Now when the bardo of existence dawns upon me,

I will hold my aspiration one-pointedly in mind

And strive to prolong the course of good karma.

I will close the womb door and remember resistance.

This is a time for strength of mind and pure vision,

Abandon jealousy and meditate on the guru as father and mother!

The bardo of existence is the decisive period that determines either liberation or rebirth in one of the six realms of samsara.

Previously, we translated it as the bardo of becoming, but Trungpa Rinpoche used both in his teaching, and I feel that existence is a better translation. Here it means the process of coming into existence as an embodied sentient being.

As the bardo of dharmata fades away, our experiences become more and more confused and frightening, and we are impelled onward by the power of our past actions.

Then we find ourselves being drawn back into our habitual manner of perception, the environment begins to look familiar, and we feel we are coming home again.

As soon as we see a man and woman in the act of making love, we grasp eagerly at any opportunity of entering a womb to be reborn.

Even at this late stage, there are instructions for avoiding rebirth or, if that is not possible, for choosing the best possible conditions in which to be born.

Since we are continually creating our own world through our perception, the cultivation of pure vision makes all the difference at this point. We should try to perceive everything we experience as the pure land of a buddha and resolve to retain that kind of perception in the next life.

At the moment when our new existence is about to be conceived, we should look upon our future parents as our guru or chosen deity, manifesting in the form of male and female in union.

During this bardo, we vividly experience the power of karmic cause and effect. Just as everything is dissolving away at every moment, so it is also continually re-emerging. Everything appears again in the same old way through the force of habit.

Sometimes in the course of daily life, we can see quite clearly how an action or an emotion is going to bring about a predictable result, and there is a certain moment when it could be averted.

Usually, we are so attached to our habitual ways that we just let them take their inevitable course. We believe that this is what we are, this is our personality, and we are afraid of letting go into the unknown.

Source: Based on Fremantle, Francesca. Luminous Emptiness. Shambhala. Kindle Edition.

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