Page:The Tibetan Book of the Dead (1927).djvu/172

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[deities], will come to shine upon thee. From the Eastern Realm of Pre-eminent Happiness, the Buddha Vajra-Sattva, the Divine Father-Mother, with the attendant [deities] will come to shine upon thee, From the Southern Realm endowed with Glory, the Buddha Ratna-Sambhava, the Divine Father-Mother, with the attendant [deities] will come to shine upon thee. From the Happy Western Realm |[1] of Heaped-up Lotuses, the Buddha Amitābha, the Divine Father-Mother, along with the attendant [deities] will come to shine upon thee. From the Northern Realm of Perfected Good Deeds, the Buddha Amogha-Siddhi, the Divine Father-Mother, along with the attendants will come, amidst a halo of rainbow light, to shine upon | thee at this very moment.

O nobly-born, on the outer circle of these five pair of Dhyani Buddhas, the [four] Door-Keepers, the Wrathful [Ones]: the Victorious One,[2] the Destroyer of the Lord of Death,[3] the Horse-necked King,[4] the Urn of Nectar;[5] with the four female Door-keepers: the Goad-Bearer,[6] the Noose-Bearer,[7] the Chain-Bearer,[8] and the Bell-Bearer;[9]

    'awakened [from sleep of stupidity]' + rgyas = 'developed fully [in all attributes of perfection (or moral virtues)]'.

  1. Between this bar and the bar in the sentence following is contained the translation of the Tibetan text on the upper folio (35a) of our Frontispiece.
  2. Text: Rnam-par-rgyal-va (pron. Nam-par-gyal-wa): Skt. Vijaya: 'Victorious [One]', the Door-keeper of the East.
  3. Text: Gshin-rje-gshed-po (pron. Shin-je-shed-po): Skt. Yamāntaka: 'Destroyer of Yama (Death)', the Door-keeper of the South, a form of Shiva, and the wrathful aspect of Avalokiteshvara. He, as a Wrathful Deity, personifies one of the ten forms of Anger (Tib. K'ro-bo—pron. T'o-wo: Skt. Krodha).
  4. Text: Rta-mgrin-rgyal-po (pron. Tam din-gyal-po): Skt. Hayagriva: 'Horse-necked King', the Door-keeper of the West.
  5. Text: Bdud-rtsi-hkhyil-va (pron. Dü-tsi-khyil-wa): Skt. Amṛịta-Dhāra: '(He who is the] Urn of Nectar', whose divine function is to transmute all things into nectar (in the esoteric sense of Tantric Yoga), amṛịta meaning 'nectar' exoterically, and, esoterically, 'voidness'. He is the Door-keeper of the North.
  6. Text: Chags-kyu-ma (pron. Chak-yu-ma): Skt. Ankushā: 'She holding the Goad', the shakti, or female counterpart, of Vijaya.
  7. Text: Zhags-pa-ma (pron. Zhag-pa-ma): Skt. Pāshadharî: 'She holding the Noose', the shakti of Yamāntaka.
  8. Text: Lghags-sgrog-ma (pron. Cha-dog-ma): Skt. Vajra-shṛịngkhalā; 'She holding the Chain', the shakti of Hayagrīva.
  9. Text: Dril-bu-ma (pron. Til-bu-ma): Skt. Kinkini-Dharī: 'She holding the Bell', the shakti of Amṛịta-Dhāra.

    All the Door-keepers and their shaktis possess occult significance in relation