Thus say the Great Adepts” in devotion. If the chosen teaching of the gurz be not borne in mind,
thyself ?
peated effort’. (Cf. p. 135%.) ? Text: Grub-chen (pron. Dub-chen) : Skt. Maha-siddhas.
PRAYER FOR PROTECTION 205
It is of great importance that these Root Words be known.
Sie PATH OF GOOD WISHES WHICH -PRO- TECLE THROM FEAR IN THE BARDO’:
[x]
The relatives in this world avail me not; When I wander alone by myself in the Lardo,
power of your compassion, Let it come that the Gloom of Ignorance be dispelled.
[2]
When wandering alone, parted from loving friends,
When the shapes of mine empty thought-forms dawn upon me here,
passion,
Cause it to come that there be neither awe nor terror in the Bardo.
[3]
When the bright radiances of the Five Wisdoms shine upon me now,
Let it come that I, neither awed nor terrified, may recognize them to be of myself;
When the apparitions of the Peaceful and Wrathful forms are dawning upon me here,
Let it come that I, obtaining the assurance of fearlessness, may recognize the Bardo.
[4]
When experiencing miseries, because of the force of evil karma,
Let it come that the Conquerors, the Peaceful and Wrathful, may dispel the miseries ;
When the self-existing Sound of Reality reverberates [like] a thousand thunders,
Let it come that they be transmuted into the sounds of the Mahayana Doctrines."
[5]
followed here,
I beseech the Conquerors, the Peaceful and the Wrathful, to protect me;
When suffering miseries, because of the armic influence of propensities,
Let it come that the blissful Samadhi of the Clear Light may dawn [upon me].
[6] When assuming supernormal rebirth in the Szdpa Bardo, Let it come that the perverting revelations of Mara occur not therein ; When I arrive wheresoever I wish to, Let it come that I experience not the illusory fright and awe from evil karma.
17] When the roarings of savage beasts are uttered, Let it come that they be changed into the sacred sounds of the Six Syllables ; 2 When pursued by snow, rain, wind, and darkness, Let it come that I see with the celestial eyes of bright Wisdom. [8]
Let it come that all sentient beings of the same harmonious order in the Bardo,
Without jealousy [towards one another],® obtain birth on the higher planes ;
* That is, into the sounds of the mantra Om-md-ni-pdy-mé-Hiing! and of other mantras of the Mahayana and Mantrayana Doctrines ; (cf. stanza 7 below; also pp. 149}, 1342).
* These are: Om-md-ni-pay-mé-Hiing! (Cf. p. 1491.)
° This may also refer to the jealousy arising when one is taking rebirth either as a male ora female. (See p. 179.)
PRAYER FOR PROTECTION 207
and thirst,
Let it come that I experience not the pangs of hunger and thirst, heat and cold.}
[9]
When I behold the future parents in union,
Conquerors, the Peaceful and the Wrathful Father and Mother ;
Obtaining the power of being born anywhere, for the good of others,
Let it come that I obtain the perfect body, adorned with the signs and the graces.”
[10]
better, Let it come that I liberate all who see or hear me; Allowing not the evil Zarma to follow me,
multiplied.
[11] Wherever I be born, there and then, Let it come that I meet the Conquerors, the Peaceful and the Wrathful Deities ;
Let it come that I obtain the non-forgetting intellect and remember my past life* [or lives].
1 ‘Hunger and thirst’ refer to the sufferings concomitant with existence as a preta (or unhappy ghost); ‘heat and cold’, to existence in the hot and cold Hells.
[12] In all the various lores, great, small, and intermediate, Let it come that I be able to obtain mastery merely upon hearing, reflecting, and seeing ; In whatever place I be born, let it be auspicious ; Let it come that all sentient beings be endowed with happiness.
[13] Ye Conquerors, Peaceful and Wrathful, in likeness to your bodies,
of your realms,
Let it come that I, and others, equal your very selves in all these.
[14]
By the divine grace of the innumerable All-Good Peaceful and Wrathful [Ones],
And by the gift-waves of the wholly pure Reality,
mystic devotees,
Let it come that whatsoever be wished for be fulfilled here and now.
‘The Path of Good Wishes Affording Protection from Fears in the Lardo’ is finished.
Buddhism, there is the following explanation from the Buddha Himself as to the non-forgetting (and the forgetting) of past incarnations:
‘There are four conditions of entrance of the embryo into the womb:
‘Brethren, in this world, one cometh into existence in the mother’s womb without knowing, remaineth in it without knowing, and cometh out from the mother’s womb without knowing; this is the first.
‘Brethren, one cometh into existence in the mother’s womb knowingly, remaineth in it without knowing, and cometh out from it without knowing ; this is the second.
‘Brethren, one cometh into existence in the mother’s womb knowingly, remaineth in it knowingly, and cometh out from it without knowing ; this is the third.
‘Brethren, in this world, one cometh into existence in the mother’s womb knowingly, remaineth in it knowingly, and cometh out from it knowingly; this is the fourth.’
(Cf. the method, taught by the Buddha, of remembering past lives, pp. 40-1.)
THE CONCLUDING SEVEN VERSES 209