Another translation of the root verses of the six bardos is as follows:

[1]

O now, when the Birthplace Bardo upon me is dawning!

Abandoning idleness – there being no idleness in [a devotee’s] life –Entering into the Reality undistractedly, listening, reflecting, and meditating,

Carrying on to the Path [knowledge of the true nature of] appearances and of mind, may the Tri-Kāya be realized:

Once that the human form has been attained,

May there be no time [or opportunity] in which to idle it [or human life] away.

[2]

O now, when the Dream Bardo upon me is dawning!

Abandoning the inordinate corpse-like sleeping of the sleep of stupidity,

May the consciousness undistractedly be kept in its natural state;

Grasping the [true nature of] dreams, [may I] train [myself] in the

Clear Light of Miraculous Transformation:

Acting not like the brutes in slothfulness,

May the blending of the practising of the sleep [state] and actual [or waking] experience be highly valued [by me].

[3]

O now, when the Dhyāna Bardo upon me is dawning!

Abandoning the whole mass of distractions and illusions,

May [the mind] be kept in the mood of endless undistracted Samādhi,

May firmness both in the visualizing and in the perfected [stages] be obtained:

At this time, when meditating one-pointedly, with [all other] actions put aside,

May I not fall under the power of misleading, stupefying passions.

[4]

O now, when the Bardo of the Moment of Death upon me is dawning!

Abandoning attraction and craving, and weakness for all [worldly things],

May I be undistracted in the space of the bright [enlightening] teachings,

May I [be able to] transfuse myself into the heavenly space of the Unborn:

The hour hath come to part with this body composed of flesh and blood;

May I know the body to be impermanent and illusory.

[5]

O now, when the Bardo of the Reality upon me is dawning,

Abandoning all awe, fear, and terror of all [phenomena],

May I recognize whatever appears as being mine own thought-forms,

May I know them to be apparitions in the Intermediate State;

[It has been said], ‘There arrives a time when the chief turning-point is reached;

Fear not the bands of the Peaceful and Wrathful,

Who are thine own thought-forms.’

[6]

O now, when the Bardo of [taking] Rebirth upon me is dawning!

One-pointedly holding fast to a single wish,

[May I be able to] continue the course of good deeds through repeated efforts;

May the womb-door be closed and the revulsion recollected:

The hour has come when energy and pure love are needed;

[May I] cast off jealousy and meditate upon the Guru, the Father-Mother.

—ooo000ooo—

[‘O] procrastinating one, who thinks not of the coming of death,

Devoting yourself to the useless doings of this life,

Improvident are you in dissipating your great opportunity;

Mistaken, indeed, will your purpose be now if you return empty-handed [from this life]:

Since the Holy Dharma is known to be your true need,

Will you not devote [yourself] to the Holy Dharma even now?’

Epilogue

Thus say the Great Adepts in devotion.

If the chosen teaching of the guru be not borne in mind,

Will you not be acting even as a traitor to yourself?

It is of great importance that these Root Words be known.

Source: Based on Baldock, John, ed. The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Manuscript of the ‘Bardo Thödol’. Translated by Lāma Kazi Dawa-Samdup. Introduction by John Baldcock. London: Arcturus Publishing, 2009. [A few Old English words in the original have been changed for readability.]

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