The Tibetan Book of the Dead · Reading 130 of 170

The Closing of the Door of the Womb

The Third Method of Closing the Womb-Door

Reading 3 of 4


Those who are voraciously inclined towards this [i.e. sangsaric existence], or those who do not at heart fear it — O dreadful! O dreadful! Alas! — and those who have not received a guru's teachings, will fall down into the precipitous depths of the Sangsāra in this manner, and suffer interminably and unbearably. Rather than meet with a like fate, listen thou unto my words and bear these teachings of mine at heart.

Reject the feelings of attraction or repulsion, and remember one method of closing the womb-door which I am going to show to thee. Close the womb-door and remember the opposition. This is the time when earnestness and pure love are necessary. As hath been said, 'Abandon jealousy, and meditate upon the Guru Father-Mother.'

As above explained, if to be born as a male, attraction towards the mother and repulsion towards the father, and if to be born as a female, attraction towards the father and repulsion towards the mother, together with a feeling of jealousy [for one or the other] which ariseth, will dawn upon thee.