IMPERMANENCE
Since everyone must die, I will tell you very clearly and precisely what you
must do at the moment of death. Listen very carefully to this. After death
occurs, the consciousness remains within the body, the corpse, for at least two
or three days.
After three days time, the consciousness experiences itself coming out of the
body as an eight year old naked child. It sees its body and the situation it
has just left. Even if one has been blind, mute or deaf in life, at this point
all the faculties will be experienced as complete. One is able to see one's
family members and friends but they cannot see the person who has died. They
cannot see this bardo consciousness.
At this time in the bardo, there appears, to the right of the mental body, a
white colored man with a bag of white stones or pebbles on his back. These
pebbles indicate the virtue one has accumulated from time immemorial until this
moment. To the left there will be a co-emergent demon, black in color, with a
bag of pebbles on his back which indicate the non-virtuous deeds one has
accumulated.
These two men, the white and the black, carry the weight of one's karmic deeds
towards all beings of all the six realms which is countless in non-virtuous
accumulations, they appear to all beings in this state in the death process and
will actually accompany the mental body in the bardo like guards or protectors.
If one is going to be reborn in the hell realm then Shinje, the Lord of Death,
comes and escorts one to that realm. Two minions come from the hell realm, one
with an ape's head and the other with a water buffalo's head, and they take the
individual by the neck and lead him or her down seven levels below the earth,
beneath the bodies of water, to the great city of the hell realm. The Lord of
Death appears holding a mirror which reflects one's future place of rebirth.
This will clearly indicate whether one is going to take rebirth as a god, human
or whatever.
Then, after some time, the deceased being, with a mental body in the bardo will
go back to visit its family, the place where it lived, to see if it has
actually died. When that bardo being finds out that it has indeed died, it will
ask those family members to please practice dharma on their behalf. But it
cannot be heard and will only experience tremendous suffering.
No one wants to have these experiences. Even lamas and dharma practitioners do
not look forward to this. But I can tell you for certain that this is coming.
If it is not true then the teachings I've been sharing with people throughout
my life have been nothing but lies.
The mental body in the bardo then begins searching for a body. It becomes
obsessed with this need to have a body: a human body, animal body, god body. It
is searching for a body because it is unbearable to go on as this bardo
consciousness. It's like being in the dream state. It wants to escape that
tremendous suffering. The experience is similar to when you cry uncontrollably
and feel great anguish. The bardo consciousness feels this way constantly as it
searches frantically to find its place of rebirth which could be anywhere in
the six realms depending on its karmic accumulations.
After forty-nine days the bardo consciousness, at some point, will enter one of
the six realms. If one has practiced the dharma during one's lifetime,
receiving teachings on the benefits of virtue and the faults of non-virtue, but
didn't actually believe those teachings and didn't apply them (or went against
them), then one will definitely take rebirth in one of the eighteen hell realms
and suffer tremendously.
If you practice the dharma and in particular the dharma of the Great
Perfection, then you do not need to experience the Bardo of Becoming. Instead
you will experience the ground luminosity, and in that state the three lower
realms are non-existent.
There is no dharma better than Dzogchen. Do you want to meditate on that or
not? If you want to meditate on that, then you must practice the path of
trekchod and tögal, the ground of cutting though to original purity, trekchod,
and the path of crossing over with spontaneous presence, tögal.
By cutting through to original purity, you realize the nature of emptiness. You
realize that all the messengers of death are the display of confused
perception. In that moment, instantly, because of the power of your Dzogchen
view and realization, everything appears as the blazing sun of luminosity, and
there is no bardo.
You simply realize that it is the display of the innate nature of mind. By the
force of your tögal practice, actualizing the sphere of bindu molecules and
intrinsic awareness, knowing how primordial wisdom expresses itself as the
kayas, or embodiments of enlightened awareness, you are able to perceive the
peaceful and wrathful deities as the display of self-originating intrinsic
awareness. Instantly you merge in non-dual union with the display and arrive
immediately in a pure realm.
What Dharma do I need to Practice?
Don't come to me and ask, "What dharma do I need to practice now? What
should I do? How do I practice the six bardo? Please tell me what to do. What's
my next step in practice?"
I don't want to hear that, because I've told you time and time again that the
only dharma you need to practice is Dzogchen. If you practice Dzogchen and
accomplish it, you will not suffer in the bardo. You will realize that all
perceptions of bardo are confused perceptions and you will be liberated in your
own innate nature. No one, including lamas, wants to go into frightening,
terrifying experiences, but if you don't practice and accomplish Dzogchen, that
is certain to happen.
As Patrul Rinpoche said, "The three lower realms of existence are places
of great suffering and if one has accumulated enough negative karma to take
such a rebirth then one will certainly go there. Dewachen, the Realm of Great
Bliss is a place of great happiness and if one has accumulated enough virtue to
experience that result then one will surely experience it."
The Unbelievably Difficult Bardo Experience
Since we all must die, each and every one of us will have this experience and
it is extremely difficult. It is unbelievably difficult. The deceased in the
bardo will be lamenting from the depth of their being about how regretful they
are, especially when they realize that they are going to the lower realms of
existence. And when they cry out to those whom they thought could help them,
family members and loved ones, no one will hear them, and no one will answer
their calls of anguish. It is futile.
Practice with Pure Motivation
There is a story from India about two neighbors. One was a wealthy man who had
spent his professional life as a blacksmith. He had seven sons. His neighbor
was a simple old lady with one daughter. Both of them passed away at the same
time, and while they were wandering in the bardo state, the blacksmith told the
old lady, "My sons have enough wealth to perform virtuous deeds by making
offerings to the objects of refuge and giving alms to the needy and poor as
dedications. I'm confident that due to their virtuous activities I will take
rebirth in the human realm. I hope that by the dedication of that merit you too
will benefit."
The old lady said, "I have only one child and she is a beggar with nothing
to offer. I don't expect any results, because she has nothing to offer."
The blacksmith then said to the old lady, "Why don't we go to the human
realm and see how my sons are doing?"
When the two arrived, they were amazed to see that the seven sons, just weeks
after their father's death, were celebrating great marriage feasts. They seemed
to have totally forgotten their father. It was very shocking. The lone daughter
of the old lady didn't have any wealth to offer, but she had a pure heart and
was overwhelmed by the death of her mother. So she gathered some slates, and on
them she placed heaps of rice. She collected stones and cleaned them and put
them out as symbolic offerings of water bowls. And then she found similar
stones, which she cleaned, and offered them as butter lamps with very poor
quality oil. She was sobbing and as she cried, she recited many mantras. She
cried out, "My poor mother, she must be suffering terribly and I have
nothing to use as an offering for her."
Although the materials she offered were small and of poor quality they had been
made with a very pure heart and one-pointed devotion to her mother. This helped
immensely, and as a result the mother took rebirth in the human realm. The
seven sons, when they died, fell into the hell realms. This story is found in
the Tripitaka, the collected volumes of Lord Shakyamuni Buddha. The point is
that we should strive to practice with pure motivation.
Now is the Time to Practice
Death will certainly come and after that the consciousness wanders. It wanders
according to the karma of the individual. Now is the time to practice. I have
taught the dharma to you as I would to my own sons and daughters. If you don’t
practice it, it will not affect me, and if you do practice and turn out to be a
good practitioner, that still does not affect me positively or negatively. The
entire responsibility is yours.
Don't Forget the Teachings and Don't Forget Me!
I have given you an overview of the six intermediate states and would like you
to practice what you have been taught. Please continue with your trekchod and
tögal practice. If you do, there will be no fear of death. And please remember,
one deity is not better than another in terms of what will actually help you in
the bardo.
If you have been a Tröma practitioner, then Tröma will guide you through the
bardo. If you have practiced Avalokiteshvara, then he will guide you to the
pure realm. It doesn't matter what practice you have done but rather where your
faith lies. These are all enlightened beings and they will come to greet you
and help you at that time.
We have developed a relationship of teacher and student and I've given you many
instructions so please don't forget the teachings and don't forget me. I will
never forget you. We will remain spiritual friends for the rest of our lives
and in the next life as well. We can meet in the buddha realms. If I am a pure
teacher, and if you have faith and remember to pray to me, then I can come to
you like a lightning bolt and help you out of your situation in the bardo. This
is the power that Buddhas or excellent lamas can use to assist their students.
~~~
Orgyen Kusum Lingpa (1934 – 2009) was a pre-eminent Dzogchen teacher and
Nyingma lineage holder. During his life, he was known as one of the greatest
living tertons (treasure revealers) in the world, having revealed the 3 classes
of terma; those received directly from the mind, "crazy" termas which
can manifest in the yogi as unconventional behavior, and secret termas which
can only be revealed by one who is the owner of all 18 families of terma. His
Holiness had been recognized as the incarnation of the Mahasiddha Drilbupa and
of Lha-lung Pelgyi Dorje. His title, "Kusum Lingpa," means
"Treasure Revealer of the Three Kayas."
Concerning his life work, His Holiness said: "Much earlier in my life, I
made a pilgrimage to Samye. There, due to the good karma and auspicious
coincidence in conjunction with the needs of these times, I saw all my past and
future lives. I recalled all the teachings I had received directly from Guru
Rinpoche when I was his disciple, and I saw all the hardships and difficulties
of the time in which I am now living. This made it possible for me to reveal
those teachings which are of particular benefit now, in this time of terrible
suffering."
