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

346 THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYING
showing with total clarity the actual process of death, the
actual process of life as well.
Let us look now again at what happens to a person who
dies, at each of the three crucial stages of death:
1. At the culmination of the process of dying, after the dissolution
of elements, senses, and thought states, the ultimate
nature of mind, the Ground Luminosity, is for a moment laid
bare.
2. Then, fleetingly, the radiance of that nature of mind is
displayed and shines out in appearances of sound, colors, and
light.
3. Next the dead person's consciousness awakens and
enters into the bardo of becoming; his or her ordinary mind
returns, and takes on a manifestation—the form of the mental
body—subject to the dictates of past karma and habits. These
drive the ordinary mind to cling onto the illusory bardo experiences
as something real and solid.
So what do the bardo teachings show us that death is?
Nothing less than three phases of a process of gradual manifestation
of mind: from out of its very purest state of the
essential nature of mind, through light and energy (the radiance
of the nature of mind), and into increasing crystallization
into a mental form. What unravels with such clarity in the
bardo of dying, the bardo of dharmata, and the bardo of
becoming, the teachings show us, is a threefold process: first,
enfoldment leading to laying bare; second, spontaneous radiance;
and third, crystallization and manifestation.
The teachings draw us to go further. What they in fact
show us—and I think this is a truly revolutionary insight, one
that, when it is understood, changes our view of everything—
is that this threefold pattern does not only unfold in the process
of dying and death: It is unfolding now, at this moment, at
every moment, within our mind, in our thoughts and emotions,
and at every single level of our conscious experience.
Another way the teachings offer us of understanding this
process is by looking at what is revealed at each phase of dying
and death. The teachings speak of three levels of being, to
which the Sanskrit name kaya is given. This word kaya literally
means "body," but signifies here dimension, field, or basis.
So let us look now at the threefold process from this perspective: