(5) 1 not die? Lying here on my bed, or standing amidst my kin, I must suffer the agonies of dissolution alone. Whence shall I find a kinsman, whence a friend, when the Death-god's messengers seize me? Righteousness alone can save me then, and for that I have not sought. Clinging to brief life, I have been blind to this terror, heedless; 0 my Masters, grievous guilt have I gathered. He who is taken to be maimed of his limbs at once withers away; thirst racks him, his sight is darkened, the world is changed to his sight. How then will it be with me when I am in the charge of the Death-god's hideous messengers, consumed by a fever of mighty terror, covered with filth, looking with timid glances to the four quarters of heaven for aid? Who will be the friend to save me from that awful terror? I shall see in the heavens no help, and sink back into madness; then what shall I do in that place of horror? Now, now I come for refuge to the mighty Lords of the world, the Conquerors eager for the world's protection, who allay all fear; to the Law learned by them I come with all my heart for refuge, and to the Congregation of the Sons of Enlightenment.... Whatsoever guilt I have gathered in my foolishness and delusion, alike the wrong of nature and the wrong of commandment, I confess it all as I stand before the Masters with clasped hands, affrighted with grief, and making obeisance again and again. May my Lords take my transgression as it is; never more, O Masters, will I do this unholy work.

(3) Thou wilt pay undistracted attention to that with which I am about to set thee face to face, and hold on: O nobly-born, that which is called death hath now come. Thou art departing from this world, but thou art not the only one; [death] cometh to all. Do not cling, in fondness and weakness, to this life. Even though thou clingest out of weakness, thou hast not the power to remain here. Thou wilt gain nothing more than wandering in this Sangsara. Be not attached [to this world]; be not weak. Remember the Precious Trinity.

(26) [Instructions to the Officiant]: Say that; for by such setting-face-to-face, despite the previous non- liberation, liberation ought surely to be obtained here. Possible, [however,] liberation may not be obtained even after that setting-face-to-face; and earnest and continued application being essential, again calling the deceased by name, speak as follows: O nobly-born, thy immediate experiences will be of momentary joys followed by momentary sorrows, of great intensity, like the [taut and relaxed] mechanical actions of catapults. Be not in the least attached [to the joys] nor displeased [by the sorrows] of that.

(6) Then Gautama went to the king's place, and when he had come to him, the king offered him proper respect. In the morning the king went out on his way to the assembly . The king said to him: 'Sir, Gautama, ask a boon of such things as men possess.' He replied: 'Such things as men possess may remain with you. Tell me the speech which you addressed to the boy.'

(10) If she bid me die quickly, and I demur, then I am an unfilial son. She can do me no wrong. Tao gives me this form, this toil in manhood, this repose in old age, this rest in death. And surely that which is such a kind arbiter of my life is the best arbiter of my death. "Suppose that the boiling metal in a smelting-pot were to bubble up and say, 'Make of me an Excalibur;' I think the caster would reject that metal as uncanny. And if a sinner like myself were to say to God, 'Make of me a man, make of me a man;' I think he too would reject me as uncanny. The universe is the smelting-pot, and God is the caster. I shall go whithersoever I am sent, to wake unconscious of the past, as a man wakes from a dreamless sleep." Tzŭ Sang Hu, Mêng Tzŭ Fan, and Tzŭ Ch'in Chang, were conversing together, when it was asked, "Who can be, and yet not be? Who can do, and yet not do? Who can mount to heaven, and roaming through the clouds, pass beyond the limits of space, oblivious of existence, for ever and ever without end?" The three looked at each other and smiled; and as neither had any misgivings, they became friends accordingly. Shortly afterwards Tzŭ Sang Hu died; whereupon Confucius sent Tzŭ Kung to take part in the mourning. But Tzŭ Kung found that one had composed a song which the other was accompanying on the lute, Tzŭ Kung hurried in and said, "How can you sing alongside of a corpse? Is this decorum?" The two men looked at each other and laughed, saying, "What should this man know of decorum indeed?" Tzŭ Kung went back and told Confucius, asking him, "What manner of men are these? Their object is nothingness and a separation from their corporeal frames. They can sit near a corpse and yet sing, unmoved. There is no class for such. What are they?"

(25) [Instructions to the Officiant]: Yet, again, it may be possible that because of the influence of bad karma one will not recognize even thus. Therefore, call the deceased by name, and speak as follows: O nobly-born, (so-and-so), listen. That thou art suffering so cometh from thine own karma; it is not due to any one else's: it is by thine own karma. Accordingly, pray earnestly to the Precious Trinity; that will protect thee. If thou neither prayest nor knowest how to meditate upon the Great Symbol nor upon any tutelary deity, the Good Genius, who was born simultaneously with thee, will come now and count out thy good deeds [with] white pebbles, and the Evil Genius, who was born simultaneously with thee, will come and count out thy evil deeds [with] black pebbles. Thereupon, thou wilt be greatly frightened, awed, and terrified, and wilt tremble; and thou wilt attempt to tell lies, saying, 'I have not committed any evil deed'.

(45) 'The Path of Good Wishes which Protecteth from Fear in the Bardo': When the cast [of the dice] of my life hath become exhausted, The relatives in this world avail me not; When I wander alone by myself in the Bardo, [O] ye Conquerors, Peaceful and Wrathful, exercising the power of your compassion, Let it come that the Gloom of Ignorance be dispelled.

(6) Then he said: * Verily, Gautama, that is among divine boons. Mention [one] of human boons/

(45) Obtaining for myself the body of a male [which is] the better, Let it come that I liberate all who see or hear me; Allowing not the evil karma to follow me, Let it come that whatever merits [be mine] follow me and be multiplied. Wherever I be born, there and then, Let it come that I meet the Conquerors, the Peaceful and the Wrathful Deities; Being able to walk and to talk as soon as [I am] born, Let it come that I obtain the non-forgetting intellect and remember my past life [or lives]. 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. Ye Conquerors, Peaceful and Wrathful, in likeness to your bodies, [Number of your] followers, duration of your life-period, limit of your realms And [in likeness to the] goodness of your divine name, Let it come that I, and others, equal your very selves in all these. By the divine grace of the innumerable All-Good Peaceful and Wrathful [Ones}, And by the gift-waves of the wholly pure Reality, [And] by the gift-waves of the one-pointed devotion of the mystic devotees, Let it come that whatsoever be wished for be fulfilled here and now.

(6) Ghora Âṅgirasa, after having communicated this (view of the sacrifice) to Krishna, the son of Devăkî --and he never thirsted again (after other knowledge)--said: 'Let a man, when his end approaches, take refuge with this Triad : "Thou art the imperishable," "Thou art the unchangeable," "Thou art the edge of Prâna."' On this subject there are two Rik verses (Rig-veda VIII, 6, 30):--

(25) [Instructions to the Officiant]: If it be an illiterate boor who knoweth not how to meditate, then say this: O nobly-born, if thou knowest not how thus to meditate, act so as to remember the Compassionate One, and the Sangha, the Dharma, and the Buddha, and pray. Think of all these fears and terrifying apparitions as being thine own tutelary deity, or as the Compassionate One. Bring to thy recollection the mystic name that hath been given thee at the time of thy sacred initiation when thou wert a human being, and the name of thy guru, and tell them to the Righteous King of the Lord[s] of Death. Even though thou fallest down precipices, thou wilt not be hurt. Avoid awe and terror.

(44) O now, when the Bardo of [taking] Rebirth upon me is dawning! One-pointedly holding fast to a single wish, [May I be able to] continue the course of good deeds through repeated efforts; May the womb-door be closed and the revulsion recollected: The hour hath come when energy and pure love are needed; [May I] cast off jealousy and meditate upon the Guru, the Father-Mother. ['O] procrastinating one, who thinketh not of the coming of death, Devoting thyself to the useless doings of this life, Improvident art thou in dissipating thy great opportunity; Mistaken, indeed, will thy purpose be now if thou returnest empty-handed [from this Since the Holy Dharma is known to be thy true need, Wilt thou not devote [thyself] to the Holy Dharma even now?' Thus say the Great Adepts in devotion. If the chosen teaching of the guru be not borne in mind, Wilt thou not [O shishya] be acting even as a traitor to thyself? It is of great importance that these Root Words be known.

(3) Eager to escape sorrow, men rush into sorrow; from desire of happiness they blindly slay their own happiness, enemies to themselves; they hunger for happiness and suffer manifold pains; whence shall come one so kind as he who can satisfy them with all manner of happiness, allay all their pains, and shatter their delusion — whence such a friend, and whence such a holy deed? He who repays good deed with good deed is praised; what shall be said of the Son of Enlightenment, who does kindness unsought? He who sets a banquet before a few is called a " doer of righteousness," and is honoured by the world, because in his pride he entertains men for half a day with a brief largesse of mere food; but what of him who bestows on a measureless number of creatures a satisfaction of all desires unbounded in time and perishing not when the world of heaven perishes? Such is the Master of the Banquet, the Son of the Conqueror; whosoever sins in his heart against him, saith the Lord, shall abide in hell as many ages as the moments of his sin. But he whose spirit is at peace with them shall thence get abundant fruit; and truly, wrong to the Sons of the Conqueror can be done only by great effort, but kindness towards them is easy. I do homage to the bodies of them in whom has arisen the choice jewel of the Thought, and even the ill-treatment of whom leads to happiness; in these mines of bliss I seek my refuge.

(12) Again, calling the deceased by name, [address him] thus: O nobly-born, listen undistractedly. Not having been able to recognize when the Peaceful [Deities] shone upon thee in the Bardo above, thou hast come wandering thus far. Now, on the Eighth Day, the blood-drinking Wrathful Deities will come to shine. Act so as to recognize them without being distracted.

(40) [Instructions to the Officiant]: Therefore, if unable to part with the attraction and repulsion, those of the least mentality and of evil karma will be liable to take refuge amongst brutes. The way to repel therefrom is to call the deceased by name again, thus: O nobly-born, if thou art not able to rid thyself of attraction and repulsion, and know not the [art of] selecting the womb-door, whichever of the above visions may appear, call up on the Precious Trinity and take refuge [therein]. Pray unto the Great Compassionate One. Walk with thy head erect. Know thyself in the Bardo. Cast away all weakness and attraction towards thy sons and daughters or any relations left behind thee; they can be of no use to thee. Enter upon the White Light-[Path] of the devas, or upon the Yellow Light-[Path] of human beings; enter into the great mansions of precious metals and into the delightful gardens.

(27) [Instructions to the Officiant]: Yet — though this [instruction] be so oft repeated — if recognition be difficult, because of the influence of evil karma, much benefit will come from repeating these settings- face-to-face many times over. Once more, [then,] call the deceased by name, and speak as follows: O nobly-born, if thou hast been unable to apprehend the above, henceforth the body of the past life will become more and more dim and the body of the future life will become more and more clear. Saddened at this [thou wilt think], 'O what misery I am undergoing! Now, whatever body I am to get, I shall go and seek [it]'. So thinking, thou wilt be going hither and thither, ceaselessly and distractedly. Then there will shine upon thee the lights of the Six Sangsaric Lokas. The light of that place wherein thou art to be born, through power of karma, will shine most prominently.

(23) 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 Deva-world, and in this Bardo-body is of the kind called supernormal birth.