Welcome to the 3rd installment of writings on the Tibetan teachings of the Bardos. You can find the 1st installment HERE and the 2nd HERE.
Coming Into Existence
Today, I will be sharing the Tibetan view on how we come into being. This is important to understand because when we die, we take the reverse path. So understanding one is understanding the other.
Space
First there is simply space. This space contains mind…or perhaps it is more accurate to say that space is mind. Up until receiving this transmission, I had compartmentalized the concept of space from mind. I had a concept of mind, the thing to observe in meditation, as the thing that is always full of thought, ideas, concepts, reasons, etc. Now I understand the mind itself is that purely empty expanse in which all such mental stuffs arise.
Karmic Winds
In that emptiness, the dance of the elements commences starting with a karmic wind or breath that stirs as a result of the grace and compassion of the gods. This breath then becomes fire (passion) which expands and ripples out, becoming water (blood/fluids) which then hardens, turning into earth and becoming flesh or matter.
Manifestation
From there, things become physical as the heart forms as the basis of our internal world, the navel develops our connection to the outer world (think umbilical cord), and each of the elements take their home in our various organs: air in the lungs, fire in the liver, water in the kidneys, and earth in the spleen. The senses develop as doorways between the inner and outer worlds.
This is perhaps a simplification of something far more complex, but you get the poetic idea. There is chain of events and all conditions must be met for life to come into being. It might not be ‘scientific’ according to Western standards, but it does not dismiss the miraculous mystery of life, as science often does, reducing life to a sterile, tiny pocket of limited understanding in the vast spaciousness of the mind.
So next time, we will begin to look at this process in reverse.
About the Author:
Beth Ciesco is your Selfcare Specialist, a certified yoga teacher and meditation facilitator. Check out the rest of the website to learn more about Restorative Healing Yoga, Mirror Meditation, E-Motion Alchemy, and Voicework as capital S Selfcare tools. You can also follow her on these sites:
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