Tibetan Book of the Dead

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

W. Y. Evans-Wentz credited himself only as the compiler and editor of this text. The actual translation was done by Tibetan Buddhists, mainly Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup (1868–1922), a teacher of English at the Maharaja’s Boys’ School in Gangtok, Sikkim. The passage excerpted here describes the chonyid bardo, or the “bardo of the experiencing of reality,” which focuses on the karmic apparitions of the wrathful deities. To make the text more readily understandable to the modern readers of English, explanatory words and phrases have been added in brackets.

According to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, a person’s mind or soul is always free, be it at the time before conception in the mother’s womb or at the time between death and rebirth. In order to pass through each of these intermediate stages successfully, an individual must know what happens in them and what kind of deities or apparitions will appear at specific times. With proper training (such as studying the Tibetan Book of the Dead), a person will know what death is like and will not be frightened by the unknown.

In the bardo state, a person will experience the manifestations of the one hundred peaceful (cheerful or gentle) and wrathful (fierce) deities as illusions in his or her unconsciousness: Fifty-eight of them are of a fierce countenance and forty-two of a gentle one. First, the peaceful deities of the heart center come to awareness as very bright and clear lights; then the wrathful deities manifest themselves. The wrathful deities, though, are not the embodiment of evil or sinister forces; instead, they are there to ward off evil spirits, fight threats to Buddhism, and protect humans by adding fear to the evil spirits. Thus, after the visitations of the cheerful deities from the first to the seventh day, the union of wrathful deities will appear from the eighth until the fourteenth day. From days eight through twelve, the Tathagatas (“Celestial Buddhas”) appear in their horrifying and awe-inspiring demonic aspects as Herukas (that is, wrathful but enlightened beings that embody indivisible bliss) and their consorts.

Introduction

The “Introduction” serves as an overview of the dawning of the seven wrathful deities. These deities, appearing in very frightening forms and often described in such horrifying terms as “blood-drinking,” are actually embodiments of the various desires of human beings for the transient and materialistic mundane world. They are the opposite manifestations of the preceding joyful or happy deities or simply the negative forms of the same mental state. If sentient beings can realize and conquer these negative sentiments or cravings, there will be no obstacles on their way to eternal bliss and happiness. The passage also gives warning that whoever flees “through fear, terror, and awe” will “fall over the precipices into the unhappy worlds and suffer.” For this reason, “to the abbots [or discipline-holders], to the doctors, and to those mystics who have failed in their vows, and to all the common people, this Thodol is indispensable.” The Tibetan Book of the Dead was thought to have miraculous powers in guiding the hearers of it to achieve perfect buddhahood and enlightenment.

The Eighth Day

From the eighth day onward, the wrathful deities appear. These wrathful deities are so dark and terrifying that, without proper meditation in advance, people would be horrified by their fierce appearance. On this day, the wrathful form of the Buddha Vairocana, called Buddha Heruka, appears to the dead person; with three faces, nine eyes, six arms, and four legs, he has eyebrows like the flames of lightning, and his red hair stands on end. Even his clothing and jewelry are frightening, and he has a cap on his head decorated with dried-up human skulls. Buddha Heruka is accompanied by his consort, called Krodeshvara, both of whom make terrifying roaring sounds. His body is embraced by the Mother, Buddha-Krotishaurima (called the Queen of Wrath), who holds up to his mouth a skull cup brimming with blood. At this point, the writer tells people not to be alarmed by the wrathful deities’ fearful appearance, for they are only tutelary deities, the embodiment of a dead person’s own intellect. As it is, the gruesome appearances are only the ugly aspects of people’s nature, or rather, the deities deliberately assume a fearful countenance in order to reveal the darkness in people that needs to be eradicated.

The Ninth Day

On the ninth day of the visions of the chonyid bardo, Vajra-Heruka appears. Vajra-Heruka is the wrathful manifestation of the Buddha Vajrasattva Aksobhya and his consort Vajra-Krodhesvari; together, they emerge from the dead person’s brain. They preside over the eastern quarter of the wrathful deity mandala (a concentric diagram in the form of a circle). With a dark blue face, Vajra-Heruka has three heads, six arms, and four legs and is also crowned with skulls, wearing a fearsome necklace of many severed heads. In his right hand is a skull cup and a battle-ax; his left hand holds a bell, a kapala (a cup made with a human skull), and a plowshare. Vajra-Heruka embodies the crystal wisdom of the dharmakaya (the ultimate essence of the enlightened mind) and the impure klesha (“defilement,” “affliction”) of anger. This section of the book encourages people to believe in the wrathful deities, recognize them, and merge with them so that liberation and Buddha-hood will be obtained at once. The two qualities of wisdom and anger, as the book implies, are not readily compatible, for if people’s intellect is blurred by anger, they can never think properly or apply their wisdom. Therefore, it is beneficial to keep a balanced view of gains and losses so that people will not become irritated by earthly deficiencies and failures.

The Tenth Day

On the tenth day, one encounters Ratna-Heruka, who appears like Vajra-Heruka but is yellow rather than blue. He represents the south and the Buddha Ratnasambhava. He has three faces, six hands, and four feet; in the first of the six hands he holds a gem, in the middle a trident staff, and in the last a baton. In the first of the left hands, he holds a bell, in the middle a skull bowl, and in the last a trident staff. Ratna-Heruka manifests the wisdom of equality. He embodies people’s overweening pride or vanity, which means that people tend to show off, regarding themselves as superior to others. Therefore, with this deity, people come to know that once they have unshackled themselves from their pride and vanity, they may reside immediately in the ideal realm of equality, attaining the state of the sambhogakaya (the “body of delight” or “bliss body”). In this sense, Ratna-Heruka’s main significance is Buddha Ratnasambhava, who is characterized by enrichment, development, and progress. Thus, when we have abandoned the negative desires of vanity, pride, and arrogance, we can achieve equality and harmony, which are fundamental to a person’s development, progress, and ultimate success.

The Eleventh Day

On the eleventh day, the Bhagavan Padma-Heruka (Heruka of the Lotus) appears in a reddish-black color, with three faces, six hands, and four feet, with the right face white, the left blue, and the central darkish-red. He represents the West and the Buddha Amitabha. In the first of the right hands he holds a lotus, in the middle a trident staff, and in the last a club. In the first of the left hands, he holds a bell, in the middle a skull bowl filled with blood, and in the last a small drum. His body is embraced by the Mother Padma-Krotishaurima. His essence is the combination of two wisdoms: the wisdom that, like a mirror, can discern the true nature of things and the wisdom that, with a unique ability for multiplicity, addresses the diverse phenomena of the world. Without the earthly desires that distract people’s true insight into things, the discriminating wisdom can help people see things as they really are. When applied to daily life, such wisdoms can aid people and warn them not to be attracted by the mere appearance of things, but rather to delve deep into their essence or nature.

The Twelfth Day

On the twelfth day, the blood-drinking deity of the Karmic Order, Karma Heruka, accompanied by the Kerima, Htamenma, and Wang-chugma, meets the dead person face to face. Karma Heruka is green and represents the north and the Buddha Amoghasiddhi. He has three faces, six hands, and four feet, with the right face white, the left red, and the middle dark green. In the first of three hands on the right, he holds a sword, in the middle one a trident staff, and in the last a club. In the first of his left hands, he holds a bell, in the middle one a skull bowl, and in the last a plowshare. His body is embraced by the Mother Karma-Krotishaurima, her right hand clinging to his neck and the left one offering a red shell to his mouth.

Karma Heruka represents the negative human feeling of envy, which historically has been one of the most direct causes of the human being’s unhappiness (one of the seven deadly sins, by Christian standards). According to the British philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell, envy is a universal and most unfortunate aspect of human nature; it not only renders the envious person unhappy but also may cause him or her to wish misfortune on others. Karma Heruka’s essence is the fulfillment of actions; in other words, with this spiritual quality, a person is able to achieve success in everything that he or she does. When one gets rid of envy, one will be free and clear in judgment and evaluation, so accomplishment is very likely to be achieved.

The Thirteenth Day

Eight kerimas (the dakinis that accompany the Herukas, one category of the wrathful deities) appear on the thirteenth day, surrounding the Krodeshvari-Heruka couples. There are two kinds of kerimas: Four Inner Dakinis of the cardinal directions (pure colors) and Four Outer Dakinis of the intermediate directions (mixed colors). They combine to represent the fierce, terrifying female counterparts of the eight male bodhisattvas, the compassionate and enlightened beings. Called the Eight Wrathful Ones and Htamenmas, they are terrifying zoomorphic deities—that is, deities given animal form.

Descriptions of the eight kerimas are listed in this section of the text: from the east, the Dark-Brown Lion-Headed One, with hands crossed on the breast and in the mouth holding a corpse and shaking the mane; from the south, the Red Tiger-Headed One, with the hands crossed downward and with protruding eyes; from the west, the Black Fox-Headed One, with the right hand holding a shaving knife and the left hand holding an intestine; from the north, the Dark-Blue Wolf-Headed One, with the two hands tearing open a corpse; from the southeast, the Yellowish-White Vulture-Headed One, carrying a gigantic corpse on the shoulder and holding a skeleton in the hand; from the southwest, the Dark-Red Cemetery-Bird-Headed One, carrying a gigantic corpse on the shoulder; from the northwest, the Black Crow-Headed One, the left hand holding a skull bowl, the right holding a sword, and her mouth eating heart and lungs; from the northeast, the Dark-Blue Owl-Headed One, holding a thunderbolt in the right hand and a skull bowl in the left.

The Fourteenth Day

On the fourteenth day, the visions of the chonyid bardo end with a rich array of deities, among them Four Female Door-Keepers (the Four Yoginis of the Door) with animal heads and other powerful zoomorphic deities and Yoginis. The Four Female Door-Keepers also come from the dead person’s own brain: From the east part of the brain comes the White Tiger-Headed Goad-Holding Goddess, bearing a blood-filled skull bowl in her left hand; from the south part, the Yellow Sow-Headed Noose-Holding Goddess; from the west part, the Red Lion-Headed Iron-Chain-Holding Goddess; and from the north part, the Green Serpent-Headed Bell-Holding Goddess. These Yoginis are the feminine forms of the masculine yogi. They are known to possess a steadfast mind, which they cultivate through the disciplined pursuit of transcendence, an idea that is at the core of yoga. Proper respect of Yoginis is a necessary part of the path to liberation, since a yogini is the sacred feminine force made incarnate.