The Tibetan Book of the Dead (Arcturus Classics)

by Padmasambhava

42 Peaceful Deities which

said to emanate from the heart. If the deceased recognizes the Peaceful Deities as a reflection of his own mind, recognition and liberation are simultaneous. If the deceased does not recognize them, he enters the second seven-day period and comes face to face with the 58 Wrathful Deities which are said to emanate from the brain or head. If the deceased fails to recognize these for what

The key lies in our recognition of the true nature of the mind.

tutelary

O nobly-born, when thy body and mind were separating, thou must have

experienced a glimpse of the Pure Truth, subtle, sparkling, bright, dazzling, glorious, and radiantly awesome, in appearance like a mirage moving across a landscape in spring-time in one continuous stream of vibrations. Be not daunted thereby, nor terrified, nor awed. That is the radiance of thine own true nature. Recognize it. From the midst of that radiance, the natural sound of Reality, reverberating like a thousand thunders simultaneously sounding, will come. That is the natural sound of thine own real self. Be

not daunted thereby, nor terrified, nor awed. The body which thou hast now is called the thought-body of propensities. Since thou hast not a material body of flesh and blood, whatever may come – sounds, lights, or rays – are, all three, unable to harm thee: thou art incapable of dying. It is quite sufficient for thee to kno...

O nobly-born, if thou dost not now recognize thine own thought-forms, whatever of medi...

Tathāgata

predilection

enhaloed

mudrā

Within those radiances, the natural sound of the Truth will reverberate like a thousand thunders.

The sound will come with a rolling reverberation, [amidst which] will be heard, ‘Slay! Slay!’ and awe-inspiring mantras. Fear not. Flee not. Be not terrified. Know them [i.e. these sounds] to be [of] the intellectual faculties of thine own [inner] light.