The Law, Judgement, Punishment and Hell in Buddhism -“The Tibetan Book of the Dead”
Carl Jung Depth Psychology Facebook Group
THE TRANSLATOR AND THE EDITOR IN GANGTOK, SIKKIM
Be not fond of the dull, smoke—coloured light from Hell.
That is the path which openeth out to receive thee because of the power of
accumulated evil karma from violent anger.
If thou be attracted by it, thou wilt fall into the Hell—Worlds; and, falling therein, thou
wilt have to endure unbearable misery, whence there is no certain time of getting out. That being an interruption to obstruct thee on the Path of Liberation, look not at it; and avoid anger.
Be not attracted by it; be not weak. Believe in the dazzling bright white light; [and] putting thy whole heart earnestly upon the Bhagavān Vajra—Sattva, pray thus :
‘Alas! when wandering in the Sangsāra because of the power of violent anger,
On the radiant light—path of the Mirror—like Wisdom,
May [I] be led by the Bhagavān Vajra—Sattva,
May the Divine Mother Māmaki be [my] rear—guard;
May [I] be led safely across the fearful ambush of the Bardo; And may [I] be placed in the state of the All—perfect Buddhahood.
Praying thus, in intense humble faith, thou wilt merge, in rainbow light, into the heart of the Bhagavān Vajra—Sattva and obtain Buddhahood in the Sambhoga—Kaya> in the Eastern Realm called Pre—eminently Happy. ~The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Page 253-254
The Dorje-The Lamaic Sceptre
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 in the Hell—world, in the Zføw—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 Chónyid Bardo, being unable to
recognize, thou didst faint away, through fear, about three 2and 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 Tantra says,
’Having a body [seemingly] fleshly [resembling] the former and that to be produced,
Endowed with all sense—faculties and power of unimpeded motion,
Possessing karmic miraculous powers,
Visible to pure celestial eyes [of Bardo beings] of like nature’
Such, then, is the teaching. ~The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Page 305
The Great Mandala of the Peaceful Dieties
That [radiant body]—thus referred to as [resembling] ‘the 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.
This body, [born] of desire, is a thought—form hallucination 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 preta, or a being in Hell, a vision of the place will appear to thee.
Accordingly, the word ‘former’ [in the quotation] implieth 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]. ~The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Page 305-306
The Great Mandala of Knowledge of the Wrathful Dieties
Thou, because of thy vision not being purified, mayst be inclined to grow very angry a t their actions and bring about, at this moment, thy birth in Hell: whatever those left behind thee may be doing, act thou so that no angry thought can arise in thee, and meditate upon love for them. ~The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Page 320-321
The JudgementDescribed on pages xxx—xxxiii, 35—8, 165—y, 240.
Furthermore, even if thou feelest attached to the worldly goods thou hast left behind, or, because of seeing such worldly goods of thine in the possession of other people and being enjoyed by them, thou shouldst feel attached to them through weakness, or feel angry with thy successors, that feeling will affect the psychological moment in such a way that, even though thou wert destined to be born on higher and happier planes, thou wilt be obliged to be born in Hell, or in the world of pretas [or unhappy ghosts]. On the other hand, even if thou art attached to worldly goods left behind, thou wilt not be able to possess them, and they will be of no use to thee. ~The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Page 320-321
The Tibetan Wheel of the Law.
O nobly—born, listen. If thou desirest to know what those six lights are: there will shine upon thee a dull white light from the Deva—world, a dull green light from the Asura— world, a dull yellow light from the Human—world, a dull blue light from the Brute—world, a dull red light from the Preta— world, and a smoke—coloured light from the Hell—world.
At that time, by the power of karma thine own body will partake of the colour of the light of the place wherein thou art to be born. ~The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Page 325
Formerly it had been a human being, but now if it have become a dog it findeth itself undergoing sufferings in a dog’s kennel; or [perhaps] as a young pig in a pigsty, or as an ant in an ant—hill, or as an insect, or a grub in a hole, or as a calf, or a kid, or a lamb, from which shape there is no [immediate] returning.
Dumbness, stupidity, and miserable intellectual obscurity are suffered, and a variety of sufferings experienced. In like manner, one may wander into hell, or into the world of unhappy ghosts, or throughout the Six Lokas, and endure inconceivable miseries. ~The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Page 332
If to be born in Hell, songs [like wailings], due to evil karma will be heard.
[One will be] compelled to enter therein unresistingly.
Lands of gloom, black houses and white houses, and black holes in the earth, and black roads along which one hath to go, will appear.
If one goeth there, one will enter into Hell; and, suffering unbearable pains of heat and cold, one will be very long in getting out of it Go not there into the midst of that. ~The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Page 339
