The Great Secret of Mind

and some people will say, “Please pull me up!” or “Raise my pillow!” When blood
dissolves into the element water, and the element water into the element fire,
saliva dribbles from mouth and nose. When heat is absorbed into the element fire,
and the element fire into the element air, our mouth and nose dry up, and the
body loses its warmth. Some people’s fontanel opening leaks a dribble of liquid at
that time, which indicates loss of heat. When breath dissolves into the element air,
and the element air into consciousness, all subtle and gross breath is collected into
the breath of life, and inhalation is difficult. The air is sent from lungs to throat
and gathers there. All the blood of the body gathers in the main artery that
supports life, and three drops of blood strike the heart center, and after three long
exhalations, gulped inhalation ceases.
At that time the white drop received from our father runs down from the crown
chakra to the heart. The sign of death is like the sky turning the color of the full
moon, while internally consciousness is quite clear, and the thirty-three thoughts
of aversion all cease. That is called “the effulgence of vision.” Then the red drop
received from the mother runs upward from the navel chakra. The sign of death is
a reddish sky as if the sun is setting, while internally consciousness is blissed out,
and the forty thoughts of desire cease. That is called “the optimal, or increasingly
intense, effulgence of vision.” Then consciousness separates from the center of the
red and white drops. The sign of death is a clear reddish sky covered by darkness,
while internally consciousness is thought-free, and the seven concepts of delusion
cease. At that moment we are blind, and we faint away. That is called
“penultimate attainment.”
Then as we regain some consciousness, the clear light of basic time (which
arises at the moment of conception and then again when dying), which is free
from the three stages of dissolution that disturb space, is recognized, and as we rest
in meditative absorption, consciousness is transferred to the supreme dharmakaya,
and in buddha, one is beyond all bardos.
In actuality, when the breath stops and the father’s white seed from the head
and the mother’s red seed from the navel mingle in the heart chakra,
consciousness leaves the body simultaneously. If we lack knowledge and
familiarity with this process, consciousness will faint away for a long time.
Therefore, during the period of unconsciousness, tradition provides forty-nine days
of the well-known rituals.
For those who have had good training, unconsciousness lasts for only a short
time, and then consciousness is absorbed into space. Space is absorbed into clear
light or, rather, it claims the citadel of basic pure presence, where it is released.
When our breathing stops, good previous training results first in the complete
sequence of effulgence of vision, optimal effulgence, and penultimate attainment,
and then, with recognition of the clear light of the sameness of the ground abiding
naturally in itself, we gain liberation.
If we can accomplish the view of the unmodified natural great perfection,
starting from this moment to become familiar with it, by the time of death, with
mastery we will pass confidently along on the swift path of Cutting Through,
where pure presence and spaciousness, neither separated nor united, provide