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Chikai Bardo

II. The Primordial Spirit and the Body Consciousness

1. From the vantage-point of the Cosmos, sentient beings are like mayflies. In similar fashion, from the vantage-point of the Unborn the Cosmos itself is like an afterimage—a bubble in the reflection of Its Primordial Pool.
2. Only the Primordial Spirit and Its True Essence surmounts the limitations of time and space.
3. Sentient beings bear mortal seeds, whereas the Primordial Spirit soars beyond the temporal-soil.
4. If only adepts would preserve the essence of the Primordial Spirit, they would transcend the Samsaric-Wheel of Life and Death. In this realization one penetrates and discerns the nature of the Element of Truth.
5. When set free from the womb of becoming, the Primordial Spirit awakens in the center of the two lamps and begins to crystallize into the True Spiritual Body. Motionless, it is at the threshold of becoming activated—something that has remained dormant since time immemorial.
6. The Body Consciousness has been aggressively in command, preventing the Primordial Spirit from claiming Its rightful throne.
7. Through the heroic-effort of the “turn-about”, the Emperor of Light reclaims Its rightful sovereignty. Thus the demons of consciousness retreat into the fiery pit from which they spawned.
8. Now the Elixir of Life breeds the three fundamental elements: the water of exuberance, the fire of spirit, and the orb of awareness.
9. The water of exuberance is the energy of the primal-code. The fire of spirit is illumination. The orb of awareness is the center of the sanctuary, the Unborn Mind.
10. The three elements are bonded-together: the fire as enlightenment, the orb as substance, and the water as the foundation.
11. The Body Consciousness is a derivative of the lower-mind functions. The lower-mind is obtuse and is an exhibition of the baser instincts of consciousness. If left unchecked, the Body Consciousness will go on reproducing itself unceasingly—generation after despoiled generation.
12. The higher-mind is where the Light of Spirit is concealed. It resides in the yang in daytime and in the yin at night. When the yang is balanced, it sees; when the yang is not properly balanced with yin, the state of dreaming prevails.
13. The state of dreaming is when the Light of Spirit wanders in the astral-realms. If one awakens from sleep feeling depressed and lethargic, then the Light of Spirit has become lodged in the Body Consciousness, a sign that the lower-mind has taken ascendency over the higher.
14. Turning the light-around empowers the higher-mind to regain ascendancy. The unruly powers of the Body Consciousness are thus annulled.
15. Faithfully practicing the technique of the great turn-about ensures that the life-flow of the Elixir of Light is abundantly available; this assures the dissolving of the lower and the rising of the higher. This leads to the unfolding of the Noble Spirit-Mind.
16. If this refinement of Light is empowered to continue unhindered, then the dark impulses of the lower Body Consciousness will be curtailed.
17. This is akin to the scarabaeus rolling its ball of dung, a process accomplished through a sheer and undivided concentration of spirit. If an insect could succeed in such a task, even more so an astute adept’s concentrated efforts in promoting the Primordial Spirit’s expanding-position in the Urna.
18. Once the True Nature of the One and Undivided Spirit is recollected, the lower nature of the turbid and unclean Body Consciousness begins the course of reformation.
19. The former malignant spirit sinks-down to the lowest-levels of its own dark desires and becomes a demon serving only death.
20. The Light Aspirant is now free to resume one’s journey to the Celestial Home of the Unborn.

sentient beings are like mayflies: short-lived insects. read more