By thus being set face to face, however weak the mental faculties may be, there is no doubt of one’s gaining Liberation. Yet, though so often set face to face, there are classes of men who, having created much bad karma, or having failed in observ-
gether lacking, prove unable to recognize: their obscurations
and evil karma from covetousness and miserliness produce awe of the sounds and radiances, and they flee. [If one be of these classes], then, on the Fourth Day, the Bhagavan Amitabha? and his attendant deities, together with the light- path from the Preta-loka, proceeding from miserliness and -attachment, will come to receive one simultaneously.
Again the setting-face-to-face is, calling the deceased by name, thus:
O nobly-born, listen undistractedly. On the Fourth Day the red light, which is the primal form of the element fire, will shine. At that time, from the Red Western Realm of Happi- ness,” the Bhagavan Buddha Amitabha, red in colour, bearing a lotus in his hand, seated upon a peacock-throne and em- braced by the Divine Mother Gédkarmo,? will shine upon thee,
attended by the female Bodhisattvas Ghirdhima® and Aloke.® The six bodies of Enlightenment will shine upon thee from amidst a halo of rainbow light.
* Text: Hgam-dpal (pron. Jam-pal): Skt. Maiijushri, ‘Of Gentle Glory’. A fuller Tibetan form is Hgam-dpal-dvyangs (pron. Jam-pal-yang): Skt. Mai- jughosha, ‘Glorious Gentle-Voiced One’. He is ‘The God of Mystic Wisdom ’, the Buddhist Apollo, commonly depicted with the flaming sword of light held aloft in his right hand and the lotus-supported Book of Wisdom, the Prajza- Paramita, held in his left.
The primal form of the aggregate of feelings as the red light of the All-Discriminating Wisdom, glitteringly red, glori- fied with orbs and satellite orbs, bright, transparent, glorious and dazzling, proceeding from the heart of the Divine Father- Mother Amitabha, will strike against thy heart [so radiantly] that thou wilt scarcely be able to look upon it. Fear it not.
Along with it, a dull red light from the Preta-loka, coming side by side with the Light of Wisdom, will also shine upon thee. Act so that thou shalt not be fond of it. Abandon attach-
At that time, through the influence of intense attachment, thou wilt become terrified by the dazzling red light, and wilt
that dull red light of the Preta-loka.
At that time, be not afraid of the glorious, dazzling, trans- parent, radiant red light. Recognizing it as Wisdom, keeping thine intellect in the state of resignation, thou wilt merge
If thou dost not recognize it, think, ‘It is the rays of the grace of the Bhagavan Amitabha, and I will take refuge in it’; and, trusting humbly in it, pray unto it. That is the hook- rays of the grace of the Bhagavan Amitabha. Trust in it humbly; flee not. Even if thou fleest, it will follow thee inseparably [from thyself]. Fear it not. Be not attracted towards the dull red light of the Preta-loka. That is the light- path proceeding from the accumulations of thine intense
receive thee. If thou be attached thereto, thou wilt fall into the World of Unhappy Spirits and suffer unbearable misery from hunger and thirst. Thou wilt have no chance of gaining Liberation [therein].1_ That dull red light is an interruption to obstruct thee on the Path of Liberation. Be not attached to it, and abandon habitual propensities. Be not weak. Trust in the bright dazzling red light. In the Bhagavan Amitabha,
the Father-Mother, put thy trust one-pointedly and pray thus: ‘Alas! when wandering in the Sangsara because of the power of intense attachment, On the radiant light-path of the Discriminating Wisdom
May the Divine Mother, She-of-White-Raiment, be [my]
rear-guard ;
Bardo;
Buddhahood.’
By praying thus, humbly and earnestly, thou wilt merge into the heart of the Divine Father-Mother, the Bhagavan Amitabha, in halo of rainbow-light, and attain Buddhahood in the Sambhoga-K aya, in the Western Realm named Happy.