Bardo Teachings Part 6
As stated by Āryadeva,
"The moment that that the darkness of near-attainment ceases
luminosity vividly appears in awareness,
with the characteristic of the ultimate truth,
luminous in the nature of wisdom
and seen by the wisdom eye."
Thereupon, all obscurations are burned up
by the inner fire, which is the power of the wisdom wind.
At that time, the pure subtle drop of bodhicitta stirs.
By practicing the clear light of the path,
for a yogi, through the power of prior habituation,
all the karmic obscurations and the power of confusion
will be taken away by the supreme fire.
When the vajra wisdom of Rahula eats
all the manifest seeds of the sun and moon of subject and object,
in reliance on the luminosity described before,
meditate principally on whatever bliss, clarity, and non-conceptuality arise.
At that very time, the force of that realized luminosity will become more powerful,
and in a single moment, the two kinds of obscurations will be destroyed,
and the two collections will be completed,
like a wealthy person enjoying all their fortune.
Through attained this power, the blissful saṃboghakāya,
luminous nirmāṇakāya, and non-conceptual dharmakāya will be actualized.
As explained by the earlier masters in the direct instructions of the five paths,
enlightenment is attained in the form of the three kāyas
due to the practice of the channels, winds, an drops,
and the vajra body and mind arise due to non-deceiving dependent arising.
For the middling practitioner, as for how consciousness leaves the body in the practice of the illusory body:
Middling practitioners who practice the illusory body
should know how consciousness leaves the body.
As for the luminosity of the first bardo:
when a being with the six elements dies,
although luminosity dawns, one with little habituation
in the essential pith instructions may not recognize it,
and even if they do recognize it, they will not be able to remain in it.
Due to that, the five pure elements that comprise the body
will be individually dismantled and disappear,
whereupon the consciousness which rides on the wind will escape
by way of the nine doors and take rebirth as one of the six kinds of beings.
According to the 19th chapter of Samvarodaya,
If consciousness exits from the navel, you will be reborn in the desire realm;
if from the third eye, the form realm;
if from the crown, the formless realm;
if from the nose, you will be reborn as a yakṣa;
if from the ear, as a god or goddess;
if from the eye, as a human;
if from the mouth, as a preta;
if from the urethra, as an animal;
and if from the anus, in hell.
According to the 31st chapter of the Cluster of Pith Instructions,
"Those who exit by way of the golden door of the crown are reborn in the pure abodes of the bodhisattvas, etc."
Those whose consciousness departs from the golden door of the crown will be born as a bodhisattva.
Second, how the bardo of existence is established:
As just explained, whichever door consciousness departs from,
the moment you part from your previous body,
you are miraculously born as a mental body.
As stated in the Treasury of Abhidharma,
you are miraculously born in the bardo of existence.
Once you are reborn there, you lack a gross physical body.
Due to the habitual tendencies of wind and mind, you display a subtle body
which cannot be obstructed, but which has the appearance of a five-year-old child
complete with the sense faculties and limbs.
While in the bardo, half the time you will take the prior form and half the next,
meaning that you appear in the form of
your previous body and then your future body.
The mental body of the bardo has miraculous powers
such that by merely thinking it,
you can traverse the three thousand-fold world system,
like a fly soaring unobstructed through sunlight,
with the exception that you cannot go to
Mt. Meru, the blessed holy site of Bodhgaya, or a mother's womb.
Ordinarily, you can only meet with bardo beings
who have come from the same realm,
but one who has acquired the divine eye through practice
will be able to see other kinds of beings as well.