(He Sak Do Body Its Bir Fh:And«Its Supernormal Faculties]

Worship having been offered to the Trinity, and the prayer invoking the aid of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas having been recited, then, calling the deceased by name, three or seven times, speak thus:

O nobly-born, listen thou well, and bear at heart that birth

to the Deities, Tutelaries, and Gurus, rendered by us in the third person to fit the context better.

in the Hell-world, in the Deva-world, and in this Bardo-body is of the kind called supernormal birth.!

Indeed, when thou wert experiencing the radiances of the Peaceful and the Wrathful, in the Chényid Bardo, being unable to recognize, thou didst faint away, through fear, about three? and one-half days [after thy decease]; and, then, when thou wert recovered from the swoon, thy Knower must have risen up in its primordial condition and a radiant body, resembling the former body, must have sprung forth *—as the Zanira says,

and that to be produced,

Endowed with all sense-faculties and power of unimpeded motion,

Possessing karmic miraculous powers,

nature.’

Such, then, is the teaching.

former and that to be produced’ (meaning that one will have a body just like the body of flesh and blood, the former human, propensity body)—will also be endowed with certain signs and beauties of perfection such as beings of high destiny possess.

in the Intermediate State, and it is called desire-body.

At that time—if thou art to be born as a deva—visions of the Deva-world will appear to thee; similarly—wherever thou art to be born—if as an asura, or a human being, or

a brute,’ or a greta, or a being in Hell, a vision of the place will appear to thee.

that prior to the three and one-half days thou wilt have been thinking thou hadst the same sort of a body as the former ‘body of flesh and blood, possessed by thee in thy former existence because of habitual propensities;? and the word ‘produced’ is so used because, afterwards, the vision of thy future place of birth will appear to thee. Hence, the expression as a whole, ‘former and that to be produced’, referreth to these |i.e. the fleshly body just discarded and the fleshly body to be assumed at rebirth].

At that time, follow not the visions which appear to thee. Be not attracted; be not weak: if, through weakness, thou be fond of them, thou wilt have to wander amidst the Six Lokas and suffer pain.

Up to the other day thou wert unable to recognize the Choinyid Bardo, and hast had to wander down this far. Now, if thou art to hold fast to the real Truth, thou must allow thy mind to rest undistractedly in the nothing-to-do, nothing-to-hold condition of the unobscured, primordial, bright, void state of thine intellect, to which thou hast been introduced

having to enter the door of the womb. But if thou art unable to know thyself, then, whosoever may be thy tutelary deity and thy gurz, meditate on them, in a state of intense fondness

and humble trust, as overshadowing the crown of thy head." This is of great importance. Be not distracted.

[Instructions to the Officiant]: Thus speak, and, if recogni- tion result from that, Liberation will be obtained, without need of the wandering in the Six Lokas. If, however, through influence of bad karma, recognition is made difficult, thereupon say as follows:

O nobly-born, again listen. ‘Endowed with all sense- faculties and power of unimpeded motion’ implieth [that

eye, or deaf, or lame, yet on this After-Death Plane thine eyes will see forms, and thine ears will hear sounds, and all other sense-organs of thine will be unimpaired and very keen and complete. Wherefore the Bardo-body hath been spoken of as ‘endowed with all sense-faculties’. That [condition of

thou art deceased and wandering in the Bardo. Act so as to know this. Remember the teachings ; remember the teachings.

O nobly-born, ‘unimpeded motion’ implieth that thy present body being a desire-body—thine intellect having been separated from its seat 2—is not a body of gross matter, so that now thou hast the power to go right through any rock-masses, hills, boulders, earth, houses, and Mt. Meru itself without being im- peded.’ Excepting Budh-Gaya and the mother’s womb,* even

* Unless previously endowed with a very high degree of spiritual enlighten-

the King of Mountains, Mt. Meru itself, can be passed through by thee, straight forwards and backwards unimpededly. That, too, is an indication that thou art wandering in the Szdpa Bardo. Wemember thy guru's teachings, and pray to the Compassionate Lord.

~ O nobly-born, thou art actually endowed with the power of miraculous action,’ which is not, however, the fruit of any samadhi, but a power come to thee naturally; and, there- fore, it is of the nature of karmic power.2 Thou art able in a moment to traverse the four continents round about Mt. Meru.? Or thou canst instantaneously arrive in whatever place thou wishest; thou hast the power of reaching there within the time which a man taketh to bend, or to stretch forth his hand. These various powers of illusion and of shape-shifting desire not, desire not.*

which thou canst not exhibit. The ability to exercise them unimpededly existeth in thee now. Know this, and pray to the guru.

O nobly-born, ‘ Visible to pure celestial eyes of like nature’

ment, the deceased cannot consciously go to these two places at will; for from Budh-Gaya (as a great psychic-centre) and from the mother’s womb (as being the destined path to rebirth) radiate such psychically-blinding radiances that the ordinary mentality would be overcome with fear in the same manner as when in the Bardo various radiances dawn, and so would avoid them. (Cf. stanza 6, ‘The Path of Good Wishes Which Protecteth from Fear in the Bardo’, p. 206.)

mediate State, will individually see each other.1 For example, those beings who are destined to be born amongst devas will see each other [and so on]. Dote not on them [seen by thee], but meditate upon the Compassionate One.

the pure celestial eyes of those who practise dhyana. These will not see them at all times: when mentally concentrated

Sometimes, even when practising dkydaua, they are liable to become distracted [and not see them ].?