Now when the bardo of birth is dawning upon me, I will abandon laziness for which life has no time, enter the undistracted path of study, reflection and meditation, making projections and mind the path, and realize the three kayas; now that I have once attained a human body, there is no time on the path for the mind to wander.
Now when the bardo of dreams is dawning upon me, I will abandon the corpse-like sleep of careless ignorance, and let my thoughts enter their natural state without distraction; controlling and transforming dreams in luminosity, I will not sleep like any animal but unify completely sleep and practice.
Now when the bardo of samadhi-meditation dawns upon me, I will abandon the crowd of distractions and confusions, and rest in the boundless state without grasping or disturbance; firm in the two practices: visualization and completion, at this time of meditation, one-pointed, free from activity, I will not fall into the power of confused emotions.
Now when the bardo of the moment before death dawns upon me, I will abandon all grasping, yearning and attachment, enter undistracted into clear awareness of the teaching, and eject my consciousness into the space of unborn mind; as I leave this compound body of flesh and blood I will know it to be a transitory illusion.
Now when the bardo of dharmata dawns upon me, I will abandon all thoughts of fear and terror, I will recognize whatever appears as my projection and know it to be a vision of the bardo; now that I have reached this crucial point, I will not fear the peaceful and wrathful ones, my own projections.
Now when the bardo of becoming dawns upon me, I will concentrate my mind one-pointedly, and strive to prolong the results of good karma, close the womb-entrance and think of resistance; this is the time when perseverance and pure thought are needed, abandon jealousy, and meditate on the guru with his consort.
With mind far off, not thinking of death’s coming, performing these meaningless activities, returning empty-handed now would be complete confusion; the need is for recognition, holy dharma, so why not practice dharma at this very moment?
From the mouths of siddhas come these words: If you do not keep your guru’s teaching in your heart will you not become your own deceiver?
(from The Tibetan Book of the Dead, The Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo by Guru Rinpoche according to Karma Lingpa, translated by Francesca Freemantle and Chogyam Trunpa, Shambhala, 1975 pp. 98-99
