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

264 THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYINGPadmasambhava describes the luminosity:This self-originated Clear Light, which from the very beginningwas never bom,Is the child of Rigpa, which is itself without any parents—howamazing!This self-originated wisdom has not been created by anyone—howamazing!It has never experienced birth and has nothing in it that couldcause it to die—how amazing!Although it is evidently visible, yet there is no one there who seesit—how amazing!Although it has wandered through samsara, no harm has come toit—how amazing}.Although it has seen buddhahood itself no good has come to it—how amazing!Although it exists in everyone everywhere, it has gone unrecognized—howamazing!And yet you go on hoping to attain some other fruit than this elsewhere—howamazing!Even though it is the thing that is most essentially yours, you seekfor it elsewhere—how amazing!Why is it that this state is called "luminosity" or ClearLight? The masters have different ways of explaining this.Some say that it expresses the radiant clarity of the nature ofmind, its total freedom from darkness or obscuration: "freefrom the darkness of unknowing and endowed with the abilityto cognize." Another master describes the luminosity orClear Light as "a state of minimum distraction," because allthe elements, senses, and sense-objects are dissolved. What isimportant is not to confuse it with the physical light that weknow, nor with the experiences of light that will unfoldpresently in the next bardo; the luminosity that arises at deathis the natural radiance of the wisdom of our own Rigpa, "theuncompounded nature present throughout all of samsara andnirvana."The dawning of the Ground Luminosity, or Clear Light, atthe moment of death is the great opportunity for liberation.But it is essential to realize on what terms this opportunity isgiven. Some modern writers and researchers on death haveunderestimated the profundity of this moment. Because theyhave read and interpreted the Tibetan Book of the Dead withoutthe benefit of the oral instructions and training that fully