infer from the detailed historical work of the Bon religion, the

Legs-bshad-mdzod, 3 2 that here too the bardo doctrines are as-

sociated with an extensive tradition that has been collated in many
texts, books of ritual, and commentaries. 33 ust as in the Buddhist
tradition, we find in the Bon-!o religion im!ortant contributions
to knowledge about the bardo, the visionary deities, and the six
realms of existence, in writings other than those s!ecifically called
Books of the "ead. #nd so, for exam!le, the doctrines of the
r"zogs-chen tradition of $hang-zhung constitute an indis!ensable
su!!lement to our knowledge of the Bon-!o Bar-do thos-grol.
$hang-zhung is that western %ibetan region which can be seen as
an ancestral home of the s!iritual culture of the Bon religion. &e
shall return to the doctrines of the Bon-!o 'is!anna-(oga of this
school and its statements about the bardo when we come to dis-
cuss the deities of the Bon tradition.
)urther em!irical ex!eriences relating to the !roblem of
death, which are discussed in detail in the Buddhist tradition of
Books of the "ead, must certainly have come from the *ndian
+edic tradition. ,r rather, there were for a long time definite
descri!tions of the !rocess of dying and of the !ath of the soul
after death which were generally current in *ndia and were formu-
lated in the +edas and the -!anisads. %he extant texts for the most
!art dis!lay considerable similarities with the content of Buddhist
writings, and in this context the reader is referred in !articular to
the Brhadaranyaka -!anisad *+. ., /-20 the #itareya #ranyaka
***. 2, .0 the 1ata!atha Brahmana0 and the 2retakal!a of the
3aruda 2urana.
/2
**
Basic 4lements of
&isdom about Life and 5nowledge
about the #fter-"eath 1tate
and 6ebirth
/. Life, 5arma, "eath, and 6ebirth
Life is only another death. %he birth of
life, not its end, is death.
)6. 74BB4L, ournals
% 7 4 *'%6,"-8%,6( 9uotation from 7ebbel is !erha!s the best
introduction to #siatic thought in general and Buddhist teachings
in !articular. &e have already mentioned that the %ibetan Books
of the "ead not only attem!t to answer 9uestions about dying and
transformation in the bardo but that they also !resu!!ose ac-
9uaintance with the whole course of life and the Buddhist doctrine
of salvation and so communicate this latter in their texts in the
form of a self-contained com!endium.
8ondensed into a short formula, this means: life, knowledge
of life, and correct transformations in life are the true !rere9uisites
for !ro!er dying and for the !ossibility of determining one;s fate
beyond death. *t is !recisely this !roblem that the %ibetan Book of
the "ead attem!ts to resolve. #lthough we cannot here give a
com!lete outline of the Buddhist teachings, which will a!!ear
again and again in the texts and clarificatory remarks in the course
of this book, we must nevertheless sketch some ty!ical thoughts
which lie at the core of the Buddhist s!iritual and intellectual
worlds. )or only from this foundation is the meaning and !ur!ose
of the %ibetan writings about the bardo com!rehensible.
Buddhism regards life in all its forms as an inviolable blessing
that should never be intentionally harmed or destroyed. But life in
human form is something <!recious and difficult to attain,< since
only man, thanks to thinking and discriminating awareness, is able
to influence and guide the !rocesses of life and conditions of exis-
tence from his own ex!erience and intuition. %he great %ibetan
scholar, s3am-!o-!a =/>?@-//A3B, offers in his 2C instructions
for yogis 3 . the following admonitions:
*f one has reached this human body, !ure and hard to attain, it
would be regrettable to die an unreligious and ordinary !erson.
1ince human life in the 5ali (uga =i.e., our contem!orary age of
darkness through ignoranceB is brief and uncertain, it would be regretta-
ble to s9uander it in meaningless activity.