Khenpo Tsultrim Lodro
Many children who are about 5 or 6 years old have memories of the bardo. Such memories will fade out when they are about 8 or 10 years old. Many people here might have such experiences when they were young. For instance, the entire world becoming red in color, like the color of fire. Another type of experience is that the entire world becomes white in color. These appearances are not endearing or beautiful, instead they provoke fear and terror in the experiencer. Also, the world may become black in color. Many people have had such experiences.
Young children have just departed from the bardo for a short time, so they still hold on to such characteristics. When some children cry and make a fuss nightly, they could be going through such experiences.
Why do these experiences occur? Why does the entire world turn into a terrifying white hue? This is a manifestation of our anger or aggression. The red color world is a manifestation of our desire or attachments. The black color world is a manifestation of our ignorance. These are outer manifestations of our inner states although we think that these are external phenomenon.
We think that we have entered a strange dimension where everything is red, white or black in color. Due to unfamiliarity with these new worlds, we feel fear. If we know that these are manifestations of our mind and they do not truly exist, we start meditating on what our mind is truly like, then the entire world dissolves back into mind and all becomes peaceful. During this process, one experiences the true nature of mind.
Another type of bardo experience is of loud terrifying sounds. These could be human voices, sounds of fierce animals, sounds of earthquakes and tsunamis etc. These are also the manifestations of the mental afflictions. Due to a lack of training and understanding, we are unaware that these are our own manifestations. We regard it as a very terrifying external sound and thus feel afraid. What happens then is that we rush headlong all around seeking for a safe place to take refuge from these terrible sights and sounds. This is how we struggle in the bardo.
If we have created some negative karma when we were alive, like killing, stealing, sexual misconduct or lying, we will meet with more unfortunate circumstances in the bardo. The environment and beings we encounter would be more unpleasant and produce more suffering.
When the body is united with the consciousness, the consciousness is relatively stable and there are very little strange appearances manifesting outwardly. When the consciousness leaves the body, then there is no longer any physical substance anchoring our consciousness. The mind then behaves like it does in our dream-state. It is totally unstable, unlike the stability we experience during our waking-state. Dreams flicker about, manifesting all kinds of appearances in a very quick succession, even impossible situations can appear in dreams. The bardo is similar to the dream-state.
The bardo state is filled with immense uncertainty, because the appearances and situations we encounter are switching and changing wildly. We do not comprehend that these appearances are projections of our mind. The key pith instruction for the bardo can be encapsulated in one point: all the appearances you see or hear should be realized as the manifestation of our own minds. The next thing is to realize what our own mind is. If a person has some insight or realization, the problem at this juncture is very easily resolved.
If you know that these bardo appearances are projections of our mind, just like dreams at night are the manifestations of our consciousness, then you know that these appearances are not actually existing externally. With this insight, all fearful appearances begin to vanish. At this point, the person can enter his Buddha-nature through meditation. This is the pith instruction for facing the bardo. This is the one and only instruction.
Without this instruction, without knowing this point, and without training in this instruction beforehand, we will be in a state of total confusion about everything that occurs in the bardo. Everything feels unfamiliar and unknown. We have never seen or heard such phenomenon while we were alive, so we struggle with a lot of fear.
In this fear, paranoia and confusion, there is no way we can remember to pray to Buddhas or practice the Dharma. Everything we know will be left aside or forgotten. Everything is too late at that point. We will just be in a mad frantic rush all the time, struggling with the fearful appearances.
