This is a recap and repost but for Mila. She passed into stillness March 13, 2023 at 2:45 pm.
The Bardo Prayers.
At the time of your own death, or at any time, request the Buddha’s and Bodhisattvas’ aid as follows; Make physical and mental offerings to the three jewels, and holding fragrant incense recite with great fervor.
(The offerings for the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, Mahakalas (Dharma Protectors), Consorts, Devas and Dakinis can either be of the Tibetan style which would include the Eight offerings of; water to wash with, water to drink, flowers, incense, light, perfume, food to eat, and music (cymbals). As well as other offerings for other Mahakalas such as candy, meat, and liquor. I use a more manageable and simple offering of; light, water, incense, a flower and food. You will also be offering your service and honoring of the Triple Gem which includes the tisarana chant and three prostrations. Also on the altar is the photo or name of the deceased. I did this at the mini altar we have on the mantle with the ashes of Shadow in the center.)
"Buddhas and bodhisattvas dwelling the ten directions, endowed with great compassion, wisdom, vision, and love. You, who are the refuge and protectors of beings, through your great compassion please come to this place. Please accept these offerings set out for you.
Compassionate ones, you have mastered to an unimaginable extent, wisdom, loving compassion, and skillful action. This person, Mila is going beyond this world to another and is abandoning this world. Mila is at death’s door, without friends or family, in great suffering, without refuge, protectors or relatives or friends. Mila's life perceptions are fading away, going to a different realm.
Mila is entering a dense darkness, falling to a great abyss, going into a thick forest, the forces of karma drives her off to an empty wasteland, tossed in great waves. Impelled by this karmic wind finds him/herself with nowhere to stop and rest, finds herself in the midst and mist of a great battle, seized by demons.
The lord of death’s minions fills him/her with terror, from one existence he/she goes to yet another, helpless and afraid.
Alone and friendless, the time is here where she must go. Oh, compassionate ones, please give refuge to Mila, for she has no defense, no friends or family to help her now, please protect her and be those things to her now.
Please, with your great compassion save her from the vast darkness of the bardo.
Shieldher from the great winds of karma, protect him/her from the terrors of the Lord of Death. Deliver Mila from the long polluted bardo.
Compassionate ones, please be generous with your compassion and come toher aid. Do not let him/her go to the three lower realms, guide them from Samsara.
Quickly show the power of your compassion, remember your vows to help. Please be generous in your compassion and commitment for Mila. Hold him tight with your compassion, do not leave him/her to the forces of negative karma.
Please save him/her from the suffering of the bardo.
…
Root of the Bardo.
Oh, now that the bardo of birth is arising for me, I abandon laziness for which there is no time in this life, I shall ender the undistracted path of listening, reflection, contemplation, and meditation. I shall develop appearances and mind as the path, I shall actualize the three kayas: the body of truth, bliss and emanation.
Now, for once I have obtained the blessing of a human body, there is no time to rest on the path of distraction.
Oh, the bardo of dreams arises for me, abandoning the careless, sleeping corpse of ignorance, I shall guide my undistracted mind to the natural state, taking control of my dreams, may purify delusion into clear bright light. I will not sleep like an animal; it is important to practice sleep and direct perceptions of reality together.
Oh, now the bardo of meditation arises for me, I abandon the mass of distractions and confusion, I enter the states free of the extremes like distraction and grasping, I will attain stability in the development and completion stages, and jhanas. I abandon activity that is pointless, I will practice one-pointed meditation. I will not fall to the power of delusion and negativity.
Oh, now the bardo of death arises for me. I abandon all attachment, grasping and clinging. I am undistracted, I enter into clear understanding of the instructions I have heard. I transfer my own awareness into the sphere of the space of the unborn. As I am about to be parted from this body of flesh and blood, I realize it is and illusion and is impermanent. I abandon panic and perceptions of terror as they too are illusion and I recognize whatever arises for me as the natural manifestations of my own awareness. I understand and realize that this is the way the bardo appears. An important moment will arise when cessation is possible, I will not fear the throng of peaceful and wrathful deities as they are the manifestation of my mind.
Oh the bardo of becoming again is arising for me. I hold in my mind one-pointed longing, I will try and prolong my good karma. Stopping up the entrance to the womb, I remember to turn away from it. It is now that I must have courage, determination, and pure perception. I abandon jealousy and anger; I will meditate on the great teacher in union with his consort. I will not think on death but on a long life. Realizing that I had accomplished only pointless and unskillful activities in this life I know I would be unwise to return now, empty handed. I recognize the cure to my ailments is the Dharma teachings. I vow to practice the dharma at this moment, now. If I can keep the words of my teachers to heart, I will not betray myself.
May the verses of this bardo as I speak to them not come to an end until I have gone beyond Samsara and all of Samsara is emptied.
Prayer for deliverance from the narrow passage of the bardo.
"I pay homage to my teachers, the manifestations of the Buddha mind and the host of dakinis that help me. With your great love and compassion, please guide me well on the path of luminous, undistracted listening. May I reflect and meditate on your teachings. Supported and protected by all the mothers of the past and all the dakinis to help me, may I be delivered from the narrow and frightening passage of the bardo. Escort me to the land of the pure light, to perfect Buddhahood. When I wander from intense ignorance through the realms of Samsara, Buddha (Vairocana) please guide me on the luminous path of the wisdom for the Dharamdhatu. Guided by your consort Dhatisvari, deliver me from that terrifying passage. Escort me together to the pure land of Buddhahood. If I find that I am aggressive and angry in the wanderings of Samsara, please Buddha (Vajrasattva) guide me on the mirror like path of luminous wisdom. Gently guided by your consort Buddhalocana deliver me from this narrow, terrifying passage. Escort me to the land of the totally pure Buddhahood. If I wander in Samsara with pride and arrogance, I beg Buddha Ratnasambhava to guide me on the luminous path of Equalizing Wisdom. Gently supported by Mamaki, your consort delivers me from the terrifying narrow passage of the bardo. Escort me to the land of perfect Buddhahood. If am found wandering with desire and attachment in Samsara, please Buddha Amitabha, guide me on the luminous path of the Wisdom of discernment. Gently supported by your consort, Pandavarasini, deliver me from the terrifying narrow passage of the bardo. Escort me to the land of the totally pure, perfect Buddhahood. If I travel Samsara jealous, please, Buddha Amoghasiddi guide me well on the luminous path of All accomplishing wisdom. Gently your consort, Samaya-tara help deliver me from the terrifying and narrow passage of the bardo. Escort me to the land of totally pure and perfect Buddhahood.
If I wander Samsara with strong habits and tendencies may the dakas and Vidyadharas guide me on the luminous path of co-emergent wisdom. Deliver me from the bardo’s terrifying narrow passage. Escort me to the land of pure, perfect Buddhahood.
When I am wandering in delusion in Samsara, may the army of peaceful and wrathful deities guide me on the luminous path that abandons panic and terrifying appearances. Supported and protected by the army of dakinis who control space, deliver me from the bardo’s terrifying narrow passages. Escort me to the land of totally pure, perfect Buddhahood.
Oh, may the space element not arise as an enemy to me, may I see it as the pure realm of the blue Buddha. May the water element not be an enemy to me, may I see it as the pure realm of the white Buddha. May the earth element not be an enemy to me, may I see it as the pure realm of the yellow Buddha. May the element of fire not be an enemy to me, may I see it as the pure realm of the red Buddha. May the wind element not be an enemy to me, may I see it as the pure realm of the green Buddha. May the rainbow element not be an enemy to me, may I see it as the pure realm of the various Buddhas. May the sounds and lights not arise as enemies to me, may I see them as the pure realm of all-encompassing peaceful and wrathful deities. May I realize the sounds to be my own sounds, the lights to be my own lights, the rays to be my own rays. May I recognize the bardo to be my own manifestation and appearance, and may I realize the pure realm of the three kayas of truth, bliss, and emanation.
The prayer that protects from fear in the bardo.
"Oh, when this life of mine has fallen apart, time does not vanish from this world. I wander alone in the bardo but the victorious peaceful and wrathful deities show me the power of their compassion and dispel the darkness of ignorance. As I wander alone from my friends and family the empty reflections of my own perceptions will arise, but the Buddhas show the power of their compassion to me so that the panic and terror of the bardo do not occur for me. When the five lights of the clear wisdoms arise, may I be fearless and undaunted, recognizing them as my own manifestations of appearance. When the forms of the peaceful and wrathful deities arise to scare me, may I be fearless and confident, knowing that this is the bardo and that the compassionate one’s guide and protect me. When, due to my negative karma I experience suffering, may the victorious peaceful and wrathful deities dispel the suffering. When the natural sound of the Dharmata roars and sounds as loud as a thousand thunderclaps, may I be transformed into the sound of the dharma of the Great Vehicle. When without any refuge I am pursued by karma, the victorious and wrathful deities become a refuge for me and all others. When I experience the karma of suffering of my habitual tendencies, may the blissful clear light of samadhi arise. At the moment of seeming rebirth in the bardo of becoming occurs, may no negative signs arise to turn me back to Samsara. When I am transported anywhere by the power of thought may the delusions of terror of negative karma not occur. When wild beasts roar, growl and hiss may it be transformed into the sound of the Dharma. The six-syllable mantra. When I am soaked by cold rain and snow, driven and whipped by wind and covered in darkness may I obtain the divine eye of clear wisdom. Mya the different kinds of beings in the bard, with their various experiences and great compassion be without jealousy and be born in higher realms. When negativity and extreme emotion causes hunger and thirst, may the suffering of thirst, hunger, heat and cold not occur. As soon as I see my future parents in union, creating me, may I see them as the victorious peaceful and wrathful beings in union. I will obtain control over where I will be born for the sake of others. May I obtain a supreme body, graced with marks and signs that are auspicious. Having been born with a supreme body, may all who see or hear me be quickly liberated. May whatever merit I have accumulated increase and follow me. Wherever and whoever I am born as, may I encounter the deity of my previous life. As soon as I am born, may I be able to speak and walk, and regain without forgetting again, the memory of my past lives. May I learn great, small and medium things by studying or even just seeing or hearing them. May all sentient beings become happy and free from suffering, may I be like the medicine, the nurse, the shade tree, the bridge to help them out of Samsara. Victorious peaceful and wrathful deities, just as your bodies, your entourage, your lifespan, and your pure realm, and just as your supreme and excellent marks all are, may I and others become like that. By the compassion and power of the perfect peaceful and wrathful beings, and the power and truth of the completely pure Dharmata, and by the blessing of accomplishing single pointed mantra practice may the wishes of this prayer be realized and accomplished. May the prayer that protects from fear in the bardos never end until Samsara is empty, and all beings have been emancipated from all sufferings.
I will continue this post with a day by day chanting and ceremonial set. These are NOT the traditional Bardo Thodol that a monk would do. They are MY rendition as I was trained in Theravada and Mahayana processes as well as Vajrayana. I am a non-sectarian Buddhist Minister/Priest and am not bound by lineage or tradition. I am able to use what is best understandable and useful to me and my parishioners. I stand to hold space and intent in the practice, not follow only traditional ceremony. I use this to help in understanding and development of compassion, loving kindness, and wisdom. I do this writing for my own development and process, no insult or harm is intended. Forgive me if it does.
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