Mind Beyond Death
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Mind Beyond Death
by Dzogchen Ponlop
Snow Lion Publications
ithaca, new york
Snow Lion Publications
P.O. Box 6483
Ithaca, NY 14851 USA
(607) 273-8519
www.snowlionpub.com
Copyright © 2006, 2008 Dzogchen Ponlop
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced by
any means without prior written permission from the publisher.
Printed in the USA on acid-free recycled paper.
ISBN-10: 1-55939-301-7
ISBN-13: 978-1-55939-301-0
Designed and typeset by Gopa & Ted2, Inc.
The Library of Congress catalogued the previous edition
of this book as follows:
Dzogchen Ponlop, Rinpoche, 1965-
Mind beyond death / by Dzogchen Ponlop.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-55939-276-1 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-55939-276-2 (alk. paper)
1. Intermediate state—Buddhism. 2. Death—Religious aspects—
Buddhism. 3. Spiritual life—Buddhism. 4. Buddhism—China—
Tibet—Doctrines. I. Title.
BQ4490.D96 2007
294.3'423—dc22 200603968
This book is dedicated to my beloved father,
the late Dhamchoe Yongdu,
and my kind mother, Lekshey Drolma,
for giving birth to endless precious opportunities
to develop wisdom and compassion.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche xv
Foreword by Venerable Alak Zenkar Rinpoche
Tibetan xvii
English xxiii
Editors’ Note xxix
Introduction: Gambling with the Lord of Death 1
1.The Moment of Truth 9
The Bardo Teachings 11
What Is Bardo? 12
Conceptual and Essence Bardos 13
The Fork in the Road 14
Trapped in Time 15
Neither Here nor There 16
Day-to-day Business 17
Overwhelming Emotions 18
Message from the Lineage 20
Classifications of the Bardos 21
Sources of the Bardo Teachings 23
The Six Root Verses of the Six Bardos 25
2. Pure Delusion: The Natural Bardo of This Life 27
The Dance of Appearances 28
Pure and Impure Appearances 30
Embodied Mind 32
The Three Stages of the Path 34
viii Mind Beyond Death
The Stage of Study 36
The Stage of Contemplation 38
Practices for the Stage of Contemplation 39
Befriending Intense Emotions 42
The Stage of Meditation 43
Foundational Practices: Training and Purification 45
Settling the Mind: The Three Postures 46
The Actual Practice: Padmasambhava’s Instructions for Shamatha 49
Shamatha with External Object 50
Shamatha with White Bindu Visualization 51
Shamatha with Red Bindu Visualization 51
Shamatha without Object 52
Deity Yoga 54
Setting a Specific Intention for Our Practice 56
For Only So Long 58
3. Waking the Dreamer: The Bardo of Dream 61
Appearance-Emptiness 62
Impure and Pure Dreams 65
Entering the Dream State 65
Continuation of Confusion 66
Waking Up in the Dream 67
Training in the Illusory Body 68
Training in Dream Yoga 77
Training in Luminosity Yoga 86
Fruition of Training 87
Dreams and Dreamers 89
Looking at the Dream 89
Looking at the Dreamer 90
Looking at the Time Span 91
Lighting a Torch in the Darkness 92
4. Mastering The Mind: The Bardo of Meditation 95
Meditation as Bardo 96
Contents ix
Vipashyana 97
Domesticating Wild Mind 99
Stages of Training in Selflessness 100
Pointing-out Mind’s Nature 103
Looking Directly at Mind 104
Gaining Certainty in Liberation 107
Three Words That Strike the Vital Point 107
Dzogchen’s Four Great Modes of Liberation 108
Taking the Message of Liberation to Heart 110
Accepting and Rejecting 111
Self-existing Wisdom 113
Letting Go of Freedom 114
The Nature of All 115
Guarding Awareness 116
Path of Skillful Means 117
Connecting the Bardos of Life and Death 118
5. Evaporating Reality: The Painful Bardo of Dying 119
Attachment to This Life 121
Three Capacities of Practitioners 122
Preparing For Death 125
Dissolving of the Elements 126
Coarse and Subtle Bodies 126
The Coarse Dissolution Process 129
The Subtle Dissolution Process 134
The Stages of Luminosity 139
Practices For Dying 141
Path of Devotion 141
Recognizing a Last Chance 142
The Practice of Phowa 143
Methods of Transformation 147
Sudden Death 153
All Practices Are Phowa 154
Planning our Last Thought 155
Looking Ahead 156
Aiming for the Highest 157
x Mind Beyond Death
6. Egoless Journey: The Luminous Bardo of Dharmata 161
Exploring New Experiences 162
Dharmakaya Luminosity: The Luminosity of No Appearance 163
Ground Luminosity: The Wisdom of Dharmata 163
Meeting of Mother and Child Luminosities 166
Searching for Home 168
Auspicious Causes and Conditions 169
Generating Samadhi Mind 169
Sambhogakaya Luminosity: The Luminosity of Appearance 173
Spontaneously Arising Luminosity 174
The Four Wisdom Lights 183
The Light of Buddha Activity 184
Visions of Spontaneous Presence 185
Taking the Bardo of Dharmata onto the Path 187
Looking at the Nature of Mind 187
Visualization of the Hundred Deities 187
Taking Light as the Path 188
Taking Sound as the Path 190
Taking Pain and Sickness as the Path 191
Taking Delight and Misery as the Path 193
Taking Emotions as the Path 194
Knowing the Territory 195
The Two Kayas of the Bardo of Dharmata 195
Over in an Instant 195
Arriving at the Next Destination 196
7. To Be or Not To Be: The Karmic Bardo
of Becoming 199
Nirmanakaya Luminosity 200
Unceasing Appearances 201
Reemergence of Confusion 203
The Miraculous Power of Karmic Mind 204
Creating Auspicious Connections 205
Dawning of the Six Realms 208
Becoming: Qualities of the Six Realms 210
Contents xi
Practices for Becoming 217
Creation Stage Practices 218
Completion Stage Practices 222
Transforming Through Renunciation 224
Plan A and Plan B 225
Vajrayana View of Practice 226
View of Creation Stage 228
View of Completion Stage 232
Mind Beyond Death 233
Editors’ Acknowledgments 237
Appendix I: The Sutra on Wisdom for the Time of Death
Tibetan 239
English 241
Appendix II: Vajra Songs of Realization 243
All These Forms 243
The Eight Cases of Basic Goodness Not To Be Shunned 244
Guru Rinpoche Prayer 246
Seven Delights 248
Dedication 250
The Six Bardos by Rechungpa 251
Appendix III: Two Poems by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche 253
A Reminder To Myself 253
Heaven 254
Appendix IV: Looking Back: The Purpose of Ngondro 255
The Vajrayana Roller Coaster 256
Purpose of Ngondro 257
The Four Tantra Ngondro Practices 259
An Important Point 261
Appendix V: The Stages of Dissolution 263
Appendix VI: The Hundred Peaceful and Wrathful Deities 267
Notes 271
Glossary 275
xii Mind Beyond Death
Suggested Reading 297
Traditional Texts 297
Contemporary Commentaries 297
Audio and Video Tapes 298
Nalandabodhi Centers 299
Illustration Credits 303
Index 305
List of Illustrations
Reclining Buddha: The Sleeping Lion Posture 78
Diagram of Channels and Chakras of the Subtle Body 127
Syllables Hām and Ashe 138
Color illustration insert following page 160:
Guru Padmasambhava Plate 1
Samantabhadra and Samantabhadri:
Peaceful Manifestation of the Primordial Buddha Plate 2
Mahottara Heruka and Krodheshvari:
Wrathful Manifestation of the Primordial Buddha Plate 3
Shitro Thangka:
Peaceful and Wrathful Deities Plate 4
Foreword
Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche
!, ,2<-3J.-0?-2<-.R-3J.-0:A-5B$?-2&., ,
There is Nothing In Between, so the Bardo
Does Not Exist—A Verse
*J-.%-:(A-2-%R-2R-3J.-0:A-KA<, ,
.J-$*A?-2<-;%-*J-3J.-3R?-V=-43, ,
2.$-.%-$8/-=-%R-2R-3J.-0:A-KA<, ,
.J-$*A?-2<-;%-*J-3J.-3R?-V=-43, ,
Birth and death have no essence,
So in between those two is merely the unborn, free from fabrication.
Self and other have no essence,
So in between those two is merely the unborn, free from fabrication.
8J?-3#/-0R-5=-OA3?-o-35S-<A/-0R-(J?-:V$-!k-12-#J-.$R/-0<-,R=-L%-
.-5?-?R, ,
Spoken extemporaneously by Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche,
Karma Drubdey Gonpa, Bhutan, October 9, 2006.
Translated by Ari Goldfield.
