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

300 THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYINGinstinctively. The teachings warn us that at this point there isa great danger that out of your avid eagerness to be reborn,you will rush to any place at all that seems to offer somesecurity. If your desire is frustrated, the anger that arises willof itself bring the bardo abruptly to an end, as you are sweptinto your next rebirth by the current of that negative emotion.And so, as you can see, your future rebirth is directly determinedby desire, anger, and ignorance.Imagine that you run toward a place of refuge, simply toescape the onslaught of the bardo experiences. Then, terrifiedto leave, you might become attached and take on a new birth,no matter where, just in order to have one. You might even,the Tibetan Book of the Dead explains, become confused andmistake a good birthplace for a bad one, or a bad one for agood one. Or hear the voices of your loved ones calling you,or seductive singing, and follow these, only to find yourselfbeing lured down into the lower realms.You must take great care not to enter blindly into one ofthese undesirable realms. Yet what is wonderful is that theinstant you become aware of what is happening to you, youcan actually begin to influence and change your destiny.Swept along by the wind of karma, you will then arrive at aplace where your future parents are making love. Seeing them,you become emotionally drawn in; and because of past karmicconnections, you begin spontaneously to feel strong attachmentor aversion. Attraction and desire for the mother and aversionor jealousy for the father will result in your being bom as amale child, and the reverse a female. 8 But if you succumb tosuch strong passions, not only will you be reborn, but that veryemotion may draw you into birth in a lower realm.Is there anything now that we can do to avoid being rebornor to direct our next rebirth? The bardo teachings give twospecific kinds of instructions: methods for preventing a rebirth,or failing that, for choosing a good birth. First are the guidelinesfor closing the entrance to another birth:The best method is to abandon the emotions such asdesire, anger, or jealousy, and recognize that none of thesebardo experiences have any ultimate reality. If you can realizethis and then rest the mind in its true, empty nature, this initself will prevent rebirth. The Tibetan Book of the Dead herewarns us: