that you have, what you have been doing the
previous day, what you are going to do in the next days, and also
what kind of serious karmas are about to manifest. So according
to that you will dream.
Some people are very much into dreams. They even make a dream
diary, but that is a bit too much. With due respect, I wouldn't put
that person into the category of a lunatic — people who are totally
up to the lunar (the full moon and new moon are dangerous times)
— but that much is really unnecessary. But if you really do that then
you can see all the patterns, you will see everything there.
A dream is not just nothing, a dream is life, in itself, and as a bardo

practitioner, or any practitioner, if you are very busy and you
honestly have no time to practice dharma, then you have plenty of
time in dreams, because every day you sleep around seven hours,
therefore you have seven hours every day to practice dharma. As
you fall asleep, and when you have your dream, you can start
your sadhana, you can do your meditation, and you can do your
recitation, and it will be equally beneficial for you, if not more,
because when dreaming, to have awareness, knowing that you are
dreaming, that it is a dream and you are practicing, is very difficult.
Right now we are dreaming but our dream is pretty long; I have
been dreaming for fifty-one years, so this is a long dream, but it is
just a dream. So in this dream, for us to know that it is a dream is
very difficult. But you can somehow make terrible things funny
things, and some people also make wonderful things terrible. That
way we can alter it, otherwise wonderful things could never become
terrible things and terrible things could never become funny things.
But we are able to do that, therefore it is a dream.
Milam Bardo 25
Also not only this, there are so many proofs — every moment is
a proof that this is a dream. Now in our sleeping dreams, then
practitioners can practice in their dreams or practice dreaming itself.
Practicing dreaming itself is like practicing in life itself. We practice in
life, we can say our refuge prayers, chanting, prostrations, sadhanas,
and in the same way as in life we can do this in our dreams. Also
in life we practice awareness, we practice mindfulness, we practice
compassionate and beneficial activities, we practice watching the
nature of mind, recognition of the nature of mind, and we practice
renunciation, of certain things. And all of these things we practice
in life are slightly different from practicing sadhana. So in the same
way, in a dream also you can practice the dream itself.
So how do you practice the dream itself? First you recognise that
you are dreaming; that is number one. So when you are dreaming
you have to remember, ‘I am dreaming, this is a dream.’ A very
simple way to do that is to remember where you are and where
you are sleeping. That is a very simple method to recognise dreams.
In higher tantric practice, like in three-year retreat, we have many
visualisations and other methods for dream practice, but for
common people, like everybody who is not in three year retreat,
or in just daily life like here in Delhi, a city of twenty-four million
people — not Delhi proper but the national capital region and area
is twenty four million people, which is like a country by itself, huge
— here you are not doing three-year retreat, right, so here you can
practice dreams in a certain simple way. So when you are dreaming,
you remember you are in Delhi, you are here, you are in this place,
and what the house number is. You remember which room you are
in, and you remember your head is facing which direction. That
way you will remember you are dreaming.
26 ~=-Primordial Essence Manifests
Then after remembering that you are dreaming, which is a very

important step, don’t get excited, because in life when you get
excited then everything falls apart. It is the same thing in a dream
also, if you get excited then you will wake up, or you will have
another dream. To think, ‘I am dreaming, I am here in this place,’
it doesn’t seem difficult, but it is very, very difficult. I can tell you, it
will take years and years of very serious practice and determination
before you are really able to maintain this every night.
But once you are able to do that, then dreams are wonderful,
because you visualise yourself as Avalokiteshvara and you become
Avalokiteshvara. In life I visualise myself as Avalokiteshvara but I
don’t become Avalokiteshvara, it’s just me, but in a dream, if you
really visualise yourself as Avalokiteshvara, and knowing that you
are dreaming, then you really become Avalokiteshvara, you can
manifest that, from you. There are so many things that you can
do which in life we would call miracles. If you can do those things
in life then you are performing miracles, but in dreams you can
perform miracles very easily because dreams are very short. Life is
not'as short so it takes maybe twenty or thirty years of very serious
practice to obtain miracles, but in dreams it is very short, it doesn't
take that much time to attain miracles.
(
So we can do lots of practice in dreams, and we can manifest,
which we describe as trulgyur— trulpa means manifest and gyurwa
tneans changing. You change yourself into a deity. We could change
ourselves into all kinds of things, a dragonfly or a dinosaur, but that
is of no use. Why would we do that? We should change ourselves
to a deity, to Buddha, and we should travel from here to another
universe to benefit the sentient beings there. So all of these things
Milam Bardo 27
we can do, and if you are a really good practitioner then you can
go to impossible places like the sun that scientific organisations,
big ones, spend so much money on to send people to. You can do
that, really.
You can truly go from here to the sun, and go into the middle of
the sun and find out what's there, and go to the moon, and go into
the middle of the moon and see what's in there, if you are a master
of dream, because your mind cannot be burned, your mind does
not have any speed limit, so your mind can travel and explore.
In the beginning it will be as another dream. For example, in the
beginning when we do trulgyur you can go to a friend’s house, it
is a struggle to get there, but when you reach there you can have
a cup of tea with your friend, but that is a dream, another dream.
But when you really practice dream for a longer period of time and
get quite good at it, then you can really go there; your friend won't
see you but you are there. For example, if there is a book on a table
and a certain page is opened, you can read it and later can tell your
friend which page it was and what was written there. When you
can really leave your body you can go there and see things, you can
do that. That we call trulgyur and is a very special practice, which
is available for all of us. But of course the sacred tantric aspect of
dream yoga it is not something I can make available to you, that
you have to practice in retreat, normally like a three-year three-
month retreat.
Then another thing about the same state is that when you relax
and try to fall asleep, and then when you have a dream, in between
that there is a certain period of time, sometimes very long, hours,
or it can be just fifteen or thirty minutes, but in that state if you
are able to maintain awareness in that state, then that state is a

transcendental state. When I say transcendental what I mean is
that it transcends your dualistic handicap of this life. If you are a
golfer you will know that a handicap means plus. But what I am
saying here to you is minus — this handicap is minus not plus. So
we have this handicap or we have obscurations in this life and we
transcend them, we are free from them, temporarily. And at that
stage we are omniscient, we are omnipotent, in a little way, in a
small way — we can see the past, we can see the future, we can
know many things that we don’t know right now. You might not
be able to remember that exactly when you wake up, but at that
time something happened and you will remember that something
happened, something you knew, but you might not remember
what it was when you wake up. And that intermediate state is what
we call the ‘clear light state’ in the dream practice. Clear light has
many levels, this is also called clear light right now, but that is the
clear light of the dream practice.
In our prayers we say “please bless me that so that my sleeping will

become clear light.” It means, transcending from this state of mind,
this dualistic state, and not being born yet into the dreaming state.
So in between that you are in a pure non-dualistic state, sort of
samadhi, transcendental state. And if we are able to maintain that
then it will be fantastic practice. Also that is much, much greater
and deeper than when we try and meditate here — doing Shamatha
and Vipashyana in life. That state is a very, very sacred state; that
is clear light.
So we can do all of these practices, definitely, unless there is

something wrong with you already. Nothing will go wrong because
Milam Bardo 29
of this practice, but if there is something wrong with you already,

then these kinds of practices can become a problem, but otherwise
not. Just being aware that you are dreaming, what can go wrong?
Maintaining awareness as you fall asleep and maintaining awareness
of that very pleasant state, is an unbelievable state of joy and
pleasure; first it happens and then it goes deeper and then reaches to
that state. When you reach that state, then that is non-dualistic.
Actually some people who are very much into psychology and
these things have used it. I don’t remember where it is, but in the
west, they are working on material, a whole library; they developed
this practice. They have some kind of special room arrangement
— a certain temperature and everything — and while one person is
sleeping there another person is asking questions without waking
the person up. Then the sleeping person is able to say all kinds of
things about the past and all kinds of things about the future and
they record everything. So I believe these people are trying to work
with the dream clear light state. I don’t know how successful they
are but they seem to be very excited and there is a huge institution
for it.
Question: This is not the deep sleep state is it?

Rinpoche: No, the deep sleep state is like being totally knocked
out, there is no awareness there. This is when you relax and doze
off, then you black out and then afterwards you have dreams. So
before blacking out you are already asleep but you are not totally
knocked out and you have not manifested any dreams. So at that
state it is a very fragile state, and maintaining that state is very, very
serious practice. So that is another aspect of dream practice, the
dream bardo, which is one of the six bardos.
5. SAMTEN BARDO
OW THE third bardo, meditation or

contemplation (samten). This is all
-of the meditation, all of the practice,
but one simple example of one very simple practice is: outer space,
physical space and the inner space of the mind, connect them and
make use of them at the same time. So this is one example and
it's quite simple. You go up on your roof or to a park and sit there
comfortably and look at the sky, which is empty, and your body
which is not empty, but wherever your mind is, in between your
mind and your eyes, there is space — your mind can see through
your eyes the empty space. These three we call three skies. This is,
the outer sky (the limitless space), the physical sky between mind
and the eye, from the eyes to the heart to the brain, to everything,
it is totally full — filled with flesh, bones and all kinds of terrible
things (especially if you are a vegetarian, it is terrible things, there
is nothing nice in there), but that is illusion of course. But there is
space; because I can see empty space, endless space with my eyes,
through my eyes, by my mind. So the mind is limitless like space.
And between mind and the eyes — the eye balls, eye consciousness,
eye sense — there is space, therefore mind can see through the eye,
and see space itself. That way you can really see the ultimate of the
relative, not the ultimate of the ultimate. You might get there by
32 ~+Primordial Essence Manifests
practicing a long time, but [first] you will see the ultimate of the
relative. Mind is limitless like space, the body is empty like space,
and space is limitless, endless and infinite; so these three together
are one example of the samten bardo.
Samten is meditation or concentration, but if you say ‘samten

paramita’, we cannot call it ‘concentration paramita’, it is meditation
— sam means thinking and ten means stable. The literal translation
of [samten as] concentration I think is correct but the real meaning
is meditation, because when you say samten gi pa-rol-tu-jinpa, it is
the meditation paramita. So the samten bardo is all of the practice,
from basic practice such as contemplating on the precious human
life to the highest practice, the recognition of the nature of mind,
Buddha nature, the tathagatagarbha. So until that, all is samten, but
these three spaces are one example of the practice, which I think
anybody can do and it is very enjoyable. I don’t think anything
_can go wrong with it, unless something is wrong with the person
already, because just sitting in a park and looking at the endless
sky and appreciating the limitlessness of your mind and your body
and space itself, what can go wrong? So that is one example of the
samten bardo.
The next three bardos are pretty much related to what everybody
thinks of as bardo, about dying, before dying, after death and then
before entering into the next life.
Samten Bardo 33
Questions
Question: | didn’t understand this mind — the space between the

mind and the eye. I mean the mind is not a physical thing here in
the eye, so, I don’t understand this space?
Rinpoche: That is true, but you are talking about the relative in
ultimate terms. Right now your mind is in your body, isn’t it? So if
T hit the bow! in front of me it doesn’t hurt you. That means your
mind is in your body, not here. Therefore the body is solid, there
isn't some kind of space in there; it is all solid, filled with all kinds
of things. But you can see space through your eyes; your eyes are
not your mind, right? So the mind is all over your body, especially
in the central nadi, the central part of the body, and from there to
the eye is space. Therefore this body is emptiness, it proves that,
otherwise how does mind go through all kinds of ways — through the
eye to see space. It is all space — yes, and your body in your dream
and your body in your life, there is not much difference, except the
period of time, the history and the process; so just slightly different.
Besides that it is pretty much the same. So practicing this will make
you realise the limitlessness of your mind, the limitlessness of your
body and the limitlessness of everything, because space is very, very
obvious, you can see the sky, it is limitless.
Question: Why doesn’t the mind ever die?

Rinpoche: How can mind die, it was never born.
Same Student: But why was it never born?
Rinpoche: How can the mind be born, mind is limitless, mind
has no limitation whatsoever in its essence. The essence of mind
is limitless, and I can prove it to you, very simply. In a negative
way, one of your defilements, let’s say greed, if you try to practice
34 Primordial Essence.Manifests
dharma and try to control your greed you are doing very well, but
if you don’t then your greed has no limitation. For example, if
you become the king of the whole world and you own the whole
world, you will definitely think of certain things that you don't
have, you will want to have more. So then you own the whole
solar system, but still you will want more. Then you become the
owner of the whole galaxy, but still you will want more. So that
negative aspect of the limitless mind is the impossible appetite of
greed, if we don’t cultivate it and if we don't purify it and if we don't
discipline it. That shows how limitless the mind is. Then positively,
of course when Prince Siddhartha attained enlightenment he could
manifest countless manifestations — he was teaching the dharma
in countless universes in countless forms, even right now. Prince
Siddhartha died but Buddha Shakyamuni never died. The Buddha
nirmanakaya, sambhogakaya and dharmakaya never die. But one
aspect of nirmanakaya, which was Prince Siddhartha who was the
son of King Shuddhodana and Queen Mahamaya, died at the age
of eighty-one.
So in that way mind is limitless, the mind is never born and will
never die. We say duma jespa many things come together. Du means
many things come together — many atoms, many molecules, many
causes and many conditions come together, and as a result of that
something happens, so we call that dujes, but that is impermanent,
that can die. But mind is not dujes, mind is not created by anything
or by anybody or by things coming together, therefore it is limitless.
The closest example for the mind is space. For example, if you built
a skyscraper here, then that space is gone, right? Then if you pull
down the sky-scraper the space has come back. So how do you
explain where the space went and how it came back? Mind is like
Samten Bardo 35
that, it has no limitation. Then temporary defilements such as ‘I’

and ‘mine’ and attachment to what is mine, then anger, jealousy,
pride, and all these things develops from it. That then makes our
mind limited, temporarily, relatively.
Question: Rinpoche, practice for busy people, like dream practice

— being able to do your dharma practice while you're dreaming,
how do you know if it is working? If you go to sleep and are saying,
“okay, I want to be doing this practice while I dream,” how do you
know?
Rinpoche: | will tell you one thing, and from this you will definitely
know whether it is working or not, but others will be a little tricky,
you might be dreaming another dream. But you say, “I will say my
daily sadhana in my dream” and then when you are dreaming you'll
remember this and say “nowI am dreaming, I live in Delhi, I am
in this room, and I will do my sadhana.” And you do your sadhana
from refuge, bodhichitta, visualisation, recitation until dedication,
and tomorrow you remember. Then for sure it is working.
Other aspects like trying to recognise your dreams and all these
things can be tricky because you might recognise a dream for a
split-second but then you might think “I have recognised” and then
you think that it is your real life but actually you are having another
dream. That happens a lot for beginners, but actually practicing
[sadhana], if you can do it, then it is for sure, because your mind
is practicing the dharma in life and in dreams also. It is the same,
the same merit. But the very good thing and very bad thing about
dreams is that if you give a beggar one thousand rupees in your
dream there is no merit except a good subconscious habit, and if
you kill twenty mosquitoes in your dream then it is not as bad a
karma as killing twenty mosquitoes in life except that it is a bad habit

and a bad imprint. Except for that you did not actually kill twenty
mosquitoes in your dream. So this is the good part and bad part.
But practicing your sadhana is the same, because deity is deity, your
mind is your mind, and practice. But maybe not prostrations — if
you want to finish your one hundred and ten thousand prostrations
in your dreams I don’t think it counts because you are not doing
it with your body, your body is very comfortable.
Question: What is a good starting point before you go to sleep, like

what kinds of thoughts or what kind of visualisations should one
have?
Rinpoche: Well actually in dream yoga there are many but to teach
that is not allowed, except in a retreat environment. Those who have
done a three-year retreat know what I am talking about, but a very
simple thing is determination and awareness. So before you go to
sleep you have to say to yourself very clearly “I want to have a very
clear dream, I want to be able to recognise that I am dreaming, I
want to remember it, and I want to practice while I am dreaming. »
Strong determination makes you able to make all these things
happen. It is like if you say “I have to wake up at five o'clock,” if
you say it very strongly then you'll wake up at five o’clock. So that
sort of way. Then of course you pray to Buddha and you pray to
your deity, the bodhisattva, to bless you so that it happens. All these
things will help. But it doesn’t mean bodhisattvas and Buddhas only
give help to those who ask. It is your mind’s devotion, dedication
and strong thoughts that will make things happen. So that will be
a very comfortable starting point.
Question: What if you just begin with a visualisation of all that?

Samten Bardo 37
Rinpoche: Well there is visualisation: the dream yoga visualisation

is in a certain part of your body and is certain colours but I’m not
allowed to say this. But you can just visualise Buddha in your room
and fill your room with light or something like that. But that is just
me making this up; it is not a real lineage teaching. But it is nice
making something up so it is not a bad thing. You can concentrate
on your Buddha on the altar and Buddha manifests light which
keeps you awake from the dream of ignorance, and then you have
a dream of wisdom. Normally we associate sleeping and dreaming
with ignorance, we call it timug — timug means ignorance. Some
of the great dohas say timug ronyal, sleeping like a dead body. So
instead of that you will have a clear light wisdom sleep.
Question: Apart from dreaming when we sleep, I dream in the

daytime — fantasise or daydream — and sometimes I’m very angry
and I project things. Does that have an effect on my mind?
. Rinpoche: Definitely. Daydreaming and all kinds of negative
projections are not good — unless you take action it does not
become full karma, but it becomes twenty-five per cent karma or
fifty percent karma. Full karma is body, speech and mind; first is
intention, then action, then achievement and then rejoicing, then it
becomes a full karma, whether it is good karma or bad karma. That
way, if you have a negative day-dream or a negative projection, it is
not a full karma but it is a cause and condition for more of it.
Same Student: Similarly with positive ones?
Rinpoche: Definitely. Positive daydreaming is very good. But
actually positive daydreaming, I wouldn't use the term daydreaming,
but we receive transmission and then we visualise the deity and we
recite, this is all positive creation, visualisation. So that I wouldn't
call it a daydream but some connection is there. Sacred daydream
with the blessing of the lineage, and as it should be. I know what
daydreaming is because as a child I used to do a lot of daydreaming
and fantasising, because in those days there was no TV. It was very
enjoyable to daydream, but maybe today’s children do not have that
ability, they can just watch TV. So I know what you mean, I think.
It is like a whole fairytale, like Harry Potter, you can daydream for
hours.
Question: Rinpoche we've often been told not to place too much
importance on our dreams and that if we wake up and remember
something, and we are recounting something, we can become very
obsessive about our dream.
Rinpoche: Yes, we shouldn't do that.
Same Student: But then if it’s important shouldn't we think of it as
a pointer to our state of mind or consciousness, perhaps as a guide
to our state of being?
Rinpoche: Yes, that way is okay, but I know people who pay so much
attention to their dreams. They make notes and they anticipate
things and they are very serious about it. Then it can go wrong
because we are interpreting — maybe it was a good dream but you
think it was a bad dream — and in that way it can become abnormal.
Any kind of excessive thing that has some potential for going wrong
is not good. But if it has no potential at all for going wrong then
excessive is okay. For example, if you want to be a yogi and you leave
everything and go to some sacred place and practice like Milarepa,
that is very extreme — Milarepa had nothing; he didn’t even have
provisions for one month. So if you are like that then it is okay,
but unless you are like that then going into anything extreme is not
safe. Of course nothing ultimately can go wrong, there is no such
thing as ultimately going wrong, but if something goes wrong in
Samten Bardo 39
this life, if it is serious, then it will affect the rest of your life. So
we might lose fifty percent of the potential of one precious human
life when otherwise we would have had one hundred percent.
Dreams are very true; dreams are not just nothing. But unless you
are really practicing dream yoga then going too much into it is not
necessarily good, but practicing your sadhana in dreams, trying to
be aware of dreams and all of those things, that is very safe, nothing
can go wrong.
Question: So that means one should practice under guidance rather

than just trying to condition your mind to do this?
Rinpoche: Well for this much, like practicing Chenrezig in your
dreams, for that you don’t need that much guidance, you've already
had guidance and you have already memorised the text. So when
you go to sleep you say “I am going to practice in my dream,” that
is good but then it should not become that because you say you
practiced in your dream that in life you don’t practice at all! That
wouldn’t be good. You should also practice in life, with whatever
time you have. I am doing a great disservice to all of you if I make
you think that because you have practiced in your dream that in
daily life you don’t need to. But serious dream practice, like dream
yoga of the Six Yogas of Naropa or Six Yogas of Niguma, for that
kind of dream practice you have to have full supervision and full
instruction. You can only do it in three-year retreat, not outside.
Question: Suppose there was a text or a sadhana that one is reading

but hasn’t memorised, would it be possible that you could do it
in a dream, maybe there is some imprint in your subconscious so
maybe you can recall it?
Rinpoche: No, you have to memorise it otherwise you cannot do
it in a dream. But in the intermediate state you can. There you are
omniscient, but that’s very, very hard.
Question: How long is the state between going to sleep and the
transcendental sleep?
Rinpoche: Normally it depends on how tired you are, how much
you ate, what kind of body conditions you have, and what kind
of sleeping conditions you have; it depends on all of that. But a
practitioner who is practicing that can maintain it throughout
the night.
Question: For ordinary people, is it five minutes, or...

Rinpoche: | really don’t know. It depends on the individual and also
the individual day and also how tired you are, and how and what
your body condition is. It depends on so many things — if you eat
too much and if you are really tired you won't even have a dream,
you'll just have a whole night of deep sleep. Then if you are too
light you can’t even sleep, you have no body strength — your body
is too light and your food is too light.
Question: Sometimes in dreams there are prophesies. How does

that function?
Rinpoche: It is very simple, that is what I am saying, you dream
because it has everything to do with you. So some people develop
certain ways to see the future through dreams, like a prophecy.
Some people think they see [the future] but it is not true, but
some people really do see it. It is very much an individual thing,
like intuition. Everybody thinks they have intuition but most
people’s intuitions are totally wrong, which is what we call
misunderstanding. But some people’s
P intuitions are very good, the
Samten Bardo 41
are very accurate. It is the same thing in dreams, when you have a
dream it has everything to do with you. So if you have been doing
dream practice or you have been focusing on that for a long time,
successfully, then you might have the ability to see the future in
a dream. Sometimes lots of deja vus happen in dreams and that
way you somehow know what is going to happen. For example,
you dream that somebody is going to come and a few days later
they come, or you dream something is going to happen and after
a few days it happens. Dreams are as real as life and life is as real
as dreams, and dreams are as unreal as life and life is as unreal as
dreams — equal.
Question: How is a dream body different or similar to the bardo

state?
Rinpoche: They are very similar. If you are able to leave your body
and go to other places then it is exactly the same as the bardo
body, but it is very difficult to do. As I mentioned, you might visit
your friend then you'll start chatting with them and have a cup
of tea. Then the next day if you ask your friend, they will say “are
you crazy? You didn’t come here and have a cup of tea, you were
dreaming, it was just a dream.” But once you are really able to do
it, then as I said, you can read a book on your friend’s table. Then
you are really able to leave your body and go there. But that kind of
practice can sometimes be dangerous because the person doing the
dream practice, if they leave their body and somebody moves their
body from where it was to another place, or moves the position of
it, then they might not be able to re-enter it. So if you are doing
this kind of practice then you have to lock your door. There are
stories about this.
We also have a similar practice with phowa — the transferring of

consciousness. But this lineage was lost because the son of Marpa
Lotsawa (Darma Dode), who had the lineage, he died and he tried
to enter a body but he couldn't find a suitable one. Of course he
went somewhere, but this way now we don't have this lineage. This
practice is where you do phowa and transfer your consciousness
from yourself into another body, which has to be a body that is
not damaged so that you can enter it. It cannot be a body which is
already unsuitable. So Darma Dode couldn't find a suitable body
to enter — all the dead people were already dead because they were
sick or something, so he could not enter those bodies. Darma Dode
died after riding on a horse. He was very young, and even though
he was a very good practitioner maybe he was a little bit careless so
he had a horse accident and smashed his head and died.
Question: These states of clairvoyance and out-of-body travel, does

this happen in the clear light state of dreaming?
Rinpoche: Of course, it can happen in the clear light state of mind.
But I think as a dream practice it will happen more easily in the
dream state. So when you remember you are dreaming and you
are in your room, you are there and now you are going to go out
of your body and go to another place, you look back at your body
laying there and then you really travel. Many times it will be just
another dream but finally you will be able to do it, with lots of merit
and lots of purification, not just by being stubborn or forceful. If
you have a lot of merit and lots of purification it will happen with
very little effort, like everything else. Merit and purification are
very important.
Samten Bardo 43
As I mentioned the bardo is a very comprehensive teaching, which

is summarised into six aspects. I have talked about the first three
aspects of bardo and next I will talk about the last three aspects
of bardo.
The forty- two peaceful deities
6. CARE OF THE DECEASED
HE FIRST THREE aspects of bardo

are not exactly about death but the last
three aspects are very much involved
with death. So the general idea of bardo being teachings about
' death is correct, but it is incorrect to say it is a teaching only about
death because it is a teaching about life and death. I think the
translators who translated the bardo text called it The Tibetan Book
of the Dead because when people die we read the bardo text next
to their body. Somebody will read it for at least three days and if
possible for forty-nine days. It is quite certain they will read it until
the body is cremated, which cannot be within three days but can
be any time after three days. So that is the tradition with a very
important dharma base.
Of course these days most of these things are not possible because
of the rules and regulations of hospitals and so on and so forth — the
body has to be immediately disturbed and sometimes even cut into
pieces to check the exact cause of death and all this kind of thing,
and then it can be cremated the next day or something like that,
which is the case most of the time. So will that affect the person?
Definitely it will affect the person, but will it affect the person in a
bad way? It depends, because everything is relative. For example, if
somebody says something terrible to you, you are supposed to get

angry and upset but sometimes you like it. Sometimes you find it
very funny, sometimes you find it entertaining and sometimes you
can get addicted to it. When people say nice things to you, you
are supposed to be very happy, but sometimes you are not, you get
upset about it, or sometimes you get allergic to it, especially people
to whom everybody says good things all the time. So things do not
necessarily effect everybody in the same way.
Therefore, for somebody who died and whose body was immediately
disturbed, and what was or wasn’t done to it will have an effect,
and for some the effect will be positive, for others the effect will be
negative and for some it really doesn’t matter, it doesn’t do anything.
First of all we don’t know if the person's mind is still in the body
or not — according to the bardo teaching a person’s mind can be
in the body up to a maximum of three days and a minimum of a
moment, so any time in between. As nobody wants to take a risk
therefore they keep the body for three days. Maybe the person has
left the body already, just a moment after death, and if that is the
case then it doesn’t matter what you do with the body.
I mean it matters; the Tibetan way is the best — chop it into little
pieces and give it to the birds, that is useful. Another way is to burn
it and make it into ashes, which is kind of neat and clean. Then
there are other ways such as embalming, which is a lot of work and
effort, otherwise it would be terrible — if you couldn't mummify
the body and just wanted to keep it, you'd have to put it under the
ground at least two or three feet deep otherwise you will regret it.
I don’t think any one of us want to end up like that. I mean, to tell
you the truth, none of us would like to see our bodies like that —
Care of the Deceased 47
worms crawling through the nose etc. I wouldn't like to see that.
That is what would happen if it was not treated properly.
So in that way there are all kinds of effects. Even though our mind
is not in our body, how our body is treated will have all kinds of
effects on us and others as the outcome of those consequences. It
is very much according to our karma — whatever is supposed to
happen will happen. If you are born in a Tibetan family, I have to
say ‘Tibetan’ Tibetan family because nowadays many Tibetans are
not actually “Tibetan’ Tibetans. I cannot say most, but many of them
don't believe in these things, like three days, one week, forty-nine
days; they don’t know and they don’t believe.
When you are talking about Tibetans you are talking about six
million people and many of them have forgotten and many of
them don't believe. They believe Alan Greenspan much more than
The Tibetan Book of the Dead because he tells you how to make
money! That way I cannot say very proudly that one hundred -
percent of my own Tibetan people follow the bardo procedure for
their parents or their children when they die. I can’t say that. But of
course many Tibetans do still follow it and then some non-Tibetans
like Himalayan Buddhists pretty much follow it. Their tradition
is not interrupted as much as ours so they follow it pretty much.
Then there are the non-Buddhists who become Buddhists, some
of them are extremely serious and try to follow it but it is very
difficult because of the laws, traditions and culture of their country
or their region which find it very strange. This way sometimes they
take it too seriously.
The fifty-eight wrathful deities
-7. CHIKA BARDO
OW THE LAST three aspects of

bardo are the chika bardo, chonyi
bardo and sidpa bardo. ‘Chika’ means
before you die and the moment you die — this bardo. Now there,
nothing is too late, there is nothing that is too late. Even if you
are going to die tomorrow and you come to know that today, it is
not too late to do your best; there are lots of things that you can
do. The number one thing is that your death should not become
a problem for others. That is the first thing, very simple. After you
die it shouldn’t become the opening of a Pandora’s box. When you
are about to die, before you die, you should turn every stone so
that nothing negative or problematic will happen to the living as a
result of your death. That is very important. All of us are going to
die one day, and that one day can be any time, we will never know.
But all of us here are definitely going to do our best to live as long
as possible because we are Buddhist and we believe in the precious
human life, yet we don’t know when our death will happen. So
always do your best to make things clear and in order so that if you
die tonight there is no Pandora’s box left behind.
A Pandora’s box — I’m not sure exactly what it is, it is not a Tibetan
thing, it is a Western thing — is a box that when you open it all kinds
50 _‘~ Primordial Essence Manifests
of terrible things come out. It is something like a magician’s box or

a cursed box and all kinds of unmanageable things come out of it.
So if we don’t prepare for our death, technically, then the technical
Pandora's box will be opened — after our death, our children, our
relatives, all kinds of people will fight with each other. That is the
number one thing that will happen — everybody wants to grab what
is left behind and that is a terrible thing, that shouldn't happen.
Then many other things which only you know about, whatever
there is to be taken care of should be taken care of.
The second thing is that you should be able to feel confident and
ready when the moment comes — you should be able to go in peace,
not with fear or with lots of negativity and resentment, you have to
be able to die in peace. That is something that we all have to start
and if we haven't started yet then we should start right away. Even
at the last moment we can make our attitude such that it becomes
a positive thing for us as well.
So the first thing is that your death should be a positive thing for
others; your death should not be a negative thing for others. That
is number one. Then the second thing is that your death should
be a positive thing for you, not a negative thing for you. If you
are hysterical, desperate and totally in fear then it is negative. You
should be able to die peacefully and, maybe this is a bit too much
to say, but happily and joyfully. But that very much depends on
your understanding about death and on what you have done with
your life. If up to now you have done your best then who can expect
better than your best? My best can be less than fifty percent of your
best; if your best is greater than mine by fifty percent then what can
I do? I can’t do better than my best and you can’t do better than
Chika Bardo 51
your best. Also your best will keep on upgrading because today’s
best and tomorrow's best, if you really have done your best, then
you will be getting better and better. That way we have to do our
best in everyday life. .
Then how to go about it very much depends on the individual, but

if you are a practitioner, then practice dharma as sincerely as possible
and as diligently as possible. If you are not a-dharma practitioner,
then try to live your life as helpfully as possible and as productively
as possible, and also keep away from negative actions and intentions
that are harmful to you and harmful to others. Engage yourself in
intentions and actions that are helpful to you and helpful to others,
in the short term as well as in the long term and in small ways as
well as great ways. In that way then we will be at peace when the last
moment comes. Until then we can pretend we are okay but when
the last moment comes we have to be able to say to ourselves “I have
done my best and now I am not going to worry, and I don’t have to
worry,” and die with a smile; that is how it should be.
So those are the two most important things — that your death is
a positive thing for others, not a negative thing for others; and
that your death is a positive thing for you, not a negative thing
for you.
Then of course as a dharma practitioner, or if you are a serious

believer in dharma practice, then before your death you have to
make very clear to yourself that you are dying and then the people
around you have to also accept that you are dying. There will be lots
of tears and a lot of that but not in a hysterical manner, in a natural
and peaceful manner. No holding the dying person and shaking
them — never — because the person is dying so you don't have to

shake them. Let the person die peacefully and with dignity. Don’t
create a negative scene like “Why are you leaving us? Why do you
have to die?’ You know, not that sort of thing; that is mindless and
irresponsible. We have to be responsible, we have to accept that the
person is dying and make it as comfortable as possible.
Phowa
Then if we ourselves don’t know how, we invite masters who

have done practice to perform phowa — the transferring of the
consciousness from this life to the next. This is a particular practice
and one of the Six Yogas in our lineage; other lineages also have it
as part of their practice. So phowa is performed, which is actually
‘phowa’ not ‘fowa’. Lots of people say fowa, but that means stomach.
So there is a big difference between fowa and phowa. Transferring
the consciousness means that consciousness will transfer from
this body to the next body, the next life, for sure. You don’t have
to do anything and it will happen. But through visualisation and
recitation by the person who is doing it, who is performing it, and
the dying person whom the phowa practitioner will guide to do
the same, then in this way the person can have the transference of
consciousness in a very sacred and positive way.
The highest transferring of consciousness is what we call dharmakaya

phowa. That means the moment the person dies or leaves the body
that person becomes enlightened. The second is sambhogakaya
phowa, which means the moment the person dies that person will
be born in a pure land of one of the Buddha families - Buddha,
Vajra, Ratna, Padma, or Karma families, one of them. There are so
Chika Bardo 53
many of them related to this. For example, everybody talks about

Amitabha pure land, which is the Padma family pure land. Then
the third level of phowa is what we call nirmanakaya phowa, which
means the person will be born in a place where Buddha is alive
or the dharma is alive and they will be part of it. So one of these
should happen as a result of phowa.
If people practice phowa during their life, then when they die and
phowa masters do the phowa for them then they will be able to
remember and do it together so that it will have a greater effect. So
this is something that we do, and as far as followers of our lineage
are concerned, phowa is the first thing that they will request when
somebody dies. For example, I get calls from all over the place asking
me to do phowa for somebody who has died, and also they will
invite the local lamas who will do phowa sitting next to the dead
body. So that is a very important thing for us and phowa should be
done immediately, but if circumstances don’t permit then we can
do it within three days, but not after three days. After three days
then normally we don’t do phowa, we do other pujas and rituals.
We will open particular mandalas and we will do the sadhanas
of those mandalas. We will do the whole of those pujas normally
for forty-nine days, because that is the longest period from death
to the conception into the next life for human beings of planet
earth. Again, the shortest can be a moment — the moment you are
dead you are already conceived somewhere; that could be possible.
Then again it could be one hour, one day, two days, one week,
two weeks, or three weeks. So not everybody will be in the bardo
for forty-nine days, no — people will be in the bardo, in between
this life and the next life, for a maximum of forty-nine days and a
minimum of a moment.
Then, for example, the good way is when you perform phowa and
it goes very well you will have phowa transference of consciousness
right away — at that moment dharmakaya phowa, sambhogakaya
phowa or nirmanakaya phowa takes place right away — then there is
no forty-nine days. The negative way is if someone has been really
negative, they have done lots of harm, lots of bad things then they
will have no bardo. I can’t think of many people except for example
what history tells us. In history there are quite a few people lined
up and those people are supposed to have done terrible things to
humanity. These days we call those things crimes against humanity
or genocide — masters of genocide — etc, those sorts of things. If
they really are responsible and have really done that, then their
karma will be such that the moment they die they will be in the
worst place and will have no bardo.
So for extremely positive or extremely negative the bardo will only

be a moment, but for the average person, people like most of us,
we will have the privilege of the forty-nine days — forty-nine days
experience of limitless freedom, which is absolutely devastating and
absolutely terrifying if we don’t know that it is limitless freedom that
we are experiencing. But if we know and we are able to be aware
that this is the experience of the limitlessness of ourselves, and the
limitlessness of everything then it will be a very meaningful bardo,
a wonderful experience.
So simple things, like right now, what I can see, what I can hear
and where I can be is limited. For example, it is very interesting,
this is my problem sometimes, but some people will be able to
appreciate it and some people might think it is a bit too much but
for me it is very strange, but if I want to go somewhere then what
Chika Bardo 55
do I have to do? I have to freshen myself up, then I have to dress

properly and put on my shoes, then go down the stairs, close each
door behind me and then get into the front of the car. Somebody
will open the car door and I have to get up there, sit there and
buckle the seatbelt, then close the door, and then go, and go, and
go, and go, and go, and then finally get to where I want to go and
then open the door, get out of it and go and get there. It’s very
funny, for me it’s just like watching a cartoon, like Tom and Jerry.
Really, everything is like that.
Also if you go for a meeting then people work very hard to make
these long tables, and they work very hard to polish them and
make them shiny so that it is very important. Then they have
rooms that are really polished with nice curtains woven by people;
so many things are done. There are interior decorators, which
is a very big deal, who go for months and years of training and
finally they manage to do these things. Also there is a chair a little
bit higher and something for the arms which is for the chairman.
Then there are other chairs that are the same but a little bit smaller
and without armrests for all the other directors. Then you go in
there and sit on the big chair and chair the meeting. It’s very, very
strange. That is life, drama, like a Broadway show! Everything in
samsara is like that.
Then watch the news; one president visits another president and
there are honour guards and some of them wear all these different
things, some of them wear shiny things with hair on top and they
do all kinds of mudras. They have their shoes on but still they
have a red carpet. It’s nice, but it’s still drama, it is all a game; the
whole of samsara is drama. I am not antisocial, everything is fine;
56 ~~ Primordial Essence Manifests.
it is good, why not? If you have an important board meeting then

why wouldn't you have a beautiful table? You are the chairman
for goodness sake, why wouldn't you have a bigger chair? There
is no problem. But we have to know that this is all a drama, an
intentionally made up drama and we have to remember it is a
drama all the way, and then at the end, [when we die], we have to
also remember it is all a drama.
So I think as a practitioner, when the inevitable takes place, we

have to know it is all Maya’s (illusion’s) play. We have to remember
that we are born, which is also the same thing (illusion), and now
we are dying and it also is the same thing. There will be a time
when someone will be saying “Oh, Tai Situ is very sick, he is
going to die, we have to do all these pujas.” It will be very busy,
everybody will be doing pujas for me and then all kinds of doctors
will come — that part I really don’t like because I have seen too
many doctors. Many doctors are invited to save you so that there
will be so many kinds of medicines - Homeopathic, Ayurvedic,
Acupuncture, Allopathic, Tibetan medicine — poking this, poking
that, you know. So all kinds of things are done to you and then
they give up, saying that now nothing can be done, he is going
to die. Then everybody will be very upset because I am dying, so
they will make a big deal about it, a big drama about it. All that
is fine, but I want my drama to be meaningful for everybody. But
if I don’t know it is a drama then you will find a Tai Situ on his
deathbed, terrified of dying, which I don’t think is a good example
for you. So it is very important to remember that death is also a
drama, just another one — Maya's play — and birth is also another
one, the same.
Chika Bardo 57
So all of the things that happen during the moment of death are
all part of the chika bardo.
Thakdrul - liberation through touch
8. SIDPA BARDO
HE NEXT TWO bardos are the

chonyi and sidpa bardos. It is better to
teach the sidpa and chonyi bardos in
the exact order of death — during death, after death and all the way
until the conception into the next life. This way the entire thing
is described as a sidpa bardo, which has a first, second and third
bardo — bardo tangpo, bardo nyipa and bardo sumpa.
‘THE First BARDO OF THE SIDPA BARDO
First Clear Light
‘The first sidpa bardo is taught in two stages, described as ‘first clear
light’ and ‘second clear light’, they are the two parts of the first bardo
of the sidpa bardo. We are made out of five elements (earth, water,
fire, air and space) — the whole of existence, the relative world, is
also made of the five elements — now because of the death process
our five elements start to dissolve into the outside five elements,
and the dissolution is final when our earth becomes earth, our water
dissolves into water, our air dissolves into air, our fire dissolves into
fire and our space dissolves into space. But that dissolution takes
place a long time before we die, so we call this the signs of death.
60 ‘Primordial Essence Manifests
I will not go into great detail about the signs of death because there
are so many. With each of the senses we can predict the condition
of our body, for example, how long it will be suitable to be a host
for our mind. I will not go into details, but for example there is a
sound, a natural sound, and where you hear that natural sound and
which way you hear it, you can determine how long you have to live.
Then vision, when you close your eyes and press your eyeball from
the side there will be a kind of round rainbow that takes place there.
Then if you press from the other side there is another round kind
of rainbow thing that happens there. Also when you press it from
down the bottom something happens on top, and press up the top
and the same thing happens down below. So all of these directions,
the size of each one of them, the colour of each one of them, which
colour is more, which colour is less, that way you can check out
the condition of your body right now. If it goes on like this, then
how long you are going to live you can check out. But then if your
body condition improves those signs will change and if your body ~
condition deteriorates then those signs will become worse.
There are so many things like that, also with taste and touch, the
colour in our fingers, the heat in our limbs and the feeling of our
head. Some people's head is like holding onto a worn out banister,
it is so lifeless and hard. When I bless people in the Tibetan wayI
can feel it. I’m not talking about auras or vibrations or about those
new-age things, but just technically, if you touch a living healthy
person’s head or a dying unhealthy person’s head, you can feel it.
There are so many things. Smell is another one.
So these kinds of signs will come, which are signs that the body is
going to dissolve into the outer elements. Then right after we are
Sidpa Bardo 61
dead our body will rot, which isa terrible thing. We think rotting is
a terrible thing, but what is it? It is actually the process of dissolving
into the elements, which we do quickly by burning the body. We
don’t like it to be an unpleasant or smelly kind of dissolution so we
do it quickly or in Tibet we give it to the birds, to the vultures. That
is also very quick and very useful for the vulture — I think there are
very few hungry vultures in Tibet. Most people have what we call a
sky burial. I think the Zoroastrians leave their bodies in the Tower
of Silence, which is similar but a little bit messier than ours.
A long time ago, when I was sixteen years old I came to Delhi
and I stayed in a place that was very close to a Tower of Silence.
The landlord who owned the house told me that sometimes on
his roof he would find fingers or ears because the birds take them
but it is too heavy or something so they dropped them. It sounds
a little eerie, a little bit frightening. But that type of burial is pretty
much the same as what we Tibetans do, but we chop the bodies
into pieces and invoke the birds; the lamas do Chod practice. But
sometimes, for some people, the birds don’t come and the lamas
have to do Chod for one or two days before the birds will come. For
some people the birds are there before the lamas even have to do
anything, then they give the birds the body parts slowly so that the
birds will consume everything, so that they will not leave anything
behind. I personally think it is very sacred, but lots of tourists take
pictures and videos and make it look very gruesome and very cruel,
but I don’t look at it that way. Anyway, there are people who do the
cutting up, it’s not the children or the relatives of the dead people
who do it, but the relatives invite them to do it. There are people
whose livelihood is pretty much doing that every day.
Now when all the signs happen, then the most subtle aspect of
our elements, which is naturally air and space, and they are very
closely connected and bound with our mind — mind is formless and
limitless, but because of our karma then the mind is bound with
the most subtle aspects of the elements (air and space) — that way
the mind will retreat inwards. Then as a result the dying person's
hands and legs will be hard to move. The dying person becomes
very cold in the fingers and the toes, so everything is retreating to
the centre. Dying people have warmth near their heart region until
the last moment, so it’s all concentrated to the centre. In the same
way that we have developed inside our mother from the centre,
we dissolve into the centre. In Hinduism there are the ten avatars
of Vishnu, which is exactly what happens when we are conceived
inside our mother — our body forms look exactly like each one of
those. The first is a fish. So the body looks like a fish — no legs and
no hands. Then the second one is a tortoise. It has a big thing with
a little head on top and little hands, little legs and even a little tail.
During the time of the fish our nirmanadi is developed and then
during the time of the tortoise the chakras are developed further.
So these are exactly the ten stages of the development process

inside our mother. Then when we die a similar thing happens but
backwards — we retreat everything into the central part of our body.
When the final thing happens we call it ‘outer breath is no more
but the inner breath is still there’. Any doctor I think will know
what I mean. The person is not breathing — the breathing that we
do with our lungs is not there — but there is something still there.
So when that happens, pretty much you are dead but the inner
breathing is still there, it is like the clear light stage of sleeping |
mentioned earlier. So our body and its limitations don’t affect our
Sidpa Bardo 63
mind any more but our mind is still inside our body, because of
all the karmic causes and the results of countless lifetimes. Right
now our mind is in our body but at that time it is in our body but
as a different thing. It is like you are inside a huge mountain in
the middle of a cave. So our body becomes like a mountain, just
a thing, and mind is unconscious in the middle of it, at what we
call nirmanadi, in the centre of the nirmanadi.
This unconscious state, before it becomes unconscious, if you have

phowa then it can be the dharmakaya phowa and you recognise the
nature of your mind, not influenced by your body and your karmic
fruit. Your karmic fruit is your body and if it is not influenced by
that then that will be what we call samadhi. Many of our masters
die sitting in meditation posture. They sit like that for one, two or
three days and their face is just like it is alive, actually even better
than alive because if they had been sick they were very pale and
all of that, but when they die their body becomes more healthy
looking — the face looks more healthy, smiling more and very nice.
I have seen this myself. One master, before he died he wanted to sit
in the middle of his room on a mattress, a sort of blanket mattress,
with his dharma robe on and what we Kagyupas call shatra, which
is a sort of dharma hat. So he sat there cross-legged, meditating
and died. After his death people could remove the mattress and put
back a new one because he was almost above it. Then after three
days his body became so small that a person could carry it on their
hands. His name was Lama Norbu, the guru of Kalu Rinpoche and
the uncle of my teacher. So people like him can die like that; many
others do not become small or anything like that but they sit like
that for one, two or three days.
Recently I think one old lady who was practicing Mahamudra died
in the U.K. and she was a little bit like that — when she died she was
a little bit like in samadhi. So I wouldn't be surprised, if she was a
good Mahamudra practitioner and if she recognised her nature of
mind as she died, then it would be like that.
So that state is what we call ‘first clear light’, which is the separation
of body and mind, but with the mind still inside the body. Then if
we are not in samadhi we become unconscious and that unconscious
state can be for as long as three days or as short as a moment, which
is why we don't disturb the dead body for three days. We make sure
it is lying properly before the person dies, we put it in the proper
position, and then don’t disturb it and do lots of prayers and all of
that for three days. So that is the reason.
Second Clear Light
Then after the three days or whatever that time is, then we have
the second clear light. This is still the first bardo of the sidpa bardo,
but the second stage of the first bardo of the sidpa bardo, which
is called the ‘second clear light’. What happens there is that the
mind comes out from the body, and when that happens that is the
"second clear light. When the mind and body are separated it is not
like now, it is not our body any more, but it is like our home, our
mountain, something like that. So when the mind which is totally
inseparable from the finest air and finest space comes out of the
body that is what we call the second clear light.
At this time we of course take tremendous care that the dead

person’s body should not be touched. If we touch the body, we
Sidpa Bardo 65
only touch the top of the head, not other parts for three days. This
is because our body has six main exits and these are the exits to
the six different realms; the sacred exits are for enlightenment. So
for this reason we don’t want the dead person’s mind to exit from
the lower exits which will be the body exits that lead to the hell,
hungry ghost and animal realms. We want them to exit from the
higher exits which are for humans, asuras and devas. Actually we
don’t even want that, we want them to exit from the crown chakra,
the highest, enlightenment. But we should always remember that
it is all relative and we can only do our best. It sounds complicated
and that there are too many particulars — it is almost superstition
for some people — but it is part of the teachings and there is a lot
of truth in it, but how it really affects each individual is different,
because if somebody is never going to exit from the lower exits
then it doesn’t matter what you do, they will exit from the highest
exit anyway. That way it very much depends on karma, but we do
our best.
If you are a very enlightened and mature person, actually you don't
even have to be enlightened just a mature person, if somebody wants
to be angry and hysterical, no matter what they try you will be able
to withhold yourself so you will not be hysterical, you will beat
them; they will not manage to upset you. So it will be the same at
this stage of dying if you are a very mature, a very down to earth
and clear person who naturally hasn't done anything unnecessary,
stupid or harmful. Actually it is just common sense that tells us
right from wrong; you don't have to be religious. For example, you
don’t want your most precious things to be stolen by anybody so
it is common sense that you should not steal. Also you don’t like
to be lied to by anybody, so why should you lie to others? You
would not appreciate anybody insulting you or harming you so

why would you do harmful things to others? It is common sense.
So those kinds of people will have their own virtue. Then if you
are a great practitioner of course it doesn’t matter very much, but
as the living who are caring for the dead we do our best.
So the exits are: the lowest exit (the anus) is the hells; second is the
reproductive exit (genitals) which is the animal realm; the navel
exit is the exit for the gods of the desire realm; the mouth is the
exit to the realm of the pretas; the nose is the exit to the human
realm; the ears are the exit to the asura realm; the eyes and upper
orifices are the exits to the higher god realms, like the form and
formless gods; and then the top or crown of the head is the exit to
the highest enlightenment, the pure lands. This way we try to avoid
exits to different places and if you want the dead person to exit to
the highest realms of the gods, then you should touch the dead
person’s crown and say “come out from here my dear one, come
out from here,” then they will be born in the highest gods’ realm.
Anyway this is the technical aspect of the exits, but the most
important thing about the second clear light is that it is the second
chance. The first chance is the first clear light and if you missed the
first chance then the second chance is this second clear light. So we
consciously try to exit from the crown and we consciously try to
exit to the higher realms. The lowest of the higher realms is to be
born in a realm where the Buddha is or where the dharma is, which
is where we are right now. So we have that determination.
Then of course when the person is dead there are the mantra chakras
which are placed on the eyes and all the other exits of the dead
Sidpa Bardo’ 67
person. The placing of mantra chakras we call tagdrol — tag means

hanging on your neck or placing it on your body, and drol means
liberate; so liberate by wearing. So these are worn around the neck
or on the dead body — actually they are placed on the exit places
with a particular syllable, then tagdrol itself will be placed on the
body very properly, and each one of the lower exits are closed with a
syllable according to the tagdrol. The syllables are written on paper
and placed on the particular exits so that they will be closed.
So that is the second clear light and if you are a practitioner of a

particular deity such as Chakrasamvara or Vajravarahi, then when
you exit, you exit and manifest as that deity. That would be perfect,
that would be sambhogakaya phowa. Then the last thing that we
can do is to exit with a very strong intention to be born as a human
being in a place where Buddha is alive or the dharma is alive and be
part of it. I am talking about as a Buddhist. That is the minimum
that we should focus on during that time.
THE SECOND BARDO OF THE SIDPA BARDO
As mentioned, the sidpa bardo is taught in three bardos, with the

first bardo being in two stages, the first and second clear light. Now
is the second bardo of the sidpa bardo, which means that once mind
exits the body then it is into the universe and if we recognise it, if
we are able to be in control of it, if we are able to be aware of it, to
master it, then we are truly experiencing the relative limitlessness
of the ultimate mind. It is science fiction of the highest calibre in
the making. Really, it is, because we don’t have this body, therefore,
for example, we don’t have to climb into our car, get out of the
car, put on a seatbelt etc, none of those things. The speed of light
is also irrelevant — you can get from here to another galaxy ten
billion light years away in a moment. So in this state, if you are
mature and if you master it, you have absolute freedom. Otherwise
it will be the most terrifying thing because there is no limitation
and no reference point. For example, you can’t close the window,
the door or shut the curtains or lie down, you can’t do anything;
it is all out there.
Also we don't have eyes that we can close because we don’t want to
see something, and we don’t have ears that we can close if we don’t
want to hear something. We don’t have a nose that we can cover
with a mask if we don’t want to smell something, and we don’t
have a body so that we can hold onto something if we are blown
by the wind. Therefore, we are totally out of control and there is
no limitation to all the sounds, all the light, all the feelings and
everything, so that state is a very scary thing if we do not master it,
if we are not aware of it. If we are aware of it then it is truly revealing
the truth of the universe, the truth of everything, limitless.
Right now, here, in this very room, we human beings of Delhi

and those who came from other places by aeroplane — again by
buying tickets, having a passport and getting a visa, walking up
the escalator, going through security checks and showing tickets,
all of these funny things, by doing this you got here — all of us are
experiencing the same drama, and it is limited. How limited? I have
to have a microphone just to talk to a few of you. I have to wear my
eyeglasses to see you and you have to wear your eyeglasses to see me.
We have to have a light on to see. We have to have recorders and
cameras and all kinds of things to record this otherwise we forget,
so it’s very clear how limited this all is. We have the comfort of
Sidpa Bardo 69
limitation, but once we are out of this body we don’t have this any
more, it is like we are nothing but eyes, nothing but ears, nothing
but nose, and nothing but a tongue. It is like that, everything, we
have no limitation of any kind whatsoever and that is why the
bardo is described as a very frightening thing. There are so many
descriptions and ways to describe the bardo.
If we recognise this second bardo then it is just like lighting a lamp

in a room that has been dark under ground for ten billion years — the
darkness was collected there for ten billion years but it doesn’t even
take a moment to light it up when light comes there (it doesn’t take
ten billion years to light up the darkness of ten billion years). So
countless lifetimes of karma get purified right away if we recognise
it, if we recognise the essence of it. In this way the second bardo of
the sidpa bardo is very, very important, it is another opportunity.
So in the first bardo there is the first and second clear light, two
chances, and then here, the second bardo itself is another chance.
THE THIRD BARDO OF THE SIDPA BARDO
Another term for the third bardo is the ‘chonyi bardo’ — so the
chonyi bardo is the third bardo in the sidpa bardo, the after death
bardo. Then in the six bardos the sidpa bardo is one of them and
the chonyi bardo is another one of them. Normally the chonyi
bardo is taught first as the fifth bardo and the sidpa bardo next
as the sixth bardo, but in the death process it is actually part of
the sidpa bardo. So the sidpa bardo has the first, second and third
bardos, and the third bardo of the sidpa bardo is the chonyi bardo.
Chonyi means dharmata. The chonyi of fire is: it is bright and it
burns. The chonyi of water is: it is liquid and it washes. The chonyi
70 ~=Primordial Essence Manifests
of air is: it is moving and it can lift things up from here to there.
The chonyi of earth is: it is heavy and it can keep things down.
The chonyi of space is: that it is empty and it can give space for
everything to happen. So chonyi means that — cho. means water, fire,
air, earth, space, thought, emotion, all of this; everything is ‘cho’.
Chonyi means its essence, dharmata. So chonyi is this. But there is
a deeper chonyi, which is the same chonyi — the fire chonyi, water
chonyi, air chonyi, earth chonyi, mind chonyi and space chonyi —
the chonyi of all is ultimately the same, and more than the same,
non-dualistic, primordial. That is the highest aspect of chonyi. So
the chonyi bardo describes this.
I will give you a very simple example of three things — one is

sound, one is light and the other is colour — three examples. I’m
quite sure many of you have done Shinay/Shamatha or Vipashyana
meditation. So when you reach a very good state of Shamatha or
Vipashyana, then even if you close your eyes you see some kind
of golden light, which many times stays, but at the beginning
stage normally it is like a tunnel. It is big and then becomes small,
then again big and then small — it is like driving backwards in a
tunnel with your car lights on. Sometimes it happens the other
way. If these things happen to you it is a very good sign that you
are able to calm down and you are able to have mind and body
synchronisation, in harmony. It doesn’t mean anything else, but
that is a sign of the light.
Then when you open your eyes and look at the sky, a very bright
sky — normally as a beginner practitioner you would look at the
rising sun, but with squinted eyes so that the sunlight doesn't get
into your pupils, but you don't have to do that, just look at the
Sidpa Bardo 71.
blue sky and then relax and then you are in a good state of Shinay.
The blue sky is full of sparkling light, like fireflies, like an ocean
of rainbows in which a drop of a rainbow hits — it becomes light
like this, very psychedelic, naturally without anything — that is the
colour, even in the darkest room. In the darkest room in the darkest
state you just sit there and the same thing can happen.
So there is this colour, there is light and then sound. Normally

you can hear this kind of sound in the middle of the night when
there are no other sounds. Or if you are in your room by yourself
and there is no other sound whatsoever, when you lie down then
you can hear it. This is not the sound of ringing ears, that sound
is something else. This sound in the middle and at the beginning
stage is like... in India one culture has lots of small bells strung
on strings which when many of them are shaken together make a
very nice and soft but continuous sound. They have many facets,
some of them a little bigger and some of them a little smaller, so it
is that kind of sound, but it is continuous. Then after some time
it transforms into a very loud sound. When you get quite good at
it, then even if you are in a 747 aeroplane you can hear it louder
than the four engines that are going on outside the plane. That
sound is within us. So these three are very simple examples of light,
sound and colour.
Then when we die, in the bardo state we become that light, that
sound and that colour — it is throughout all the chonyi bardo period.
The combination of the second and third bardo (the third bardo
is the chonyi bardo) is the longest part of the bardo. The first clear
light stage cannot be more than three days or less than a moment,
but when good, that is good, but bad, then one is unconscious for
up to three days. Then the second clear light stage is just coming
out of the body, which is a pretty short time. But the second and
third bardos are the main bardo; once you come out of your body
until you are conceived into the next life. These two occupy all of
that time.
If your bardo is forty-nine days (seven weeks), then the first three
weeks will be very much influenced by this life and the last three
weeks will be very much influenced by the next life, but the middle
week is not influenced by either. So there is another very important
chance in the middle, but then it depends on how long your bardo
is. If it is three days then there will be the first day, second day and
third day and the second day will be the middle, a few hours in
the middle of the second day. If it is three weeks then it will be a
few days in the middle of the second week.
So that is when it may be and it is another period when your mind

is not influenced that much. All the influence of this life is gone
and the influence of the next life has not yet come, so this period
is another great opportunity for realisation, but then after that you
will be very much like your next life. So if you are going to be a
dog in your next life then you will think pretty much like a dog
all the way for the next three weeks and then on the last day of the
final week you will be conceived as a dog. If you are going to be
human again, then whatever kind of human being you are going
to be, that will become stronger and stronger. That is called laychi
pakcha sepa. Lay means karma, pakcha means the subconscious, the
habitual subconscious. So laychi pakcha ngupa (habits of the past
life) and laychi pakcha sepa (tendencies for the next life); the first
one will die and the next one will awaken. So in between that is
Sidpa Bardo 73
another state of bardo where you have another chance for all of this.
But of course all the way throughout the bardo you have a chance
for all of this, but there are major stages where the opportunities
become more vivid.
Now the last state of bardo is when instead of this continuous

limitlessness then some limitations start to appear, such as instead
of everything being so bright there is some darker corner appearing
and instead of all the sounds there is some quieter spot appearing.
Then as you are so afraid, if you have not been able to master it,
then definitely you will choose to go into that darker corner, that
quieter place, that safer place. You will run and hide there and that
is how you enter into the next conception. You don't necessarily see
your next parents but somehow that is how it happens. Sometimes
by some circumstances you may see your next parents,. but that
would be a great privilege I think. Most of the time there will be
so much fear and confusion that you don't see anything, you just
find some refuge somewhere and want to close everything and want
to hide there, then you end up in another realm.
So that is the last part of the third bardo. Then at that stage if
you are able to remember that you are dead, that you are in the
bardo, if you are able to be aware of all of this, then sincerely and
with determination focus on the highest, which is enlightenment.
If not enlightenment then a pure land, and if not that then in a
good positive realm where the dharma is alive. I think that then
is the final thing that we can do. Then that is the end of the
chonyi bardo, as far as death is concerned — bardo as during death,
after death and until conception into the next life.‘Within that
context this is the last of the bardo, then you will be conceived
into the next life. But again, bardo is not just about death it is
about everything.
So those are the three stages of the sidpa bardo — the first bardo is
the first and second clear light stages, then the second bardo, then
the third bardo, which is also the chonyi bardo. And with that I
have covered the last three of the six aspects of bardo (the chika,
sidpa and chonyi bardos).
9. CONCLUSION
HAVE TRIED TO make it as simple as

possible — I think it is quite simple. When
you are dying is the first opportunity. If you
miss that, the first clear light, then when you come out of your body
is another opportunity. Then another opportunity is when you are
manifesting the whole truth, the limitlessness. The next opportunity
is in the middle of the bardo, when the influence of this life ends
and before the influence of the next life manifests — the in-between
_ state, which is not influenced by the past and future so much, the
present state of bardo. Then the last opportunity is at the end of the
last part of the bardo. But then of course every moment of bardo
is an opportunity, but then I don’t see how much opportunity we
will have during one period, that is the first clear light, if we are
not able to recognise and realise it as it happens. Then once we are
unconscious, whether it is one hour or three days, I don’t think we
will have any opportunity there unless some kind of great blessing,
great merit or great power wakes us up right there while we are
unconscious and makes us recognise our nature of mind. That could
be possible, but otherwise unconscious is unconscious.
Then I want to make sure that you understand that all of this is
not as easy as it sounds. For example, if you were thrown out of
an aeroplane from fifty thousand feet with no parachute and you

have been given a pen and a piece of paper and are supposed to
write four lines of the best poetry on the way down, it would be
very hard! Definitely there would be enough time. I don’t know
exactly how much time it would take to fall fifty thousand feet but
I think at least five minutes. So there would be lots of time but it
would be difficult, but it would be something like that, if I say it
in a semi-negative and rather naive way. Maybe it’s more difficult
than that but it wouldn't happen without merit and wisdom. It
wont happen just because we want it to happen, we have to have
lots of merit, lots of wisdom and lots of maturity already for the
correct things to happen in the bardo.
Then one thing I can tell you, all of you who are here, and I am
here, everything has happened correctly otherwise we wouldn't be
here. Being here is like we have somehow managed to write the
four lines of poetry. So why not in our next life if we haven't done
terrible things in this life? Also I don’t believe that in our past life
we have done some impossible or unimaginable good things that
we cannot imagine in this life, that we cannot perceive in this life,
or that we cannot do in this life. So some kind of great things that
we have done in our past lives as a result of which we are here, and
not so bad — I don’t believe in that.
We have done our best in our past life and as a result we are here.
Therefore if we do our best in this life then why would our next
life be worse? In that way I think we should not have too much
fear about this frightening stage, but this frightening stage will be
there. But these kind of frightening stages, small ones, even I put
myself through them. Because, for example, when I went to the
Conclusion 77
United States for the first time, to Los Angeles and Disneyland — I
was a guest there and they made special arrangements and escorted
me all over the place — there was one place that they called ‘Space
Ride’ which was terrifying but I enjoyed it so much that I asked
them to let me go on it again! I refused to come out, and the poor
lamas who were with me also had to sit on it. So I went on it one
more time and that was a very bad choice because when I came
out of it my nervous system was out of balance for a couple of
minutes. I enjoyed it at that time because I was maybe twenty-eight
or twenty-nine years old and very healthy and all of that, but still it
had done something because you are not supposed to do it twice,
one after the other. So I know what fear is, but then sometimes you
enjoy it — I was holding on with everything and I enjoyed it and
did it again and still enjoyed it. But then when I came out of it I
recognised that I couldn't walk properly for a few seconds because
my nervous system was broken down.
So that concludes the teachings on the six bardos and I hope and
pray that this will be meaningful for you. I don’t think I added
anything because I should not contaminate the pure lineage of
dharma, but if for any reason I added anything or deleted anything
it was an absolutely innocent mistake. If I have done anything
like that I confess to the lineage. I say this because I did not teach
from the text, but from my notes of when I received the teachings,
when I studied the teachings and when I taught them many times.
May such a pure lineage never be contaminated by my ideas or my
interpretation, or by anybody’s ideas or their interpretations.
10. THE FIVE STRENGTHS
OR DOING ALL the practices that we

} do and learning all the dharma that we
learn, it is very important for us to always
remember what is going on. IfI put it simply: living is preparation
for dying and dying is preparation for living. So you die to be born
and you are born to die, that’s how it is. In between you live so
that each life, which is maybe a hundred or maybe only fifty years
is lived meaningfully so that when the threshold between this life
and the next life happens (which is inevitable) then you don’t have
to say to yourself, “Wait a minute, what did I do?” You have to be
able to say to yourself, “Okay, fine, I have done my best. I have
nothing to worry about.” That is a sign of a meaningful life.
In the Vajrayana teachings there is one very important aspect that

involves antidotes. Antidotes for all the fear, antidotes for all the
anxiety, and antidotes for all the regrets that might happen when
our doctor tells us: “I’m sorry, we have done our best, but this is
it.” So when that happens we should not be overwhelmed by it. We
should be able to say: “Yes alright, it’s okay.” We should be able to
pull ourselves together and finish that half-done will, otherwise we
go and everybody is left behind to fight with ‘each other. It’s pretty
bad. So we should be able to take care of that as well.
80 _—~ Primordial Essence Manifests
In Tibetan it is zyenpo tob nga: nyenpo means ‘antidote’, tob means

‘strength’, and mga means ‘five’. So through these five understandings
and five confirmations, five practices will help us to overcome any
shortcomings in everything, but especially when the end of this life
and the beginning of the next life takes place.
The first of the five strengths is described as sawon gyi top. Sawon
means ‘seed’ like the seed of a flower. This is also described as
fearlessness, no fear. So if we know what our seed is, if we are sure
of our essence, our seed, then there is no fear, because this or that
life, or the previous or future life, the seed is the same. It is the
continuation of the same thing. We are not afraid to go to bed
tonight because we know tomorrow we will wake up.
In the same way, when the doctor tells us “okay, I’m sorry (you
are going to die),” then we know this is time to go to sleep but we
know tomorrow we will wake up, and nicely because we have done
our best today. The seed means everybody’s basic essence has no
limitation. It cannot be contaminated or influenced by anything.
You can never lose it. No matter what happens to you, even if a
thousand atom bombs were dropped on you, your ultimate essence
would not burst. Also you could be buried under two thousand feet
of earth but your ultimate essence could not be trapped. Or you
could be shot into the sun at the speed of light but your ultimate
essence would not get lost. Your ultimate essence has no limitation
of any kind. Therefore, ultimately nobody dies; ultimately nobody
is born; ultimately everything is everything as it is all the time. So
therefore, knowing this seed, then you overcome the basic fear of
everything and in this case, the fear of death.
The Five Strengths 81
Now when we say “somebody died,” what does that mean to us?
We see somebody, their nose, eyes, ears, their shoulders, hair; we
hear their voice, we remember their movements and we somehow
project their personality, which we cannot see but somehow we
have a projection in our mind — “He is like that, she is like that.”
So when we cannot encounter that identity anymore in this world
or we cannot find that person anymore on this Earth, but all we
can find is the cocoon or the print of that person lying there, then
we say the person is dead. That is what death means to us. .
Then what does death mean to the person who is dying? For that
person it has nothing to do with what is there, (the body). His or
her mind is not in that anymore. His or her mind is wandering
somewhere, riding on their thoughts, riding on their emotions,
riding on their memory; leave here by karma, pushed there by
karma, like a feather flying in a storm taken from here to there by
the force of his or her own doing. That is death. By recognising
this, then we truly understand what death is and what life is. Death
is a life itself, you live after you are dead. In that way death means
‘death of the body’, the separation of body and mind.
Then who is being separated is your mind. Separated from what?

From your body. So who is afraid is mind, not your body, therefore
your mind never dies. Because of that we should not have fear when
death occurs for us, for death itself. So that is the first thing.
The second strength is the strength of aspiration. Once we

technically conquer the fear of death by knowing what death is,
then we should see the second side of that, which is what happens
after death. There is a very good reason to be afraid to die based on
what happens after we die. Now death itself we learn is nothing,

it’s no big deal. It’s not something that we should be scared of. But
what happens after that, if we haven't done good thing, the right
things, especially if we are doing the wrong things and living the
wrong kind of life, then we should be afraid to die and hold onto
this dear life as long as we can.
For example, right now I know I have a reference — I know how

I look, how I sound, how I feel, where I stay, who are my friends
and relatives (in my case who are my disciples and students), who
is my teacher, who I should keep away from and who I should be
dealing with. I have all these references so I am quite secure here.
Also I have been learning about this for the past fifty years, so I now
know quite a bit and I want to hold onto this for as long as I can.
But one day the inevitable will come whether we like it or not, and
when that happens then it is totally according to our aspiration.
Then it will carry on.
Simply speaking it is as you wish. So if you ask somebody how

their next life would be, in this part of the teaching it says, ‘As
you always wish. Sincerely what you always wish, sincerely what
you've always done’. So if you wish to have a happy, compassionate,
and peaceful life, then you should live a happy, compassionate,
and peaceful life. If you want your next life to have lots of chaos,
confusion, and neurosis, then you should live a chaotic, confused,
and neurotic life. Then your next life will be as you wish. In this
way the aspiration is very important.
Now, what is the aspiration? In Vajrayana practice the aspiration

is the Mahayana aspiration — I wish to attain Buddhahood for the
benefit of all sentient beings to attain Buddhahood, bodhichitta;

that is the aspiration. And if that is our sincere wish and we live
according to that, then our next life will be closer to that, and the
next life will be even closer to that, and then the next life will be
closer still. This way we reach towards our goal as we wish, and
aspiration bodhichitta means the sincere confirmation of our wish.
That is the second strength.
The third strength is described as a magnitude of power or

strength which can overcome anything. For example, a magnitude
of perception that can overcome all perceptions, all perceivable
shortcomings; that is sun jinpa, which means ‘strength to overcome’.
For example, if there are wolves bothering your herd and you have
a mighty lion come and help you, as soon as the lion climbs on a
rock and roars in the direction of where the wolves are, then that is
the lion king. So it sun jinpa’ all the viciousness of all the wolves. It
doesn’t have to do much but just be there. It is ‘sun jinpa’, it is the
strength. So the magnitude of the strength of your understanding,
your perception, that can overcome any shortcoming of all the
perceptions. And that is simply the understanding of shunyata,
the Prajnaparamita, emptiness.
Now how this works is very simple. The relative truth about
everything is that everything is interdependent with everything else.
Nothing would be there if not for everything else. That is simple and
not difficult to understand. For example, a house stands because of
everything else — the foundations, the walls, the pillars, the beams,
the roof, the window frames, the glass etc. If it was not for all of
those there would be no house. It is the same thing with everything
— ourselves, everybody else and everything from heaven to hell, from
gods to ignorant me — everybody exists because of everything else.

If it were not for everything else nothing would be here.
Knowing this is very simple and practical, it is down to earth

common sense. But by knowing this truly then you can understand
that there is nothing that you cannot understand, because anything
is possible. There will not be anything like “Oh, it is too big,” or
“It’s too complicated,” or “It’s too frightening,” or “It’s too good,”
or “It’s too bad,” “I can’t understand, I can’t believe.” That won't
be there because you know anything is possible. This way your
ability to comprehend any aspect of relative truth — how wonderful
it may be, how terrible it may be, how complicated it may be, how
simple it may be — you will be able to comprehend if you have
the understanding of emptiness, shunyata, the interdependence
of everything.
So that is the third strength and what it does is, for example,
something that was really unbearable happened to you, you think
“Oh, this is unbearable.” But if you have clear understanding of
emptiness, you will still think it is not pleasant, but it will not be
unbearable. It will not drive you crazy or destroy you. It can actually
make you even stronger, better and more clear, and it might make
you become more mature. But if you don’t have the understanding
of emptiness then it will destroy you, temporarily. Nothing can
destroy you permanently of course, only temporarily. One life can be
destroyed. This life might become ruined and the scar of that shock
and the effect of that trauma can last as long as you live, because
you hold onto one thing as the truth, as the reality, as everything,
not knowing it is related to everything else.
By holding onto something artificially like this, then what happens

is its result will be artificial. Then the artificial result is more
harmful than the true result, because the artificial is like a lie. In
order to maintain a lie you have to lie again and again, then after
sometime you forget what kind of lies you said to cover your
first lie, so you get exposed and that becomes even worse. So the
misunderstanding of reality happens and the only antidote for that
is the true understanding of reality, and the true understanding of
reality is the interdependence of everything. That is emptiness,
shunyata. And the only antidote, the only effective and true
antidote for misunderstanding is true understanding. This way
the third strength is the strength that will overwhelm any kind of
shortcoming; so emptiness.
The fourth strength is the strength of destination, the determining

strength, the strength that will determine. For example, if you are an
archer it is the bow and the arrow— the length of the arrow, the length
of the bow, and the velocity of the material of the bow; according
to that the arrow will go a certain distance. So the destination of
an arrow which is shot by, let’s say five hundred pounds, will reach
maybe half a kilometre. That is what will determine where the
arrow will reach; it is determined by all of that.
Now here, no matter what we are doing — positive things, negative

things, religious things or just worldly things — what will be the
result or outcome of it, what will determine its destination, is our
dedication. If we wholeheartedly begin something, continue it and
finish it, if it is a good thing the result will be really good and if
it is a bad thing the result will be really bad. But if it is not, then
according to that the result will be determined.
For us as Mahayana/Vajrayana practitioners it is the dedication.

At the beginning we have bodhichitta, but constantly we should
dedicate. Dedication is bodhichitta in action. So whatever we do,
any kind of things that we involve ourselves in we do our best with,
and after doing and being involved in whatever it was, if it was a
good thing, then we dedicate it for enlightenment and the benefit
of all sentient beings. So that is the fourth strength.
The fifth strength is described as the strength of practice, the

strength of continuous effort. It is based on diligence and patience
and so forth, but it is the continuation — and the main practice
of that is mindfulness and awareness. Mindfulness and awareness
are very simple but very important. Mindful means, always be
mindful. Mindfulness itself is a very important practice. Mindful
means, when you are talking, when you are resting, when you are
eating, when you are praying, when you are meditating, when you
are reading, when you are working, all the time have mindfulness.
It is a very important basic mechanism or path for progress. If you
are mindful, then even if you have an ordinary job it becomes very
much like meditation because you are mindful.
Then awareness is that you have your motivation and you always
remember your motivation. You remember your motivation, your
basic inspiration and aspiration all the time so that whatever you do
is blessed by it. For example, a good parent will always remember
their responsibility as a parent is to make their children grow up.
Another aspect is when dealing with a child, every moment you

will have mindfulness, and the motivation of being mindful you'll
always remember. So mindfulness and awareness, one is very basic:
always be mindful, and the other is to have the motivation, have

the principle, and always remember it. And you will not get lost
if you have this. Even very good people get lost many times. The
lyrics to the song Amazing Grace, written I think by a Christian,
“Once I was lost, nowI am found” I think are a very powerful thing.
Because lost doesn’t mean you have lost something, but when you
don't have mindfulness and awareness you get lost.
Sometimes we can be very mindful, yet still we get lost because we

forget why we are being mindful. It is like doing pujas and rituals
and then forgetting why we are doing them. So it happens that we
get lost in the pujas and rituals, we get lost in mindfulness. Of course
we get lost in bad things but even in good things we get lost.
So mindfulness and awareness are very important. These days

humanity is becoming a little bit strange and I think it has a lot to
do with this. Originally, at the beginning we know why we want to
do something, but then once we get involved in it, then day after
day, month after month, we get lost. So we keep on doing what
we have started, but then the purpose, the motivation, the real life
of it becomes weaker.
Maybe this is a little confusing so I will use the Tibetan words

trenpa and she shin. The translation may be wrong but the Tibetan
is not, so you can find a better translator to translate it. Trenpa
means ‘remembering’, which is what I call ‘awareness’. She shin is
‘knowingly’, which is what I call ‘mindful’; so you drink knowingly,
you talk knowingly; you do whatever you do knowingly — that is
what I call mindfulness. So she shin and trenpa, mindfulness and
awareness, is the fifth strength.
In this way then, whenever we encounter any extreme situations in

life, including death, we are able to handle it, because we know we
are not going to die, ultimately. Our mind never dies. Secondly we
have good sincere motivation and dedication. Thirdly we have the
understanding of emptiness. Birth is totally interrelated with death,
and death is totally interrelated with birth. You can’t die if you are
not born. We are glad to be born and terrified to die. But once we
know it is interrelated then it’s not that much of a tragedy.
Causing death to oneself or causing death to others is a negative

thing. It is absolutely neurotic to cause death to anybody or to
yourself because sooner or later everyone will die, so just take it easy,
it will happen! So your worst enemy, you don't have to go and kill
him or her, instead wish them well or whatever, do your best, be
kind and compassionate and one day they will be dead, then they
will be born again somewhere, and maybe they will become your
friend because you have been positive to them. So in the next life
your enemy may become your best friend. Maybe if you are old
and some little fellow is very nice to you, that is the incarnation
of your enemy.
Anyway, this understanding of emptiness and dedication and always

being mindful and aware, if we have done all of this, if we have
lived life based on this, then it is no problem. Of course sometimes
our great master’s words are a little bit hard to swallow because a
person like me, I can’t say I’m terrified of dying, but I'd definitely
like to hold on to this dear life as long as I can. But I will not be
neurotic about it.
Anyway, it's a good thing that I can live. In one of Milarepa’s songs
he says: “Death is not a death, It is a little enlightenment for yogis.”
So for yogis it is enlightenment, because for them, the moment they
die — of course naturally — their mind and their body, this dualistic
connection, even this will be liberated. So they will recognise the
essence of their mind as it is.
It is quite inspiring for me to have witnessed quite a few great

masters, and even good lamas of our lineage, dying. I have seen
quite a few of them die sitting and meditating — sitting up straight
with no support, and they stayed like that for two or three days. It is
like mind and body separated and at that moment they recognised
the nature of mind, then they are in thugdam, samadhi.
I think that can only happen when you have full confidence that
everything is okay, then you can go like that. And if you can go
like that, also you will come like that. So I think the greatest test
of life is at the time of death, because in life we can somehow play
all kinds of games, we can put on all kinds of faces, but when the
inevitable comes we show our true face, and we can’t pretend in
that situation.
So I will stop here, but I thought I would share this and maybe it
will be a good living principle for us. Now if you have questions,
please ask.
Questions
Question: When you say mind, is it also the heart, like in our
visualisation?
Rinpoche: We say body, speech and mind, not heart; the heart is not
the mind. This is relevant for human beings on the Planet Earth
that we live on, how we are conceived.
When you are angry, or you have attachment, or you are shouting
or you are going crazy, that is emotion, which is the most dualistic
manifestation of mind. Now, the interdependence of mind and
matter; mind’s own manifestation is matter. There is no such
thing as matter separated from mind in Vajrayana. Scientists
might say it differently, they will say there is matter even where
there is no mind, but then scientists with mind have to go there
and see it. Anyway, it is nothing more and nothing less than Harry
Potter, it is drama. Whether something is there when I’m not
there or whether something is there when I am there, it doesn't
make any difference.
Now in this context, then the manifestation of karma, the

manifestation of the mind, the emotions, dualism, the base of all
reality is the five elements. And out of the five elements the base
of them is of course the element of space, but besides that also is
the element of wind, but there is no such thing called ‘wind’. It is
just the pressure up and pressure down that creates wind. Other
than that there is no wind. Wind is not stored somewhere and
then comes out and then goes somewhere. It just comes, is created,
manifests and disappears.
So the most dualistic manifestation of the mind, the emotions, and

the most subtle base of reality, wind, these get together; so the mind
is riding on the horse of wind, which is namshe lung ta la sheon
— consciousness, the mind is riding on the wind. So it is together
with the wind and then that enters into our mother, into the most
subtle physical reality, the manifestation of our mother and father,
the liquid form. So the liquid form is the most subtle aspect of the
physical, and wind is the most subtle aspect of the universal base,
and emotion is the most dualistic manifestation of the mind. These
three merge and within twenty-nine days then all of that wind
forms a tube in the middle — the liquid form becomes solidified
in twenty-nine days, so it becomes, it builds a tube in the middle.
We call that the central channel, which is later developed physically
into the backbone, then the subtle aspect of that backbone, which
is the central channel, is always there.
Now that wind is concentrated in the middle, so the middle of

that is around the heart area, which is why we say mind is here
(around the heart area). That is why, if we are injured anywhere in
the middle then we die. If we are injured anywhere else we might
survive. But in the middle, it doesn’t matter where, any place there
that is injured, we can die. Also the backbone is a very important
thing. If the backbone is injured, life becomes very serious.
So because of that, then body, speech, and mind. The body is the
head, because the most important things of the whole body is to
hear, to smell, to eat and to see; these are all there, all concentrated
in this little thing here, our head. Therefore this is the body. Then
the most important aspect for communication happens from our
throat, the voice, so that’s speech. Then the centre of the nirmanadi
92 ~Primordial Essence Manifests
is in the heart area, and that is the mind. But it has nothing to do
with the heart.
Question: What increases awareness and mindfulness?

Rinpoche: When your ego is less dominating then everything
becomes better. The bigger your ego is, the worse everything else
becomes. So anything that will make your ego transform is a good
thing. But trying to get rid of ego, there is no such thing; you have
to transform your ego. For example, compassion makes your ego less
and devotion transforms your ego even more. Compassion is more
ego-friendly than devotion, therefore compassion first. But once
you develop true genuine compassion, then you try to develop true
genuine devotion. Once you have compassion and devotion, then
mindfulness and awareness and all of the other aspects of practice
will be much easier. For example, if the ocean doesn't have a strong
current, then to swim in it will be easier.
So the power of your ego becomes transformed — your ego’s negative

power is transformed into compassion, your ego's negative power
is transformed into devotion, then your ego's negative power is
transformed into mindfulness and awareness. That way then your
ego's basic foundation is transformed into primordial wisdom. That
is the base of ego itself. When we don't understand our primordial
wisdom then it becomes ego and self.
Question: In response to one of the earlier questions about mind and

matter, is that the same as in one of the verses of the third Karmapa’s
Aspiration for Mahamudra prayer, about subject and object?
Naturally manifesting appearances, that never truly exist,

are confused into objects.
Spontaneous intelligence, under the power of ignorance, is confused
into a self.
By the power of this dualistic fixation, beings wander in the realms
of samsaric existence.
May ignorance, the root of confusion, be discovered and cut.
Rinpoche: The prayer says that outer objects never existed but
are our own manifestations, our own projections that we mistake
as objects. So the manifestations of our own karma, our own
perceptions, we mistake as objects. Then we always recognise our
ultimate limitless essence, primordial wisdom, that always manifests,
but that manifestation we misunderstand as ‘I’, self realisation, self
recognition. The recognition of primordial wisdom by primordial
wisdom itself, that self-realisation, that self-recognition happens all
the time but is continuously mistaken as ‘I’. Therefore dualism is
maintained and we are wandering in samsara, because samsara is a
game; the cause, the condition and the result of dualism. As long
as there is ‘T and ‘other’ this subject and object dualism is there —
there will be attachment, liking, disliking, aggression, fear, jealousy,
hatred and greed; there will be everything. That is samsara.
Samsara means ‘circle’; a never-ending circle. If you are running in

a circle you will never get anywhere, but you get tired and you can
spend many lifetimes running around. In samsara we are serving
our attachment, our anger, our jealousy, our fear, our greed and
our hatred. We are doing our best to serve these like a slave, but
they will never be satisfied. There will be no fulfilment; no ultimate
fulfilment of anger or the others.
For example, if you kill one enemy you have to kill that enemy’s
friends and relatives, then their friends and relatives, and it will go all
the way back to you. In the end you will have destroyed everybody
in the whole world except yourself, and until that happens, your
enemies will never be finished. That’s how it is. Anger cannot be
fulfilled like that. In the end you will be the only person in the
world, but after some time some part of you will hate yourself and
you will jump offa cliff. That will happen.
Then attachment for example, we go after one thing, then we find

something more interesting and more desirable and go after that
until we find something else. If we don’t stop somewhere, if we
serve our desire, it is the same as serving our anger, it will go on
forever. Then if we serve our jealousy, first we will have jealousy
about something or of somebody, but then if we go on, then at the
end we will be jealous of ourselves! It will go on forever, we will go
crazy. First we have jealousy with strangers, then with our friends,
then with our family members, and then what happens? There is
no end. It will go on forever.
It is the same with pride and with everything; that is samsara.

Defilements can never be fulfilled no matter how hard we work,
so we have to do things to transform them.
Question: In our worldly activities and professions we sometimes

think that because of our jobs we are having all these problems, we
are doing worldly activities. Then we think “oh, if I was a monk
or nun, it would be different, because then people would treat me
differently because of this situation.” So about being an ordinary
lay person, you were mentioning that whatever we do, if we do
it with the correct intention that should be good enough. How

should we tackle this because I think many people, those that are
interested in Buddhism say “oh, it would be much different if I
was a monk or a nun.”
Rinpoche: | can tell you one thing, it will be different, yes! But it will
be different in many millions of ways. Whether one is a monk, a nun
or an ordinary person, all of these things are just different ways of
being, but it depends on what kind of ordinary person, what kind
of monk and what kind of nun, and where and when and why.
For example, with myself, the whole thing was designated for me
when I was eighteen months old. Do you think that is easy? I am
supposed to be Lord Maitreya, Guru Rinpoche, Marpa Lotsawa,
and all the eleven previous Tai Situs, all of that. And I have to
maintain what they have done, and not just theoretically but
practically. So I have so many things that I have to do, and to learn
what I have to do takes many years. It’s definitely not easier to be
a monk or a nun of that kind.
But of course, if you are a monk, a nun or even a yogi simply

practicing meditation and you have no other responsibility, just
purely practicing and doing retreats month after month, year after
year like that, then of course it would be different. But then for that
also one has to have the conditions because if you keep on doing
retreat year after year, if you don’t have the means to do that, then
your life can be very difficult. After some time you might find lots
of reasons to make yourself unhappy; “I have done twenty years of
retreat but now I have nothing and nobody respects me. Nobody
cares for me and nobody serves me” That can happen, which is
not very healthy.
So there are so many things. I think as you are, whatever you are
doing right now, the first thing is to implement all the dharma
that you have learned up to today in the life that you already have.
Then learn more and enrich it and deepen it. Then whatever other
kind of dharma life that you might follow, or worldly life blessed by
dharma you will follow, it should evolve. And it will evolve because
good things will always become better, but better doesn’t mean more
comfortable or easier, but everything will be more meaningful.
I think everybody is doing wonderfully, but you should not have

misgivings that all the monks and nuns have no problems, they
have lots of problems. Not all of them, but different monks and
different nuns have different problems. Monks and nuns of my
kind have too many responsibilities. Sometimes I have to really
think very clearly and trace back for one or two hundred years
to find out why something is happening now and why I’m doing
something now. It’s adventurous, no chance for a boring moment;
never a dull moment, but white samsara.
Question: About the issue of creating good karma, maybe we know

in our past life that we have done something wrong...
Rinpoche: 1 would definitely not worry about that. What has
happened has happened, and what will happen will happen. I want
to do my best with my conscience and with my effort and I will not
worry. I agree with you one hundred percent about the worrying
part, worrying is extra suffering. Worrying of any kind is extra
suffering, so don’t worry. Good things happen, bad things happen,
and if we want we can worry all the time. The whole world could
be given to you today and you could become the emperor of the
world. Then if you want to worry, you can worry; you would have
the whole world to worry about. Then tomorrow they could take
away everything and you have nothing, then you can worry about
having nothing to worry about. This way if we want to worry, we
can worry at all times. Of course people worry about something, I
think they need to otherwise they find it very boring. But no more
than a reasonable dosage of worrying, then you will not get lost
in worrying because worrying doesn’t help. If you have a problem
and you worry about it then you become disabled. Your ability to
handle your problem will be lessened by your worry and your mind
becomes affected by it. So try not to worry.
I don’t remember my past lives, but all of those past great

incarnations, if I remembered them I would be very delighted, but
I don’t remember them. But then there are thousands of lifetimes,
millions of lifetimes, and each one of us has been everything. If I
remembered even ten percent of them I would go crazy. So I actually
think ignorance is a pleasure, ignorance is a joy.
Question: Rinpoche, in The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying there

is a part that says that many experiences within life resemble the
bardo experience, and then sometimes when you die the wrathful
deities come. I couldn’t understand that very well.
Rinpoche: The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying was written by one
of my very good friends, I didn’t read it but I think he wrote it based
on the very sacred text, Bardo Thédrol. So for you to understand this,
the relationship between life and death, I think if you understand
the basic definition of ‘everything is interrelated’, then that will
take care of that. Because whatever happens to you has everything
to do with whatever happened to you. Something that has nothing
to do with you will never happen to you, right?
98. ~=Primordial Essence Manifests
In that way, what is going to happen in your bardo in the future, and
what happened in your bardo in the past, and what is happening
in your life right now, life is also a bardo — according to the six
aspects of bardo only three of them are related to death, but all six
you can relate to it; the bardo is a whole teaching — everything is
to do with everything.
Now the wrathful and peaceful deities — actually there are a hundred
deities representing the hundred important sacred aspects of our
body. This involves forty-two peaceful deities and fifty-eight
wrathful deities, and then the main deity, Chemchok (Heruka and
consort], male and female, the king and queen together [from
which the hundred deities manifest]. Then all together that is a
hundred deities.
These hundred deities represent all aspects of energy; if I can use

a new age term. Energy sometimes sounds a little trendy to me —
vibration, energy — but it really means the sacred aspect, the physical
aspect as a human being of planet Earth; our body, it relates to us.
So as with my answer to the earlier question about the wind and
mind and when they enter into the body, in that way, how the
body and mind are connected, in that, these hundred aspects are
described in the bardo teachings.
In bardo practice we have a practice in the brain, we talk about the

mind and the brain, and we call it the fresh, pure white mandala
of the brain, like a conch shell palace of the brain. Then the east
petal, west petal, south petal, north petal and central petal, and
each one has deities, each of which represents different wisdoms
— each wisdom is the transformation of each defilement. This is a
complete practice, an absolutely full and complete elaborate practice

of bardo in ritual, mandala, meditation, visualisation and so on. It
is a complete tantra by itself. So that it is there.
Question: You were talking about liquid as the most subtle

manifestation of the body....
Rinpoche: ...of the body of our father and mother, the white and
red element. It takes twenty-nine days to form the central channel,
because the egg becomes hardened and then in the middle, the
air element and the mind manifesting the form of emotion, and
consciousness, are superficially trapped, relatively trapped there, and
that forms a tube, which is the beginning of the central channel.
From there it is like branches, flowers or fruit, everything grows

in all directions — the lungs, liver, eyes, ears, nose and all the other
things grow from there. For example, it is like if there is one bush
here and another over there, then three rabbits living here and two
rabbits there, and a vegetable garden where there are lots of carrots,
the rabbits will go there, and then there will be less parts here and
more parts over there. That way the winds spread and function and
we have five fingers here and five toes there, two legs, two hands etc.
These things develop out of that. So it is natural, almost primordial
genetic engineering. It takes place naturally.
Question: Can you say the union of wind and liquid?

Rinpoche: First the union of the mind (emotion), consciousness and
wind. The emotion [of the bardo being consciousness] is attracted
to the [liquid in the mother] and it merges into it and then we go
unconscious. Our mind becomes unconscious like somebody has hit
us on the head with something. So when we die it is the separation
of body and mind, we become unconscious. Then we are conceived

and there is another unconsciousness, because when mind and body
(which are two totally separate things) merge, it is a shock.
Question: Human life is very precious but you...

Rinpoche: No, precious human life is very precious. Precious human
life is defined by eighteen things. When we meditate on the first of
the four ordinary foundations, precious human life, we contemplate
on eighteen aspects, and if we have those eighteen aspects in our
life then our life is precious. If those things are already there, we
appreciate it, we uphold it and cherish it. Those things that are
not quite there, we contemplate on them and we acquire them,
we develop them so as to make our human life a precious human
life. Of course human life is precious; I’m not saying that it is
not. I’m a human being, so human life is precious, but ‘precious
human life’ and ‘human life is precious’ are different things. A
‘precious human life’ means a human life which has those eighteen
conditions, because in that way then we can progress, and also we
can help others to progress.
For example, if you don't have any intention to benefit anybody,

then you will not benefit anybody, because you have no intention,
you have no wish to benefit anybody. So you have to have that and
then your life becomes precious.
Question: Are you saying that only in a human life one can get
enlightened? |
Rinpoche: 1 don't know, because on planet Earth Buddha
Shakyamuni and the past three Buddhas before him were human,
and all the other nine hundred and so on Buddhas are going to
be humans. But that doesn’t mean that there is no animal Buddha

because in the bardo teachings we have Buddha of animals, Buddha
of asuras, Buddha of gods and Buddha of hells. The six realms each
have Buddhas in the bardo ritual, in bardo practice. So it doesn’t
mean that only humans will attain Buddhahood, but the thousand
prophesized Buddhas are Buddhas of the human realm.
Question: How can we know the difference between when our

mind is talking or the consciousness?
Rinpoche: Don't worry about that. If you think too much like that
then you get confused for nothing, mind and consciousness are all
interdependent. It’s like a wave and the ocean, how can you truly
tell the difference between the shape of the ocean and a wave? The
wave is the ocean and the ocean is the wave. That way don’t worry
about it, but I think there is something else in it.
When something tells you something, sometimes you should take it

seriously and sometimes you shouldn’. First of all, I think we should
have a very clear purpose, intention, motivation and aspiration for
our life. That is the most important first thing. Our life is not just
for whatever. We want to make the best use of this life, to benefit
ourselves and to benefit everybody in the best possible way. That
motivation should be there.
Once that motivation is there then you have a guideline. When

you think of something, when you make a decision, then on
what basis, on what guideline should you think and make that
decision? That way a good percentage of the job is already done
once you have your motivation — your purpose of this life is
already clearly decided.
In that process I use a very simple method which is: what I

want, what I need and what I have. These three things are a very
convenient way to conduct oneself. What I want is maybe this
much, but what I need is maybe not that much. Then how much
do I have already?. I might not have fifty percent of what I need
to achieve what I want, but maybe I have more than enough for
achieving what I need already. So in this simple way — what I want,
what I need and what I have — then it becomes more clear and
simple, and anything extra is a bonus. You know your limitations
and you know your potential. Of course our potential is limitless,
you have to know that, but you also know the limitations of your
manifestation right now, then I think life will be much easier. You
don’t have to worry too much about listening to your mind or your
heart or your thoughts or these things too much, but I think if you
are very clear and very sincere already with your motivation then
your heart can tell you certain things.
But if we don’t have a good heart and a clear mind then I don’t think
our heart tells us much, because there isn’t anybody living there who
is awake, it is sleeping, so no matter how much you call it will not
answer. So I think in order to have somebody to listen to we have
to develop a good heart first. Then we can listen to it.
Question: Rinpoche, earlier you were talking about our basic essence
as our seed and I was wondering if this is the same as or similar to
Buddha nature and primordial wisdom?
Rinpoche: \t is. Primordial wisdom, Buddha nature, ultimate
bodhichitta, ultimate emptiness, yeshe, and rigpa, all of them are
the same thing.
Same Student: Also mindfulness and awareness?
Rinpoche: Trenpa and she shin have nothing to do with Buddha

nature. Of course it has everything to do with Buddha nature but
it is not about Buddha nature. You have to have somebody to be
trenpa. Itenpa means remembering, so you have to have something
to remember — remember your motivation, your bodhichitta, all
the time. Remembering, that is trenpa, I call that awareness. Then
she shin means whatever you do, do it knowingly. So if you have
done things and you don’t know you have done them that is not
mindful, that is mindless. So do things mindfully.
Question: The five aggregates, other than form, the other four —
feeling, perception, formation and consciousness — are all part of
the makeup of mind...
Rinpoche. We would say all of them, including form. Form has
everything to do with mind because how forms exists, how we
affect form, how forms affect us, all this is our karma; it is the
manifestation of our karma. So from that point of view it has
everything to do with mind. But why they separate is because as it
manifests, that is an inanimate object.
Question: My question is on what basis is this division or

classification. Because what you said is absolutely correct because in
one sense, excluding form, the other four are more a classification
of mind...
Rinpoche: These things happen when you learn so much about
dialectic logic. Because when you have to exercise your dialectic
principals to debate you get caught very easily, therefore just separate
form away and then everything else is easier to deal with.
I will end here, and I hope that this subject is meaningful

for you and I enjoyed very much talking about it. Because of
my great Masters I am able to say something from my heart
and it seems to benefit everybody in their own way. So I’m
grateful for that and dedicate the merit of these teachings
for the benefit of all sentient beings to attain Buddhahood.
AppendixA
The Cycle of the Bardos
BECOMING / SIDPA
BIRTH / KYE-NAY
DREAM / MILAM
MOMENT OF DEATH / CHIKA
DHARMATA / CHONYI
MEDITATION / SAMTEN
Appendix B
The Five Buddha Families
BUDDHA Vairochana _—Vajrasattva/ Ratnasambhava

Akshobya
COLOUR white blue yellow
BARDO DAY one two three
ELEMENT form water earth
DIRECTION central east south
PURE LIGHT bright blue bright white _ bright yellow
PURE REALM The Densely Complete Joy The Glorious

Arrayed
IMPURE LIGHT _ soft white softsmoky _ soft blue
light
IMPURE REALM god realm hell realm human realm
SKANDHA consciousness form feeling
EMOTION ignorance anger pride
WISDOM dharmadhatu_ mirror-like equanimity

Appendix B
The Five Buddha Families
BUDDHA Amitabha Amoghasiddhi
COLOUR red green
BARDO DAY four five
ELEMENT fire air
DIRECTION west north
PURE LIGHT bright red bright green
PURE REALM The Blissful Perfected Actions
IMPURE LIGHT soft yellow soft red

IMPURE REALM hungry ghost —demi-god
SKANDHA concepts motivational factors
EMOTION desire jealousy/envy
WISDOM discrimination _action-accomplishing

Appendix C
The Six States of Bardo
GOD REALM SAMTEN BARDO eternity/

meditation/clear light emptiness
JEALOUS GOD KYE-NAY BARDO speed/stillness

REALM birth
HUMAN REALM GYULU BARDO real/unreal

illusory body
ANIMAL REALM MILAM BARDO asleep/awake

dream
HUNGRY- SIDPA BARDO grasp/let go

GHOST REALM existence/becoming
HELL REALM CHIKA BARDO pain/pleasure

death destroy/create
ABOUT CHAMGON KENTING TAI SITUPA
The lineage of the Tai Situpas is one of the most renowned in the
tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The present Kenting Tai Situpa, the
twelfth, was recognized at an early age and enthroned at Palpung
monastery in Tibet by the sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa.
Kenting Tai Situpa is the founder and Spiritual Head of Palpung

Sherabling Monastic Seat, situated in the northern Indian province
of Himachal Pradesh.
The present Kenting Tai Situpa continues the traditions of the

profound unbroken practice lineage of the Tai Situpas and as a
renowned Buddhist teacher is training the next generation of Buddhist
masters. As a highly sought after Buddhist master he tours widely giving
teachings and empowerments at the request of monasteries and dharma
centers. On a more personal level, the present Tai Situpa is a scholar,
poet, calligrapher, artist, author, architect and geomancer.
For further information contact:

Palpung Sherabling Monastic Seat
PO. Upper Bhattu, Distric Kangra
Himachal Pradesh 176-125, India
Ph: (91)1894-263013 (91) 1894-262233 (91)1894-262955
www.palpung.org
ABOUT PALPUNG SHERABLING
In 1975, the present 12" Kenting Tai Situpa’s disciples donated some
protected pine forested land located in the foothills of the Himalayas.
Here Kenting Tai Situpa started to establish Palpung Sherabling,
which later became his seat in India. The building was designed by
Kenting Tai Situpa and is built of modern materials and finished in
traditional Tibetan architectural fashion. The concept of the design
follows the ancient science of geomancy. Palpung Sherabling cultivates
and preserves the artistic lineage of the Palpung tradition.
Kenting Tai Situpa is progressively developing Palpung Sherabling

according to his ideal: from an ordinary point of view, to build a seat
for a great master; from a more profound level, to establish a place to
display and maintain the culture and lineage of Tibetan Buddhism
and a place to educate the masters of the next generation; from the
foremost and most profound level, to transform this pure land into
the Wisdom Deities’ Mandala.
A recent addition has been Palpung International Institute of

Buddhist Studies, which provides accommodation facilities for
students coming to Palpung Sherabling for the many dharma courses
from the lineage masters.
ABOUT PALPUNG ZHYISIL CHOKY!] GHATSAL
PUBUCATIONS
Palpung Zhyisil Chokyi Ghatsal is the publishing arm of Palpung

Sherabling under Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa and Venerable Choje
Lama Shedrup. It is administered by the Zhyisil Chokyi Ghatsal Trust,
a registered Charitable Trust in New Zealand.
The main objective of Palpung Publications is the preserving,

publishing and distribution of the teachings of the Buddha and those -
of the Karma Kagyu tradition in particular. In addition to the many
books it has published, it also publishes Thar Lam, the tri-annual
international journal of Palpung.
For further information contact:

Palpung Zhyisil Chokyi Ghatsal
PO Box 6259, Wellesley Street,
Auckland, New Zealand
Ph/Fax: 0064 9 268 0786
[email protected]
www.greatliberation.org
Once these twenty six syllables are held in a dharma book,
transgressions from unmindful treatment will not arise.
— from the root tantra of Manjushri
Care of Dharma Books
Dharma books contain the teachings of the Buddha; they have

the power to protect against lower birth and to point the way to
liberation. Therefore, they should be treated with respect, kept
off the floor and places where people sit or walk, and not stepped
over. They should be covered or protected for transporting and
kept ina high, clean place separate from more “ordinary” things.
If it is necessary to dispose of dharma materials, they should be
burned with care and awareness rather than thrown in the trash.
When burning dharma texts, it is considered skilful to first recite
a prayer or mantra, such as OM, AH, HUNG. Then you can
visualize the letters of the text (to be burned) being absorbed
into the AH, and the AH being absorbed into you. After that
you can burn the texts.
= ee
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Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa

PALPUNG ZHYISIL CHOKYI GHATSAL PUBLICATIONS

We would like to express our sincere thanks and appreciation

We would also like to thank Venerable Lama Tenam and Rishi

National Library of New Zealand Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Pema Donyo Nyinche, Tai Situpa XII, 1954-

Cover, Guru Rinpoche, colour plate, Amitabha's pure land of Dewachen,

The Main Verses of the Six Bardos

Overcoming the Fear of Death 13

Care of the Deceased 45

10. The Five Strengths 79

About Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa 109

Now when the bardo of birth is dawning upon me,

Now when the bardo of dreams is dawning upon me,

Now when the bardo of samadhi-meditation dawns upon me,

Now when the bardo of dharmata dawns upon me,

Now when the bardo of becoming dawns upon me,

With mind far off, not thinking of death’ coming,

S REQUESTED I will teach on the

ENERALLY THE definition of death

For example, when I look at my dharma notes here, I respect them

we are born, sometimes when we are a child, sometimes when we

Somehow deep in there we know, as long as we have this body we

But it is almost certain that the same connections that we have

bones. The Master knew what was happening, so he said or wrote

it is there for eighteen or twenty hours, it is terrible. But anyway,

OING BACK to the original subject

HE NEXT BARDO, the milam bardo,

A dream is not just nothing, a dream is life, in itself, and as a bardo

Then after remembering that you are dreaming, which is a very

are able to maintain awareness in that state, then that state is a

In our prayers we say “please bless me that so that my sleeping will

So we can do all of these practices, definitely, unless there is

of this practice, but if there is something wrong with you already,

Question: This is not the deep sleep state is it?

OW THE third bardo, meditation or

Samten is meditation or concentration, but if you say ‘samten

Question: | didn’t understand this mind — the space between the

Question: Why doesn’t the mind ever die?

that, it has no limitation. Then temporary defilements such as ‘I’

Question: Rinpoche, practice for busy people, like dream practice

karma as killing twenty mosquitoes in life except that it is a bad habit

Question: What is a good starting point before you go to sleep, like

Question: What if you just begin with a visualisation of all that?

Rinpoche: Well there is visualisation: the dream yoga visualisation

Question: Apart from dreaming when we sleep, I dream in the

Question: So that means one should practice under guidance rather

Question: Suppose there was a text or a sadhana that one is reading

Question: For ordinary people, is it five minutes, or...

Question: Sometimes in dreams there are prophesies. How does

Question: How is a dream body different or similar to the bardo

We also have a similar practice with phowa — the transferring of

Question: These states of clairvoyance and out-of-body travel, does

As I mentioned the bardo is a very comprehensive teaching, which