The Tibetan Book of the Dead
Page 15
And the spontaneously perfect male and female consorts are the [natural purity] of past and future [events].
All of these are centred in the ‘lotus of vast space’, which is that of [Samantabhadrῑ],
She who embodies the most secret and most joyous of supreme forms.
Within this [space, the maṇḍala] radiates as a supreme non-dual seminal point,
And within this secret maṇḍala, where there is no conjunction or disjunction,
Is [arrayed] the buddha-body of the uncontrived nucleus of enlightenment, free from conceptual elaboration,
Where the immutable deities of supreme bliss manifest in myriad forms.
O, you manifold assembly of [peaceful] emanations, present within the indivisible expanse,
Including the male and female [buddhas] of the five enlightened families, who are the Great Embodiment,
The [sixteen] male and female bodhisattvas, and the six sages who instruct living beings,
Along with the eight emanational gatekeepers, male and female;
O, you manifold [wrathful] assembly of the emanational deities of pristine cognition,
[Including] the ten male and female wrathful conquerors,
Great and glorious [principals] of the five enlightened families,
Who preside over the indestructible matrix of female [wrathful] deities,
The [sixteen active] seals [who represent the natural transformation]
Of the classes of consciousness and their objects,
And the four gatekeepers;
O, you twenty-eight outer and inner ḍākinῑs and yoginῑs,
Who, with motherly loving kindness and sisterly affection,
Evaluate our good and bad [conduct],
And inspect our commitments;
And you oath-bound [protectors] of indestructible reality, who have been subjugated —
Please, [all of you], attend to us!
CONFESSION [IN THE PRESENCE] OF THE INEXPRESSIBLE TRUTH
HŪṂ We [aspiring] awareness holders, who are heirs to the compassionate lineage,
Strive to cultivate the mind of enlightenment for the sake of all living beings.
In order that the unsurpassed state may be attained,
We have repeatedly received and earnestly undertaken
[Both] the individual disciplines of the ocean-like teachings,5
And the supreme vows concordant with buddha-body, speech and mind, including:
The [appropriate] commitments of [the Vehicle of] Indestructible Reality,
Which are dangerous to transgress, and must be constantly maintained,
Together with all the general and particular higher commitments.
Yet, even though we strive neither to abandon nor to transgress [these commitments],
And we strive neither to deviate from the truth nor to allow our minds to fluctuate,
Since we idly think that we have the momentary luxury to sit back in relaxation,
We have not reached fulfilment and our mental energy has been faltering.
We have lacked alertness, and have been overpowered by carelessness.
If, therefore, under the sway of ignorance, consciously or unconsciously,
Our meditation has lacked perseverance,
And we have been distracted in our ritual service and means for attainment,
We will have contradicted the injunctions of the Teacher and contradicted our vows.
Further, it says in the [Buddha’s] scriptures:
‘A yogin should not associate, even for a moment, with one whose commitments have degenerated.’
Not being [continuously] cognisant of this, we have transgressed the secret approach [of the tantras],
And [consistently] we have had difficulty discriminating [between worthy and unworthy associates].
Lacking supernormal prescience, we have failed to recognise those that are unworthy.
Thus, now, with heartfelt remorse, we confess all our individual faults,
Which have already become the misfortunes of this life and will become the obscurations of future lives.
Whatever faults of degeneration and obscuration have tainted us,
Whether they be our own actual degenerations or those acquired through association with others by:
Mixing in assemblies with those whose [commitments] have degenerated,
Repairing [the commitments of] those who have degenerated,
Giving the [sacred] teachings to those who are degenerate and unworthy,
Or by committing the degenerate fault of not avoiding [the influence of] those who have degenerated, and so forth,
Do not permit the retribution of the sublime [protectors] to fall upon us!
Attend to us with the compassion of your loving kindness!
And make us secure, so that we never stray from the non-dual expanse.
Having inspired us to abide within the modality of non-referential equanimity,
Please grant us the purity of the non-dual truth!
In ultimate truth, inexpressible and without conceptual elaboration,
There is no objective referent to any conceptual thought whatsoever.
But if, by the power of illusion-like relative appearances, we should err,
[We acknowledge this and seek your forgiveness.]
We confess that we have deviated from the buddha-mind!
If we have committed transgressions, please forgive our deviations.
Throughout beginningless time and throughout the limits of cyclic existence,
We have roamed within these turning worlds driven on by the forces of [ripening] past actions —
[Endlessly] drinking the poisons of dissonant states and false perspectives on reality.
May The One Gone to Bliss, king among compassionate physicians,
Grant the medicine of liberation, the nectar of the genuine teachings,
To those [of us] who are severely afflicted by the [primal] disease, which is suffering!
May all the diseases caused by bewildering dissonant states be pacified!
May we be sustained in the nucleus of unsurpassed enlightenment!
We take refuge in you, O compassionate lord of loving kindness!
We confess that we have contradicted the buddha-mind!
If we have boasted of our high view and yet not understood the meaning of actual reality,
If we have not clearly visualised the meditational deity, owing to our meditations being excessively brief,
Or if we have made an inadequate number of recitations or spoken these defectively,
However we have deviated from the buddha-mind of the oceans of conquerors,
We confess our transgressions in the presence of the Peaceful and Wrathful Conquerors.
We make confession to you, O Compassionate Ones!
We make confession in the presence of the entire assembly of the deities of pristine cognition!
If we have failed to please our spiritual teacher, on account of the feebleness of our effort,
If we have failed to be well regarded by our spiritual brothers and sisters, on account of the feebleness of our devotion,
If we have divulged the oral teachings to another, on account of our flirtatious intentions,
Indeed, whatever extravagances, omissions, deviations or mistakes we have made,
With respect to the fundamental commitments of buddha-body, speech and mind,
Whilst swayed by the influence of ignorance, either consciously or unconsciously,
We confess all such transgressions in the presence of the Peaceful and Wrathful Conquerors.
We make confession to you, O Compassionate Ones!
We make confession to the oceanic assembly of the conquerors!
May all [the degenerations] that we now confess be cleansed and purified!
Please grant us the purity of the non-dual truth!
SAMAYA!
CONFESSION IN THE PRESENCE OF THE PEACEFUL DEITIES, THE EMBODIMENT OF [THE
QUIESCENT NATURE OF] REALITY
The initial confession is that to Samantabhadra and Samantabhadrῑ, the father and mother consorts
HŪṂ We pray to you, father and mother, listen and attend to us!
Mind and phenomena are atemporally manifest buddhas,
But even though this [reality] is the expression of your enlightened intention,
O Samantabhadra and Samantabhadrῑ, father and mother, in union,
Due to our ignorance, we have not understood this to be so.
For whatever ways we have contradicted the buddha-mind
Of you, Samantabhadra and Samantabhadrῑ, father and mother,
We seek your forgiveness, O greatly compassionate ones!
Second is the confession to the five male buddhas of the enlightened families of the conquerors
We pray to you, the five [male buddhas] of the enlightened families of the conquerors, listen and attend to us!
The five psycho-physical aggregates are atemporally manifest buddhas,
But even though this [reality] is the expression of your enlightened intention,
O five [male buddhas] of the enlightened families of the conquerors,
Due to our ignorance, we have not understood this to be so.
For whatever ways we have contradicted the buddha-mind
Of the five [male buddhas of the] enlightened families of the conquerors,
We seek your forgiveness, O greatly compassionate ones!
Third is the confession to the five female buddhas of the enlightened families
We pray to you, the five female buddhas of the enlightened families, listen and attend to us!
The five elements are atemporally manifest buddhas,
But even though this [reality] is the expression of your enlightened intention,
O, five female buddhas of the enlightened families,
Due to our ignorance, we have not understood this to be so.
For whatever ways we have contradicted the buddha-mind
Of the five female buddhas of the enlightened families,
We seek your forgiveness, O greatly compassionate ones!
Fourth is the confession to the eight male bodhisattvas of the retinue
We pray to you, the eight male bodhisattvas, listen and attend to us!
The eight classes of consciousness are atemporally manifest buddhas,
But even though this [reality] is the expression of your enlightened intention,
O, eight male bodhisattvas, due to our ignorance, we have not understood this to be so.
For whatever ways we have contradicted the buddha-mind of the eight male bodhisattvas,
We seek your forgiveness, O greatly compassionate ones!
Fifth is the confession to the eight female bodhisattvas
We pray to you, the eight female bodhisattvas, listen and attend to us!
The eight objects of consciousness are atemporally manifest buddhas,
But even though this [reality] is the expression of your enlightened intention,
O, eight female bodhisattvas, due to our ignorance, we have not understood this to be so.
For whatever ways we have contradicted the buddha-mind of the eight female bodhisattvas,
We seek your forgiveness, O greatly compassionate ones!
Sixth is the confession to the six sages
We pray to you, the six sages, listen and attend to us!
The six dissonant mental states are atemporally manifest buddhas,
But even though this [reality] is the expression of your enlightened intention,
O, six sages, due to our ignorance, we have not understood this to be so.
For whatever ways we have contradicted the buddha-mind of the six sages,
We seek your forgiveness, O greatly compassionate ones!
Seventh is the confession to the four male gatekeepers
We pray to you, the four male gatekeepers, listen and attend to us!
The four immeasurable [aspirations] are atemporally manifest buddhas,
But even though this [reality] is the expression of your enlightened intention,
O, four male gatekeepers, due to our ignorance, we have not understood this to be so.
For whatever ways we have contradicted the buddha-mind of the four male gatekeepers,
We seek your forgiveness, O greatly compassionate ones!
Eighth is the con fession to the four female gatekeepers
We pray to you, the four female gatekeepers, listen and attend to us!
The four extremes of eternalism and nihilism are atemporally manifest buddhas,
But even though this [reality] is the expression of your enlightened intention,
O, four female gatekeepers, due to our ignorance, we have not understood this to be so.
For whatever ways we have contradicted the buddha-mind of the four female gatekeepers,
We seek your forgiveness, O greatly compassionate ones!
Then the con fession should be made to the [entire array o f the] peace ful deities in the following way:
OṂ Since our minds are not endowed with pristine cognition, which is intrinsic awareness,
We have not correctly integrated the psycho-physical aggregates, the sensory spectra, and their activity fields,
Within the maṇḍala of the peaceful deities.
We seek the forgiveness of each of you, the forty-two peaceful deities!
Since our minds are not endowed with pristine cognition, which is intrinsic awareness,
We have not correctly integrated the five psycho-physical aggregates with the five [male buddhas] of the enlightened families,
And further still, our own minds, swayed by ignorance, have continued to be afflicted by egotism.
We seek the forgiveness of you, the assembly of Samantabhadra!
Since our minds are not endowed with pristine cognition, which is intrinsic awareness,
We have not correctly integrated the five elements with the five female buddhas,
And further still, our own minds, swayed by ignorance, have continued to be afflicted by egotism.
We seek the forgiveness of you, the assembly of Samantabhadrῑ!
Since our minds are not endowed with pristine cognition, which is intrinsic awareness,
We have not correctly integrated the four classes of consciousness and four sense organs with the [eight] male bodhisattvas,
And further still, our own minds, swayed by ignorance, have continued to be afflicted by egotism.
We seek the forgiveness of you, the assembly of male bodhisattvas!
Since our minds are not endowed with pristine cognition, which is intrinsic awareness,
We have not correctly integrated the four objects of consciousness and four times with the [eight] female bodhisattvas,
And further still, our own minds, swayed by ignorance, have continued to be afflicted by egotism.
We seek the forgiveness of you, the assembly of female bodhisattvas!
Since our minds are not endowed with pristine cognition, which is intrinsic awareness,
We have not correctly integrated the six dissonant mental states with the [six] sages,
And further still, our own minds, swayed by ignorance, have continued to be afflicted by egotism.
We seek the forgiveness of you, the emanational buddha-bodies, the six sages!
Since our minds are not endowed with pristine cognition, which is intrinsic awareness,
We have not correctly integrated the four immeasurable [aspirations] with the [four] male gatekeepers,
And further still, our own minds, swayed by ignorance, have continued to be afflicted by egotism.
We seek the forgiveness of you, the wrathful male gatekeepers!
Since our minds are not endowed with pristine cognition, which is intrinsic awareness,
We have not correctly integrated the eternalist and nihilist [perspectives on] awareness with the [four] female gatekeepers,
And further still, our own
minds, swayed by ignorance, have continued to be afflicted by egotism.
We seek the forgiveness of you, the wrathful female gatekeepers!
Since our minds are not endowed with pristine cognition, which is intrinsic awareness,
We have not correctly integrated mind and phenomena with Samantabhadra and Samantabhadrῑ, the father and mother,
And further still, our own minds, swayed by ignorance, have continued to be afflicted by egotism.
We seek the forgiveness of you, Samantabhadra and Samantabhadrῑ!
Since our minds are not endowed with pristine cognition, which is intrinsic awareness,
We have been afflicted by bewildering ignorance,
And have been alienated from the meditational deities
By the force of dissonant mental states and past [negative] actions.
Swayed by self-deception, we have disappointed our teachers,
Stirred by strong pride, we have agitated our spiritual brothers and sisters,
Distracted by vanity,6 we have divulged the secret mantras,
Gripped by miserliness, we have been untimely in the dedication of offerings,
Entrapped by base friendships, we have violated the secret [precepts] of the rituals,
Weakened by feeble yogic discipline, we have failed to eradicate obstructing forces.
Thus, [our commitments] have degenerated due to either excessive or deficient determination and strength.
Throughout our lives, from beginningless time until the present [life],
In which we have assumed this body,