Finally, if there is no recognition and as a culmination of this entire process, our text describes how, driven on by a relentless search for security and the urge to resolve our impulses and expectations, in a mental realm where our expectations and actual reality do not match, and based on the ever-present swinging back and forth of our attraction and aversion, we enter into an emotive state whose focus can be anywhere across the spectrum of elation, jealousy, pride, confusion, blankness, desire, craving, anger, hatred or fear. These states are depicted in our text as the realms of existence into which we may pass at birth.
Given the above, even if we do not accept the Buddhist understanding that the modalities of our consciousness in deep sleep, dreams and our waking state mirror those of death, we can still apply the advice given in ‘The Great Liberation by Hearing’ to our everyday experience. Giving up our compulsive attraction and aversion to aspects of our perceptual realm, glimpsing the causal dynamic of our actual condition and coming to the realisation that what we see is the product of our own mental constructs, and that we therefore do have the potential to view our experience more insightfully, is a powerful method of releasing us from the dissonant and perhaps even fearful qualities of our own self-made, perceptual landscape.
Chapters 1-7 provide us with a framework for achieving this release in our daily lives. Chapter 1 poetically evokes the perspectives that may lead us to realise that understanding our actual nature and understanding our current condition as human beings are worthwhile, Chapters 2-6 offer us methods for training our minds to instinctively recognise the actual nature of our being and existence, and Chapter 7 provides a framework for modulating and refining our motivation, perspectives and actions.
It is undeniably the case that in our society we do not easily accept that death is a natural part of life, which results in a perpetual sense of insecurity and fear, and many are confused at the time of the death of a loved one, not knowing what they can do to help the one that has passed away or how to address their own grief. Exploring ways of overcoming our fear of death and adopting a creative approach at the time of bereavement, that is, focusing one’s energy on supporting the one that has passed away, are both extraordinary benefits of the insights and practices that are so beautifully expressed in the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
When I think of these things I often remember the Dalai Lama saying: ‘When we look at life and death from a broader perspective, then dying is just like changing our clothes! When this body becomes old and useless, we die and take on a new body, which is fresh, healthy and full of energy! This need not be so bad!’
Graham Coleman
Thimpu, Bhutan
A Brief Literary History of the Tibetan Book of the Dead
by Gyurme Dorje
Since the publication in 1927 of Lama Kazi Dawa Samdup and W. Y. Evans-Wentz’s pioneering English translation of three chapters from the cycle of texts known in the original Tibetan as The Great Liberation by Hearing in the Intermediate States (Bar-do thos-grol chen-mo), the chapters they translated, dealing with the nature of the after-death state, including the accompanying aspirational prayers, have attracted a compelling interest outside Tibet under the title the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Learned Tibetans today often express their surprise that this particular collection of meditative practices concerning methods for understanding the nature of mind and transforming our experiences throughout the round of life and death has become one of the most well known of all the works of Tibetan literature in translation. This renown is especially unexpected when one considers the esoteric origins of the text and its highly restricted transmission within Tibet until the mid-fifteenth century. It is on account of this widespread popular recognition however that the title coined by the editor of the first translation, Evans-Wentz, has been retained in all subsequent translations and related studies. Following in this tradition, we too have retained the title the Tibetan Book of the Dead to refer to the first complete English translation of The Great Liberation by Hearing in the Intermediate States, which includes translations of all twelve chapters of the original compilation.
EARLY ORIGINS
The Great Liberation by Hearing in the Intermediate States is an outstanding example of Nyingma literature. The Nyingmapa are the followers of the oldest of all the schools of Tibetan Buddhism, tracing their lineage back to the first wave of transmission of the Buddhist teachings to Tibet, to the royal dynastic period of Tibetan history in the eighth century, when great Indian masters such as Padmasambhava, Vimalamitra and Buddhaguhya initially introduced the three inner classes of tantra: Mahāyoga, Anuyoga and Atiyoga. These tantra texts are differentiated on the basis of their distinctive meditative techniques, known respectively as the generation stage, the perfection stage and the Great Perfection (Dzogchen).
All traditions of Tibetan Buddhism today share the inheritance of the canonical compilations of the Indian Buddhist scriptures and treatises contained in the Kangyur and Tengyur. The former contains those teachings of the Buddhas (vinaya, sūtras and tantras) that were translated from Sanskrit and other languages into Tibetan, mostly from the late tenth century onwards and compiled initially by Buton Rinchendrub (1290 — 1364). The latter includes the classical Indian commentaries that were also translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan. In a recently published and collated master edition of both the Kangyur and Tengyur these texts comprise 180 volumes.
At the same time, each school has its own distinctive writings. The particular literature of the Nyingma school comprises translations from Sanskrit and other languages, which are preserved in the twenty-six volume Collected Tantras of the Nyingmapa (rNying-ma’i rgyud-’bum), and a companion anthology of commentarial treatises, written by successive generations of Indian and Tibetan lineage holders. The latter, which has been faithfully handed down through a ‘long lineage of oral precepts’ (ring-brgyud bka’-ma), that is to say through an unbroken lineage of transmission from one generation of accomplished masters to the next, is continually growing and currently comprises 120 volumes in a recently published edition.
The Collected Tantras of the Nyingmapa has three main sections, corresponding to the compilations of Atiyoga, Anuyoga and Mahāyoga. Among them, the most influential single text is the Guhyagarbha Tantra, a revelation of the primordial buddha Samantabhadra, transmitted through Vajrasattva and Guhyapati Vajrapāṇi. The compendium of texts that we now know as the Tibetan Book of the Dead bases its symbolism and iconography on the Guhyagarbha Tantra. Founded on the classical Abhidharma view of the elements, psycho-physical aggregates, etc., this tantra text is the earliest known literary work to portray the natural purity and natural transformation of our mundane psychological states, respectively, as the maṇḍala of the forty-two peaceful deities and as the maṇḍala of the fifty-eight wrathful deities. Though generally and rightly classified as a Mahāyoga text, the Guhyagarbha Tantra has also been obliquely interpreted from the perspective of Dzogchen, most famously by Longchen Rabjampa (1308 — 63). The meditative techniques of both Mahāyoga and Dzogchen are clearly expressed among the chapters of our present work: the generation stage of meditation is emphasised in Chapters 5-7, and the Great Perfection in Chapters 4 and 11, these latter two chapters being based on the teachings of the two key aspects of the Great Perfection, namely Cutting through Resistance (khregs-chod) and All-surpassing Realisation (thod-rgal) respectively. Thus from the point of view of its theoretical foundation and practice, as well as in its iconography and symbolism, the Tibetan Book of the Dead echoes its roots in the Guhyagarbha Tantra but, in addition, vividly incorporates the classical teachings of Dzogchen.
The Guhyagarbha Tantra was initially compiled by King Indrabhūti and Kukkurāja of Sahor in north-west India (circa sixth century). The monarch, also known as King Dza, received the whole corpus of the Mahāyoga tantras in a vision from Vajrasattva, and Kukkurāja, a great accomplished master, divided this literature into eighteen books (tantras) — the most all-embracing of which is the Guhyagarbha
. During the eighth century, the Guhyagarbha Tantra was translated into Tibetan from Sanskrit three times: initially by Buddhaguhya and Vairocana, secondly by Padmasambhava and Nyak Jñānakumāra, and definitively by Vimalamitra with Nyak Jñānakumāra and Ma Rinchen Chok. A much later indigenous Tibetan translation was also prepared in the fifteenth century by Tharlo Nyima Gyeltsen and Go Lotsāwa. The anthology of treatises related to the Guhyagarbha Tantra includes a large number of commentaries on this text, of both Indian and Tibetan origin, composed by illustrious masters such as Lῑlāvajra, Buddhaguhya, Rongzom Paṇḍita, Longchen Rabjampa and Lochen Dharmaśrῑ.
The iconography and symbolism of the hundred Peaceful and Wrathful Deities presented in the Guhyagarbha Tantra subsequently gave rise to a whole genre of literature in Tibet known as the Cycles of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities (zhi-khro), among which our compilation of texts The Great Liberation by Hearing in the Intermediate States is the most influential.
THE CLOSE LINEAGE OF TREASURES
According to traditional accounts, when Padmasambhava introduced these teachings to Tibet in the eighth century he foresaw that the oral transmission of the ‘long lineage’ would be subjected over time to corruption and misapplication, and that the efficacy of the teachings would be diminished. To counteract this, through the agency of his consort Yeshe Tsogyal and other foremost disciples, he concealed a large number of ‘treasure-teachings’ (gter-chos), in the form of books and sacred artefacts, at power-places (gnas) throughout the Tibetan plateau, predicting that they would be rediscovered in future generations by their respective ‘treasure-finders’ (gter-ston) and promulgated for the sake of future generations. Prophecies were written, describing those who would have the power to unearth such revelations in the future — figures of the calibre of Nyangrel Nyima Ozer, Guru Chowang, and the discoverer of our text, Karma Lingpa. The term ‘treasure-teachings’ is generally extended to include not only concealed ‘earth-treasures’ (sa-gter), but also revelations discovered in a telepathic manner directly from the enlightened intention of buddha-mind (dgongs-gter), and pure visionary experiences (dag-snang).
This notion of the concealment of texts in the form of treasure had precedents in both Indian and Chinese Buddhism. Nāgārjuna, for example, is said to have received the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras in the form of treasure from the ocean-depths, and, according to Nyingma doxographers, a recension of Mahāyoga Tantras was revealed to the eight teachers of Padmasambhava, at the Sῑtavana charnel ground near Vajrāsana. Similarly, the Chinese Buddhist tradition of elemental divination, which includes aspects of Feng Shui and Yi Jing, also recounts how the bodhisattva Mañjughoṣa concealed certain divinatory texts on Wang Hai Feng, the Eastern Peak of the sacred Mount Wutai Shan. Tibetan sources then describe how Mañjughoṣa subsequently revealed the Precious Clarifying Lamp (Rin-chen gsal-ba’i sgron-me) to the Chinese master Dahura Nagpo.
Since the initial discoveries of the first Tibetan ‘treasure-finder’ Sangye Lama, in the eleventh century, a vast literature has been produced in Tibet by way of revelation through the ‘close lineage of treasures’ (nye-brgyud gter-ma), and redacted within the public domain. The Collected Treasures of the various treasure-finders are too voluminous to mention here, but many of their works are represented in the extensive nineteenth-century anthology known as the Store of Precious Treasures (Rin-chen gter-mdzod), which was recently republished in 76 volumes. Just as the anthology of the ‘long lineage’ contains many commentaries on the Guhyagarbha Tantra, a significant number of ‘treasure-teachings’ are also inspired by its portrayal of the hundred Peaceful and Wrathful Deities. Among them the most elaborate is the cycle discovered in the fourteenth century by Karma Lingpa — the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities: A Profound Sacred Teaching, [entitled] Natural Liberation through [Recognition of] Enlightened Intention (Zab-chos zhi-khro dgongs-pa rang-grol). The compendium of texts now known outside Tibet as the Tibetan Book of the Dead is an abridgement of this treasury of texts discovered by Karma Lingpa.
THE CONCEALMENT BY PADMASAMBHAVA
The extant cycle of texts that comprise Karma Lingpa’s revelations includes a few short biographies and historical accounts of the work’s original concealment and subsequent revelation, which were composed by later lineage holders. The following passage from the Middle-length Empowerment (pp. 61-4) describes the roots of this tradition:At the time when [Padmasambhava] was turning incalculable wheels of the teachings concerning the supremely secret vehicle [of Vajrayāna], he revealed, in accord with the individual capacities of the fortunate king [Trisong Detsen] and his subjects, many practices related to the generation and perfection stages of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities; and these were [later] concealed, for the most part, as profound treasures, for the benefit of beings in the future.
When Padmasambhava was nearing the completion of his direct spiritual work and teaching in Tibet, the sovereign and his son [Prince Mutri Tsenpo], along with the translator Chokrolui Gyelsten and others, offered him a maṇḍala of gold and turquoise, and fervently made the following supplication: ‘Although your compassion is always present and in the past you have held high the incalculable beacons of the teaching, according to the outer and inner vehicles, yet for the benefit of ourselves, the king, ministers, friends and subjects, and for future beings of the degenerate age, we request you to give a teaching which is the quintessence of all the teachings of the outer and inner vehicles; one through which buddhahood may be attained in a single lifetime; one which will bestow liberation by merely hearing it, a profound and concise teaching containing the essential meaning.’
Thus, [in response to their supplication] the Great Master replied, ‘O! Sovereign King, Prince, Ministers, in accord with your wish, I do have a teaching which is the essential point of all the six million four hundred thousand tantras of the Great Perfection, which were brought forth from the enlightened intention of glorious Samantabhadra. By merely hearing this teaching, the doors leading to birth in inferior existences will be blocked. By merely understanding it you will arrive at the level of supreme bliss. Those who take its meaning to heart will reach the irreversible level of the spontaneously accomplished awareness-holders. It can bring great benefit for all those who are connected with it.
‘Although I do possess such a teaching, since those who are of weak mind, or who are naturally inclined towards the Lesser Vehicle, or who lack good fortune, and harbour wrong views and doubts, may disparage this teaching and thereby fall into inferior existences, you should not proclaim [this teaching] to others, even [by whispering its name] into the wind. It should be concealed as a [buried] treasure for the sake of future beings of the degenerate age.’
So it was that he named this teaching, which essentialises all teachings, the Peace ful and Wrathful Deities: A Profound Sacred Teaching, [entitled] Natural Liberation through [Recognition of] Enlightened Intention, and he bestowed it on the translator, [Chokro]lui Gyeltsen, as his legacy [of good fortune]. Then, directing his enlightened intention towards living beings of the future degenerate age, who would be of meagre merit, he concealed it in the form of a treasure at Mount Gampodar in Dakpo, at a site which resembles a dancing god.
THE PROPHECY CONCERNING KARMA LINGPA
Padmasambhava’s prophesies concerning the treasure-finder Karma Lingpa and his immediate successors are also recounted elsewhere within the cycle. The following verses are taken from Gendun Gyeltsen’s fifteenth-century account, entitled Padmasambhava’s Prophecy of the Treasure-finder and the Series of Authentic Lineage Teachers (pp. 22ff.). In particular, they offer a rationale for the original concealment of the texts and predictions regarding their subsequent discovery and secret transmission. It is clear that even in this early formative period the cycle of texts had acquired two distinct titles, The Great Liberation by Hearing during the Intermediate States, and The Natural Liberation through Recognition of Enlightened Intention, reflecting its shorter and longer versions.
It says in a prophetic declar
ation of Orgyan Rinpoche:
‘In the future, during the final era, the degenerate age,
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