Transference of consciousness, the instructions for the dying: Buddhahood without meditation
From Words of My Perfect Teacher:
Chapter One
Supreme is your compassionate action for confused beings.
Supreme is the way you embrace great evil-doers as your disciples.
Supreme are your skilful methods with the hard to tame.
Peerless Teacher, at your feet I bow.
I. THE FIVE KINDS OF TRANSFERENCE
There are five different kinds of transference of consciousness:
1. Superior transference to the dharmakaya through the seal of the View.
2. Middling transference to the sambhogakaya through the union of the generation and perfection phases.
3. Lower transference to the nirmanakaya through immeasurable compassion.
4. Ordinary transference using three metaphors.
5. Transference performed for the dead with the hook of compassion.
1. Superior transference to the dharmakaya through the seal of the view
People who have developed and established familiarity with the unmistaken view of the unfabricated natural state during their lives can, at the moment of death, put into practice the essential point of space and awareness on the secret path of the primordial purity of trekcho, and transfer their consciousness into the expanse of the dharmakaya.*
(*The superior transference is practised by the sublime Bodhisattvas who contemplate the truth of absolute reality on the Path of Seeing, and who have, in this very life, given rise to the view of the unchanging nature as it is and preserved it day and night without interruption. They practise transference either by following the pith instructions of transferring from the body and transferring into another body in the practice of trekcho, or by following those of ‘entering the inside of clear light’ in the practice of thogal, “Then there are those beings of very pure samaya who have mastered awareness but who only have control of their perceptions in the daytime, and not at night. When they die and the process of dissolution, as well as the phenomena of ‘clarity, increase, and attainment,’ have taken place, the clear light of the absolute body at the moment of death appears. That is the ‘mother’ clear light, the moment of the ground. They are led by the ‘child’ clear light, which is experienced in this life. When the two clear lights meet they are liberated in the primordial purity, the original ground. “There are those who have begun to experience the ‘development of experiences and appearances’ in thogal. At the moment of death, when the clear light of the moment of death appears, they do not recognize it, since they do not have the realization to do so, and are unable to be liberated. But when the intermediate state of Absolute Reality arises they recognize it and remain in oneness with it and are thus liberated in the spontaneous manifestation. “Both the superior liberation in this life and middling liberation in the intermediate state, are considered as superior transference through the seal of the dharmakāya.)
2. Middling transference to the sambhogakaya through the union of the generation and perfection phases
People well accustomed to practising the generation and perfection phases together as one indivisible yoga, and fully trained in seeing the form of the deity as being just like a magical display can, when the hallucinations of the intermediate state arise at the time of death, transfer their consciousness into the union wisdom kaya.*
(*The middling transference is practised by those who have begun to have the wisdom of the perfection phase. Having reached one of the four clear stages of the path of joining, they have given rise to the wisdom of that path and are capable of entering and leaving an illusory body. Alternatively they have been introduced to the pure manifestation, the inseparable union of the generation and perfection aspect of the deities and have accustomed themselves to it. At the moment of death, as in the moment of dissolution in the generation phase, they dissolve the illusory body into clear light. If in this life they have given rise to the illustrative clear light, they will recognize the absolute clear light in the intermediate state, and, as a result, they will manifest as the body of the yidam, the great seal of union which is not yet beyond learning the “union wisdom kaya,” is the union of rupakaya and dharmakāya, or, in other words, the indivisibility of appearance and emptiness, or of the generation and perfection phases. “Union”, means the realization that these two aspects of the nature of reality are not two separate things, like the two horns of a cow, but are completely inseparable.)
3. Lower transference to the nirmanakaya through immeasurable compassion
People who have received the ripening empowerments of the Secret Mantra Vehicle, who have faultless samaya, who have an inclination for the generation and perfection phases and who have received instructions on the intermediate state can, as it is said:
Interrupt the entry to the womb, remembering to turn back:*
This is a moment demanding determination and purity of vision.
(*This means to turn back before the consciousness enters a womb.)
Those practising this transference must block any undesirable entry into an impure womb. Driven by great compassion and applying the practice of assuming rebirth as a nirmanakaya emanation, they then transfer their consciousness to a place of rebirth in one of the pure lands.*
(*This transference is practised by beginners on the path of accumulating who have received empowerment, respected the samayas and have a good understanding of the view, and who use the generation phase as the path but have not mastered it. Although they cannot be liberated in the clear light of the moment of death or in the intermediate state of absolute reality, they can close the way to an unfavourable womb, and choose a favourable rebirth. They are either propelled by their compassion and bodhicitta to a pure Buddhafield, or reborn as an incarnation to parents practising the Dharma. They will be liberated in the next life.)
4. Ordinary transference using three metaphors
People practise this mode of transference by imagining the central channel as the route, the bindu of mind- consciousness as the traveller, and a pure land of great bliss as the destination.*
(*Ordinary transference is practised by beginners who only have devotion to the Dharma and have had no sign of success on the path to presage their liberation.)
5. Transference performed for the dead with the hook of compassion
This kind of transference is done either for a being on the point of dying, or for one already in the intermediate state. It can be performed by a yogi with highly developed realization, mastery over mind and perceptions, and the ability to recognize the consciousness of a being in the intermediate state. Generally speaking, to perform transference for the dead one should have definitely attained the Path of Seeing. As Jetsun Mila says:
Until you have perceived the truth of the path of seeing,
Do not practice transference for the dead.
Nonetheless, anyone who really knows the right moment to perform it – which is when the outer breath has stopped but the inner breath is still continuing* – can perform it at that very moment if they have a little experience of the instructions on transference. It is extremely helpful for the dying person and, like a traveller being put on the right path by a friend, has the power to prevent rebirth in the lower realms.
(*The moment when the breath has ceased but the heart has not yet stopped beating.)
Transference is more difficult once mind and body have become completely separated. It then requires a yogi with mastery over his own mind who can find the dead person in the intermediate state. It is easy to influence someone who no longer has a material body; and, performed by such a yogi, transference from the intermediate state itself has the power to send the being’s consciousness to a pure land. It is quite meaningless, however, to claim that transference can be performed by summoning the consciousness back into the body after death.*
(*This is the case if one does not have the necessary power of wisdom. Another explanation is that this is not the appropriate way to help the dead.)
Many people nowadays, who are lamas or tulkus* in name only, practise rituals of transference. If they perform them with the love and compassion of bodhicitta and have no selfish considerations at all, there is every chance that without obscuring their own minds they can really help those who have died. This is made possible only by the motivation of bodhicitta. But anyone who just does it for personal profit, knowing only how to recite the words, and then takes a horse or some other valuable as payment, is really despicable.
(*Lit. nirmaṇakaya. An incarnate lama. Such lamas are usually considered to be manifestations of a great Bodhisattva. There are, however, many social influences on the selection of a tulku, and there are cases where the genuineness of the selection is questionable.)
To be the guide and teacher of others,
Not having yourself reached liberation’s shore,
Is as contradictory as giving your hand to someone drowning
While you yourself are being swept away by the flood.
Once, when the great master Tendzin Chapel was in Tsari, he had a vision of a person for whom he had once performed transference and accepted a horse in payment. All he could see was the person’s head protruding from a lake of crimson blood. The apparition was calling Tendzin Chapel by name and asking him what to do.
Tendzin Chapel felt afraid. He replied, “I offer you my pilgrimage to Tsari,”* and the vision disappeared.
(*That is, the merit of his pilgrimage.)
Even for a great teacher with a high degree of realization, to accept offerings made on behalf of a dead person without doing a ritual or the like for his benefit causes impediments on the path.
When the incarnate abbot of Dzogchen, Gyurme Thekchok Tendzin, passed away, Trime Shingkyong Gonpo was invited for the funeral ceremonies. For a whole day, he performed only rituals of purification and bringing back the consciousness, repeating the transference over and over again, just as he would after the death of an ordinary person. The monks asked him why.
“Long ago,” he explained, “Dzogchen Rinpoche omitted to perform the rites and dedication prayers for someone on behalf of whom a black horse had been offered to him. That person had been a great evil-doer and because of this the levels and paths became slightly obscured for Rinpoche. Now he and I have combined forces and have solved the problem.” It is said that the evil-doer in the story was called Golok Tendzin.
It is quite wrong for those in the position of great lamas or tulkus to accept offerings in the name of the deceased just thinking “I am the great so-and-so,” and failing to apply bodhicitta or do the prayers, rituals and dedications properly and effectively. Important tulkus recognized as authentic incarnations of great teachers of the past still have to learn how to read again, and start with the alphabet just like ordinary people. Since they have forgotten the art of reading from their previous lives, there can be little doubt that they must have forgotten everything they ever knew about the yogas of the generation and perfection phases too. I wonder whether they would not do better to spend a little time training in bodhicitta and learning about practice and retreats, rather than going around looking for offerings as soon as they can ride a horse.
II. ORDINARY TRANSFERENCE USING THREE METAPHORS
I will now describe the kind of transference called “ordinary transference using three metaphors” or “the transference of consciousness into the teacher.” It also corresponds to what the Tantra of Immaculate Confession calls “transfer of the ball of light using sound at the moment of death.” This kind of transference practice is unnecessary for those who already have a high degree of realization. For them, as the tantras say:
What is called “death” is only a concept,
Something that leads to the heavenly fields.*
(*This should not to be taken too materialistically. “In fact there is nothing and no-one who leads or is led. It is simply the meeting of the ‘mother’ and ‘child’ luminosities.” The ‘mother’ clear light is that which is our basic nature and dwells in all beings, to which the teacher has introduced us. The ‘child’ clear light is the continuity of recognition of that nature which we have cultivated in our practice.)
And, again
Death, or what we know as death,
Is a small enlightenment for a yogi.
Those who have captured the stronghold of the absolute during their lifetime and have achieved mastery over birth and death still appear to die. But for them death is no different from moving from one place to another. Those with experience in the essential practices of the generation and perfection phases can, as we mentioned before, use one of the three practices for death, the intermediate state or rebirth to transfer their consciousness into one of the three kayas.
On the other hand, as it is said:
Those without sufficient training can be received through transference.
This technique is essential for practitioners who have not attained stability on the path, or who have committed numerous harmful actions. For anyone holding these special instructions, however serious his or her wrong actions, the gates of the lower realms are closed. Even those who have committed a crime with immediate retribution, and so would otherwise fall straight downwards, will definitely not be reborn in the lower realms if they use this teaching. The tantras say:
You might have killed a brahmin every day
Or committed the five acts with immediate retribution,
But you will still be liberated by this path.
None of those crimes will defile you.
And:
Whoever practises the transference,
Concentrating on the opening above the other nine*
Will not be defiled by his negative acts,
And will be reborn in a pure Buddhafield.
(*The aperture of Brahma.)
And again:
At the feet of your father, the qualified teacher
Enthroned on a sun and moon on the crown of your head,
Follow the white silk pathway of your central channel,
And you will be liberated, even if you’ve committed the five crimes with immediate retribution.
These instructions on the profound path of transference are therefore a way to Buddhahood without meditating, a secret path that forcefully liberates even great sinners. The Buddha Vajradhara said:
You might have killed a brahmin every day
Or committed the five acts with immediate retribution,
But once you encounter these instructions
You will, beyond any doubt, be liberated.
And the Great Guru of Oddiyana himself said:
Everyone knows about Buddhahood through meditation
But I know a path without meditation.
The great pandita Naropa said:
The nine openings open on samsara
But one opening opens up to Mahamudra.
Close the nine openings and open up the one;
Do not doubt that it leads to liberation.
And Marpa, the translator from Lhodrak:
Up to now I have practised transference,
Training, training, and training again.
I might die an ordinary death, but I need not worry;
Familiarity has given me perfect confidence.
Jetsun Shepa Dorje said:
These instructions which blend, transfer and link,*
Are the essential guide to overcoming the intermediate state.
Is there anyone with such a path?
How happy the person whose life-energy enters the central channel How wonderful! He arrives in absolute space!
(*Linking us with the pure lands through transference of consciousness by blending with the teacher.)
The instructions are in two parts: first the training, and then the actual practice.
1. Training for transference
Using the explanations on transference that you have received, train yourself over and over again with diligence until the signs of success appear.
At the moment, while all your body’s channels, energies and essences are intact and vigorous, you will find that actually to perform the transference is quite difficult. But once you arrive at your final hour, or in extreme old age, it becomes much easier’. It is like fruit on a tree, hard to pluck in summer while it is still growing. But once it is ripe and ready to fall in autumn, the hem of your clothes only has to brush against it for it to fall from the branch.
2. Actual transference
The time to put transference into actual practice is after the signs of approaching death have already appeared, when you are sure that there is no turning back and that the process of dissolution has already begun. Do not do it at any other time. As it says in the tantras:
Perform transference when the right time comes.
Otherwise you will kill the deities.*
(*According to the Vajrayana, the body is considered a sacred mandala of deities. In this sense, to shorten one’s life by performing transference prematurely would be to destroy that mandala.)
There are many stages in the process of dissolution, but to make it easy to understand, it can be divided into the dissolution of the five sense faculties, the dissolution of the four elements, and the phases of clarity, increase and attainment.
Dissolution of the five sense faculties has started when, for instance, the recitation of the monks gathered around your death-bed only sounds like a confused murmur. You can no longer distinguish the syllables. Or when you hear the sound of people’s voices as though coming from very far away, and can no longer make out the words. That is your auditory consciousness coming to an end. Your visual consciousness is coming to an end when, instead of seeing forms as they are, you can only see a blur. As the experiences of smell, taste, and touch likewise come to an end and reach their final dissolution, that is the moment that the introducing instructions should be given. If there is someone present who is able to perform the transference of consciousness, that is definitely the right moment to do it.
Then, as the inner element of flesh dissolves into the outer element of earth,* you experience a sensation like falling down a hole. You feel heavy, as though being crushed under the weight of a mountain. Sometimes, the dying person asks to be pulled up or for his pillow to be raised. As the blood dissolves into the outer water element, you salivate and your nose runs. As the body’s heat element dissolves into the outer fire element, your mouth and nostrils feel dry and, starting with the extremities, your body starts to lose its heat. In some cases vapour emerges from the top of the head at this stage. As the inner breath, or energy, element dissolves into the outer air element, your different energies-the ascending energy, the energy of evacuation, the fiery energy and the all-pervading energy all dissolve into the life-supporting energy. Breathing in becomes difficult. Breathing out is a panting, pouring out of the lungs through the throat. Then all the blood in your body gathers together in the life-channel and three drops trickle into the centre of your heart, one after the other. With three long sighs, your outer breath suddenly stops.
(*The constituents of the body can be grouped into four (sometimes five) inner elements: 1) flesh, 2) blood, 3) heat, and 4) breath or energy (rlung), (and in some medical treatises, though not here, 5) cavities). These correspond to the four (or five) outer elements: 1) earth, 2) water, 3) fire and 4) air or wind (also rlung), (and often 5. space). Both inner and outer elements are best understood as properties or states – solidity, fluidity, temperature, movement and capacity-of both the external world and the body’s constituents. The experiences described occur as those properties in their specific role as components of the living body are lost, and merge or “dissolve” back into their wider, generalized context.)
At that moment the white element or “semen” that you received from your father moves swiftly downward from the top of your head. As the outward sign, you perceive a whiteness something like a cloudless sky lit up by moonlight. As the inward sign, you experience clarity in your consciousness and the thirty-three kinds of hostile thought cease. This state is called “clarity.”
The red element or “blood” that you received from your mother moves swiftly upward from the region of your navel. As the outward sign, you perceive a redness like that of a clear sky lit up by the sun’s glow. As the inward sign, you experience predominantly bliss in your consciousness and the forty kinds of lustful thought cease. This state is called “increase.”
As the red and white elements meet in your heart, your consciousness enters between them. The outward sign is a perception of blackness like that of a clear sky in complete darkness. The inward sign is that your consciousness experiences a state without any thoughts and you faint away into utter darkness. This is called “attainment.”
You then emerge for a short while from that swoon into an experience like that of a sky unaffected by any of those three previous conditions. This is the “clear light of the time of the ground’* appearing. To recognize it as your own nature and rest in it is what is called “superior transference to the dharmakaya.” It is Buddhahood without passing through any intermediate state.
(*”At the moment of clarity, the consciousnesses of the five doors (of the senses) dissolve in the mental consciousness. At the moment of increase, the mental consciousness dissolves in the mind of the emotions. At the moment of attainment, the mind of the emotions dissolves into the ground of all. When one recovers consciousness (the moment known as close attainment) the ground of all dissolves into clear light.” At this moment there is a direct experience of the ground clear light. For one who has been introduced to the nature of that ground as the dharmakaya and has stabilized that recognition, this moment is an opportunity for immediate enlightenment, the meeting of the mother and child clear lights. For most people it passes unnoticed in a flash.)
After that point the intermediate state of absolute reality and the intermediate state of becoming progressively unfold, but those stages will not be described here because they are related to the instructions on the main practice.
For those without adequate experience of the path,* the best moment to apply the transference is at the beginning of the dissolution process. At that time, completely cut through all attachment to this life and give yourself courage by thinking, “Now that I am dying, I will rely on the instructions of my teacher and fly to the pure lands like an arrow shot by a giant. What a joy this is!”
(*They do not have the unshakeable stability in the practice and unshakeable confidence in the authentic view necessary to practise the types of transfer described above.)
It will be difficult to remember clearly all the visualizations and other important points of transference, so if you have a companion able to remind you, ask him or her to do so. But in any case, at that moment, drawing on your previous training and applying the instructions of this profound path, the time has come when you really have to put the transference into effect.
Here, then, are the steps of the main practice of transference, which are the same whether you are training yourself in it or using it at the actual moment of death.
3. The steps of the meditation on transference
Sit comfortably on a cushion, with your legs crossed in the vajra-posture, keeping your back completely straight.
3.1 THE PRELIMINARIES
First, go completely through all the preliminaries, clearly and in detail, starting with the Calling the Teacher from Afar and continuing up to the moment of dissolution in the Guru Yoga.
3.2 THE MAIN VISUALIZATION
Visualize that your ordinary body,* in an instant, becomes that of Vajra Yogini. She is red, with one face and two arms, standing with her two legs together, her right foot raised in the “walking posture.” Her three eyes are looking up toward the sky. For the purposes of these instructions on transference, visualize her with an attractive expression, at once peaceful and slightly wrathful. With her right hand high in the air, she rattles the small skull-drum that awakens beings from the sleep of ignorance and confusion. With her left she holds at her hip the curved knife that severs the three poisons at the root. She is naked except for a garland of flowers and ornaments of bone. Like a tent of red silk, she appears but has no substance or reality. All this is the outer empty enclosure of the body.
(*Here, for “ordinary body”, the text uses the term “basic” or “fundamental” body. In practical terms the meaning is the same-one’s ordinary form – but the implication is that our ordinary body is illusory too. It is the “illusory body of the intermediate state,” the ground or basis of all the illusions we are experiencing in this present life – which, no less than the intermediate state of becoming is also an intermediate state.)
Running down the centre of your erect body, visualize the central channel, like a pillar in an empty house. It is called the “central” channel because it stands in the very axis of the body, without leaning to the left or the right. It has four characteristics. It is blue like a film of indigo, symbolizing the unchanging dharmakaya, Its fabric is as fine as a lotus petal, symbolizing the tenuousness of the obscuring veils arising from habitual tendencies. It is as bright as the flame of a sesame-oil lamp, symbolizing the dispelling of the darkness of ignorance. And it is as straight as a segment of bamboo, indicating that it never leads to lower or wrong paths. Its upper end opens straight out into the aperture of Brahma on the top of the head, like an open skylight, to symbolize that it is the pathway to liberation and higher rebirths, while its lower end is closed off four fingers below the navel without any opening, to symbolize that all access to samsara and lower rebirths is sealed. All this is the inner empty enclosure of the central channel.
Now visualize a swelling in the central channel at the level of the heart, like a knot in a bamboo stem. Above this knot, visualize the bindu of energy, light green in colour, active and vibrant. Just above it is the essence of your mind-consciousness, the red syllable hrih, with the long vowel sign and two dots for the visarga,* fluttering and vibrating like a flag in the wind. This represents your mind awareness.*
(*A Sanskrit sign pronounced as a hard “h.” In Tibetan usage it simply lengthens the syllable, and is written as two small circles one above the other, which symbolize wisdom and means.)
(**Here this term can simply be understood as one’s consciousness.)
In the air a cubit above your head visualize a jewelled throne, held up by eight great peacocks. Upon it is a multicoloured lotus and the discs of the sun and moon, one upon the other, making a three-layered cushion. Seated on the cushion is your glorious root teacher, incomparable treasure of compassion, in essence embodying all the Buddhas of the past, present and future, and in form the bhagavan Buddha and Protector, Amitabha. He is red, like a mountain of rubies embraced by a thousand suns. He has one face. His two hands rest in the gesture of meditation, holding a begging bowl filled with wisdom nectar of immortality. Clad in the three monastic robes, the attire of a supreme nirmaṇakaya* observing pure conduct, his body bears the thirty two major and eighty minor marks, such as the usnisa on the crown of his head and wheels marked on the soles of his feet, and is bathed in a brilliant radiance from which immeasurable rays of light shine forth.
(*This expression here means a Buddha.)
To Amitabha’s right is the noble Lord Avalokitesvara, embodiment of all the Buddhas’ compassion, white, with one face and four arms. The hands of his two upper arms are touching together, palm to palm, at his heart. His lower right hand moves the beads of a white crystal rosary and his lower left hand is holding the long stem of a white lotus whose flower, near his ear, has all its petals open.
To Amitabha’s left is Vajrapani, Lord of Secrets, embodiment of all the Buddhas’ power and strength. He is blue, and in his two hands, crossed over at his heart, he is holding a vajra and bell.
Both of these deities are wearing the thirteen sambhogakaya ornaments. Amitabha is seated, his legs crossed in the vajra posture. This symbolizes that he dwells in the extremes of neither samsara nor nirvana, The two Bodhisattvas are standing, which symbolizes that they never tire of working for the benefit of beings.
Around these three principal deities all the lineage teachers of the profound path of transference are gathered like a mass of clouds in a clear sky. They turn their faces with love towards you and all other beings. They gaze at you with smiling eyes, thinking of you with joy. Think of them as the great guides who liberate you and all other beings from the sufferings of samsara and the lower realms, leading you to the pure land of great bliss. Visualize according to the text, starting from:
My ordinary body becomes that of Vajra Yogini …
Down to:
… Gazing skyward with her three eyes.
Then from:
In the centre of her body runs the central channel …
As far as the words:
… Her body perfect with all the major and minor marks.
Then, with total faith and trust, your whole body tingling and tears streaming from your eyes, repeat as many times as possible the prayer:
Bhagavan, Tathagata, Arhat, utterly perfect Buddha, protector Amitabha, I prostrate before you. I make offerings to you. In you I take my refuge.
Then recite the next prayer three times in full, starting from:
Emaho! In this place, the spontaneously appearing absolute Akanistha …
As far as:
… May I capture the stronghold of the expanse of dharmakāya!
Next, recite three times the last part, starting from:
With devotion in my mind …
Finally, recite three times the last line alone:
May I capture the stronghold of the expanse of dharmakāya!
While you pray, concentrate solely upon the syllable hrih, the representation of your mind-awareness, with such devotion for your teacher and protector, Amitabha, that your eyes fill with tears.
Now comes the ritual for ejecting consciousness. As you recite “Hrih, Hrih,” five times from the back of your palate, the red syllable hrih, representing your mind-awareness, is lifted upward by the vibrant light green bindu of energy,* which rises higher and higher, vibrating all the while. As it emerges from the aperture of Brahma at the top of your head, call out “Hik!” and visualize the bindu shooting up, like an arrow shot by a giant, and dissolving into Buddha Amitabha’s heart.
(*What does one mean by energy (rlung represented by the green bindu) and mind is represented – by the syllable hrih)? The movement aspect is the energy and the knowing aspect is the mind, but in essence they are one and the same.)
Go through the process seven, twenty-one or more times, visualizing the hrih in your heart and repeating “Hik!” as before. In other traditions one says “Hik!” as the consciousness shoots up and “Ka” as it comes back down, but in this tradition we do not say “Ka” for the descent.
Then go through the ritual as before as many times as suits you, starting with:
Bhagavan … protector Amitabha …
Reciting the prayers and practising the technique of ejection and the rest.
Then once again, recite three or seven times from:
Bhagavan … protector Amitabha …
Down as far as:
…I make offerings to you. In you I take my refuge.
Follow this with the condensed transference prayer called Inserting the Grass-stalk, written by the treasure discoverer Nyi Da Sangye* and transmitted through the lineage of Dzogchen Monastery:
(*A fourteenth century discoverer of spiritual treasures.)
Buddha Amitabha, I prostrate before you;
Padmasambhava of Oddiyana. I pray to you;
Gracious root teacher, hold me with your compassion!
Root and lineage teachers, guide me on the path.
Bless me that I may master the profound path of transference.
Bless me that this short path of transference may take me to the realm of celestial enjoyment.*
Bless me and others that as soon as this life is over,
We may be reborn in the Land of Great Bliss!
(*In general, a celestial realm. Here it is a “great” celestial realm that is referred to, meaning a type of Buddhafield, manifested for the benefit of beings. A “small” celestial realm can refer to any celestial god-realm.)
Recite this prayer three times, and then repeat the last line three times. Continue practising the technique of ejection for as long as it suits you, as before. Then start again from:
Bhagavan, Tathagata …
And recite the transference prayer from the Sky Doctrines, transmitted through the lineage of Palyul monastery:*
Emaho! Most marvellous protector Amitabha,
Great Compassionate One and powerful Vajrapani,
With one-pointed mind, for myself and others I beseech you:
Bless us that we may master the profound path of transference.
Bless us that, when the time comes for us to die,
Our consciousness may be transferred to the state of great bliss!
(*The Namcho or Sky Doctrines is a thirteen-volume collection of teachings received in visions by the prolific treasure-discoverer Mingyur Dorje, who was born in 1645 and died in 1668 at the age of only twenty-three. The Namcho lineage is one of the principal practice traditions of the Nyingma monasteries of Palyul and Kathok in Eastern Tibet.)
Say this prayer three times, repeating the last two lines again three more times. Then practise the technique of ejection as before.
These last two prayers are not part of the texts of instruction on the Heart-essence of the Vast Expanse and were not transmitted by Rigdzin Jigme Lingpa, but came down through Dzogchen Rinpoche, via Gochen Monastery, and through other intermediaries. They form part of the transmissions received by Kyabje Dodrupchen Rinpoche, who united them into a single stream. He used them himself, as did my own venerable teacher. Dodrupchen Rinpoche also inherited the Kagyu lineage of instructions on transference going back to Gampopa. In the transference prayer – book he compiled, some prayers by Gampopa are therefore to be found, although those particular prayers are not ones my own teacher was in the habit of reciting. In any case, the visualization process in all these different traditions is exactly the same, so beyond any doubt the streams of instructions were united to become one great river. My venerable teacher received them many times from Kyabje Dodrupchen Rinpoche. I feel that all those who received them from him must also have received the Kagyu tradition of transference instructions at the same time, and are therefore authorized to recite the corresponding lineage and other prayers. Whether or not the two condensed prayers given here are identical to those in Dodrupchen Rinpoche’s collection, they differ only very slightly from other versions and I have therefore written them down just as my venerable teacher taught them.
Once, my teacher was giving the transmission of the Sky Doctrines transference tradition. While he was performing transference for a large crowd, some people did not catch the phrase he added, “… all of these, when the time comes for them to die;” so now some say”… this life’s perceptions …,” and others say”… hence …,” both of which are, in my opinion, slightly incorrect.
When you have gone through the practice many times and the time comes to end your session, seal it in the expanse of the five kayas by saying “P’et!” five times. Then rest in equanimity in the natural state without contriving anything.
All the lineage teachers above your head dissolve into the three main figures; the two Bodhisattvas dissolve into Amitabha; Amitabha dissolves into light and then into you. Immediately visualize yourself as the Buddha Protector Amitayus, red, with one face, two hands and two legs. He is sitting in the vajra posture. His hands rest in the gesture of meditation, holding a vase of life filled with the wisdom nectar of immortality and topped with a wish-granting tree. He is wearing the thirteen sambhogakaya ornaments.
Recite “Om Amarani Jivantiye Svaha” a hundred times, then the dharani of long life and other mantras. This is to prevent the duration of your life being affected by the practice and – through the truth of interdependence – dispels any obstacles that might threaten it.* This part of the practice is not necessary when you perform transference for a dying or already dead person, nor when you do it for real at the moment of your own death.
(*Such obstacles arise principally through wrong technique when reciting “Hik” during this practice. “The ‘Hik’ is a sound which shortens life. As one uses it, one should draw up the air below the navel, stretch the air of the upper part of the body and turn one’s eyes sharply upward in the air. If obstacles arise, press down the upper air, release the lower air and stretch the air at the navel, do the vajra recitation of the three syllables (am ah hum, in concert with inhaling, holding and exhaling), focus your mind on the soles of the feet and look downwards. The obstacles will disappear.)
The signs of success in this practice are described in the root text:
The head aches; a drop of serum, shining like dew, appears;
A grass stalk can slowly be pushed in.
Practise assiduously until these signs arise.
To conclude, share the merit and recite the Prayer for Rebirth in the Pure Land of Bliss and other prayers.
Unlike the other practices of the generation and perfection phases, these instructions on the profound path of transference do not require a long training period. Signs of success will definitely come after one week. That is why the method is called “the teaching that brings Buddhahood without any meditation,” and that is why everyone should take this unsurpassable shortcut as their daily practice.
Unable to take care of myself, I mutter incoherently over the dead.
Without practising, I spread the canopy of my interminable teachings.
Bless me and other frauds like me
That we may be able to practise with perseverance.
Guru Rinpoche and his twelve manifestations
(These different forms of Guru Rinpoche are depicted according to the cycle of’ Dispelling All Obstacles’ (Parche Kunsel), a spiritual treasure rediscovered by Chogyur Dechen Lingpa and Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, contemporaries of Patrul Rinpoche.)
Kangyur Rinpoche (1898-1975)
A great scholar and practitioner who, although he could have continued to hold high office in the great monastery of Riwoche in Eastern Tibet, chose to spend his life wandering from place to place to practise and teach, avoiding involvement in institutions. From his childhood onwards he had visions of Padmasambhava, and discovered a number of spiritual treasures in Tibet, Bhutan and India.