that moment, a mass of rainbow light appeared near the doorpost. Many people
saw the rainbow light, and it became a matter of common discussion. Lama Pema
is still alive and continues to relate this incident.
These days science creates disturbing doubt and skeptical thought. If we have
any bias regarding the natural perfection of our basic view, it is very important to
eliminate it the moment it arises. There is a Tibetan saying that one wish cannot
be accomplished by two minds, and another that says that there can be no
stitching with a two-pointed needle. Whatever training we engage in, we must
complete and perfect it. This perfection should not be assumed, as in the inferred
view of the common Approach with Signs, but rather it should be perfected
through our own experience. Consummate experience depends upon an authentic
rigzin-lama, so we need to search for such a lama, regardless of hardship. If the
lama has no realization of the nature of mind, whatever guidance he gives will be
misleading, so be careful in your search for him.
Beings of the six realms are deluded in six different ways. Water, for example, is
perceived as nectar by the gods, as water for drinking and cleansing by men, as a
thirst-quencher by animals, as pus and blood by hungry ghosts, and as blazing fire
by the devils of hell. Since it can be seen differently by different beings, we say
that it has no objective substantial existence. In Entering the Way of the
Bodhisattva, Shantideva said,
Who creates the fields of blazing iron?
From where do those blazing fires emerge?
According to the Buddha,
They are created by, and in, sinful minds.When intrinsic presence is enveloped by dualistic perception, each class of being
of the six realms sees things differently, just as a patient with jaundice might see a
white-colored object, such as a conch, as yellow. In the human realm,
envisionment of a life span from birth until the inevitable disease of death should
be understood as a vast lying delusion. If we have some experience in Dzogchen
through oral instructions given by a lama, however, then in the bardo of life, we
can hold firmly to pure presence and gain release. This is of vital importance.
5.3 THE BARDO OF THE PROCESS OF DYING
Acharya Aryadeva is quoted in The Words of My Perfect Teacher as saying,
The conditions for death are very many;
The conditions for life are very few:
Life becomes the condition for death.And so in this present age—to some extent due to climate change—the natural
catastrophes of fire, flood, storm, and earthquake occur more than ever before.