Here I am at the dark emerald green waters of (TSO PEMA)Rewalsar lake about 1,360m above sea level in Himachal Pradesh. History teaches that from here the great Indian Tantric Padmasambhava known to the Tibetans as Guru Rimpoche, the Precious Master, used his cosmic power to take flight from here on a tiger into Bon Tibet to seed Mahayana Buddhism(the Nyingma-pa order) from the 8th century at Samye. There are islands of floating reeds on Rewalsar lake in which the spirit of Padmasambhava is said to reside or just perhaps they are blinded by the reflection of his giant gilt statue that sits beautifully in lotus position on the westerly mountain facade. The lake is overstocked with gaping mouthed grey supersized carp(a few are orange) which will appreciate your feeding them homemade dough snacks purchased for 5 rupees. There are three Buddhist monasteries where you can retreat from the material world here at Rewalsar; one of them is home to skilled temple painters who make some impressive modern looking thangkas. There is a swimming lake, Kunt Bhyog, where it is said the consort, Mandarava, washed her hair, which is a short bus ride above Rewalsar at about 1,750 m. I am contemplating a dip tomorrow in the chilly waters, hopefully the carp don't devour me. This lake is associated with the escape of the Pandavas from the burning palace of wax—an episode from the epic, Mahabharata.
Supposedly Padmasambhava also hid a number of religious treasures (temas) in lakes, caves, fields and forests of the Himalayan region to be found and interpreted by future tertons or spiritual treasure-finders(a career to esteem to!!!). According to Tibetan tradition, the Bardo Thodol or Tibetan Book of the Dead( also known as The Self-Emergence of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities from Enlightened Awareness) was among these hidden treasures and is regarded as the work of Padmasambhava but was subsequently discovered on top of Mt . Gampodar by a 15 year old Tibetan terton(spiritual treasure revealer) named Karma Lingpa b.ca.1350 who was engaged in esoteric practices and had already achieved many siddhis which are the acquisition of supernatural powers by yogic means. These powers include clairvoyance, levitation, to be present at various places simultaneously, to become as small as an atom, to materialize objects, to have access to memories from past lives etc.; thus obniously the recovery of several of these sacred texts as left by Padmasambhava was not a problem for the boy.
The Bon religion of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism maintain that crucial moments of transition are charged with great spiritual potential, especially the intervening moments between death and rebirth. This intermediate period of 49days after death called the bardo is a state of suspended reality in which the deceased are presented with a series of opportunities for recognition of the true nature of Reality. This Tibetan Book of the Dead goes deeply into all the stages.
If the deceased persons are capable of recognizing the confusing and often frightening bardo visions as simply their own mental projections reflective of the previous life's thoughts and deeds (karma), the ongoing cycle of birth and death will be overcome. Failure to recognize these appearances, on the other hand, leads eventually to rebirth and further suffering in the cyclic existence of life (samsara). To help the deceased travellers gain insight into their ambiguous situation, a spiritual teacher or lama recites inspirational prayers and instructions from special funeral texts--the first stage in the rituals of the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
According to The Bardo of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities, the final moment of the dying process is marked by the sudden and dramatic appearance of the radiant clear light. The fundamental mind of clear light is said to exist beginninglessly and continuously in each individual through each lifetime and into Buddhahood itself. For those Buddhist practitioners who became accomplished in the esoteric methods of yoga and meditation previously in their lifetimes, the true nature of the radiant clear light will be immediately recognized and the wisdom necessary for full liberation from the cycle of birth and death (samsara) will be achieved. On the other hand, those who have not practiced during their lives will fail to recognize the clear light at death and will digress into the intermediate state known as the "Bardo of Reality" wherein the deceased experiences the visions of the one hundred Peaceful and Wrathful Deities. In the book's text it is stated that seven days after the initial appearance of the radiant clear light of death, the deceased awakens in the bardo, confused and bewildered by a stunning array of lights and visions. These colorful visions transform into the forty-two Peaceful Deities, who manifest in a circular pattern known as a mandala. A mandala represents a perfectly contained sacred space, a celestial realm in which reside a great pantheon of enlightened spiritual beings. On the fourteenth day, this peaceful mandala dissolves into the mandala of the fifty-eight Wrathful Deities. These Deities manifest also in the same circular pattern of their peaceful counterparts, only now each Deity appears in its terrifying form. As blood-drinking, flesh-eating demons, the Wrathful Deities symbolize the intensity or "violence," if you will, of liberation, understood here as the compassionate "murdering" of the neurotic and distorted thoughts and emotions that trap human beings in the ongoing cycle of rebirth.
Some contemporary sources assert that the Deities, in both their quiescent and frightening forms, are not really gods in the traditional sense. They are actually symbolic manifestations of psychological states in the inner space of human awareness. If the deceased is capable of properly identifying these Deities as projections of the mind and as manifest reflections of past karma(deeds), he or she will merge with the enlightened consciousness that these images represent. Once again, however, if the visions are not recognized due to fear or ignorance, the deceased falls further into the bardo realms which lead eventually to a new existence to have another go at it until realization occurs. Clearly, in the context of the Tibetan funeral rituals associated with this and other texts it is the prime responsibility of the religious specialist or 'lama' to gain the attention of the deceased and to make him or her aware of the visions encountered during the bardo experience.
Imagine THAT!
& some more pix from around the Lake:
Monkey business at the chorten, right after this picture mojo momma monkey grabbed my bag and looked me in the eyes with her fangs showing. I said "No" firmly and she backed away. Phew! especially since I am on my 3rd shot of rabies vaccine from a puppy bite.
"My father is the intrinsic awareness. My mother is the ultimate sphere of reality. I belong to the caste of non-duality of the sphere of awareness. My name is the Glorious Lotus Born. I am from the unborn sphere of all phenomena. I consume concepts of duality as my diet. I act in the way of the Buddhas of the three times." Padmasambhava.
