The Tibetan Book of the Dead · Reading 84 of 170

The Dawning of the Wrathful Deities, from the Eighth to the Fourteenth Day

The Fourteenth Day

Reading 7 of 11


O nobly-born, if one recognize not one's own thought-forms, however learned one may be in the Scriptures — both Sutras and Tantras — although practicing religion for a kalpa, one obtaineth not Buddhahood. If one recognize one's own thought-forms, by one important art and by one word, Buddhahood is obtained.

If one's thought-forms be not recognized as soon as one dieth, the shapes of Dharma-Raja, the Lord of Death, will shine forth on the Chönyid-Bardo. The largest of the bodies of Dharma-Raja, the Lord of Death, equaling the heavens [in vastness]; the intermediate, Mt. Meru; the smallest, eighteen times one's own body, will come filling the world-systems. They will come having their upper teeth biting the nether lip; their eyes glassy; their hairs tied up on the top of the head; big-bellied, narrow-wasted; holding a [karmic] record-board in the hand; giving utterance from their mouth to sounds of 'Strike! Slay!', licking [human] brain, drinking blood, tearing heads from corpses, tearing out [the] hearts: thus will [they] come, filling the worlds.