Bardo, The Intermediate State:
Bardo is an abstract concept. There are no actual images of the bardo. Deity figures and mandala-like shapes are used to convey the ideas of the state between death and rebirth.
The 'Terton' Karma Lingpa (1326–1386), in the 14th century, is credited with the discovery of the 'treasure text' known as the Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo (Tibetan Book of the Dead).
The assembly mandala of Bardo deities depicts a perfected state of beings and the central deities within, symbolizes the perfected states of the meditators' own awareness, psycho-physical aggregates, elemental properties and sensory and mental process.
The peaceful deities symbolize the natural purity of these fundamental components of beings while the wrathful deities are the transformative aspects of the energies. The outer deities of these mandalas are the mode of activities of an enlightened being.
Who are counted among the forty-two peaceful deities, are:
- Achala, guarding the East Gate (Vijaya or Mahabala)
- Yamantaka, guarding the South Gate
- Hayagriva, guarding the West Gate
- Amritakundali, guarding the North Gate
2. Yamantaka, guarding the South Gate. Yamantaka literally The Destroyer or Slayer of Yama, the Lord of Death, is a wrathful form of Manjushri.
3. Hayagriva, guarding the West Gate. Hayagriva is the wrathful manifestation of Avalokiteshvara who symbolizes enlightened speech, usually depicted as red in colour and with a horse's head protruding from his crown.
4. Amritakundali, guarding the North Gate. In Buddhist thought, Amritakundalin is seen as the dispenser of Amrita, the celestial nectar of immortality. Amritakundali (Buddhist Deity) one of the main and earliest Buddhist Yoginītantras.
He has three faces and six arms, is fierce and appears black like the newly split antimony; he is surrounded by a garland of flames, he is cruel, and he is endowed with reddish-brown eyes; He is crushing the Great Obstacle(s) under his feet; his fist is raised, holding a hatchet; with his left hands he holds a club, a Vajra and a noose. His forefinger is threatening all evil beings.
The Four Female Gate Keepers
Who are counted among the forty-two peaceful deities, are:
1. Ankusha also called 'Horse Face' or 'Iron Hook', guarding the east gate and in union with Vijaya or Achala.
2. Pasha also called 'Sow Face' or 'the Noose', guarding the south gate and in union with Yamantaka.
3. Shrinkhala also called 'Lion Face' or 'Iron Chain', guarding the west gate and in union with Hayagriva.
4. Ghanta also called 'Wolf Face' or 'the Bell', guarding the north gate and in union with Amritakundali.
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Aspiration For Bodhichitta
For those in whom the precious Bodhichitta has not arisen
May it arise and not decrease
But increase further and further.
Dedication of Merit
By this merit may we obtain omniscience then.
Having defeated the enemies wrong-doings.
May we liberate migratory from the ocean of existence.
With its stormy waves of birth, old age, sickness and death.
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