The Kalachakra Presentation of Death and Rebirth

Kalachakra is called the clear tantra (gsal-rgyud) because it explains things more clearly. It explains that there is a subtlest drop, so on the subtlest level there is mind, wind and a drop. The continuum is made up of three things. This subtlest drop is a proto particle.

The processes of the mental continuum are analogous to the processes of the continuum of the universe on an external level. When a universe collapses, there is an empty eon, and then it expands again. According to Kalachakra, during an empty eon there is a space particle. During an empty eon, physical laws no longer apply, and particles of the elements are not held together. Proto particles are a speck of matter that is the basis from which the grosser elements of a new universe will develop. “Proto” implies original and undeveloped, as in a “prototype.” Matter cannot just come out of pure energy. There has to be some tiny aspect of matter out of which it can come. This is one of the main topics that His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaks with astrophysicists about, particularly in terms of black holes and the Big Bang.

The subtlest drop in the clear light mind of death is analogous to a space particle in an empty eon. This subtlest drop underlies each moment, along with the subtest wind and mind. This subtlest drop contains the traces of the elements of an individual continuum. Guhyasamaja does not present an explanation of where the subtle elements of a bardo body come from. If we are connected to a gross body, we can have subtle appearances in dreams based on the subtle components of the gross body. In the bardo, we don’t have a connection with a gross body, we have only a subtle body. Where does that subtle body come from? It is not coming from an external wind. A subtlest drop could explain this.

Just as we had gross, subtle and subtlest body and mind, so also there are various levels of drops. The level that is associated with a manifest body, either in the bardo or in a rebirth, does not continue into future lives. It is finished when the body is finished. The sperm and the egg contain the physical elements – earth, water, fire, air, etc. The subtlest drop activates those elements, producing the body. Likewise, the primordial undissipating drop from our side activates the white and red bodhichitta (which split off from the undissipating drop that came from our parents). 

In the Kalachakra presentation, not only are there white and red drops from the parents, but there are four other subtlest drops (thig-le shin-tu phra-mo, Skt. atisūkṣmabindutama). The drop that is associated with the appearances of being awake is at the forehead. The drop associated with the appearances of dreams is at the throat chakra. The drop associated with the appearance of deep sleep or darkness is at the heart chakra. Then there is the drop at the navel associated with peak blissful experiences, like orgasm. 

In addition to these four subtlest drops, there is the subtlest energy-wind, which is part of the continuum. In Guhyasamaja, it is the energy of appearance-making. Kalachakra explains it more fully. It makes appearances in association with a type of subtle wind. We have a subtle energy in our body called the winds of karma (las-kyi rlung, Skt. karmavātāḥ). It is activated and shaped by our subtlest wind due to the habits of karma and so on. When the winds of karma go through each of these four subtle drops, we get the appearances of the four occasions (gnas-skabs bzhi):

• Awake occasion (sad-pa’i gnas-skabs)
• Dream occasion (rmi-lam-gyi gnas-skabs)
• Deep sleep occasion (gnyid-’thug-gi gnas-skabs)
• Fourth occasion (bzhi-pa’i gnas-skabs).

How does it make these appearances? It is not just on the basis of the elements of the body. It is on the basis of the particles and the elements of everything. In a sense, it connects the dots and makes an appearance of solidity. To use an analogy, the winds of karma are like a paintbrush, and the four drops are like the four little cans of paint. When the paintbrush is dipped into the bucket of waking, it paints the pictures of being awake. When it goes into the bucket of dreams, it paints appearances of dreams. In deep sleep, there are moments of darkness, which are then put together into one solid thing. The pleasure of orgasm is also made up of micro-moments, but we put them together into a solid experience. Even in the moments of an orgasm, the pleasure is arising and disappearing simultaneously. The winds of karma make it into the appearance of some solid super-pleasure that we must have. 

There are always analogies between the external world, the internal world and the meditative system. These are known as external, internal and alternative Kalachakra. The four drops of the four occasions are represented externally by heavenly bodies. A lot of Kalachakra imagery centers around eclipses. The sun and the moon, from the point of view of the earth, revolve around the earth, going through the same band in the sky, rising in the east and setting in the west. The orbits of the sun and the moon are not parallel. They crisscross on either side of the earth. In most ancient forms of astronomy, including the Indian, these points of crossing are counted as heavenly bodies. In modern astrology, they are called the northern and southern lunar nodes. In Indian astrology, we call the northern node Rahu and the southern one Ketu. In the Kalachakra system, the northern one is Rahu and the southern one is Kalagni. When the sun and the moon meet at one of the points, there is a solar eclipse. When one is on one of these cross points and the other is on the other one, there is a lunar eclipse. The four drops are named after four heavenly bodies. The one for being awake is called the moon and is white; the one for dreams is called the sun and is red; the one for deep sleep is called Rahu and is black; and that for the peak blissful appearances is called Kalagni and is yellow. 

According to Kalachakra, in the process of death the winds of karma no longer connect the dots and the elements. The order of the elements, or the particles that the karmic winds withdraw from, is different from the order of the elements in Guhyasamaja. Kalachakra says that earth dissolves into water, then water is dried up by fire, wind puts out fire, and finally wind dies down into space. This is the description of how a universe ends as well. I have not been able to figure out the reason for this different order. Obviously different people have experienced it differently.

When the karmic winds withdraw from fire, we have the appearance of smoke. Then they stop connecting the earth particles, and we get the mirage appearance. When they no longer connect the water particles, we get the appearance of fireflies. When it no longer connects the wind particles, we get the appearance of a butter lamp. These four stages are known as the four signs of day, the stages that are necessary for gross appearances. Next, the karmic winds withdraw from the four subtle drops. 

I must say that it is not explained like this in any of the texts I have studied, but it makes sense of the system. It is consistent with many other points in the system. The ten stages occur as the ten energy-winds no longer emerge through the ten energy channels coming out of the heart chakra. Analogous with these ten are the ten powerful ladies arranged around, above and below the central couple in the mandala, in the same configuration as these channels. Their names are the names of the appearances during this dissolution phase.

First, we lose the appearances of highest bliss and happiness. We are certainly not going to experience orgasm anymore. The winds go into the central channel through the navel chakra, which is where that drop is (yellow Kalagni). Then the appearances of being awake fail because the winds of karma no longer go through that drop. That is the moon experience. Then they stop going through the dream drop, and that is the sun or red experience. It makes sense that as we die, first there is no longer any type of external contact and then no internal images. Then the winds of karma stop going through the drop of deep sleep (Rahu or the black drop) at the heart, so we no longer have the experience of darkness either. Then there is the appearance of a flash of lightening and a blue dot. 

These last six steps are called the six night signs. Serkong Rinpoche, my main teacher and one of the Kalachakra teachers of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, explained that the last of the four signs in Guhyasamaja, the butter lamp, and the fourth of the six signs in Kalachakra, Kalagni, are the same thing. They are just looking at the same experience from two angles, one from the angle of withdrawing from atoms and one from the angle of withdrawing from the four creative drops. The moon corresponds to appearance congealing. The sun or light diffusion and Rahu and the lightening correspond to the two stages of threshold. Rahu is the threshold with mindfulness, and lightening would be threshold without mindfulness – it is like a spark of the release of this energy. The blue dot is equivalent to the clear light level and corresponds to the subtlest energy and the subtlest mind. The blue dot is actually this subtlest drop. That is the process of death according to Kalachakra. 

Kalachakra does not discuss bardo. There is nothing resembling the bardo in meditation. The reasons are very complex. There is no reason to go into it today, but it has to do with the method for achieving the immediate cause for the physical bodies of a Buddha.

[See: Explanation of the Kalachakra Practices – Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche]

If we were to try to extrapolate how it would explain bardo, it would undoubtedly be similar to the Guhyasamaja explanation. The winds of karma would create the experiences of bardo. It is not at all clear in any Kalachakra text whether in the bardo one has experiences similar to being awake, falling asleep, dreaming, having pleasure and so on. During rebirth, we go through the reversal sequence all the way out through the ten signs. 

To stop this process, we need to focus on voidness. Voidness is explained differently in the different Tibetan systems. Either we meditate on voidness as being the total absence of impossible ways of existing or as some referent to impossible ways of existing. Amongst the Tibetan traditions there are basically three ways of meditating on voidness. To put them in simple words: in Gelug, one meditates that this is impossible, nothing corresponds to this; in Sakya, one meditates on the state that is beyond all of this junk; in Kagyu and Nyingma, one meditates on the state of mind that does not produce all this junk. 

Whichever way we do it, we want to experience these various phases as we die. We try to use each state of mind to be aware of voidness. It is important to be aware of what is happening and to keep in mind which stage came before and which will come after. Otherwise, it is very easy to get spaced out and lost in what is happening. If we are aware of where we are in the process, we can avoid being frightened or feeling lost. Also, one tries to use the subtle appearances of the bardo to be aware of voidness. 

The main thing that we want to be able to do is to meditate on voidness in the clear light state, or the blue dot phase. Although there are still habits of confusion, they do not actually produce deceptive appearances at that time. There is no confusion either. When there are no crazy appearances and no confusion, we can add the understanding of reality, of how things actually exist. In dzogchen, this is referred to as rigpa seeing its own face (rang-ngo shes-pa). 

Without the understanding of voidness, although there are no crazy appearances in the clear light of death, we will only stay there for a moment before crazy appearances start again in the bardo. We want to stay in the clear light with correct understanding. If we stay there long enough with correct understanding, we break the momentum and there will no longer be the production of deceptive appearances. We get rid of the confusion and habits of confusion. Then the innate quality of the clear light level gives rise to appearances of how things actually are and to an appearance of itself in a subtle form (Sambhogakaya) and in grosser forms (Nirmanakaya). 

That is the way it works. Highest tantra meditation practices work through each level of appearance-making to get down to clear light in analogy to the process of death, bardo and rebirth. This is the defining characteristic of highest yoga tantra practice, whether we speak of the new tantra systems (Kagyu, Sakya and Gelug) or the old tantra system (Nyingma). Although the Nyingma system speaks of mahayoga, anuyoga and atiyoga (dzogchen) rather than anuttarayoga (highest yoga), they deal with the same purification process.

Sadhanas describe things more visually. Should one meditate in a more visual sense?

There is much variation amongst all the different sadhanas. One of the most common elements is the syllable HUNG dissolving in stages, from the bottom up. The visualization dissolves, getting smaller and smaller until it becomes a dot. It represents the stages of the dissolution. It is not so effective to just leave each stage on a visual level. More effective is to imagine the appearance of solidity getting less and less and working with that on a feeling and sensory level. 

By the way, the meditation in which we go down to the clear light level through gradual stages is done in the Gelug system in two ways. In mother tantras, like Vajrayogini or Chakrasamvara, we start with the understanding of voidness and then imagine that the appearances of solidity get weaker and weaker. In father tantras, like Yamantaka or Guhyasamaja, we first imagine that the appearances of solidity get weaker and dissolve, and then meditate on voidness at the end. 

In the other schools – Nyingma, Sakya and Kagyu – from the few practices that I know in each of those, although there is a practice to purify death, bardo and rebirth by meditating in analogy with them, the meditation analogous to death does not go through the stages of the dissolution like they do in the Gelug meditations. One just goes immediately to clear light through other steps, and, of course, this is done differently in different schools. Sakya has a different type of voidness meditation. 

All systems agree about what happens in the death process. The heart of the sadhana is the purification of this. However, at the conclusion of many sadhanas in the non-Gelugpa systems, the final dissolution goes through a process like the HUNG dissolving from the bottom up. Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug system, took that from the end of everybody else’s sadhanas and made it into the main part of the various Gelug practices. 

Is the meditation on voidness with clear light mind only done during the death process? 

No. It is not only done while dying. We rehearse it in meditation, so that we will be able to do it at the time of death and not freak out. If we are successful in actually getting to the clear light in meditation, which is very difficult to do, we can stop the process so that we don’t experience a normal death at all. 

There is also sleep and dream yoga, in which we try to do this as we fall asleep and dream, because a similar process occurs. It is really quite interesting to observe how we fall asleep. When we are lying there ready to fall asleep, we can try to notice when the process of sleeping begins. We may not be able to follow it through all the stages, but we can be aware that now the withdrawal is starting to happen. The Guhyasamaja system gives much more detail about the twenty-five things that dissolve during this process (the senses and so on). It is very neat.

The beginning of the process is a little like the feeling of falling off of the bed. We no longer really feel things through our senses. That indicates that the process is starting. We no longer hear the traffic outside or the clock ticking, we no longer feel the bed under our body, etc. It is difficult to do the whole thing, but that is how we start sleep yoga. Often because we are mindful of the process, we wake up instead of going to sleep. That is one reason why it is so difficult. Likewise, in dream yoga, recognizing that we are dreaming without waking up is very difficult. 

What kind of circumstances or atmosphere would be helpful at the time of death?

The most important thing is to allow someone to die in peace. We try to eliminate any circumstances that might make the person angry or upset, like invasive medical procedures or violent treatments. We also try to remove circumstances that would cause attachment and sadness, like holding their hands, crying and carrying on, “Oh, don’t die!” What will give the person some peace of mind? The state of mind with which we die activates through karma that will shape the future rebirth. 

Someone who has no acquaintance with Buddhism may just get very upset if we lay a Buddhist trip on them as they are dying. If they are Christian, a picture of Jesus or Mary would be most appropriate. For a Mahayana Buddhist, the main thing we try to think of at the time of death is bodhichitta: “May I have the circumstances to develop further and benefit others more.” This is the most stable way of dying. If the dying person has practiced highest yoga tantra, it may be helpful to remind the person of this, but we don’t want to be too obnoxious about it; we don’t want to push them. Let them be. Perhaps give them a little encouragement or self-confidence that they can do it.

While a person is in bardo, according to A Treasure House of Special Topics of Knowledge, they take on the form of a small child in the rebirth that they are about to take. It is set. According to An Anthology of Special Topics of Knowledge, if we have a strong karmic connection with the person in the bardo and say prayers, it can help them. It is possible for them to gain a better rebirth if they have the karmic potentials for a better rebirth.

Regarding the recitation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bar-do thos-grol, Liberation through Hearing in the Bardo), we must not be superstitious. First of all, when it describes the various appearances of deities, Buddha-figures, that will only happen if one has practiced a specific tantra system while they were alive. If one is completely unfamiliar with this practice, they will see something different. Only when we superimpose what some Jungians say is the idea of a singular universal unconscious, can we think these are symbols of a universal unconscious and that they occur in the same way to everyone. That is not the Tibetan understanding at all. As one of my teachers said, very sharply, “If people don’t listen to the advice we give while they are alive, what makes you think that they will listen when they are dead and in the bardo?”

These days, there is a lot of interest in powa (’pho-ba) practice, which is often translated as “transference of consciousness.” That is a very loose translation. One gets the impression that we want to get the mind out of the body and send it off to a pure land or beam it up to clear light. This idea was influenced very strongly by Chinese Pure Land Buddhism. Although the seeds of pure land practice were in Indian Buddhism, the Chinese really emphasized and expanded them. They mixed in early Daoist ideas of a Western Paradise where there was eternal life. There are ideas of eternal light and eternal life, represented by Amitabha and Amitayus, respectively. Tibetan practice usually centers around Amitabha’s pure land. 

Ordinary people’s understanding is that there is a literal paradise. The Buddhist explanation is that being born there, one will have all the circumstances needed to reach enlightenment for others. A pure land is actually the clear light state. When one is in the clear light state, one has the best circumstances for reaching enlightenment. What we want to do is shoot our consciousness into clear light. Someone else might help us with the force of their prayers so that our mind goes directly to clear light without getting confused by all of the garbage and has understanding of voidness.

The Drikung Kagyu tradition probably has the most elaborate version of powa. They speak of powa to Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya. There is no such thing as Dharmakaya by itself. It can never cease giving rise to appearances. Even in the clear light state, there is the appearance of clear light, like the appearance of predawn or a blue dot. One can either do powa into clear light mind as giving rise to just this bare blue appearance (Dharmakaya powa), into the clear light mind giving rise to a pure subtle appearance (Sambhogakaya powa) – the pure land of Amitabha with palaces and so on – or clear light mind giving rise to slightly grosser appearance (Nirmanakaya powa). 

What about the Theravada kasina practice? 

If it is a technique for concentration, there is something similar in highest yoga tantra called the subtle generation stage (bskyed-rim phra-mo). For instance, at the tip of the nose one visualizes a dot, then two dots in the next row, then four, eight and so on. We keep all of that clear and then dissolve it back in stages. In the process of doing this, focusing on the tip of the central channel, we get the winds into the central channel, so that we don’t have any mental wandering or dullness. Thus, in highest tantra we attain shamatha or vipashyana in the same step, whereas in other systems it is a longer, two-step process, first shamatha and then vipashyana. This is another reason why highest yoga tantra is the most efficient.

Where in the body is the blue dot? Can it only exit from the top of the head?

The blue dot is at the heart chakra. It could go out of any of the orifices depending on the system. It is always best for it to go out of the orifice at the very top of the head. 

Where actually is the bardo? 

It is not as though bardo is in some other dimension. A bardo being can travel anywhere instantaneously without obstruction. The only analogy I can think of is light. Energy can go at the speed of light. The bardo could be located anywhere. If a bardo being thinks of loved ones, they are immediately there. 

Is it within our universe of space and time?

I think so, but this is purely my conjecture. That is not really discussed. The subtlest energy, or the subtlest dot, has to be somewhere, but it is not that bardo is somewhere beneath the earth. The texts do not describe it as being somewhere in relation to Mt. Meru. It could be anywhere. Many Mahayana sutras describe such things as a whole universe in an atom of one Buddha’s body. Similarly, inside this tiny little blue dot this person is experiencing a whole universe. 

Can Buddhas or bodhisattvas catch beings at the bardo level and help them?

Yes, if the bardo being has the karma to be helped. Buddhas and bodhisattvas are not almighty God. 

Is the clear light outside of samsara or nirvana?

The different Tibetan schools explain it differently. Clear light is the common basis for both pure and impure experiences. In that sense, it is beyond samsara and nirvana. 

We have to make a distinction between the clear light mind that realizes its own nature and the clear light mind that does not. When it does not recognize its own nature, it is just the mind of death, and that is certainly samsara. Otherwise, all we would have to do to achieve nirvana is die. The clear light mind recognizing its own nature is nirvana. We can say it is either one or the other. Or we could say that clear light itself is beyond both extremes but is either conjoined with understanding or not. Samsara and nirvana have many different meanings. They can refer to impure and pure appearances, subtle and gross appearances or uncontrollable rebirth and freedom from it.

There is the Sakya theory of inseparable samsara and nirvana (’khor-’das dbyer-med). It is a very complex and interesting theory. We need to understand the meaning of inseparable. It means that if one is the case, so is the other. If there is samsara, there is nirvana. It does not mean that we experience the two at the same time. 

Can one experience samsara and nirvana at the same time?

It really depends on how you define them. 

What is Nirmanakaya?

The subtlest mind and subtlest wind in association with gross elements is Nirmanakaya. The gross elements of the body are not part of the gross mental continuum. They are just gross elements. They fall apart by nature. The Nirmanakaya is the package that gives rise to gross appearances by molding the gross elements. If we were to solidify this, it would be a soul. But it is not a soul. The subtlest wind and mind are there all the time. Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya are talking about the same phenomenon from different points of view. One point of view is just the thing itself (Dharmakaya). Another point of view, it’s giving rise to the subtle and gross appearances (Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya). 

Is this where idea of God and an eternal soul come from?

Everybody is talking about the same thing. It is just a matter of how we explain it. 

Is the gross body the basis of the Nirmanakaya?

It is. Gross appearances arise through the power of the Buddha’s subtlest mind and energy in conjunction with the gross body. 

How does what we have been discussing compare to the Hinayana explanation of parinirvana?

Parinirvana (yongs-su mya-ngan ’das, Skt. parinivāṇa) means different things in different systems. There are many explanations: a Hinayana, a general Mahayana, a Gelug-Prasangika explanation, etc. What I have been explaining would not be accepted in the Hinayana system. Their explanation of parinirvana cannot possibly fit in with this.

Does a Buddha return to samsara to help others?

One does not return to samsara, but one can appear by playing around with the gross elements. The gross elements are not samsara. Samsara is a condition of mind in association with the elements. Likewise, nirvana is a state of mind in connection with the elements. The elements themselves are neutral. 

May whatever understanding we have gained go deeper and deeper so that we can truly be of best help to everyone.