After the Bardo of the moment before death, the Bardo of Dharmatā appears on the mind’s horizon; it can be likened to an after-death experience when emptiness floods into the plane of Mind after consciousness exits the body. For ordinary sentient beings this is experienced as a form of blackout when one’s vital energies (or commonly known as vital signs) cease to function altogether. Once again, consciousness itself is expelled from the formal body and hence the [intrinsic awareness] is liberated into space–it’s here that the Bardo of the Clear Light of the Dharmakaya arises. It’s also here that one experiences union (Pure Illuminative Beingness) with the Unborn Absolute as no other imagery is manifested. Abject failure is always nearby as the troubled imagery reignites itself in the forms of passing visions in the Bardo of Re-becoming. It’s here that the deceased consciousness reemerges as karmic visions of the past and future whirl by as if in the grip of a cyclone.
To reiterate, the Clear Light IS recognition, through intrinsic awareness, of our Basic True Nature–unborn, beginningless and far extracted from any creations in time. Timeless and Deathless. Failure to recognize any manifestations of light and sound as being just elements of our Clear inherent Self-Nature, those whirling winds of karma will, once again, darken and obscure the True Light as the descent into time-bound consciousness enters the Bardo of Re-becoming. This can all be likened to having a lucid dream when one clearly recognizes the passing images AS dream and not real in themselves. On the contrary, if one imagines them as something real and [outside] themselves, then the Karmic Demon will again imprison them in samsara. Devoid of this Realization, one is once more thrown back into time-bound reality—it’s like living on the rim of a wheel and not in its direct center. Be always attentive that this dawning of the Clear Light of the Unborn IS our own intrinsic awareness and acts as a saving Light-House whose beams prevent the raging waves of samsara from ravaging our Liberation.