The Tibetan Book of the Dead · Reading 89 of 170

The Bardo of the Experiencing of Reality

The Conclusion, Showing the Fundamental Importance of the Bardo Teachings

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Whatever the religious practices of any one may have been — whether extensive or limited — during the moments of death various misleading illusions occur; and hence this Thödol is indispensable. To those who have meditated much, the real Truth dawneth as soon as the body and consciousness-principle part. The acquiring of experience while living is important: they who have [then] recognized [the true nature of] their own being, and thus have had some experience, obtain great power during the Bardo of the Moments of Death, when the Clear Light dawneth.

Again, the meditation on the deities of the Mystic Path of the Mantra, [both in the] visualizing and the perfecting stages, while living, will be of great influence when the peaceful and wrathful visions dawn on the Chönyid Bardo. Thus the training in this Bardo being of particular importance even while living, hold to it, read it, commit it to memory, bear it in mind properly, read it regularly thrice; let the words and the meanings be very clear; it should be so that the words and the meanings will not be forgotten even though a hundred executioners were pursuing [thee].