The-Tibetan-Book-of-Living-and-Dying

THE DEATH OF "THE POISONS"
THE PROCESS OF DYING 259
What then is happening when we die? It is as if we are
returning to our original state; everything dissolves, as body
and mind are unraveled. The three "poisons"—anger, desire,
and ignorance—all die, which means that all the negative
emotions, the root of samsara, actually cease, and then there is
a gap.
And where does this process take us? To the primordial
ground of the nature of mind, in all its purity and natural simplicity.
Now everything that obscured it is removed, and our
true nature is revealed.
A similar enfolding can happen, as I explained in Chapter 5,
"Bringing the Mind Home," when we practice meditation and
have the experiences of bliss, clarity, and absence of thoughts,
which indicate, in turn, that desire, anger, and ignorance have
momentarily dissolved.
As anger, desire, and ignorance are dying, we are becoming
purer and purer. Some masters explain that for a Dzogchen
practitioner, the phases of appearance, increase, and attainment
are signs of the gradual manifestation of Rigpa. As everything
that obscures the nature of mind is dying, the clarity of Rigpa
slowly begins to appear and increase. The whole process
becomes a development of the state of luminosity, linked to
the practitioner's recognition of the clarity of Rigpa.
In Tantra there is a different approach to practicing during
the process of dissolution. In the yoga practice of channels,
winds, and essences, the Tantric practitioner prepares in life for
the process of dying, by simulating the changes of consciousness
of the dissolution process, culminating in the experience
of the luminosity or "Clear Light." The practitioner also seeks
to maintain awareness of these changes as he or she falls
asleep. Because what is important to remember is that this
sequence of progressively deepening states of consciousness
does not only happen when we die. It also occurs, usually
unnoticed, as we fall asleep, or whenever we travel from the
grosser to subtlest levels of consciousness. Some masters have
even shown that it also happens in the very psychological processes
of our everyday waking state. 10
The detailed account of the dissolution process may seem
complicated, yet if we become really familiar with this process,
it can be of great benefit. For practitioners there is a
range of specialized practices to do at each stage of the dissolution.
For example, you can transform the process of dying
into a practice of guru yoga. With each stage of the outer