The shoots of my consciousness and sense faculties have been blunted.
If my body, this illusory aggregate, can no longer withstand [all this pain],
How can you bear [to witness] this, O Compassionate Lord of Loving Kindness?21
Obscured fool [that I am, burdened by] the most negative, evil past acts,
Propelled by the momentum of these past actions,
I have taken birth as the personification of rampant egohood within this world-system of desire.
I regret having taken such birth, and am dismayed by my past acts!
Yet, regardless of my regret and my dismay, past actions cannot be re-made.
The momentum of past actions is as strong as a river’s inexorable flow,
So how can the mighty river of past actions be reversed in a mere moment!
All that ripens is born from one’s own past actions,
And I am one who has been swept along by the violent whirlwind of my past actions,
And accordingly have roamed over countless past aeons,
Lost within the dark prisons of cyclic existence.
O Lord of Loving Kindness, through the blessing of your compassion,
Purify the obscurations [generated by] my past actions and dissonant mental states,
And secure me in the presence of your mother-like loving kindness!
Here am I, continuously yearning for the sight of your compassionate face,
Which shines with a luminosity like that of the sun,
And radiates with a clarity like that of the moon.
Yet my darkened eyes, blinded by the cataracts22 of beginningless ignorance,
Are unable to see you,
O Lord of Living Beings, where are you [now]?
When I am terrified by the utterly unbearable and virulent power of past actions,
And my hair stands on end, out of fear,
I call out this lament, in heartfelt passion,
And cry out [to you] in a voice of utter despair!
O Lord of Loving Kindness, if you do not attend [to me] with compassion now,
At the time of my death, when my mind and body separate,
When I am cut off from the company of spiritual friends, and dragged away by Yama,
At that time, when my relatives stay behind in the world,
Yet I alone am led away by the power of past actions,
At that time, I will be unprotected and without a refuge.
So, do not on any account hesitate or delay now,
But draw near to me at this very moment,
And enact the wrathful rites of ‘liberation’.
Beings such as I, who are afflicted by past actions,
Have been subject to misconceptions since beginningless time.
As a result, we have not achieved release from the [turning] states of cyclic existence.
Indeed, beings such as I have assumed such a countless number of corporeal forms,
During countless births in countless aeons,
That if our flesh and bones were to be collected together,
Their accumulated mass would fill this world,
And if our pus and blood were to be collected together,
Their accumulated mass would fill a vast ocean,
And if the residue of our past actions were to be collected together,
Their extent would be beyond conception and inexpressible.
Though I have continued endlessly in a cycle of births and deaths,
Throughout the three world-systems,
The actions that I have committed have been pointless and unproductive.
Yet, from amongst all these many countless births,
The actions committed in the course of just a single lifetime
Could have been worthwhile if only I had trained well,
Pursued the path of unsurpassed enlightenment,
And thus attained the genuine final nirvāṇa.
But, swayed by the virulence of past actions and the great potency of dissonant mental states,
I have assumed bodies, these networks of flesh and blood, and roamed throughout cyclic existence,
Thrust into [a succession of] prison-like existences,
Where the suffering is hard to bear.
All my transgressions, resonant with such unbearably intense suffering,
Have been born out of my own past actions.
Please, through your great compassion, shatter the momentum of [these] past actions,
And reverse the vital energy of past actions, [generated by] dissonant mental states!
When, overpowered by the influence of perverse past actions [rooted in] fundamental ignorance,
I wander perpetually within the darkness of unknowing,
Why do you not release me, [suffusing me] with the lamplight of your pristine cognition?
When I can no longer bear the continuing fruition of my transgressions and past actions,
Why do you not embrace me with the enlightened activity of your great compassion?
When I fall into the abyss of error,
Why do you not catch me in the palm of your swift compassion?
When I am afflicted by the irresistible diseases of the three poisons,
Why do you not cure me with the medicine of your compassionate skilful means?
When the fires of my suffering — the continuing maturation of my own past actions — blaze,
Why do you not release a compassionate shower of cooling rains?
When I sink into the swamp of suffering in cyclic existence,
Why do you not draw me up with the hook of compassionate skilful means?
Were I to attain the resultant [states of enlightenment],
By training, again and again, in the three world-systems of cyclic existence,
What need would there be for your sublime compassion then?
Given that this [release] would be the potent inheritance of my [positive] past actions,
Would there be anyone to whom I would need to express my gratitude?
[But], O spiritual warrior, you who are endowed with the power of compassion,
Since the momentum of my [negative] past actions is so potent,
Do not be ineffective! Do not be indifferent! Do not be inactive!
From your heart, O compassionate conquering deity, gaze upon me now!
Draw me up from the swamp of cyclic existence!
Lead me swiftly to the supreme level of the three buddha-bodies.
CONFESSION IN THE PRESENCE OF THE VIEW
OṂ How mistaken is the view which dualises subject and object,
When the expanse of reality is free from conceptual elaboration!
How deluded we have been by our grasping at characteristics!
We confess this transgression within the expanse of supreme bliss,
Which is free from conceptual elaboration!
How debilitating is the view which dualises good and evil,
When Samantabhadra, [The Ever Perfect], is beyond good and evil!
How pitiful we are, clinging to purity and impurity!
We confess this transgression within the expanse,
Which is free from the duality of good and evil!
How mistaken is the view which sees buddhas [as great] and sentient beings [as small],
When, in the state of sameness, there is neither great nor small!
How deluded we have been in clinging to the dichotomy of great and small!
We confess this transgression within the expanse of supreme bliss, which is sameness!
How debilitating is the view which dualises this life and the next,
When the mind of enlightenment is free from birth or death!
How deluded we have been in clinging to the dichotomy of birth and death!
We confess this transgression within the deathless, immutable expanse!
How mistaken is the view which dualises form and material substance,
When the supreme seminal point is free f
rom spatial dimensions!
How deluded we have been in clinging to the dichotomy of corners and angles!
We confess this transgression within the supreme seminal point, which is all-embracing in its symmetry!23
How mistaken is the view which dualises beginning and end,
When the essential nature of the three times is unchanging!
How deluded we have been in clinging to the dichotomy of transitional processes!
We confess this transgression within the expanse of the three times, which is unchanging!
How debilitating is the view which dualises cause and effect,
When the naturally present pristine cognition arises effortlessly!
How deluded we have been in clinging to the dichotomy of effort and attainment!
We confess this transgression within the naturally present expanse, which arises without effort!
How pitiful is the view which dualises eternalism and nihilism,
When the pristine cognition of [intrinsic] awareness is free from eternalism and nihilism!
How deluded we have been in clinging to the dichotomy of existence and non-existence!
We confess this transgression within the expanse of pristine cognition, which is beyond eternalism and nihilism!24
How debilitating is the view which oscillates between biased positions,
When the pure expanse of reality is free from middle and extremes!
How deluded we have been in clinging to the dichotomy of middle and extremes!
We confess this transgression within the pure expanse of reality, which is free from a middle or extremes!
How debilitating is the view which dualises outside and inside,
When the celestial palace is free from inner and outer dimensions!
How deluded we have been in clinging to the dichotomy of spaciousness and confinement!
We confess this transgression within the expanse [of the celestial palace],
Which is free from the duality of spaciousness and confinement, or of inner and outer dimensions!
How pitiful is the view which dualises ‘higher and lower’ [approaches],
When the sexual centre of the female consort is free from [the distinction between] higher and lower [energy centres]!
How deluded we have been in clinging to the dichotomy between higher and lower [energy centres]!25
We confess this transgression within the expanse of the [consort’s] secret place,26
Which is free from [the distinction between] higher and lower!
How debilitating is the view which dualises objects and mind,
When the Buddha-body of Reality is free from individuated distinctions!
How deluded we have been in clinging to the dichotomy between the environment and its inhabitants!
We confess this transgression within [the expanse of] the Buddha-body of Reality, which is unchanging!
How debilitating is the view which discriminates between individual thoughts,
When the dynamic of the male consort acts unconstrictedly!
How deluded we have been in clinging mistakenly to nominalism!
We confess this transgression within the expanse of the awareness holders, who are free from conceptual thoughts!
Since pristine cognition, which is intrinsic awareness, has not arisen within us,
How pitiful is this mind obscured by ignorance,
Which grasps immaterial phenomena as materially substantive!
We confess this transgression within the expanse of natural pristine cognition!
Since we have failed to understand the nature of uncreated truth,
How tormented is this intellect of a bewildered being,
Which apprehends the uncreated truth in terms of ‘I’ and ‘mine’!
We confess this transgression within the expanse of supreme bliss, which is uncreated!
Since we have failed to mentally elucidate the nature of reality,
We have not understood that phenomenal appearances are illusory,
And thereby our minds have become attached to material wealth!
We confess this transgression within the uncreated reality, which is free from attachment!
Since we have failed to realise that cyclic existence is free from inherent existence,
We have grasped at the self-existence of things and their characteristics,
And thereby sought happiness through non-virtuous behaviour.
How deluded we have been in clinging to the dichotomy between hope and doubt!
We confess this transgression within the expanse of enlightenment, which is untainted!
Since we have failed to understand the truth of sameness with true equanimity,
We have mistakenly clung to the permanence of relatives and friends.
How totally mistaken is this mind of ignorant people [such as ourselves]!
We confess this transgression within the expanse of supreme bliss, which is sameness!
Since we have failed to encounter the true meaning of reality,
We have forsaken truth and persevered in non-virtuous acts.
We have forsaken the transmitted precepts of the Teacher and have been deceived by the vagaries of [mundane] human doctrines!
We confess this transgression within the expanse of supreme bliss, which is reality!
Since we have failed to experience the natural liberation of pristine cognition, which is [intrinsic] awareness,
We have forsaken the modality of intrinsic awareness, and persevered in distracted acts.
Take pity on these sentient beings who are devoid of such truthful experience!
We confess this transgression within the expanse, which is free from distraction!
To the assembled deities of pristine cognition, to the protectors who uphold the commitments,
And to those yogins who have fulfilled their commitments in accordance with the textual elucidation,
We remorsefully confess all our own faults,
[We remorsefully confess] all our deviations and obscurations generated by our unrealised view!
CONFESSION IN THE PRESENCE OF ALL THOSE GONE TO BLISS
OṂ We pray to all Those Gone to Bliss, throughout the three times,
To you, the conquerors, and your retinues,
And to all who maintain the commitments of indestructible reality,
Please, each of you, attend to us!
Having initially generated the mind [aspiring] to supreme enlightenment,
In order to actualise the indestructible reality of buddha-body, speech and mind,
On the enlightened plain of an accomplished awareness holder,
We have adopted numerous secret commitments,
Relating to both the meditational deities and our vajra-masters,
And we have pledged not to transgress these injunctions, to which we are bound,
[For to do so] would lead to a birth in the hells,
Driven by our past actions and misfortunes.
[Nonetheless], swayed by attachment, aversion, delusion, pride, envy and so forth,
We have continued to err:
Should we have belittled the vajra-master in our hearts, the ‘lamp of the teaching’,
And thus allowed our commitments to degenerate,
And should we have harboured ill will and mistaken attitudes
Towards the vajra-companions who share our commitments,
For [whatever] such [harm we have thus created],
We confess all our degenerations of the commitments of buddha-body!
Should we have not clearly visualised the seals of the meditational deity,27
Should we have been deficient in our mantra recitations during our ritual service,
Should we have failed to carry out the rites through which both ritual service and attainment are fulfilled,
Especially with respect to the ritual offerings of six session [yoga],
And should we have been incapable of practising in accordance with the t
eachings and the texts,
We confess all such degenerations of the commitments of buddha-speech!
Should we have degraded the commitments, which the vajra-master imparted as an esoteric instruction of buddha-mind,
Commitments he orally seeded in our hearts, through the grace of his loving kindness,
And should we have even transgressed our secret name,28 by divulging it carelessly,
We confess all such degenerations of the commitments of buddha-mind!
We [also] confess our degenerations of the ancillary commitments,
Caused by our failure to realise the essential sameness of phenomena.
We confess our degenerations of the commitments relating to ritual service and attainment,
Caused by our falling into the sleep of idleness and apathy.
We confess [each and every one of our] degenerations of the commitments of buddha-body, speech and mind,
Caused by our transgressions, enacted physically, verbally and mentally!
In the presence of our revered spiritual teachers,
We confess our inadequate utensils and resources.
In the presence of the assembled meditational deities,
We confess our prejudices towards their practices of visualisation.29
In the presence of the four classes of ḍākinῑs,
We confess our degenerations of our commitments and pledges.
In the presence of the protectors of the [sacred] teachings,
We confess our [tardy] torma-offerings, whether years or months overdue.
In the presence of our parents of the three times,
We confess our failure to repay their kindness.
The Tibetan Book of the Dead Page 17