The Collected Works of Chögyam Trungpa: Volume 6 (87 page)

V:
But he probably wouldn’t. [
Laughter
] You wouldn’t let him eat you, probably you wouldn’t.

S:
Well, what happens right now is that one blocks out the image and just escapes and starts trying to shoot him.

V:
Well, that tends to happen. You see, there are certain situations in which the basic security policy still remains intact. In whatever happens, however confused you may be, the security still works, the insurance mentality works always without failing. That seems to be the hang-up.

Well, perhaps we should stop there, this particular seminar. Thank you for being very patient and waiting. I hope that we could work together. Whether the path is a confusing one or a clear one, nevertheless situations are there, so I’m sure we could work together. And it seems to be an important point to try to work on our individual practice of meditation as much as possible, always.

It is quite ironical that meditation practice doesn’t seem to have a direct link with everyday life, because meditation is sitting down and doing nothing and everyday life is an active process. But somehow or other, becoming what you are, being what you are in the state of meditation practice—such an inspiration of sanity tends also to work with everyday life. The by-product of meditation continues in everyday life. The whole inspiration continues in everyday life. So there’s never a dull moment. [
Laughter
] Thank you.

Students:
Thank you.

S
ELECTED
W
RITINGS

The Bardo

BY
C
HÖGYAM
T
RUNGPA
AND
R
IGDZIN
S
HIKPO

Of all the teachings associated with the name of Tibetan Buddhism, perhaps the best known is that of the so-called Tibetan Book of the Dead. The title is entirely of Western coinage and bears no relation to the Tibetan title, bar do’l thos grol, “Liberation by hearing while between two (states).” As the Tibetan title suggests, the contents are much more profound and of much more general application than a mere description of an after-death state and a guide through its difficulties. This work was composed by Guru Rinpoche and made into a terma by him, to be later discovered by the Nyingma tertön Karma Lingpa.

Since Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Francesca Fremantle have retranslated this text, I thought it might be of interest to present a commentary based upon some notes given by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche when he lived in Britain. I suggest that they be read in conjunction with Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche’s commentary in his new translation, and that any apparent conflict be treated as an error of my own, not as implying any ambiguity in the teaching.

R
IGDZIN
S
HIKPO

1976

T
HE
A
LAYA

The alaya is the ground of origin of samsara and nirvana, underlying both the ordinary phenomenal world and the trikaya. Since it is more fundamental than either, it has no bias toward enlightenment or nonenlightenment.

It has within it the living, creative energy of the dharma, manifesting as the two aspects of prajna (wisdom, intelligence) and karuna (love, compassion), and the realization of the identity of samsara and nirvana, which is called “the wisdom of the alaya,” the alayajnana.

As a simplification one may take the essence of the basic qualities of the alaya to be the following five buddhas:

1. Vairochana (“The Luminous One”); white; east; hatred (dvesha); water, flowing; peace in the alaya.
   
2. Ratnasambhava (“The Jewel Born”); yellow; south; pride (mana); earth, solidity; richness in the alaya.
   
3. Amitabha (“Infinite Light”); red; west; passion (raga); fire, warmth, compassion power in the alaya.
   
4. Amoghasiddhi (“Complete Fulfillment of All Action”); green; north; paranoia (irshya); air, energy; volition, karma in the alaya.
   
5. Samantabhadra (“The All-Good”); blue; center; delusion (moha); space, all-pervading openness; neutral ground in the alaya.
   

The creative energy of the alaya became so strong that it broke away from the alaya and became avidya, just as a light may become so bright that it dazzles and causes confusion, or someone may be so overintelligent that he sees difficulties where there are none, or so overimaginative that he creates fearful illusions where none exist.

This avidya ignores the wisdom of the alaya, the alayajnana, and from the resulting confusion the sound or negative alaya, the alayavijnana is produced.

The evolution of the kleshas from avidya takes place in the following manner.

The overpowerful creative energy breaks away from the alaya and becomes avidya (or moha), which ignores or forgets the alaya. This is the first establishment of the ego, and from it fear springs when one realizes that one is an individual and alone.

As a defense against this fear, pride (mana) arises and the ego becomes fully developed.

Next comes paranoia (irshya), the need to protect oneself from others, and out of a desire for security to try to make gains at others’ expense.

In order to increase security, desire (raga, trishna, lobha) appears in all its forms, and one accumulates more and more of that which establishes one’s position in samsara.

Finally, hatred (dvesha) arises, which is the development of extreme self-assertiveness, where one leaves no room for doubt about one’s motives or actions and allows no relaxation in one’s attitude.

The evolution of the kleshas and the production of the alayavijnana from the overpowerful creative energy of the alaya is likened to water changing into ice.

Just as when water becomes ice this does not indicate either a deficiency in the nature of water or that ice is of a nature different from water, so for example when the active element within compassion is misrepresented by avidya or when a fascination for it arises, its transformation into passion (raga) does not change its underlying nature of compassion.

This is why the kleshas are identical to the qualities of the five buddhas.

One must not think that this process of breaking away from the alaya and the consequent evolution of the kleshas is something that happened long ago, like a creation myth describing the origin of the universe.

On the contrary, it is happening continuously, throughout time, for at every moment the kleshas evolve from the alaya due to its overpowerful creative energy, and dissolve back into it at the dissolution of that moment.

Of this continual process we are usually quite unaware, and it is the purpose of maha ati practice to experience it.

This can be done in many ways, of which the most important are the yoga of continual relaxed awareness of all experience (leading to a return to the alaya in meditation and everyday life), dream yoga (returning to the alaya during sleep), and yoga practiced at the moment of death and beyond.

The process of return to the alaya may be described in four stages, each of which is associated with a particular state of clarity, a particular depth of shunyata, and a particular state of being.

The first stage is likened to moonlight and is associated with the kleshas rooted in dvesha. Its state of clarity is called aloka, its shunyata is simple shunya, and its state of being is smriti, or awareness.

As the emotions based on dvesha cease to function, the second stage arises, likened to sunlight, and associated with raga. Its state of clarity is alokabhasa, its shunyata is called atishunya, and its state of being is vismarana, or nonawareness.

As the emotions based upon raga cease, the third stage arises, likened to the darkness before dawn, and associated with avidya or moha. Its state of clarity is called upalabdha (or alokopalabdha), its shunyata is mahashunya, and its state of being is anutpada, or unborn.

As the state based upon moha or avidya ceases, the final stage arises, likened to a bright, cloudless sky. This is the final state of clarity, prabhasvara, gone beyond shunyata (and therefore called sarvashunya), and corresponding to the state of being of matyatita, gone beyond the mind, which is the alaya itself.

It will be obvious that this procedure of return to the alaya is accompanied by the disappearance of the kleshas in reverse order to their appearance.

Just as fear was the first reaction to arise when the breaking away from the alaya took place, so it tends to be the last barrier to the return to the alaya. As one begins to return to the alaya, fear may arise due to a sensation of impending annihilation, and this fear must be fully entered into before the return can be accomplished.

If, due to fear, one turns away from the alaya, one recapitulates the evolution of the kleshas and passes through the above four stages in the reverse order.

T
HE
M
EANING OF
B
ARDO

The Tibetan word
bar do
literally means “between two,” and although it is popularly taken to refer to the after-death state, its principal meaning is the moment between the evolution and dissolution in the alaya, the nowness in every moment of time, the continually moving point between past and future.

Thus bardo occurs at every moment of time, and to understand it is to understand the development of consciousness.

At every moment there is an opportunity to understand bardo, and the key to its understanding is nowness.

This principal meaning of bardo is sometimes called the bardo of existence, the sipa bardo (srid pa bar do).

There are six types of bardo:

1. Bardo of existence (bardo as experienced at every instant of time).
   
2. Bardo of birth (bardo as experienced at the moment of conception or reappearance in a particular loka).
   
3. Bardo of dream (bardo as experienced during sleep).
   
4. Bardo of life (bardo as experienced in the waking state).
   
5. Bardo of death (bardo experienced at the moment of death).
   
6. Bardo of the after-death state (bardo as experienced after the moment of death and before conception or reappearance in a particular loka).
   

The states of experience in (2)–(6) above each have distinctive characteristics that make them naturally seem uniquely different, but (1) is the underlying state which is always present and common to all, that is, the evolution from and the dissolution back into the alaya that proceeds all the time without stopping; the sleeping state, the waking state, the death state, and so on, are just particular modes of this process.

The bardo of existence has already been dealt with in some detail, and the bardo of life is simply the nowness of everyday life.

The bardo of dream consists of two parts, the first being the falling into a deep, dreamless sleep, and then the state of dreaming proper.

As one falls into dreamless sleep one returns to the alaya, passing through the four stages, but the mind is usually too dull to recognize this.

After a while one leaves the alaya and emerges into the dream state, and the bardo is then the nowness of this state.

Finally one needs to consider the bardos of death, after-death, and birth which are examined in the next section.

T
HE
B
ARDOS OF
D
EATH
, A
FTER
-D
EATH
,
AND
B
IRTH

At the approach of death the body begins to lose its constituent elements, and the first of these to dissolve is the earth element, causing the body to feel increasingly heavy.

Then the water element dissolves and this is accompanied by a feeling of great thirst.

Finally the fire element dissolves and one feels cold and sees flames.

After the dissolution of the elements, the essences of father and mother appear as the white and red bindus, the white coming down from above, the red rising from beneath, the two emotionally symbolizing duality.

One feels trapped between the red and the white bindus, and as they approach each other, the feeling of duality begins to disappear and the fear of annihilation is experienced, because one is returning through the four stages to the origin, the alaya.

At the moment of the joining of the red and white bindus, duality ceases and the state of prabhasvara, the origin or alaya, is experienced, and remains for a certain period of time. This is the bardo of death.

If instructed by a teacher previously (or even if one has only read of it in a book), it becomes the meeting of the mother light (the light of the alaya, the light of the ground, always present whether one realizes it or not) and the child light (the light arising from practicing the path, that is, the clear awareness of the first three stages), and the merging of the two is called the light of fruition.

Even if fear is not overcome during the merging of the red and white bindus, it may vanish here, during the realization of prabhasvara.

A realization at this time is called the “sudden path,” attained without going through the six paramitas.

However, if one’s understanding is only partial or nonexistent, one’s fear becomes so great that one rejects the alaya and duality rearises, one passes through the three stages in reverse order and then due to old patterns of habit, karma, and memory one finds oneself possessed of a mental body resembling one’s physical body and the experiences of the afterdeath state begin, the bardo of the after-death state being the nowness of these experiences.

First dawns the vision of the five buddhas, the projection of the mind’s underlying nature. Although peaceful they are very bright and the intensity of the light causes great awe to arise. These ultimate lights give no feeling of comfort or security (they correspond to maharaga, mahadvesha, and so on) and the experience of shunyata that they evoke may be frightening, so that one loses this opportunity for realization.