# psychedelic experience a manual based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead Timothy Leary 1920 1996

## Page 1

THE
PSYCHEDELIC
EXPERIENCE
A MANUAL BASED ON THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
TIMOTHY LEARY, Ph.D.
RALPH METZNER, Ph.D.
RICHARD ALPERT, Ph.D.
The authors were engaged in a program of experiments
with LSD and other psychedelic drugs at Harvard University,
until sensational national publicity, unfairly concentrating
on student interest in the drugs, led to the suspension
of the experiments. Since then, the authors
have continued their work without
academic auspices

---

## Page 5

THE
PSYCHEDELIC
EXPERIENCE

---

## Page 7

THE
PSYCHEDELIC
EXPERIENCE
A MANUAL BASED ON THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
TIMOTHY LEARY, Ph.D.
RALPH METZNER, Ph.D.
RICHARD ALPERT, Ph.D.
UNIVERSITY BOOKS ^^^
Wew Hyde Park, New York
<SE^
Nt

---

## Page 8

FIRST PRINTING AUGUST 1964
SECOND PRINTING SEPTEMBER 1964
THIRD PRINTING AUGUST 1965
FOURTH PRINTING MARCH 1966
FIFTH PRINTING JANUARY 1969
SIXTH PRINTING NOVEMBER 1969
SEVENTH PRINTING MAY 1970
EIGHTH PRINTING JANUARY 1971
PSYCHEDELIC MONOGRAPH
I
The first in a series of monographs, edited by Dr. Ralph Metzner.
COPYRIGHT © 1964 BY TIMOTHY LEARY, RALPH METZNER. RICHARD ALPERT
Library of Congress Catalog Number: 6419705
Printed
in the United States of America
Cover
illustration:
Hevajra Buddha
in
ecstatic
union
with
his Shakti.
Gilded
bronze
of the
18th
century. Calcutta museum. Photo by Allen Atwell. Endpapers: details from drawing by Bruce Conner.
The edition of The Tibetan Book of the Dead used
in this adaption was published by Oxford Univer-
sity
Press: The Tibetan Book
of the Dead
or The After-Death
Experiences on
the Bardo
Plane,
according to Lama
Kazi Dawa-Samdup's English
rendering. Compiled and edited by W.
Y. Evans-
Wentz.
Grateful acknowledgment
is made
to
Mr.
Evans-Wentz
to use
his
material.
This work
is
referred to hereinafter as "Evans-Wentz."

---

## Page 9

This version of THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
is dedicated,
to
ALDOUS HUXLEY
July 26, 1894 -
November 22, 1963
with profound admiration and gratitude.
"If you
started
in the wrong way,"
I
said
in answer
to the
investigator's questions,
"everything that happened would be
a
proof
of the conspiracy
against
you.
It would
all
be
self-
validating. You couldn't draw a breath without knowing
it was
part of the plot."
"So you think you know where madness lies?"
My answer was a convinced and heartfelt, "Yes."
"And you couldn't control
it?"
"No
I couldn't control
it.
If one began with
fear and hate as
the
major
premise,
one
would
have
to
go
on
to
the
con-
clusion."
"Would you be able," my wife asked, "to fix your attention on
what The Tibetan Book of the Dead calls the Clear Light?"
I was doubtful.
"Would
it keep the
evil away,
if you could
hold
it? Or would
you not be able to hold it?"
I
considered
the
question
for some
time.
"Perhaps,"
I
an-
swered at last, "perhaps
I could — but only
if there were some-
body there to
tell me about the Clear
Light. One couldn't do
it by oneself. That's the point,
I suppose, of the Tibetan
ritual
— somebody sitting there
all the time and telling you what's
what."
(DOORS OF PERCEPTION,
57-58)

---

## Page 10

Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2012
http://archive.org/details/psychedelicexperOOIear

---

## Page 11

CONTENTS
I.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
11
A Tribute to W. Y. Evans-Wentz
17
A Tribute to C. G. Jung
19
A Tribute to Lama Anagarika Govinda
27
II.
THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
First Bardo:
The Period of Ego-loss or Non-game Ecstasy
35
Part
one:
The
primary
clear
light
35
Part
two:
The secondary
clear
light
41
Second
Bardo:
The
Period
of
Hallucinations
47
Introduction
47
Second
Bardo
explanation
48
Vision
1:
The
source
53
Vision
2:
The
internal
flow
of
archetypal
processes
54
Vision
3:
The
fire-flow
of
internal
unity
57
Vision
4:
The
wave-vibration
structure
of
external
forms
61
Vision
5:
The
vibratory waves
of
external
unity
64
Vision
6:
"The
retinal
circus"
67
Vision
7:
"The
magic
theatre"
69
The wrathful
visions
73
Conclusion
of Second
Bardo
75
Third
Bardo:
The
Period
of
Re-Entry
77
Introduction
77
General
description
of the Third Bardo
79
Re-entry visions
83
The
all-determining
influence
of thought
85
The judgment vision
87
Sexual
visions
89
Methods
of preventing the
re-entry
90
Method
of choosing
the
post-session
personality
91
General Conclusion
93

---

## Page 12

SOME TECHNICAL COMMENTS ABOUT
PSYCHEDELIC SESSIONS
Use
of this manual
97
Planning
a
session
99
Drugs and dosages
101
Preparation
103
Setting
106
The psychedelic guide
108
Composition
of the group
111
Follow-up
112
INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING A
PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
First Bardo
Instructions
115
Second
Bardo
Preliminary
Instructions
119
Instructions for Vision
1
123
Instructions for Physical Symptoms
125
Instructions for Vision 2
127
Instructions for Vision 3
129
Instructions for Vision 4
131
Instructions for Vision 5
133
Instructions for Vision 6
135
Instructions for Vision 7
137
Instructions for the wrathful visions
139
Third Bardo Preliminary Instructions
141
Instructions for the re-entry visions
145
Instructions for the influence of thought
147
Instructions for the judgment vision
149
Instructions for the sexual vision
151
Four methods of preventing the re-entry
153
Meditation on the Buddha
153
Concentration on good games
153
Meditation on illusion
155
Meditation on void
157
Instructions for choosing a post-session personality
159

---

## Page 13

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

---

## Page 15

I.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
A psychedelic experience
is a journey
to new realms
of consciousness.
The scope and content
of the experience
is
limitless, but
its characteristic
features are the transcendence of verbal concepts, of space-time dimensions,
and
of the ego or identity. Such experiences
of enlarged consciousness can
occur
in a variety of ways:
sensory deprivation, yoga exercises,
disciplined
meditation, religious or aesthetic ecstasies, or spontaneously. Most recently
they have become available to anyone through the ingestion of psychedelic
drugs such as LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, DMT, etc.*
Of course, the drug does not produce the transcendent experience.
It
merely acts as a chemical key — it opens the mind, frees the nervous system
of its ordinary patterns and structures. The nature of the experience depends
almost
entirely
on
set and
setting.
Set
denotes
the
preparation
of
the
individual,
including
his
personality
structure and
his mood
at
the
time.
Setting is physical — the weather, the room's atmosphere; social — feelings of
persons present towards one another; and cultural — prevailing views as to
what
is real. It is for this reason that manuals or guide-books are necessary.
Their purpose
is to enable a person to understand the new
realities
of the
expanded consciousness,
to serve as road maps
for new
interior
territories
which modern
science has made
accessible.
Different
explorers
draw
different
maps.
Other
manuals
are
to
be
This
is the statement
of an
ideal, not an actual
situation, in
1964. The psychedelic
drugs are in the United States classified as "experimental" drugs. That
is, they are not
available on a prescription basis, but only to "qualified investigators." The Federal Food
and Drug
Administration
has
defined
"qualified
investigators"
to mean
psychiatrists
working in a mental
hospital
setting, whose
research
is sponsored by either state
or
federal agencies.
11

---

## Page 16

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
written based on
different models — scientific,
aesthetic,
therapeutic. The
Tibetan model, on which this manual is based, is designed to teach the person
to
direct and
control awareness
in such
a way
as
to
reach
that
level
of
understanding variously called liberation, illumination, or enlightenment.
If
the manual
is read
several times before
a
session
is attempted, and
if
a
trusted person
is there to remind and refresh the memory
of the voyager
during the experience, the consciousness will be freed from the games which
comprise
"personality"
and
from
positive-negative
hallucinations
which
often accompany states
of expanded awareness. The
Tibetan Book
of
the
Dead was called in its own language the Bardo Thbdol, which means "Libera-
tion by Hearing on the After-Death
Plane." The book
stresses over and
over that the free consciousness has only to hear and remember the teachings
in order to be liberated.
The
Tibetan Book
of
the Dead
is
ostensibly
a book
describing
the
experiences to be expected at the moment of death, during an intermediate
phase lasting forty-nine
(seven times seven)
days, and during
rebirth
into
another bodily frame. This however
is merely the exoteric framework which
the Tibetan Buddhists used to cloak their mystical teachings. The language
and symbolism
of
death
rituals
of Bonism,
the
traditional
pre-Buddhist
Tibetan
religion, were
skillfully blended
with
Buddhist
conceptions. The
esoteric meaning, as
it has been interpreted in this manual,
is that
it
is death
and
rebirth
of the ego that
is described, not
of the body. Lama Govinda
indicates this clearly
in his introduction when he writes:
"It
is a book for
the
living as well as for the dying." The book's esoteric meaning
is often
concealed beneath many layers of symbolism. It was not intended for general
reading. It was designed to be understood only by one who was to be initiated
personally by
a guru
into the Buddhist
mystical
doctrines,
into the
pre-
mortem-death-rebirth experience. These doctrines have been kept a closely
guarded secret for many centuries, for fear that naive or careless application
would do harm.
In
translating such an
esoteric
text,
therefore,
there
are
12

---

## Page 17

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
two steps:
one, the rendering of the original text into English; and two, the
practical interpretation of the text for
its uses. In publishing this practical
interpretation
for use
in the
psychedelic drug
session, we
are
in
a
sense
breaking with the tradition of secrecy and thus contravening the teachings
of the lama-gurus.
However,
this
step
is
justified on
the grounds
that
the manual
will
not be understood by anyone who has not had
a consciousness-expanding
experience and that there are signs that the lamas themselves,
after
their
recent diaspora, wish
to make
their teachings
available
to
a wider
public.
Following the Tibetan model then, we distinguish three phases
of the
psychedelic experience. The first period (Chikhai Bardo)
is that of complete
transcendence — beyond words, beyond space-time, beyond
self. There are
no visions, no sense of self, no thoughts. There are only pure awareness and
ecstatic freedom from
all game (and biological)
involvements.* The second
lengthy period involves
self, or external game reality (Chonyid Bardo) — in
sharp exquisite clarity or in the form of hallucinations (karmic apparitions).
The
final period (Sidpa Bardo)
involves the return to routine game reality
and the
self. For most persons the second
(aesthetic or hallucinatory) stage
is the longest. For the initiated the
first stage
of illumination lasts longer.
For the unprepared, the heavy game players, those who anxiously
cling
to
their egos, and for those who take the drug in a non-supportive setting, the
struggle to regain reality begins early and usually lasts to the end
of their
session.
Words like these are static, whereas the psychedelic experience
is fluid
and ever-changing. Typically the
subject's consciousness
flicks
in and out
of these three levels with rapid oscillations. One purpose of this manual
is
* "Games"
are
behavioral
sequences
defined by
roles,
rules,
rituals,
goals,
strategies,
values,
language,
characteristic
space-time
locations
and
characteristic
patterns
of
movement. Any
behavior
not
having
these
nine
features
is non-game:
this
includes
physiological
reflexes, spontaneous play, and transcendent awareness.
13

---

## Page 18

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
to enable the person
to
regain the transcendence
of
the
First Bardo and
to
avoid
prolonged entrapments
in
hallucinatory
or ego-dominated game
patterns.
The
Basic
Trusts
and
Beliefs. You
must
be
ready
to
accept
the
possibility that there
is a limitless range of awarenesses for which we now
have no words; that awareness can expand beyond the range of your ego,
your self, your familiar identity, beyond everything you have learned, beyond
your notions of space and time, beyond the differences which usually separate
people from each other and from the world around them.
You must remember
that
throughout human
history,
millions
have
made
this voyage. A few (whom we
call mystics, saints or buddhas) have
made this experience endure and have communicated
it to their fellow men.
You must remember,
too,
that the experience
is
safe
(at the very
worst,
you will end up the same person who entered the experience), and that
all
of the dangers which you have feared are unnecessary productions
of your
mind. Whether you experience heaven
or
hell, remember
that
it
is your
mind which creates them. Avoid grasping the one or fleeing the other. Avoid
imposing the ego game on the experience.
You must try
to maintain
faith and trust
in the potentiality
of your
own brain and the billion-year-old
life
process. With your ego
left behind
you, the brain can't go wrong.
Try
to keep
the memory
of a
trusted
friend
or
a
respected
person
whose name can serve as guide and
protection.
Trust your divinity, trust your brain, trust your companions.
Whenever in doubt, turn
off your mind,
relax,
float downstream.
After reading
this
guide, the prepared person
should be
able,
at
the
very beginning
of his experience,
to move directly to a state
of non-game
ecstasy and deep
revelation. But
if you are not well prepared,
of
if there
is game
distraction around
you, you
will
find
yourself dropping
back.
If
14

---

## Page 19

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
this happens, then the instructions in Part IV should help you regain and
maintain liberation,
(p.
115
ff)
"Liberation in this context does not necessarily imply
(especially in the case
of the
- average person)
the Liberation of Nirvana, but chiefly a liberation of
the
life-flux' from the ego, in such manner as will afford the greatest possible
consciousness and consequent happy
rebirth. Yet
for the very experienced
and very highly efficient person, the [same] esoteric process of Transference"
can be. according to the lama-gurus, so employed as to prevent any break
in the flow of the stream of consciousness, from the moment of the ego-loss
to the moment of a conscious rebirth
'eight hours later). Judging from the
translation made by the late Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup, of an old Tibetan
manuscript containing practical directions for ego-loss
states, the ability to
maintain a non-game ecstasy throughout the entire experience
is possessed
only by persons trained in mental concentration, or one-pointedness of mind,
to such a high degree of proficiency as to be able to control
all the mental
functions and
to shut out the
distractions
of the outside world."
(Evans-
Wentz,
p.
86, note 2)
This manual
is divided into four parts. The
first part
is introductory.
The second
is a step-by-step description
of a psychedelic experience based
directly on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. The third part contains practical
suggestions on how to prepare
for and conduct a psychedelic session. The
fourth part contains
instructive passages adapted from the Bardo
Thodol,
which may
be
read
to
the voyager
during
the
session,
to
facilitate
the
movement
of consciousness.
In
the remainder
of
this introductory
section, we review
three com-
mentaries on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, published with the Evans-Wentz
edition.
These
are
the
introduction by Evans-Wentz
himself,
the
distin-
guished translator-editor
of four
treatises on Tibetan mysticism;
the com-
mentary by Carl Jung, the Swiss psychoanalyst; and by Lama Govinda, an
initiate of one of the principal Buddhist orders of Tibet.
*Readers interested in a more detailed discussion of the process of "Transference" are
referred
to Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines, edited by W. Y. Evans-Wentz. Oxford
University Press, 1958.
15

---

## Page 21

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
A TRIBUTE TO W.
Y. EVANS-WENTZ
"Dr.
Evans-Wentz, who
literally
sat
at
the
feet
of
a Tibetan
lama
for
years,
in
order
to
acquire
his wisdom
.
.
. not
only
displays
a
deeply
sympathetic
interest
in
those
esoteric
doctrines
so
characteristic
of
the
genius of the East, but likewise possesses the rare faculty
of making them
more or less intelligible to the layman."*
W.
Y. Evans-Wentz
is a great scholar who devoted
his mature years
to the role of bridge and shuttle between Tibet and the west:
like an RNA
molecule
activating the
latter with the coded message
of the
former. No
greater tribute could be paid to the work
of
this academic
liberator than
to base our psychedelic manual upon his insights and to quote directly his
comments on "the message of this book."
The message
is, that the Art of Dying
is quite as important as the Art of
Living
(or
of Coming
into
Birth),
of which
it
is
the complement and
summation;
that the future
of being
is dependent, perhaps
entirely, upon
a rightly controlled death, as the second part of this volume,
setting forth
the Art of Reincarnating, emphasizes.
The
Art
of
Dying,
as
indicated
by
the
death-rite
associated
with
initiation into the Mysteries of Antiquity, and referred to by Apuleius, the
Platonic
philosopher,
himself an
initiate, and by many
other
illustrious
initiates, and as The Egyptian Book of the Dead suggests, appears to have
been far better known to the ancient peoples inhabiting the Mediterranean
countries than
it
is now by their descendants in Europe and the Americas.
To those who had passed through the secret experiencing of pre-mortem
"Quoted from a book review
in Anthropology on the back
of the Oxford
University
Press edition of The Tibetan Book of the Dead.
17

---

## Page 22

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
death, right dying
is initiation, conferring, as does the initiatory death-rite,
the power
to
control
consciously
the
process
of
death and
regeneration.
( Evans-Wentz,
p.
xiii-xiv)
The Oxford scholar, like his great predecessor of the eleventh century,
Marpa
("The
Translator"),
who
rendered
Indian
Buddhist
texts
into
Tibetan, thereby preserving them from extinction, saw the vital importance
of these doctrines and made them accessible to many. The "secret"
is no
longer hidden:
"the art of dying
is quite as important as the art of living."
18

---

## Page 23

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
A TRIBUTE TO CARL
G. JUNG
Psychology
is the systematic attempt
to
describe and
explain man's
behavior, both conscious and non-conscious. The scope of study
is broad —
covering
the
infinite variety
of human
activity and
experience;
and
it
is
long — tracing back through the history of the individual, through the history
of
his ancestors, back through the evolutionary
vicissitudes and triumphs
which have determined the current status
of the
species. Most
difficult
of
all,
the scope
of psychology
is complex,
dealing
as
it does with
processes
which are ever-changing.
Little wonder that psychologists, in the face of such complexity, escape
into
specialization and
parochial narrowness.
A psychology
is based on
the
available
data and
the
psychologists'
ability and willingness to utilize them. The behaviorism and experimentalism
of twentieth-century western psychology is so narrow as to be mostly trivial.
Consciousness
is
eliminated from
the
field
of
inquiry.
Social
application
and social meaning are largely neglected. A curious ritualism
is enacted by
a priesthood
rapidly growing
in power and numbers.
Eastern psychology, by
contrast,
offers
us
a long
history
of
detailed
observation
and
systematization
of
the
range
of
human
consciousness
along with an enormous literature
of practical methods for controlling and
changing
consciousness.
Western
intellectuals
tend
to
dismiss
Oriental
psychology. The theories
of consciousness are seen as occult and mystical.
The methods
of
investigating
consciousness
change,
such
as
meditation,
yoga, monastic
retreat, and sensory
deprivation, and are seen
as
alien
to
scientific investigation. And most damning of all in the eyes of the European
scholar,
is the
alleged
disregard
of
eastern
psychologies
for
the
practical,
behavioral and social aspects of
life. Such criticism betrays limited concepts
and the inability to deal with the available historical data on a meaningful
level. The psychologies of the east have always found practical application
19

---

## Page 24

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
in the running of the state, in the running of daily life and family. A wealth
of guides and handbooks exists: the Book of Tao, the Analects of Confucius,
the
Gita,
the
I Ching, The
Tibetan Book
of
the Dead,
to mention only
the best-known.
Eastern
psychology can be judged
in
terms
of
the
use
of
available
evidence. The scholars and observers
of China,
Tibet, and
India went as
far as their data allowed them. They lacked the findings of modern science
and
so
their metaphors seem vague and
poetic. Yet
this does not negate
their value. Indeed, eastern philosophic theories dating back four thousand
years adapt readily to the most recent discoveries
of nuclear physics,
bio-
chemistry,
genetics, and astronomy.
A major task of any present day psychology — eastern or western — is
to construct a frame
of reference
large enough
to
incorporate
the
recent
findings
of the energy sciences into a revised picture
of man.
Judged against the criterion of the use
of available
fact, the greatest
psychologists
of our century
are William James and Carl Jung.* Both
of
these men avoided the narrow paths
of behaviorism and experimentalism.
Both fought to preserve experience and consciousness as an area of scientific
research. Both kept open to the advance of scientific theory and both refused
to shut
off eastern scholarship from consideration.
Jung used for his source of data that most fertile source — the internal.
He recognized the rich meaning of the eastern message; he reacted to that
great Rorschach
inkblot, the Tao Te Ching. He wrote perceptive
brilliant
forewords to the / Ching, to the Secret of the Golden Flower, and struggled
*To properly compare Jung with Sigmund Freud we must look
at the
available data
which each man appropriated
for his explorations. For Freud
it was Darwin,
classical
thermodynamics, the Old Testament. Renaissance cultural history, and most important,
the
close
overheated atmosphere
of the Jewish
family. The broader scope
of Jung's
reference materials assures that his theories will find a greater congeniality with recent
developments in the energy sciences and the evolutionary sciences.
20

---

## Page 25

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
with the meaning of The Tibetan Book of the Dead. "For years, ever since
it was
first published, the Bardo Thodol has been my constant companion,
and to
it
I owe not only many stimulating ideas and
discoveries, but
also
many fundamental
insights.
.
. Its philosophy contains the quintessence
of
Buddhist psychological criticism; and, as such, one can truly say that
it
is
of an unexampled superiority."
The Bardo Thodol is in the highest degree psychological in its outlook; but,
with us. philosophy and theology are still in the mediaeval, pre-psychological
stage where only the assertions are listened to, explained, defended, criticized
and disputed, while the authority that makes them has, by general consent,
been deposed as outside the scope of discussion.
Metaphysical
assertions,
however,
are statements
of
the psyche, and
are therefore psychological. To the Western mind, which compensates
its
well-known feelings of resentment by a slavish regard for "rational" explana-
tions, this obvious truth seems all too obvious, or else
it
is seen as an inad-
missable negation of metaphysical
"truth." Whenever the Westerner hears
the word "psychological,"
it always sounds to him like "only psychological."
Jung draws upon Oriental conceptions of consciousness to broaden the
concept
of
"projection":
Not only the "wrathful" but also the "peaceful"
deities are conceived as
sangsdric projections of the human psyche, an idea that seems all too obvious
to the enlighted European, because
it reminds him of his own banal simplifi-
cations. But though the European can easily explain away these deities as
projections,
he would
be
quite
incapable
of
positing them
at
the same
time as real. The Bardo Thodol can do that, because, in certain of its most
essential metaphysical premises,
it has the enlightened as well as the unen-
lightened European at a disadvantage. The ever-present, unspoken assump-
tion of the Bardo Thodol
is the anti-nominal character of all metaphysical
assertions, and
also
the
idea
of
the
qualitative
difference
of
the
various
levels of consciousness and of the metaphysical realities conditioned by them.
The
background
of
this
unusual
book
is
not
the
niggardly
European
"either-or," but a magnificently affirmative "both-and." This statement may
21

---

## Page 26

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
appear objectionable to the Western philosopher,
for the West loves clarity
and
unambiguity;
consequently,
one
philosopher
clings
to
the
position,
"God is," while another clings equally fervently to the negation, "God is not."
Jung
clearly
sees
the power and breadth
of
the Tibetan model
but
occasionally he
fails
to grasp
its meaning and
application. Jung,
too, was
limited
(as we
all are)
to the social models of his
tribe. He was a psycho-
analyst,
the
father
of a
school.
Psychotherapy and
psychiatric
diagnosis
were the two applications which came most naturally
to him.
Jung misses the central concept
of the Tibetan book. This
is not
(as
Lama Govinda reminds us)
a book of the dead.
It
is a book of the dying;
which
is to say a book of the living;
it
is a book of life and how to live. The
concept
of actual physical death was an exoteric facade adopted to
fit the
prejudices
of the Bonist tradition
in Tibet. Far from being an embalmers'
guide, the manual is a detailed account of how to lose the ego; how to break
out of personality into new realms of consciousness; and how to avoid the
involuntary limiting processes
of the ego; how to make the consciousness-
expansion experience endure in subsequent daily
life.
Jung struggles with this point. He comes close but never quite clinches
it. He had nothing in his conceptual framework which could make practical
sense out of the ego-loss experience.
The Tibetan Book of the Dead, or the Bardo Thodol,
is a book of instruc-
tions for the dead and dying. Like The Egyptian Book
of
the Dead
it
is
meant
to be
a
guide
for
the dead man during
the
period
of
his Bardo
existence.
.
.
.
In
this quote Jung settles for the exoteric and misses the
esoteric. In
a later quote he seems to come closer:
.
.
. the instruction given
in the Bardo Thodol serves to recall to the dead
man the experiences of his initiation and the teachings of his guru, for the
instruction
is,
at bottom, nothing
less than an
initiation
of the dead
into
22

---

## Page 27

the Bardo
life, just as the initiation of the living was a preparation for the
Beyond. Such was the case, at
least, with
all the mystery cults in ancient
civilizations from the time of the Egyptian and Eleusinian mysteries. In the
initiation of the living, however, this "Beyond" is not a world beyond death,
but a reversal of the mind's intentions and outlook, a psychological "Beyond"
or, in Christian terms, a "redemption" from the trammels of the world and
of sin. Redemption is a separation and deliverance from an earlier condition
of darkness and unconsciousness, and leads to a condition
of illumination
and releasedness,
to victory and transcendence over everything "given."
Thus far the Bardo Thodol
is, as Dr. Evans-Wentz also feels, an initia-
tion
process whose
purpose
it
is
to
restore
to
the
soul
the
divinity
it
lost at birth.
In
still another passage Jung continues the struggle but misses again:
Nor
is the psychological use we make of
it
(the Tibetan Book)
anything
but a secondary intention, though one that is possibly sanctioned by lamaist
custom. The real purpose of this singular book
is the attempt, which must
seem very strange
to the educated European
of the twentieth century,
to
enlighten the dead on their journey through the regions of the Bardo. The
Catholic Church is the only place in the world of the white man where any
provision
is made for the souls of the departed.
In the summary
of Lama Govinda's comments which
follow we
shall
see
that
the Tibetan commentator,
freed from
the European concepts
of
Jung, moves directly to the esoteric and practical meaning
of the Tibetan
book.
In his autobiography
(written
in 1960) Jung commits himself wholly
to
the
inner
vision and
to
the wisdom and
superior
reality
of
internal
perceptions. In 1938 (when his Tibetan commentary was written) he was
moving
in
this
direction but cautiously and with
the ambivalent
reserva-
tions of the psychiatrist cum mystic.
The dead man must desperately resist the dictates of reason, as we under-
stand
it, and
give up
the supremacy
of
egohood,
regarded by
reason
as
23

---

## Page 28

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
sacrosanct. What
this means
in
practice
is
complete
capitulation
to
the
objective powers of the psyche, with all that this entails; a kind of symbolical
death, corresponding to the Judgement of the Dead in the Sidpa Bardo.
It
means the end of all conscious, rational, morally responsible conduct of
life.
and a voluntary surrender to what the Bardo Thodol calls "karmic illusion."
Karmic
illusion springs from
belief
in a
visionary world
of an extremely
irrational nature, which neither accords with nor derives from our rational
judgments
but
is
the
exclusive
product
of
uninhibited
imagination.
It
is
sheer dream
or
"fantasy," and
every well-meaning
person
will
instantly
caution
us
against
it;
nor indeed can one
see
at
first
sight what
is
the
difference
between
fantasies
of
this
kind
and
the
phantasmagoria
of
a
lunatic. Very often only a slight abaissement du niveau mental
is needed to
unleash this world of illusion. The terror and darkness of this moment has
its equivalent
in the experiences described
in the opening sections
of the
Sidpa Bardo. But the contents of this Bardo also reveal the archetypes, the
karmic images which appear first in their terrifying form. The Chonyid state
is equivalent to a deliberately induced psychosis.
.
.
.
The
transition,
then, from the Sidpa
state
to the Chonyid
state
is a
dangerous reversal of the aims and intentions of the conscious mind.
It
is
a sacrifice of the ego's stability and a surrender to the extreme uncertainty
of what must seem
like a
chaotic
riot of phantasmal
forms. When Freud
coined the phrase that the ego was "the true seat of anxiety," he was giving
voice to a very true and profound intuition. Fear of self-sacrifice lurks deep
in every ego. and this fear
is often only the precariously controlled demand
of the unconscious forces to burst out in
full strength. No one who strives
for selfhood
i individuation
)
is spared this dangerous passage, for that which
is
feared
also
belongs
to
the
wholeness
of
the
self — the
sub-human,
or
supra-human, world of psychic "dominants" from which the ego originally
emancipated
itself with enormous
effort, and
then only
partially,
for
the
sake of a more or
less illusory freedom. This liberation
is certainly a very
necessary and very heroic undertaking, but
it represents nothing
final:
it
is
merely the creation of a subject, who.
in order to find
fulfillment, has
still
to be confronted by an object. This, at
first
sight, would appear to be the
world, which
is swelled out with projections for that very purpose. Here we
seek and find our difficulties, here we seek and find our enemv. here we seek
24

---

## Page 29

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
and find what
is dear and precious to us; and
it
is comforting to know that
all
evil and
all good
is to be found out there,
in the visible object, where
it can be conquered, punished, destroyed or enjoyed. But nature herself does
not allow this paradisal state of innocence
to continue
for ever. There are,
and always have been, those who cannot help but see that the world and
its experiences are
in
the nature
of a symbol, and
that
it
really
reflects
something that lies hidden in the subject himself, in his own transubjective
reality. It is from this profound intuition, according to lamaist doctrine, that
the Chonyid state derives its true meaning, which is why the Chbnyid Bardo
is entitled "The Bardo of the Experiencing of Reality."
The reality experienced in the Chonyid state
is, as the
last section of
the corresponding Bardo teaches, the reality of thought. The "thought-forms"
appear
as
realities,
fantasy takes on
real
form, and
the
terrifying dream
evoked by karma and played out by the unconscious "dominants"
begins.
Jung would not have been surprised by professional and institutional
antagonism
to
psychedelics. He
closes
his
Tibetan commentary
with
a
poignant
political
aside:
The Bardo Thodol began by being a "closed" book, and so
it has remained,
no matter what kind of commentaries may be written upon
it. For
it
is a
book
that
will
only open
itself
to
spiritual
understanding and
this
is
a
capacity which no man
is born with, but which he can only acquire through
special training and special experience.
It
is good that such
to
all intents
and purposes "useless" books
exist. They are meant for those "queer folk"
who no longer set much store by the uses, aims, and meaning of present-day
"civilization."
To
provide
"special
training"
for
the
"special
experience"
provided
by
psychedelic
materials
is
the
purpose
of
this
version
of The
Tibetan
Book
of
the Dead.
25

---

## Page 31

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
A TRIBUTE TO LAMA ANAGARIKA GOVINDA
In the preceding section the point was made that eastern philosophy
and
psychology —
poetic,
indeterministic,
experiential,
inward-looking,
vaguely evolutionary, open-ended — is more easily adapted
to the
findings
of modern science than the
syllogistic,
certain, experimental,
externalizing
logic of western psychology. The latter imitates the irrelevant rituals of the
energy sciences but ignores the data of physics and genetics, the meanings
and implications.
Even
Carl
Jung,
the most
penetrating
of
the western
psychologists,
failed to understand the basic philosophy of the Bardo Thodol.
Quite
in contrast are the comments on the Tibetan manual by Lama
Anagarika
Govinda.
His opening statement at
first glance would cause a Judaeo-Christian
psychologist to snort in impatience. But a close look at these phrases reveals
that
they
are
the
poetic statement
of
the
genetic
situation
as
currently
described by biochemists and DNA researchers.
It may be argued that nobody can talk about death with authority who has
not died; and since nobody, apparently, has ever returned from death, how
can anybody know what death
is, or what happens after
it?
The Tibetan
will answer:
"There
is not one person,
indeed,
not one
living
being,
that has not returned from
death.
In
fact, we
all have died
many deaths, before we came into this incarnation. And what we call birth
is merely the reverse side of death,
like one of the two sides of a coin, or
like a door which we
call "entrance" from outside and "exit" from inside
a room."
The lama then
goes on
to make a second
poetic comment about the
potentialities
of the nervous system, the complexity
of the human cortical
computer.
27

---

## Page 32

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
It
is much more
astonishing
that
not
everybody remembers
his
or
her
previous death; and, because of this lack of remembering, most persons do
not believe there was a previous death. But, likewise, they do not remember
their recent birth — and yet they do not doubt that they were recently born.
They forget that active memory is only a small part of our normal conscious-
ness, and that our subconscious memory registers and preserves every past
impression and experience which our waking mind
fails to
recall.
The lama then proceeds
to
slice
directly
to
the
esoteric meaning
of
the
Bardo
Thodol — that
core
meaning
which
Jung
and
indeed
most
European Orientalists have failed to grasp.
For this reason, the Bardo Thodol, the Tibetan book vouchsafing liberation
from the intermediate state between life and re-birth, — which state men call
death, — has been couched
in symbolical
language.
It
is a book which
is
sealed with the seven seals of
silence, — not because
its knowledge should
be
withheld
from
the
uninitiated,
but
because
its
knowledge would
be
misunderstood, and,
therefore, would tend to mislead and harm those who
are
unfitted
to
receive
it. But
the
time has come
to break
the
seals
of
silence;
for the human race has come to the juncture where
it must decide
whether
to be content with
the subjugation
of
the material
world,
or
to
strive after the conquest of the spiritual world, by subjugating selfish desires
and transcending self-imposed limitations.
The lama next
describes
the
effects
of consciousness-expansion
tech-
niques. He is talking here about the method he knows — the Yogic — but his
words are equally applicable to psychedelic experience.
There are those who,
in virtue of concentration and other yogic
practices,
are able to bring the subconscious into the realm of discriminative conscious-
ness and,
thereby,
to draw upon the unrestricted treasury of subconscious
memory, wherein are stored the records not only of our past lives but the
records of the past of our race, the past of humanity, and of all pre-human
forms
of
life,
if not of the very consciousness that makes
life possible
in
this universe.
28

---

## Page 33

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
If. through some
trick
of nature, the
gates of an
individual's subcon-
sciousness were suddenly
to
spring open,
the unprepared mind would be
overwhelmed
and
crushed.
Therefore,
the
gates
of
the
subconscious
are
guarded, by all initiates, and hidden behind the veil of mysteries and symbols.
In
a
later
section
of
his foreword
the lama
present
a more
detailed
elaboration of the inner meaning of the Thodol.
If the Bardo Thodol were to be regarded as being based merely upon folklore,
or
as
consisting
of
religious
speculation about death and
a
hypothetical
after-death state,
it would be of interest only to anthropologists and students
of religion. But the Bardo Thodol
is far more.
It
is a key to the innermost
recesses
of the human mind, and a guide
for
initiates, and
for those who
are seeking the spiritual path of liberation.
Although the Bardo Thodol is at present time widely used in Tibet as
a breviary, and read or recited on the occasion of death, — for which reason
it has been aptly called "The Tibetan Book of the Dead" — one should not
forget that
it was originally conceived to serve as a guide not only for the
dying and the dead, but for the living as well. And herein lies the justification
for having made The Tibetan Book of the Dead accessible to a wider public.
Notwithstanding
the
popular
customs
and
beliefs
which,
under
the
influence
of age-old
traditions
of pre-Buddhist
origin, have grown around
the profound revelations of the Bardo Thodol,
it has value only
for those
who practise and realize its teaching during their life-time.
There are two things which have caused misunderstanding. One
is that
the teachings seem to be addressed to the dead or the dying; the other that
the
title contains the expression "Liberation through Hearing"
(in Tibetan,
Thos-grol
)
. As a
result,
there has arisen the
belief that
it
is
sufficient
to
read or to recite the Bardo Thodol in the presence of a dying person, or even
of a person who has just died,
in order to effect his or her liberation.
Such misunderstanding could only have arisen among those who do not
know that it is one of the oldest and most universal practices for the initiate
to go through the experience of death before he can be spiritually reborn.
Symbolically he must die to his past, and to his old ego, before he can take
his place in the new spiritual
life into which he has been initiated.
29

---

## Page 34

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
The dead or the dying person
is addressed in the Bardo Thodol mainly
for
three
reasons:
(1)
the
earnest
practitioner
of
these
teachings
should
regard every moment of his or her
life as
if
it were the
last;
(2) when a
follower of these teachings
is actually dying, he or she should be reminded
of the experiences at the time of initiation, or of the words
(or mantra)
of
the guru, especially
if the dying one's mind lacks alertness during the critical
moments; and
(3)
one who
is
still
incarnate should
try
to surround the
person dying, or just dead, with loving and helpful thoughts during the first
stages of the new, or afterdeath, state of existence, without allowing emotional
attachment to interfere or to give rise to a state of morbid mental depression.
Accordingly, one function of the Bardo Thodol appears to be more to help
those who have been
left behind
to adopt
the
right attitude towards
the
dead and towards the fact of death than to assist the dead, who, according
to Buddhist belief, will not deviate from their own karmic path.
.
.
.
This proves that we have to do here with life itself and not merely with
a mass for the dead, to which the Bardo Thodol was reduced in later times
Under the
guise of a science
of death, the Bardo Thodol reveals the
secret of
life; and therein
lies its spiritual value and
its universal appeal.
Here then is the key to a mystery which has been passed down for over
2,500
years — the
consciousness-expansion
experience — the
pre-mortem
death and
rebirth
rite. The Vedic sages knew the
secret;
the Eleusinian
initiates knew
it;
the Tantrics knew
it.
In
all
their esoteric writings they
whisper the message:
it is possible to cut beyond ego-consciousness, to tune
in on
neurological
processes which
flash by
at
the speed
of
light, and to
become aware of the enormous treasury of ancient racial knowledge welded
into the nucleus of every
cell
in your body.
Modern psychedelic chemicals provide a key to this forgotten realm of
awareness. But just as
this manual without the psychedelic awareness
is
nothing but an exercise in academic Tibetology, so, too, the potent chemical
key
is of little value without the guidance and the teachings.
Westerners do not accept the existence of conscious processes for which
30

---

## Page 35

GENERAL INTRODUCTION
they have no operational term. The attitude which
is prevalent
is: — if you
can't label
it. and
if
it
is beyond current notions of space-time and person-
ality,
then
it
is
not
open
for
investigation.
Thus we
see
the
ego-loss
experience confused with
schizophrenia. Thus we
see
present-day
psychi-
atrists solemnly pronouncing
the
psychedelic keys
as
psychosis-producing
and dangerous.
The new visionary chemicals and the pre-mortem-death-rebirth experi-
ence may be pushed once again into the shadows of history. Looking back,
we remember that every middle-eastern and European administrator
(with
the exception of certain periods in Greece and Persia)
has, during the last
three thousand years, rushed to pass laws against any emerging transcen-
dental
process,
the pre-mortem-death-rebirth
session,
its
adepts, and any
new method of consciousness-expansion.
The present moment in human history
(as Lama Govinda points out)
is
critical. Now,
for the
first time, we possess the means of providing the
enlightenment to any prepared volunteer. (The enlightenment always comes,
we remember, in the form of a new energy process, a physical, neurological
event.) For these reasons we have prepared this psychedelic version of The
Tibetan Book of the Dead. The secret is released once again, in a new dialect,
and we sit back quietly to observe whether man is ready to move ahead and
to make use of the new tools provided by modern science.
31

---

## Page 37

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD

---

## Page 39

FIRST BARDO:
THE PERIOD OF EGO-LOSS OR
NON-GAME ECSTASY
(Chikhai Bardo)
Part
I:
The Primary Clear Light Seen At the Moment of Ego-Loss.
All individuals who have received the practical teachings of this manual
will,
if the text be remembered, be set face to face with the ecstatic radiance
and will win illumination instantaneously, without entering upon hallucina-
tory
struggles and without
further
suffering on
the
age-long pathway
of
normal evolution which traverses the various worlds of game existence.
This
doctrine underlies the whole
of the Tibetan model.
Faith
is the
first step on the "Secret Pathway." Then comes illumination and with
it
certainty; and when the
goal
is won,
emancipation.
Success
implies very
unusual
preparation
in
consciousness
expansion,
as
well
as much
calm,
compassionate game playing
(good karma) on the part of the participant.
If the participant can be made to see and to grasp the idea of the empty
mind as soon as the guide reveals
it — that
is to say,
if he has the power
to die consciously — and, at the supreme moment
of quitting the ego, can
recognize the ecstasy which will dawn upon him then, and become one with
it,
all game bonds of illusion are broken asunder immediately:
the dreamer
is awakened
into
reality simultaneously with
the mighty achievement
of
recognition.
It
is best
if the guru
(spiritual
teacher), from whom the
participant
received guiding instructions,
is present, but
if the guru cannot be present,
then another experienced person; or
if the latter
is also unavailable, then a
person whom the participant trusts should be available to read this manual
35

---

## Page 40

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
without imposing any of his own games. Thereby the participant will be put
in mind of what he had previously heard of the experience and will at once
come to recognize the fundamental Light and undoubtedly obtain liberation.
Liberation
is the nervous system devoid of mental-conceptual activity.*
The mind in its conditioned state, that is to say, when limited to words and
ego games, is continuously in thought-formation activity. The nervous system
in a state of quiescence,
alert, awake but not active
is comparable to what
Buddhists
call
the
highest
state
of dhyana
(deep
meditation)
when
still
united
to
a human
body. The
conscious
recognition
of
the
Clear
Light
induces an ecstatic condition of consciousness such as saints and mystics of
the West have called illumination.
The
first
sign
is the glimpsing
of the "Clear Light
of Reality," "the
* Realization of the Voidness. the Unbecome, the Unborn, the Unmade, the Unformed,
implies
Buddhahood.
Perfect
Enlightenment — the
state
of
the
divine mind
of
the
Buddha.
It may
be
helpful
to remember
that
this ancient doctrine
is not in
conflict
with
modern
physics.
The
theoretical
physicist
and
cosmologist,
George
Gamow.
presented
in
1950
a
viewpoint
which
is
close
to
the
phenomenological
experience
described by the Tibetan lamas.
If we
imagine
history
running back
in
time, we
inevitably come
to
the
epoch
of the "big squeeze" with all the galaxies, stars, atoms and atomic nuclei squeezed,
so
to
speak,
to
a
pulp. During
that
early
stage
of
evolution, matter must
have
been
dissociated
into
its elementary components.
.
.
. We
call
this primordial mix-
ture ylem.
At this
first point in the evolution of the present cycle, according to this first-rank
physicist, there existed only the Unbecome, the Unborn, the Unformed. And this, accord-
ing
to
astrophysicists,
is the way
it
will
end;
the
silent unity
of the Unformed. The
Tibetan
Buddhists
suggest
that
the
uncluttered
intellect can
experience what
astro-
physics
confirms. The Buddha
Vairochana, the Dhyani Buddha
of the Center. Mani-
fester of Phenomena,
is the highest path to enlightenment. As the source of all organic
life,
in him
all
things
visible and
invisible have
their consummation and
absorption.
He
is
associated with the Central Realm
of the Densely-Packed,
i.e.,
the seed
of
all
universal forces and things are densely packed together. This remarkable convergence
of modern astrophysics and ancient lamaism demands no complicated explanation. The
cosmological awareness — and awareness of every other natural process — is there in the
cortex. You can confirm this preconceptual mystical knowledge by empirical observation
and measurement, but
it's
all there
inside your
skull. Your neurons "know" because
they are linked directly
to the process, are part of
it.
36

---

## Page 41

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
infallible mind
of the pure mystic
state." This
is the awareness
of energy
transformations with no imposition
of mental categories.
The duration of this state varies with the individual.
It depends upon
experience, security, trust, preparation and the surroundings. In those who
have had even a little practical experience of the tranquil state of non-game
awareness, and
in those who have happy games,
this
state can
last from
thirty minutes to several hours.
In this state, realization of what mystics call the "Ultimate Truth"
is
possible, provided that
sufficient preparation has been made by the person
beforehand.
Otherwise he cannot
benefit now, and must wander on
into
lower and
lower
conditions
of
hallucinations,
as determined by
his
past
games,
until he drops back
to routine
reality.
It
is important to remember that the consciousness-expansion process
is the reverse of the birth process, birth being the beginning of game life and
the ego-loss experience being a temporary ending of game
life. But in both
there
is a passing from one state of consciousness into another. And just as
an infant must wake up and learn from experience the nature of this world,
so likewise a person at the moment
of consciousness expansion must wake
up
in
this new
brilliant world and become
familiar with
its own
peculiar
conditions.
In those who are heavily dependent on their ego games, and who dread
giving up
their
control,
the illuminated
state endures only
so long
as
it
would take to snap a finger. In some,
it lasts as long as the time taken for
eating a meal.
If
the subject
is prepared
to
diagnose the symptoms
of ego
loss, he
needs no outside help at
this point. Not only should the person about to
give up his ego be able to diagnose the symptoms as they come, one by one,
but he should also be able to recognize the Clear Light without being set
face to face with
it by another person.
If the person
fails to recognize and
accept the onset of ego loss, he may complain of strange bodily symptoms.
37

---

## Page 42

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
This shows that he has not reached a liberated
state. Then
the guide or
friend should explain the symptoms as indicating the onset of ego
loss.
Here
is a
list of commonly reported physical sensations:
1.
Bodily pressure, which the Tibetans
call earth-sinking-into-water;
2. Clammy coldness, followed by feverish heat, which the Tibetans call
water-sinking-into-flre;
3. Body disintegrating or blown
to atoms, called
fire-sinking-into-air;
4.
Pressure on head and
ears, which Americans
call rocket-launching-
into-space;
5.
Tingling in extremities;
6.
Feelings of body melting or flowing as
if wax;
7. Nausea;
8. Trembling or shaking, beginning in pelvic regions and spreading up
torso.
These physical reactions should be recognized as signs heralding tran-
scendence. Avoid treating them as symptoms of illness, accept them, merge
with them, enjoy them.
Mild nausea occurs often with the ingestion of morning-glory seeds or
peyote, rarely with mescaline and infrequently with LSD or psilocybin.
If
the subject experiences stomach messages, they should be hailed as a sign
that consciousness is moving around in the body. The symptoms are mental;
the mind
controls
the
sensation, and
the
subject should merge with
the
sensation, experience
it fully, enjoy
it and, having enjoyed
it, let conscious-
ness flow on to the next phase. It is usually more natural to let consciousness
stay in the body — the subject's attention can move from the stomach and
concentrate on breathing, heart beat.
If this does not free him from nausea,
the guide should move the consciousness to external events — music, walking
in the garden,
etc.
The appearance of physical symptoms of ego-loss, recognized and under-
38

---

## Page 43

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
stood,
should
result
in
peaceful
attainment
of
illumination.
If
ecstatic
acceptance does not occur
(or when the period
of peaceful
silence seems
to be ending),
the
relevant
sections
of the
instructions
(p.
115)
can be
spoken in a low tone of voice in the
ear.
It
is often useful to repeat them
distinctly,
clearly impressing them upon the person
so
as
to
prevent
his
mind from wandering. Another method
of
guiding
the
experience with
a
minimum of activity
is to have the instructions previously recorded
in the
subject's own voice and to flip the tape on at the appropriate moment. The
reading
will
recall
to the mind
of the voyager the former preparation;
it
will cause the naked consciousness to be recognized as the "Clear Light of
the Beginning;"
it
will remind the subject of his unity with
this
state
of
perfect enlightenment and help him maintain
it.
If, when undergoing ego-loss, one
is familiar with this state, by virtue
of previous experience and preparation, the Wheel of Rebirth
(i.e.,
all game
playing)
is stopped, and
liberation instantaneously
is
achieved. But such
spiritual efficiency
is so very rare, that the normal mental condition of the
person
is unequal to the supreme feat of holding on to the state in which
the Clear Light shines; and there follows a progressive descent into lower
and lower states of the Bardo existence, and then rebirth. The simile
of a
needle balanced and set rolling on a thread is used by the lamas to elucidate
this condition. So long as the needle retains
its balance,
it remains on the
thread. Eventually, however, the law of gravitation
(the pull of the ego or
external stimulation)
affects
it, and
it
falls. In the realm of the Clear Light,
similarly, the mentality
of a person
in the ego-transcendent state momen-
tarily enjoys a condition of balance, of perfect equilibrium, and of oneness.
Unfamiliar with such
a
state, which
is an
ecstatic
state
of
non-ego,
the
consciousness of the average human being lacks the power to function in
it.
Karmic
(i.e., game)
propensities becloud
the
consciousness-principle with
thoughts
of
personality,
of
individualized
being,
of
dualism.
Thus,
losing
equilibrium,
consciousness
falls away from the Clear
Light.
It
is thought
39

---

## Page 44

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
processes which prevent the realization
of Nirvana
(which
is the "blowing
out of the flame" of selfish game desire)
; and so the Wheel of Life continues
to turn.
All or some of the appropriate passages in the instructions (p 107-115)
may be read to the voyager during the period of waiting for the drug to take
effect, and when the
first symptoms of ego-loss appear. When the voyager
is clearly in a profound ego-transcendent ecstasy, the wise guide will remain
silent.
40

---

## Page 45

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
Part
II:
The Secondary Clear Light Seen
Immediately After Ego-Loss.
The preceding section describes how the Clear Light may be recognized
and
liberation
maintained. But
if
it becomes apparent
that
the Primary
Clear Light has not been recognized, then
it can certainly be assumed there
is dawning what
is called the phase of the Secondary Clear Light. The first
flash
of
experience
usually
produces
a
state
of
ecstasy
of
the
greatest
intensity. Every cell in the body
is sensed as involved in orgastic creativity.
It may be helpful
to describe
in more
detail some
of the phenomena
which
often accompany
the moment
of
ego-loss. One
of
these might be
called "wave energy flow." The individual becomes aware that he
is part of
and surrounded by a charged field of energy, which seems almost electrical.
In order
to maintain
the
ego-loss
state
as long
as
possible,
the prepared
person
will relax and allow the forces
to flow through him. There are two
dangers to avoid:
the attempt to control or to rationalize
this energy flow.
Either
of these reactions
is indicative of ego-activity and the
First Bardo
transcendence
is
lost.
The second phenomenon might be called "biological life-flow." Here the
person becomes aware of physiological and biochemical processes; rhythmic
pulsing
activity
within
the
body.
Often
> this may
be
sensed
as
powerful
motors or generators continuously throbbing and radiating energy. An end-
less flow of cellular forms and colors flashes by. Internal biological processes
may
also be heard with
characteristic swooshing,
crackling, and pounding
noises. Again the person must resist the temptation to label or control these
processes. At
this point you are tuned
in
to areas
of the nervous system
which are inaccessible to routine perception. You cannot drag your ego into
the molecular processes of life. These processes are a billion years older than
the learned conceptual mind.
Another typical and most rewarding phase of the First Bardo involves
41

---

## Page 46

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
ecstatic energy movement felt in the spine. The base of the backbone seems
to be melting or seems on fire. If the person can maintain quiet concentration
the energy will be sensed as flowing upwards. Tantric adepts devote decades
of concentrated meditation
to the
release
of these
ecstatic energies which
they
call Kundalini, the Serpent Power. One allows the energies to
travel
upwards through
several
ganglionic centers
(chakras)
to the brain, where
they are sensed as a burning sensation
in the top
of the cranium. These
sensations are not unpleasant to the prepared person, but, on the contrary,
are accompanied by the most intense
feelings
of joy and
illumination.
Ill-
prepared subjects may interpret the experience
in pathological terms and
attempt to control
it, usually with unpleasant results.*
If the subject
fails to recognize the rushing flow of
First Bardo phe-
nomena,
liberation from the ego
is
lost. The person
finds himself slipping
back into mental activities. At this point he should try to recall the instruc-
tions
or be reminded
of them, and a second contact with these processes
can be made.
The second stage is less intense. A ball set bouncing reaches its greatest
height at the first bounce; the second bounce
is lower, and each succeeding
bounce
is
still lower until the ball comes to
rest. The consciousness at the
loss
of the ego
is
similar
to
this.
Its
first
spiritual bound,
directly upon
leaving the body-ego,
is the highest; the next
is lower. Then the force
of
karma,
(i.e., past game-playing), takes over and different forms of external
*Professor R. C. Zaehner, who as an Oriental scholar and "expert" on mysticism should
have known hetter, has published an account of how this prized experience can be lost
and distorted into hypochondriacal complaint in the ill-educated.
... I had a curious sensation in my body which reminded me of what Mr. Custance
describes as a "tingling at the base of the spine," which according to him. usually
precedes a bout of mania. It was rather like that. In the Broad Walk this sensation
occurred, but more strongly. It felt as
if something warm were surging up my body.
The sensation occurred again and again
until the climax
of the experiment was
reached ... I did not like
it at
all.
(R. C. Zaehner: Mysticism, Sacred and Profane. Oxford Univ. Press, 1957, p. 214)
42

---

## Page 47

reality
are
experienced.
Finally,
the
force
of karma
having
spent
itself,
consciousness returns
to "normal." Routines are taken up again and thus
rebirth occurs.
The
first ecstasy usually ends with a momentary flashback to the ego
condition. This return can be happy or sad, loving or suspicious, fearful or
courageous, depending on the personality, the preparation, and the setting.
This
flashback
to
the
ego-game
is
accompanied by
a
concern
with
identity. "Who am
I now? Am
I dead or not dead? What
is happening?"
You cannot determine. You see the surroundings and your companions as
you had been used to seeing them before. There is a penetrating sensitivity.
But you are on a different level. Your ego grasp is not quite as sure as it was.
The karmic hallucinations and visions have not yet started. Neither the
frightening apparitions nor the heavenly visions have begun. This
is a most
sensitive and
pregnant
period. The
remainder
of
the
experience
can
be
pushed
one way
or
another
depending upon
preparation
and
emotional
climate.
If you
are
experienced
in
consciousness
alteration,
or
if you
are
a
naturally introverted person, remember the situation and the schedule. Stay
calm and
let
the
experience
take you where
it
will. You
will
probably
re-experience the ecstasy of illumination once again;
or you may
drift into
aesthetic
or
philosophic
or
interpersonal
enlightenments.
Don't
hold
on:
let the stream carry you along.
The experienced person
is usually beyond dependence on
setting. He
can turn
off
external
pressure and return
to
illumination. An extroverted
person, dependent upon social games and outside situations may, however,
become
pleasantly
distracted
(colors,
sounds,
people).
If you
anticipate
extroverted
distraction and
if you want
to maintain
a non-game
state
of
ecstasy,
then remember
the
following
suggestions:
do not be
distracted;
try to concentrate on an ideal contemplative personage, e.g., Buddha, Christ,
Socrates,
Ramakrishna,
Einstein, Herman Hesse
or Lao
Tse:
follow
his
43

---

## Page 48

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
model as
if he were a being with a physical body waiting for you. Join him.
If this is not successful, don't fret or think about
it. Perhaps you don't
have a mystical or transcendental ideal. That means your conceptual limits
are within external games. Now that you know what the mystic experience
is, you can prepare for it next time. You have lost the content-free flow and
should now be ready to slip into exciting confrontation with external reality.
In the Second Bardo you can reach and deeply experience game revelations.
We have just anticipated the reactions of the naturally mystical intro-
vert,
the
experienced
person,
and
the
extrovert. Now
let's
turn
to
the
novitiate who shows confusion at this early stage of the sequence. The best
procedure
is to make a reassuring sign and do nothing. He
will have read
this manual and
will have some
guidepost. Leave him
alone and he
will
probably dive into his panic and master
it.
If he indicates that he wishes
guidance, repeat the instructions. Tell him what
is happening. Remind him
of his phase in the process. Urge him quietly to release his ego struggle and
drift back into contact with the Clear Light.
Preparation and guidance
of
this
sort
will
allow many
to
reach
the
illuminated state who would not be expected to recognize
it.
At this point, it is necessary to inject a word of benign warning. Reading
this manual
is extremely useful, but no words can communicate experience.
You are going to be surprised, startled and delighted. A person may have
heard a detailed description of the art of swimming and yet never had the
chance to swim. Suddenly diving into the water, he finds himself unable to
swim. So with those who have tried to learn the theory of how to experience
ego-loss,
and
have
never
applied
it.
They
cannot
maintain
unbroken
continuity of consciousness, they grow bewildered at the changed condition;
they
fail
to maintain the mystical ecstasy; they
fail
to take advantage
of
the opportunity unless upheld and directed by a guide. Even with
all that
a guide can do, they ordinarily, because of bad karma
(heavy ego games)
fail to recognize the liberation. But this
is no cause for worry. At the worst,

---

## Page 49

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
they just
slip back to shore. No one has drowned, and most of those who
have taken the voyage have been eager to try again.
Even those who have familiarized themselves with the road maps and
who previously have had illumination, may find themselves in settings where
heavy game behavior on the part
of others forces them into contact with
external
reality.
If
this happens,
recall
the
instructions. The person who
masters this principle can block out the external. The one who has mastered
control of consciousness
is independent of setting.
Again there are
those, who although previously
successful, may have
brought ego games into the session with them. They may want to provide
someone else with a particular type of experience. They may be promoting
some self goal. They may be nurturing negative or competitive or seductive
feelings towards someone
in the
session. This can quickly lead
to karmic
distortions and game hallucinations.
If this happens, recall the instructions.
Remember the unity of all beings. One to me is shame and fame. One to me
is loss or gain. Jettison your ego program and float back to the radiant bliss
of at-one-ness.
If you reach the Clear Light immediately and maintain
it, that
is best.
But
if not,
if you have slipped down
to
reality concerns, by remembering
these instructions you should be able to regain what the Tibetans
call the
Secondary Clear Light.
While on
this secondary
level, an interesting dialogue occurs between
pure transcendence and the awareness that this ecstatic vision
is happening
to
oneself. The
first radiance knows no
self, no
concepts. The secondary
experience involves a certain state of conceptual lucidity. The knowing
self
hovers within that transcendent terrain from which
it
is usually barred.
If
the instructions are remembered, external reality
will not intrude. But the
flashing in and out between pure ego-less unity, and lucid, non-game selfhood,
produces an intellectual ecstasy and understanding that
defies description.
Previous philosophic reading will suddenly take on living meaning.
45

---

## Page 50

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
Thus in this secondary stage of the First Bardo, there
is possible both
the mystic non-self and the mystic
self experience.
After you have experienced these two states, you may wish to pursue
this distinction intellectually. We are confronted here with one of the oldest
debates
in Eastern philosophy.
Is
it better to be part
of the sugar
or
to
taste the sugar? Theological controversies and their dualities are far removed
from experience. Thanks
to the experimental mysticism made
possible by
consciousness-expanding
drugs, you may have been lucky enough
to have
experienced the flashing back and forth between the two
states. You may
be lucky enough to know what the academic monks could only think about.
Here ends the First Bardo,
The Period of Ego-loss or Non-Game Ecstasy
46

---

## Page 51

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
SECOND BARDO:
THE PERIOD OF HALLUCINATIONS
(Chonyid Bardo)
Introduction
If
the
Primary
Clear
Light
is
not
recognized,
there
remains
the
possibility
of maintaining the Secondary Clear Light.
If that
is
lost, then
comes the Chonyid Bardo, the period of karmic illusions or intense hallucina-
tory mixtures of game reality.
It
is very important that the instructions be
remembered — they can have great influence and effect.
During this period, the flow of consciousness, microscopically clear and
intense,
is interrupted by fleeting attempts to rationalize and interpret. But
the normal
game-playing
ego
is
not
functioning
effectively.
There
exist,
therefore, unlimited
possibilities
for, on the one hand,
delightful sensuous,
intellectual and emotional novelties
if one
floats with the current;
and, on
the other hand,
fearful ambuscades
of confusion and
terror
if one
tries
to
impose his will on the experience.
The purpose of this part of the manual
is to prepare the person for the
choice points which arise during this stage. Strange sounds, weird sights and
disturbed visions may occur. These can awe, frighten and terrify unless one
is prepared.
The experienced person
will be able
to maintain the
recognition
that
all perceptions come from within and will be able to
sit quietly, controlling
his expanded awareness like a phantasmagoric multi-dimensional
television
set:
the most acute and
sensitive
hallucinations — visual,
auditory,
touch,
smell,
physical
and
bodily;
the
most
exquisite
reactions,
compassionate
insight into the self, the world. The key
is inaction: passive integration with
all that occurs around you.
If you try to impose your will, use your mind,
rationalize, seek explanations, you will get caught in hallucinatory whirlpools.
47

---

## Page 52

THE PSYCHEDEL.J EXPERIENCE
The motto: peace, acceptance. It is all an ever-changing panorama. You
are temporarily removed from the world of game. Enjoy
it.
The inexperienced and
those
to whom ego
control
is important may
find
this
passivity
impossible.
If you cannot remain
inactive and subdue
your
will, then the one certain
activity which can reduce panic and
pull
you out of hallucinatory mind-games is physical contact with another person.
Go to the guide or to another participant and put your head on his lap or
chest;
put your
face next
to
his and concentrate on
the movement and
sound
of
his
inspiration. Breathe deeply and
feel the
air rush
in and the
sighing release. This is the oldest form of living communication; the brother-
hood
of
breath.
The
guide's
hand
on
your
forehead may
add
to
the
relaxation.
Contact with another participant may be misunderstood and provoke
sexual hallucinations. For this reason, helping contact should be made explicit
by prearrangement. Unprepared participants may impose sexual fears or fan-
tasies on the contact. Turn them
off; they are karmic illusory productions.
The
tender,
gentle, supportive huddling
together
of
participants
is
a
natural development during the second phase. Do not try to rationalize this
contact. Human
beings
and,
for
that
matter, most
all mobile
terrestrial
creatures have been huddling together during
long, dark confused nights
for several hundred thousand years.
Breathe
in and
breathe
out with your companions. We
are
all
one!
That's what your breath
is
telling you.
Explanation of the Second Bardo
The underlying problem
of
the Second Bardo
is that any and every
shape — human,
divine,
diabolical,
heroic,
evil,
animal,
thing — which
the
human brain conjures up or the past
life
recalls, can present
itself to con-
sciousness:
shapes and forms and sounds whirling by
endlessly.
48

---

## Page 53

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
The underlying
solution — repeated again and again — is
to recognize
that your brain
is producing the visions. They do not exist. Nothing exists
except as your consciousness
gives
it
life.
You are standing on the threshold of recognizing the truth:
there
is no
reality behind any of the phenomena of the ego-loss state, save the illusions
stored up
in your own mind
either
as
accretions from game
(Sangsaric)
experience or as
gifts from organic physical nature and
its billion-year-old
past
history. Recognition
of
this truth
gives
liberation.
There
is, of course, no way of classifying the infinite permutations and
combinations of visionary elements. The cortex contains file-cards for billions
of images from the history of the person,
of the
race, and
of living forms.
Any of these, at the rate of a hundred million per second (according to neuro-
physiologists), can flood
into awareness. Bobbing around
in
this
brilliant,
symphonic sea
of imagery
is the remnant
of the conceptual mind. On the
endless watery turbulence
of the
Pacific Ocean bobs
a
tiny open mouth
shouting (between saline mouthfuls), "Order! System! Explain
all this!"
One cannot
predict what
visions
will
occur,
nor
their sequence. One
can
only
urge
the
participants
to
shut
the mouth,
breathe
through
the
nose, and turn off the fidgety, rationalizing mind. But only the experienced
person of mystical bent can do this (and thus remain
in serene enlighten-
ment). The unprepared
person
will
be
confused
or,
worse,
panicky:
the
intellectual
struggle
to control
the ocean.
In
order
to
guide
the
person,
to
help him
organize
his
visions
into
explicable
units, the Chonyid Bardo was written. There are two
sections:
(1)
Seven
Peaceful
Deities with
their symmetrically opposed
ego
traps.
(2) Eight Wrathful Deities who can be joyfully accepted as visionary pro-
ductions, or fled from in terror.
Each
of the Seven Peaceful Deities
(bisexual Father-Mother
figures)
are accompanied by consorts, attendants, lesser deities, saints, angels, heroes.
49

---

## Page 54

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
Each
of
the Wrathful
Deities
is
similarly
accompanied.
Lights,
symbolic
objects,
beautiful,
horrid,
threatening,
seething,
are
likewise
seen.
If read literally, The Tibetan Book of the Dead would have you expect
the
"Master
of
All
Visible
Shapes"
(or
his
opposite,
the
fondness
for
stupidity)
on the
first day; the "Immovable Deity
of Happiness" and
his
consort, attendants and opposite on the second,
etc. The manual
should,
of course, not be used rigidly, exoterically, but should be taken in its esoteric,
allegorical form.
Read from this perspective, we see that the lamas have listed or named
a thousand images which can
boil up in the ever-changing jeweled mosaic
of the retina
(that multi-layered swamp of billions of rods and cones,
infil-
trated, like a Persian rug or a Mayan carving, with countless multi-colored
capillaries). By
preparatory
reading
of
the manual and by
its
repetition
during
the
experience,
the
novice
is
led
via
suggestion
to
recognize
this
fantastic
retinal
kaleidoscope.
Most important, he is told that they come from within. All deities and
demons,
all heavens and hells are internal.
The student with a particular interest in Tibetan or Tantric Buddhism
should steep himself
in the text
of the Chonyid Bardo. He should obtain
colored plates of the fourteen dramas of the Bardo, and he should arrange
to have
the
guide
lead him through
the
prescribed sequence
during
the
drug
session. This
will provide an
unforgettable
series
of
liberations and
will permit the devotee to emerge from the experience "reincarnated" in the
lamaist tradition.
The aim of this manual
is to make available the general outline of the
Tibetan Book and to translate
it into psychedelic English. For
this reason
we
shall not present the
detailed sequence
of
lamaist hallucinations
but,
rather, list some apparitions commonly reported by Westerners.
50

---

## Page 55

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
Following the Tibetan Thodol, we have classified Second Bardo visions
into
seven
types:
1. The Source or Creator Vision
2. The
Internal Flow
of Archetypal Processes
3. The Fire-Flow
of Internal Unity
4. The Wave-Vibration Structure
of External Forms
5. The Vibratory Waves of External Unity
6. "The Retinal Circus"
7. "The Magic Theatre"*
Visions 2 and 3 involve closed eyes and no contact with external stimuli.
In Vision 2 the internal imagery
is primarily conceptual. The experience can
range from revelation and insight to confusion and chaos, but the cognitive,
intellectual
meaning
is
paramount.
In
Vision
3
the
internal
imagery
is
primarily emotional. The experience can range from love and ecstatic unity
to
fear,
distrust and
isolation.
Visions 4 and 5 involve open eyes and rapt attention to external stimuli,
such
as
sounds,
lights,
touch,
etc.
In
Vision
4
the
external
imagery
is
primarily conceptual and
in Vision
5 emotional
factors predominate.
The sevenfold table just defined bears some similarity to the mandalic
schema of the Peaceful Deities listed for the Second Bardo in The Tibetan
Book
of
the Dead.
*We owe the phrase
"retinal circus"
to Henri Michaux (Miserable Miracle), and the
term "magic theatre'*
to Hermann Hesse (Steppenwolf).
51

---

## Page 57

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
THE PEACEFUL VISIONS
Vision
1:
The Source*
(Eyes closed, external stimuli ignored)
The White Light,
or
First Bardo energy, may be interpreted as God
the Creator. The Spreader of the Seed. The Power which makes
all shapes
visible. Seed of all that
is. Sovereign Power. The Ail-Powerful. The Central
Sun. The One Truth. The Source of
all Organic
Life. The Divine Mother.
The Female Creative
Principle. Mother
of the Space
of Heaven. Radiant
Father-Mother. Magnificent revelations, both spiritual and philosophic, can
occur at
this point marking the highest union
of experience and
intellect.
But, because
of bad karma
(usually
religious
beliefs
of a monotheistic or
punitive nature), the
glorious
light
of the seed wisdom can produce awe
and
terror. The person
will wish
to
flee and
will beget a fondness
for the
dull white light symbolizing stupidity.
Persons from a Judaeo-Christian background conceive of an enormous
gulf between
divinity
(which
is "up there")
and the
self
("down here").
Christian
mystics'
claims
to unity with
divine radiance has always posed
problems
for theologians who are committeed to the cosmological subject-
object distinction. Most Westerners, therefore, find it difficult to attain unity
with the source-light.
If the guide ascertains that the voyager
is struggling with thoughts or
feelings
about
the
creative
source
energy,
he
can
read
the
appropriate
instructions (page 123).
*The
first Peaceful Deity listed by the Bardo Thodol
is the Bhagavan Vairochana who
occupies
the
center
of
the mandala
of
the
five
Dhyani-Buddhas.
His
attributes
of
source-power have been
translated
into those
of the monotheistic creator
of Western
religions.
53

---

## Page 58

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
Vision 2:
The Internal Flow of Archetypal Processes
(Eyes closed, external stimuli ignored; intellectual aspects)
If the undifferentiated light of the First Bardo or of the Source Energy
is
lost, luminous waves
of
differentiated forms can
flood through the con-
sciousness. The
person's mind begins
to
identify these
figures,
that
is,
to
label them and experience revelations about the
life process.*
Specifically, the subject is caught up in an endless flow of colored forms,
microbiological shapes, cellular acrobatics, capillary whirling. The cortex
is
tuned
in on molecular processes which
are completely new and
strange:
a Niagara of abstract designs; the life-stream flowing, flowing.
These visions might perhaps be described as pure sensations of cellular
and sub-cellular processes.
It
is uncertain whether they involve the retina
and /or the visual cortex,
or whether they are
flashes
of
direct, molecular
sensation in other areas of the central nervous system. They are subjectively
described
as
internal
visions.
Another class
of internal process images involves sound. Again we do
not know whether
these
sensations
originate
in
the
auditory
apparatus
and /or in the auditory cortex, or whether they are flashes of direct molecular
*Lama Govinda
tells us that Amoghasiddhi
represents "...the mysterious
activity
of
spiritual
forces, which work removed from the senses, invisible and imperceptible, with
the aim
of guiding the
individual
(or, more
properly:
all
living beings)
towards
the
maturity of knowledge and
liberation. The yellow
light of an
(inner) sun invisible
to
human eyes ... (in which the unfathomable space of the universe seems to open
itself)
for
the
serene mystic
green
of Amoghasiddhi. ... On
the
elementary
plane
this
all-
pervading power corresponds to the element air — the principle of movement and exten-
sion,
of
life and breath (prdna)." Lama Govinda:
Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism.
London:
E.
P. Dutton & Co.,
Inc.,
1959,
p.
120.
The
fifth day
of
the Bardo
Thodol
confronts
the
deceased
with
the Bhagavdn
Buddha Amoghasiddhi, Almighty Conqueror, from the green Northern realm of Success-
ful Performance of Best Actions, attended by a Divine Mother, and two Bodhisattvas
representing the mental functions of "equilibrium, immutability, and almighty power"
and "clearer of obscurations."
54

---

## Page 59

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
sensations in other areas. They are subjectively described as internal sounds:
clicking,
thudding,
clashing,
soughing,
ringing,
tapping,
moaning,
shrill
whistles.* These noises, like the visions, are direct sensations unencumbered
by mental concepts. Raw, molecular, dancing units of energy.
The mind sweeps in and out of this evolutionary stream, creating cosmo-
logical
revelations. Dozens
of mythical and Darwinian
insights
flash
into
awareness. The person is allowed to glance back down the flow of time and
to perceive how the
life energy continually manifests
itself
in forms,
tran-
sient,
always
changing,
reforming.
Microscopic
forms merge
with
primal
creative myths. The mirror of consciousness
is held up to the
life stream.
As long as the person floats with the current, he is exposed to a billion-
year lesson in cosmology. But the drag of the mind
is always present. The
tendency to impose arbitrary,
isolating order on the organic process.
Sometimes
the voyager
feels he
should
report back
his
visions. He
*The Tibetan Book includes a
brilliant discussion of internal process noises.
".
.
. innu-
merable
(other)
kinds
of musical
instruments,
filling
(with
music)
the whole world-
systems and causing them to vibrate, to quake and tremble with sounds so mighty as to
daze one's brain.
.
.
."
"Tibetan lamas, in chanting their
rituals, employ seven
(or eight)
sorts of musical
instruments:
big
drums,
cymbals
(commonly
of
brass),
conch
shells,
bells
(like
the
handbells
used
in
the
Christian Mass
Service),
timbrels,
small
clarionets
(sounding
like Highland bagpipes),
big trumpets, and human thighbone trumpets. Although the
combined sounds of these instruments are far from being melodious, the lamas maintain
that they psychically produce
in the devotee an attitude of deep veneration and
faith,
because they are the counterparts of the natural sounds which one's own body
is heard
producing when the fingers are put in the ears
to shut out external sounds. Stopping
the ears thus, there are heard a thudding sound,
like that of a big drum being beaten:
a
clashing
sound,
as
of cymbals;
a soughing
sound,
as
of a wind moving through
a
forest — as when a conch-shell
is blown;
a ringing as
of
bells; a sharp tapping sound,
as when a timbrel
is used; a moaning sound,
like that of a clarionet;
a bass moaning
sound, as
if made with a big trumpet; and a shriller sound, as of a thigh-bone trumpet.
"Not only
is this interesting as a theory of Tibetan sacred music, but
it gives the
clue to the esoteric interpretation of the symbolical natural sounds of Truth
(referred
to in the second paragraph following, and elsewhere in our text), which are said to be,
or
to proceed from, the
intellectual
faculties within the human mentality." — (Evans-
Wentz,
p. 128)
55

---

## Page 60

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
converts the
life flow into a cosmic ink-blot
test — attempts
to
label each
form. "Now
I see a peacock's
tail. Now Muslim knights
in colored armor.
Oh, now a waterfall of jewels. Now, Chinese music. Now, gem-like serpents,
etc." Verbalizations of this sort dull the light, stop the flow and should not
be encouraged.
Another trap
is that of imposing a sexual interpretation. The dancing,
playful flow of
life
is,
in the most reverent sense,
sexual. Forms merging,
spinning
together,
reproducing.
Eros
in
its
countless
manifestations. The
Tibetans refer to the female Bodhisattvas Pushpema, personification of blos-
soms, and Lasema, the "Belle", depicted holding a mirror in a coquettish
attitude. Keep the pure, spontaneous awareness of the Mirror-like Wisdom.
Laugh joyously at the tricks of the life process, forever decking out forms in
seductive, enticing patterns to keep the dance
going.
If the voyager inter-
prets the visions of Eros in terms of his personal sexual game model, and
attempts to think or plan — "what should I do? what role should
I play?" —
he
is likely to
slip down into the Third Bardo. Sexual plots dominate his
awareness,
the
flow
fades,
the mirror
tarnishes, and he
is
rudely
reborn
as a confused, thinking being.
Still
another
impasse
is
the
imposition
of
physical symptom
games
upon the biological flow. The new somatic sensations may be interpreted as
symptoms.
If
it
is new,
it must be bad. Any organ
of
the body may be
selected
as
the
focus
of the
"illness."
People whose primary
expectation
when taking a psychedelic substance
is medical,
are
particularly
likely
to
fall
into
this
trap. Medical
doctors
are,
in
fact, extremely prone and can
imagine colorful diseases and
fatal attacks.
In the case of the most widely-used psychedelics (LSD, psilocybin, etc.)
.
it
is safe to say that such bodily effects are virtually never the direct effect
of the drug. The drug acts only on the brain and activates central neural
patterns.
All physical symptoms are created by the mind. Bodily sickness
56

---

## Page 61

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
is
a
sign
that
the ego
is
fighting
to maintain
or
regain
its hold over an
outpouring of feeling, over a dissolution of emotional boundaries.
If the person complains of physical symptoms such as nausea or pain,
the guide should read him the instructions for physical symptoms (page 117).
The negative, wrathful counterpart to this vision occurs
if the voyager
reacts with fear to the powerful flow of
life forms. Such a reaction
is attri-
butable
to the cumulated
result
of game playing
(karma)
dominated by
anger or stupidity. A nightmarish hell-world may ensue. The visual forms
appear
like
a
confusing chaos
of
cheap,
ugly
dime-store
objects,
brassy,
vulgar and
useless. The person may become
terrified
at
the
prospect
of
being engulfed by them. The awesome sounds may be heard
as hideous,
clashing, oppressive, grating noises. The person will attempt to escape from
these
perceptions
into
restless
external
activity
(talking, moving
around,
etc.)
or
into conceptual,
analytic, mental
activity.
The experience
is the same, the intellectual interpretation
is
different.
Instead of revelation, there
is confusion; instead
of calm joy, there
is
fear.
The guide, recognizing the voyager to be in such a state, can help him get
free, by reading the instructions for Vision 2
(page 127).
Vision 3:
The Fire-Flow of Internal Unity
(Eyes closed, external stimuli ignored, emotional aspects)
The
First Bardo
instructions
should keep you
face-to-face
with
the
void-ecstasy. Yet there are classes of men who, having carried over karmic
conflict about
feeling-inhibition, prove unable
to hold the pure experience
beyond
all
feelings, and
slip
into emotionally toned
visions. The undiffer-
entiated energy
of
the
First Bardo
is woven
into
visionary games
in
the
form
of
intense
feelings.
Exquisite,
intense,
pulsating sensations
of unity
57

---

## Page 62

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
and
love
will be
felt;
the
negative counterpart
is
feelings
of attachment,
greed,
isolation and bodily concerns.
It comes about this way:
the pure flow of energy loses
its white void
quality
and
becomes
sensed
as
intense
feelings. An
emotional
game
is
imposed.
Incredible new physical sensations pulse through the body. The
glow
of
life
is
felt
flooding along
veins. One merges
into a unitive ocean
of orgastic,
fluid
electricity,* the endless flow of shared-life, of love.
Visions
related
to
the
circulatory system
are common. The
subject
tumbles down through
his own
arterial network. The motor
of
the heart
reverberates as one with the pulsing of
all
life. The heart then breaks, and
red
fire bleeds out to merge with
all living beings.
All living organisms are
throbbing together. One is joyfully aware of the two-billion-year-old electric
sexual dance; one is at last divested of robot clothes and limbs and undulates
in the endless chain
of
living
forms.
Dominating
this
ecstatic
state
is the feeling
of intense
love. You are
a joyful part of
all
life. The memory of former delusions of self-hood and
differentiation invokes exultant laughter.
All
the
harsh,
dry,
brittle
angularity
of
game
life
is
melted. You
drift
off — soft, rounded, moist, warm. Merged with
all
life. You may
feel
yourself
floating out and down
into
a warm
sea. Your
individuality and
autonomy of movement are moistly disappearing. Your control is surrendered
to the total organism. Blissful passivity. Ecstatic, orgiastic, undulating unity.
*The
Peaceful
Deity
of
the Bardo
Thodol
personifying
this
vision
is
the Buddha
Amitabbha, the
all-discriminating wisdom of
feeling, boundless
light,
representing
life
eternal. Lama Govinda writes that "The deep red
light
of discriminating inner vision
shines forth from his heart
.
.
. fire corresponds to him and thus, according to the ancient
traditional symbolism, the eye and the function of seeing."
(Govinda.
op.
cit..
p.
120.)
With the Bhagavan Amitabbha comes the Bodhisattva Chenrazee, embodiment of mercy
or compassion, the great pitier ever on the lookout to discover distress and to succour
the
troubled. He
is joined by the Bodhisattva "Glorious Gentle-voiced One." and the
female incarnates "song" and
"light."
58

---

## Page 63

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
All worries and concerns wash away. All
is gained as everything
is given up.
There
is organic
revelation. Every
cell
in your body
is singing
its song
of
freedom — the
entire
biological universe
is
in harmony, liberated from
the
censorship and control
of you and your restricted ambitions.
But wait! You, YOU, are disappearing into the unity. You are being
swallowed up by the ecstatic undulation. Your ego, that one tiny remaining
strand of
self, screams STOP! You are terrified by the pull of the glorious,
dazzling,
transparent,
radiant
red
light. You wrench
yourself out
of
the
life-flow, drawn by your intense attachment
to your old
desires. There
is
a
terrible
rending
as your
roots
tear
out
of
the
life matrix — a
ripping
of your
fibres and veins away from the
greater body
to which you were
attached. And when you have cut yourself
off from the fire-flow of
life the
throbbing
stops,
the
ecstasy
ceases,
your
limbs harden and
stiffen
into
angular forms, your plastic doll body has regained its orientation. There you
sit,
isolated from the stream of
life, impotent master
of your
desires and
appetites,
miserable.
While you are floating down the evolutionary river, there comes a sense
of limitless self-less power. The delight of flowing cosmic belongingness. The
astounding discovery that consciousness can tune in to an
infinite number
of organic
levels. There are billions of cellular processes in your body, each
with
its universe of experience — an endless variety of ecstasies. The simple
joys and pains and burdens of your ego represent one set of experiences — a
repetitious, dusty
set. As you
slip
into the
fire-flow
of
biological
energy,
series
after
series
of
experiential
sets
flash
by. You
are no longer encap-
sulated
in
the
structure
of ego and
tribe.
But through panic and a desire to latch on to the
familiar, you shut
off the flow, open your eyes; then the flowingness
is
lost. The potentiality
to move from one level of consciousness to another
is gone. Your fear and
desire to control have driven you to settle for one static
site of conscious-
ness. To use the Eastern or genetic metaphor, you have frozen the dance
59

---

## Page 64

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
of energy and committed yourself
to one incarnation, and you have done
it out
of
fear.
When
this happens, there are several steps which can take you back
to the biological flow (and from there to the First Bardo).
First, close your
eyes. Lie on your stomach and let your body sink through the floor, merge
with
the
surroundings.
Feel
the
hard,
square
edges
of your body
soften
and
start
to
move
in
the
bloodstream.
Let
the
rhythm
of
breathing
become
tide
flow.
Bodily
contact
is
probably
the most
effective method
of softening hardened surfaces. No movement. No body games. Close physical
contact with another invariably brings about the unity
of
fire-flow. Your
blood begins to flow into the other's body. His breathing pours into your
lungs. You both
drift down the
capillary
river.
Another form of
life process images
is the flow of auditory sensations.
The endless
series
of abstract sounds
(described
in the preceding
vision)
bounce through awareness. The emotional reaction to these can be neutral
or can involve intense feelings of unity, or of annoyed fear.
The positive reaction occurs when the subject merges with the sound
flow. The thudding drum
of the
heart
is sensed
as the
basic anthem
of
humanity. The whooshing sough
of the breath
as the rushing
river
of
all
life. Overwhelming
feelings
of
love,
gratitude and oneness funnel
into the
moment
of sound, into each note
of the biological concerto.
But, as always, the voyager may intrude his personality with
its wants
and
opinions. He may not
"like"
the
noise.
His judgmental ego may be
aesthetically offended by
the sounds
of
life. The heart thud
is,
after
all,
monotonous;
the natural music
of the inner ear, with
its
clicks and hums
and
whistles,
lacks
the
romantic
symmetries
of
Beethoven. The
terrible
separation
of "me"
from my body
occurs.
Horrible.
Out
of my
control.
Turn
it
off.
The
trained
guide can
usually
sense when
ego-attachment
threatens
to pull the person out of the unitive
flow. At
this time he can guide the
voyager by reading the instructions for Vision 3
(page 129).
60

---

## Page 65

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
Vision 4:
The Wave-Vibration Structure of External Forms
(Eyes open or rapt involvement with external stimuli; intellectual aspects)
The pure, content-free light of the First Bardo probably involves basic
electrical wave
energy.
This
is
nameless,
indescribable,
because
it
is
far
beyond any concepts which we now possess. Some future atomic physicist
may be able to classify this energy. Perhaps
it will always be ineffable for a
nervous
system
such
as
that
of homo
sapiens.
Can
an
organic
system
"comprehend"
the
vastly
more
efficient
inorganic?
At
any
event,
most
persons, even the most
illuminated,
find
it impossible
to maintain
experi-
ential contact with this void-light and
slip back to imposing mental
struc-
tures,
hallucinatory and
revelatory,
upon
the
flow.
Thus we are brought to another frequent vision which involves intense,
rapt, unitive awareness of external stimuli.
If the eyes are open, this super-
reality
effect can be
visual. The penetrating impact
of
other
stimuli can
also
set
off revelatory imagery.
It comes about this way. The subject's awareness
is suddenly invaded
by an outside stimulus. His attention
is captured, but
his
old conceptual
mind
is not functioning. But other sensitivities are engaged. He experiences
direct
sensation. The raw
"is-ness." He
sees, not
objects, but patterns
of
light waves. He
hears,
not "music"
or "meaningful"
sound, but
acoustic
waves. He
is
struck
with
the sudden
revelation
that
all
sensation and
perception are based on wave vibrations. That the world around him which
heretofore had an illusory solidity,
is nothing more than a play of physical
waves. That he
is involved in a cosmic television show which has no more
substantiality that the images on his TV picture tube.*
*The Peaceful Deity
of the Thodol personifying
this
vision
is Akshobhya. According
to Lama Govinda.
"In the
light
of the
Mirror-like Wisdom
.
.
. things
are
freed from
their "thingness." their isolation, without being deprived of their form; they are divested
of their materiality, without being dissolved, because the creative principle of the mind,
which
is at the bottom of
all form and materiality,
is recognized as the active side of
the universal Store Consciousness (alaya-vijnana), on the surface of which forms arise
and pass away, like the waves on the surface of the ocean.
.
. ." (Govinda, op. cit., p. 119.)
61

---

## Page 66

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
The atomic structure of matter is, of course, known to us intellectually,
but never experienced by the adult except in states of intense altered con-
sciousness. Learning from a physics textbook about the wave structure of
matter
is one
thing. Experiencing
it — being
in
it — with the
old,
familiar,
gross, hallucinatory comfort of "solid" things gone and unavailable,
is quite
another matter.
If these super-real visions involve wave phenomena, then the external
world
takes
on
a
radiance
and
a
revelation
that
is
staggeringly
clear.
The experienced insight that the world of phenomena exists in the form
of
waves, electronic images, can produce a sense of illuminated power. Every-
thing
is experienced as consciousness.
These exultant radiations should be recognized as productions of your
own internal processes. You should not attempt to control or conceptualize
This can come
later. There
is
the danger
of
hallucinatory
freezing. The
subject rushes back
(sometimes literally)
to the three-dimensional
reality,
convinced
of
the
fixed
"truth"
of one experienced
revelation. Many
mis-
guided mystics and many persons called insane have fallen into this ambus-
cade. This
is
like making
a
still photograph
of
a
television
pattern and
shouting that one has finally seized the truth. All
is ecstatic electric Maya,
the
two-billion-year dance
of waves. No one
part
of
it
is more
real than
another. Everything
at
all moments
is shimmering with
all
the meaning.
So
far we have considered the
positive radiance
of
clarity; but
there
are
fearful negative aspects
of the fourth
vision. When the subject senses
that his "world"
is fragmenting into waves, he may become terrified. "He,"
"me," "I"
are
dissolving! The world around me
is supposed
to
sit,
static
and dead, quietly awaiting my manipulation. But these passive things have
changed
into
a shimmering dance
of
living
energy! The Maya nature
of
phenomena
creates
panic. Where
is
the
solid
base?
Every
thing,
every
concept, every form upon which one rests one's mind collapses into electrical
vibrations lacking
solidity.
62

---

## Page 67

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
The
face
of
the
guide
or
of
one's beloved
friend becomes
a
dancing
mosaic of impulses on one's cortex. "My consciousness" has created every-
thing of which
I am conscious.
I have kinescoped my world, my loved ones,
myself. All are just shimmering energy patterns. Instead of clarity and exul-
tant power, there is confusion. The subject staggers around, grasping at elec-
tron-patterns,
striving
to
freeze them back
into the
familiar
robot
forms.
All solidity
is gone. All phenomena are paper images pasted on the glass
screen of consciousness. For the unprepared, or for the person whose karmic
residue
stresses
control, the discovery
of the wave-nature
of
all
structure,
the Maya revelation,
is a disastrous web
of uncertainty.
We have discussed only the visual aspects of the fourth vision. Auditory
phenomena
are
of
equal
importance.
Here
the
solid,
labelled
nature
of
auditory patterns
is
lost, and the mechanical impact
of sound
hitting the
eardrum
is
registered.
In some
cases, sound becomes converted
into pure
sensation,
and
synesthesia
(mixture
of
sense
modalities)
occurs.
Sounds
are experienced as colors. External sensations hitting the cortex are recorded
as molecular events,
ineffable.
The most
dramatic
auditory
visions
occur
with
music.
Just
as any
object
radiates
a pattern
of
electrons and can become
the
essence
of
all
energy, so can any note
of music be sensed as naked energy trembling
in
space,
timeless. The movement
of
notes,
like the shuttling
of
oscillograph
beams. Each capturing
all energy, the electric core of the universe. Nothing
existing
except
the
needle-clear
resonance
on
the
tympanic
membrane.
Unforgettable revelations about the nature of reality occur at these moments.
But the hellish interpretation
is also possible. As the learned structure
of sound
collapses,
the
direct
impact
of waves
can
be
sensed
as
noise.
For one who is compelled to institute order, his order, on the world around
him,
it
is at least annoying and often disturbing to have the raw tatoo
of
sound resonating in consciousness.
63

---

## Page 68

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
Noise! What an irreverent concept. Is not everything noise; all sensation
the divine pattern of wave energy, meaningless only to those who insist on
imposing their own meaning?
Preparation
is
the
key
to
a
serene
passage
through
this
visionary
territory. The subject who has studied this manual will be able, when face
to face with
the phenomenon,
to
recognize and
flow with
it.
The
sensitive
guide
will be
ready
to
pick
up, on any
cue,
that
the
subject
is wandering
in
the fourth
vision.
If the voyager's eyes
are open
(indicating
visual
reactions),
he
can
read
the
instructions
for
Vision
4
(page 131).
If the guide senses that the voyager
is experiencing the fragmentation
of
external
sound
into wave
vibrations,
he
can amend
the
instructions
appropriately
(changing
the
visual
references
to
auditory).
Vision 5:
The Vibratory Waves of External Unity
(Eyes open, or rapt involvement with external stimuli; emotional aspects)
As the learned perceptions disappear and the structure of the external
world
disintegrates into
direct wave phenomena, the aim
is to maintain
a
pure, content-free awareness
(First Bardo). Despite the preparations, one
is
likely
to be
led backwards by
one's own mental
inclinations
into two
hallucinatory or revelatory interpretations
of
reality. One reaction leads to
the
intellectual
clarity
or
frightened
confusion
of
the
fourth
vision
(just
described).
Another
interpretation
is
the emotional
reaction
to
the
frag-
mentation
of
differentiated
forms. One can be engulfed
in
ecstatic
unity.
or one can slip into isolated egotism. The Bardol Thodol calls the former the
"Wisdom
of Equality" and
the
latter the "quagmire
of worldly
existence
64

---

## Page 69

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
accruing from violent egotism."*
In the state
of radiant unity, one senses
that there
is only one network of energy in the universe and that
all things
and
all sentient beings are momentary manifestations of the single pattern.
When egotistic interpretations are imposed on the
fifth vision, the
"plastic
doll" phenomena are experienced. Differentiated forms are seen as inorganic,
dull, mass-produced, shabby,
plastic, and
all persons
(including
self)
are
seen as lifeless mannequins isolated from the vibrant dance of energy, which
has been
lost.
The experiential data
of
this vision
are
similar
to that
of the fourth
vision. All artifactual learned structure collapses back to energy vibrations.
The awareness
is dominated not by
revelatory
clarity but by shimmering
unity.
The
subject
is
entranced by
the
silent,
whirling
play
of
forces.
Exquisite forms dance by him,
all surrounding objects radiate energy,
bril-
liant
emanations.
His own body
is seen
as
a
play
of
forces.
If he
looks
in
a
mirror, he
sees a shining mosaic
of
particles. The
sense
of
his own
wave
structure becomes
stronger. A
feeling
of
melting,
floating
off. The
body
is no longer a separate unit but a
cluster
of vibrations sending and
receiving energy — a phase
of
the dance
of energy which has been going
on for millennia.
A
sense
of profound
one-ness,
a
feeling
of
the
unity
of
all
energy.
Superficial
differences
of
role,
cast,
status,
sex,
species, form, power,
size,
beauty,
even
the
distinctions
between
inorganic
and
living
energy,
dis-
appear
before
the
ecstatic union
of
all
in
one.
All
gestures,
words,
acts
and
events
are
equivalent
in
value — all
are
manifestations
of
the
one
consciousness which pervades everything. "You,"
"I" and "he"
are
gone,
*The
Peaceful Deity
of
the
fifth
vision comes
in the form
of the Bhagavdn Ratna-
sambhava, born of a jewel. He
is embraced by the Divine Mother, She of the Buddha
Eyes, and accompanied by
the
Bodhisattvas, womb
of
the
sky,
All-good, and
those
holding incense and
rosary. "On the elementary plane Ratnasambhava corresponds
to
the earth, which carries and nourishes
all beings with the equanimity and patience of
a mother, in whose eyes all beings, borne by her, are equal." (Govinda, op.
cit., p. 119.)
65

---

## Page 70

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
"my" thoughts are
"ours," "your"
feelings are "mine." Communication
is
unnecessary, since complete communion exists. A person can sense another's
feeling and mood
directly,
as
if
they were
his
own. By
a
glance,
whole
lifetimes and words can be transmitted.
If
all are
at peace, the vibrations
are
"in
phase."
If there
is
discord, "out
of phase"
vibrations
will be
set
up which will be felt like discordant music. Bodies melt into waves. Objects
in the environment — lights,
trees, plants, flowers — seem
to open and wel-
come you:
they
are part
of you. You are both simply
different pulses
of
the same vibrations. A pure
feeling
of ecstatic harmony with
all beings
is
the keynote of this vision.
But as before,
terrors can occur. Unity requires
ecstatic
self-sacrifice.
Loss
of ego
brings
fright
to
the unprepared. The fragmentation
of form
into waves can bring the most
terrible
fear known
to man:
the ultimate
epistemological
revelation.
The fact of the matter
is that
all apparent forms
of matter and body
are momentary
clusters
of energy. We
are
little more than
flickers on
a
multidimensional television screen. This realization directly experienced can
be
delightful. You suddenly wake up from
the
delusion
of separate form
and hook up
to
the
cosmic
dance.
Consciousness
slides
along
the wave
matrices,
silently
at
the speed
of
light.
The
terror comes with
the
discovery
of
transience. Nothing
is
fixed,
no form
solid. Everything you can
experience
is
"nothing but"
electrical
waves. You
feel
ultimately
tricked. A
victim
of
the
great
television
pro-
ducer.
Distrust. The people around you
are
lifeless
television
robots. The
world around you
is
a facade,
a stage
set. You are a helpless marionette,
a plastic
doll
in a plastic world.
If others attempt to help, they are seen as wooden, waxen, feelingless,
cold,
grotesque, maniacal,
space-fiction monsters. You
are unable
to
feel.
"I am dead.
I will never live and feel again." In wild panic you may attempt
66

---

## Page 71

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
to
force
feeling back — by
action, by
shouting. You
will
then
enter
the
Third Bardo stage and be reborn
in an unpleasant way.
The
best method
to
escape from
fifth
vision
terrors
is
to remember
this
manual,
relax, and swing
with
the wave
dance.
Or
to communicate
to the guide that you are in a plastic doll phase, and he will guide you back.
Another
solution
is
to move
to
the
internal
biological
flow.
Follow
the instructions given
in the third vision:
close your eyes,
lie prone, seek
bodily
contact,
float down
into your bodily
stream.
In
so
doing, you
are
recapitulating
the
evolutionary
sequence.
For
billions
of
years,
inorganic
energy danced the cosmic round before the biological rhythm began. Don't
rush
it.
If the guide senses that the person
is experiencing plastic
doll visions
or
is afraid
of the uncontrollability
of his own
feelings, he should read
to
him the instructions for Vision 5
(page 133).
Vision 6:
"The Retinal Circus"
Each
of the Second Bardo visions thus
far described was one aspect
of the "experiencing of reality." The inner
fire or outer waves, apprehended
intellectually
or
emotionally — each
vision
with
its
correspondent
traps.
Each
of
the
"Peaceful
Deities"
appears
with
its
attendant
"Wrathful
Deities." To maintain any of these visions for any length
of time requires
a
certain
degree
of
concentration
or
"one-pointedness"
of
mind,
as
well
as the ability to recognize them and not to be afraid. Thus, for most persons,
the experience may pass through one or more
of these phases without the
voyager being
able
to hold them
or
stay
with
them. He may open and
67

---

## Page 72

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
close
his eyes, he may become alternately absorbed
in
internal sensations
and
external
forms. The
experience may
be
chaotic,
beautiful,
thrilling,
incomprehensible, magical, ever-changing. *
He
will travel freely through many worlds
of experience — from
direct
contact with life-process forms and images, he may pass to visions of human
game-forms. He may
see and
understand
with
unimagined
clarity
and
brilliance various
social and self-games that he and others
play.
His own
struggles
in
karmic
(game)
existence
will
appear
pitiful
and
laughable.
Ecstatic freedom of consciousness
is the keynote of this vision. Exploration
of unimagined
realms.
Theatrical
adventures.
Plays
within
plays
within
plays. Symbols change into things symbolized and vice versa. Words become
things, thoughts are music, music
is smelled, sounds are touched, complete
interchangeability of the senses.
All things are possible. All feelings are possible. A person may "try on"
various moods like so many pieces of clothing. Subjects and objects whirl,
transform, change
into each
other,
merge,
fuse,
disperse
again.
External
objects
dance and
sing. The mind
plays upon them
as upon
a
musical
instrument. They assume any form, significance or quality upon command.
They
are
admired,
adored,
analyzed, examined,
changed, made
beautiful
or
ugly,
large or small, important or
trivial,
useful, dangerous, magical or
incomprehensible. They may be reacted to with wonder, amazement, humor,
veneration, love, disgust, fascination, horror, delight, fear, ecstasy.
Like
a computer
with
unlimited
access
to
any
programs,
the mind
roams
freely.
Personal and
racial memories bubble up
to
the
surface
of
*In
the Bardo
Thodol, on
the
sixth day appear
the
radiant
lights
of
the combined
Five
Wisdoms
of
the
Dhyani-Buddhas,
the
protective
deities
(gatekeepers
of
the
mandala) and the Buddhas of the Six Realms
of game-existence. According to Lama
Govinda: "The Inner Way of Vajra-Sattva, consists in the combination of the rays of
the Wisdoms of the four Dhyani-Buddhas and their absorption within one's own heart
— in
other words,
in
the
recognition
that
all
these
radiances
are
the emanations
of
one's own mind
in
a
state
of
perfect
tranquillity and
serenity,
a
state
in which the
mind reveals
its true universal nature."
(Govinda,
op.,
cit.,
p. 262.)
68

---

## Page 73

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
consciousness, inter-play with fantasies, wishes, dreams and external objects.
A present event becomes charged with profound emotional
significance,
a
cosmic phenomenon
becomes
identical
with
some
personal
quirk.
Meta-
physical problems are juggled and bounced around. Pure "primary process,"
spontaneous
outpouring
of
association,
opposites
merging,
images
fusing,
condensing,
shifting,
collapsing, expanding, merging,
connecting.
This kaleidoscopic vision
of game-reality may be frightening and con-
fusing
to
an
ill-prepared
subject.
Instead
of
exquisite
clarity
of many-
levelled
perception, he
will experience
a confused chaos
of
uncontrollable,
meaningless forms.
Instead
of delight at the playful acrobatics
of the
free
intellect,
there
will
be
anxious
clinging
to an
elusive
order. Morbid and
scatological
hallucinations may
occur, evoking
disgust and shame.
As
before,
this negative
vision occurs only
if the person attempts
to
control
or
rationalize
the
magic
panorama.
Relax
and
accept
whatever
comes. Remember that all visions are created by your mind, the happy and
the unhappy, the beautiful and the ugly, the delightful and the horrifying.
Your consciousness is creator, performer and spectator of the "retinal circus."
If the guide senses that the voyager is in or seems to be in the "retinal
circus" vision, he may read to him the appropriate instructions (page 135).
Vision 7:
"The Magic Theatre"
If the voyager was unable
to maintain the passive serenity necessary
for
the
contemplation
of
the
previous
visions
(the
peaceful
deities),
he
moves now into a more dramatic and active phase. The play of forms and
things becomes the play
of
heroic
figures, superhuman
spirits and
demi-
69

---

## Page 74

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
gods.* You may
see radiating
figures
in human forms. The "Lotus Lord
of Dance":
the supreme image of a demi-god who perceives the
effects
of
all
actions. The prince
of movement, dancing
in an
ecstatic embrace with
his female counterpart. Heroes, heroines, celestial warriors, male and female
demi-gods,
angels,
fairies — the exact form
of these
figures
will depend on
the person's background and
tradition. Archetypal
figures
in the forms
of
characters from
Greek,
Egyptian,
Nordic,
Celtic,
Aztec,
Persian,
Indian,
Chinese mythology. The shapes differ, the source
is the same: they are the
concrete embodiments
of aspects
of the
person's own
psyche.
Archetypal
forces below verbal awareness and expressible only
in symbolic form. The
figures are often extremely colorful and accompanied by a variety
of awe-
inspiring sounds. If the voyager is prepared and in a relaxed, detached frame
of mind, he
is exposed
to a fascinating and
dazzling
display
of dramatic
creativity. The Cosmic Theatre. The Divine Comedy.
If his eyes are open,
he may visualize the other voyagers as representing these figures. The face
of a friend may turn into that of a young boy, a baby, the child-god:
into
a heroic statue, a wise old man; a woman, animal, goddess, sea-mother, young
girl, nymph,
elf,
goblin, leprechaun. Images
of the great painters
arise as
the familiar representations
of these
spirits. The images are inexhaustible
and manifold. An
illuminating voyage
into
the
areas where the
personal
consciousness merges with the supra-individual.
*In
the
Tibetan Handbook,
this
is
described
as
the
vision
of
the
five "Knowledge-
Holding
Deities."
arranged
in
form
a
mandala,
each
embraced
by
Ddkinis.
in
an
ecstatic dance. The Knowledge-holding Deities symbolize "the highest level of individual
or humanly
conceivable knowledge,
as
attained
in
the
consciousness
of
great
Yogis,
inspired thinkers or similar heroes
of the
spirit. They
represent the
last
step before
the "breaking-through" towards the universal consciousness - or the
first on the return
from there to the plane of human knowledge." (Govinda, op.
cit., p. 202.) The Ddkinis
are female embodiments
of knowledge,
representing the inspirational impulses
of con-
sciousness
leading
to
break-through. The
other
four
Knowledge-Holders,
besides
the
central Lord of Dance, are:
the Knowledge-holder abiding in the earth, the Knowledge-
holder who has power over the duration
of
life,
the Knowledge-holder
of the Great
Symbol, and the Knowledge-holder of Spontaneous Realization.
70

---

## Page 75

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
The
danger
is
that
the
voyager
becomes
frightened
by
or
unduly
attracted to these powerful figures. The forces represented by them may be
more intense than he was prepared for. Inability or unwillingness to recognize
them as products of one's own mind, leads to escape into animalistic pursuits.
The person may become involved in the pursuit of power,
lust, wealth and
descend into Third Bardo
rebirth
struggles.
If the guide senses that the voyager
is caught in this trap, the appro-
priate instructions may be used (page 137).
71

---

## Page 77

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
THE WRATHFUL VISIONS
(Second Bardo Nightmares)
Seven Second Bardo visions have been
described. At each one of them,
the voyager could recognize what he saw and be liberated. Multitudes
will
be liberated by that recognition; and although multitudes obtain liberation
in that manner, the number of sentient beings being great, evil karma power-
ful,
obscurations
dense,
propensities
of
too
long
standing,
the Wheel
of
Ignorance and Illusion becomes neither exhausted nor accelerated. Despite
the
confrontations,
there
is
a
vast
preponderance
of
those who wander
downwards unliberated.
Thus,
in
the Tibetan
Thodol,
after
the
seven
peaceful
deities,
there
come seven visions of wrathful deities, fifty-eight in number, male and female,
"flame-enhaloed,
wrathful,
blood-drinking."
These
Herukas
as
they
are
called, will not be described in
detail, especially since Westerners are liable
to experience the wrathful deities in different forms. Instead of many-headed
fierce mythological demons, they are more likely to be engulfed and ground
by impersonal machinery, manipulated by scientific, torturing control-devices
and other space-fiction horrors.*
The
Tibetans
regard
the nightmare
visions
as
primarily
intellectual
"Some general remarks about the Tibetan interpretation of these visions. The Wrathful
Deities are regarded
as "only the former Peaceful
Deities
in changed
aspect." Lama
Govinda
writes:
"The peaceful forms
of Dhydni-Buddhas
represent the highest
ideal
of Buddhahood in its completed, final, static condition of ultimate attainment or perfec-
tion,
seen
retrospectively
as
it
were,
as
a
state
of complete
rest and harmony. The
Herukas, on the other hand, which are described as "blood-drinking," angry or
"terri-
fying" deities — are merely the dynamic aspect of enlightenment, the process of becom-
ing a Buddha,
of attaining illumination,
as symbolized by the Buddha's struggle with
the Hosts
of Mara.
.
.
. The
ecstatic
figures,
heroic and
terrifying,
express the
act
of
breaking
through
towards
the
unthinkable,
the
intellectually
"Unattainable." They
represent the
leap over the chasm, which yawns between an
intellectual surface con-
sciousness
and
the
intuitive
supra-personal
depth-consciousness."
(Govinda.
op.
cit.,
pp.
198, 202.)
73

---

## Page 78

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
products. They assign them to the Brain chakra, whereas the peaceful deities
are assigned to the Heart chakra and the Knowledge-Holding deities to the
intermediate Throat
chakra. They
are
the
reactions
of
the mind
to
the
process
of
consciousness-expansion. They
represent
the
attempts
of
the
intellect to maintain its threatened boundaries. They symbolize the struggle
of breaking through to ego-loss understanding and awareness.
Because of the terror and awe they produce, recognition
is difficult. Yet
in a way it is also easier in that, since these negative hallucinations command
all attention, the mind
is alert and therefore through trying to escape from
fear and terror, people get involved in psychotic states and suffer. But with
the aid of this manual and the presence of a guide,the voyager will recognize
these hell visions as soon as he sees them, and welcome them like old friends.
Again, when psychologists, philosophers, and psychiatrists, who do not
know these teachings, experience ego-loss — however assiduously they may
have devoted themselves to academic study and however clever they may
have been in expounding intellectual theories — none of the higher phenomena
will appear. This is because they are unable to recognize the visions occurring
in these psychedelic experiences. Suddenly seeing something they had never
seen before and possessing no intellectual concepts, they view it as inimical;
and, antagonistic feelings
arising, they pass into miserable
states. Thus,
if
one has not had practical experience with these teachings, the radiances and
lights will not appear.
Those who believe
in these doctrines even though they may seem
to
be
unrefined,
irregular
in performance
of
duties,
inelegant
in
habits, and
perhaps even unable to practice the doctrine successfully — let no one doubt
them or be disrespectful towards them, but pay reverence
to
their mystic
faith.
That
alone
will
enable
them
to
attain
liberation.
Elegance
and
efficiency of devotional practice are not necessary — just acquaintance with
and trust
in these teachings.
Well-prepared persons need not experience Second Bardo hell visions at
74

---

## Page 79

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
all. Right from the beginning they can pass into paradisiacal states led by
heroes,
heroines,
angels and
super-spirits. "They
will merge
into rainbow
radiance; there will be sun-showers, sweet scent of incense in the
air, music
in the skies, radiances."
This manual
is indispensable
to
those students who
are unprepared.
Those proficient in meditation will recognize the Clear Light at the moment
of ego-loss and will enter the Blissful Void (Dharma-Kaya). They will also
recognize the positive and negative visions of the Second Bardo and obtain
illumination (Sambhogha-Kdya) ; and being reborn on
a higher
level
will
become inspired saints or teachers (Nirmdna-Kdya). The study and pursuit
of enlightenment can always be taken up again at the point where
it was
broken by
the
last ego-loss, thus ensuring continuity of karma.
By
the
use
of
this manual,
enlightenment can
be
obtained
without
meditation, through hearing alone. It can liberate even very heavy ego-game
players. The distinction between those who know
it and those who do not
becomes very clear. Enlightenment follows instantly. Those who have been
reached by
it cannot have prolonged negative experiences.
The teaching concerning the hell-visions is the same as before; recognize
them to be your own thought-forms,
relax,
float downstream. The instruc-
tions on page 139 may be read.
If, after this, recognition
is
still impossible
and liberation
is not obtained, then the voyager will descend into the Third
Bardo, the Period of Re-Entry.
CONCLUSION OF SECOND BARDO
However much
experience
one may
have
had,
there
is
always
the
possibility
of
delusions
occurring
in
these
psychedelic
states. Those with
practice in meditation recognize the truth as soon as the experience begins.
75

---

## Page 80

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
Reading this manual beforehand
is important. Having some degree of
self-
knowledge
is helpful at the moment of ego-death.
Meditation on
the various
positive and negative
archetypal
forms
is
very important for Second Bardo phases. Therefore, read this manual, keep
it, remember it, bear it in mind, read it regularly; let the words and meanings
be very clear; they should not be forgotten, even under extreme duress.
It
is called "The Great Liberation by Hearing" because even those with selfish
deeds on their conscience can be liberated if they hear
it.
If heard only once,
it can be efficacious because even though not understood,
it will be remem-
bered during the psychedelic
state,
since the mind
is more
lucid then.
It
should be proclaimed to all living persons;
it should be read over the pillows
of
ill persons;
it should be read to dying persons;
it should be broadcast.
Those who meet this doctrine are fortunate. It is not easy to encounter.
Even when read,
it is difficult to comprehend. Liberation will be won simply
through not disbelieving
it upon hearing
it.
Here ends the Second Bardo
the Period
of
Hallucinations
76

---

## Page 81

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
THIRD BARDO:
THE PERIOD OF RE-ENTRY
(Sidpa Bardo)
Introduction
If, in the second Bardo, the voyager
is incapable of holding on to the
knowledge that the peaceful and wrathful
visions were
projections
of
his
own mind, but became attracted to or frightened by one or more of them,
he will enter the Third Bardo. In this period he struggles to regain routine
reality and his ego; the Tibetans
call
it the Bardo of "seeking rebirth."
It
is the period
in which
the consciousness makes the
transition from
tran-
scendent reality to the reality of ordinary waking life. The teachings of this
manual are of the utmost importance
if one wishes to make a peaceful and
enlightened re-entry and avoid a violent or unpleasant one.
In the original Bardo Thbdol the aim of the teachings
is "liberation,"
i.e., release from the cycle of birth and death. Interpreted esoterically, this
means that the aim is to remain at the stage of perfect illumination and not
to return to social game reality.
Only persons of extremely advanced spiritual development are able to
accomplish this, by exercising the Transference Principle at the moment of
ego-death.
For average persons who undertake
a
psychedelic
voyage,
the
return to game reality
is inevitable. Such persons can and should use this
part of the manual for the following purposes:
(1)
to free themselves from Third Bardo traps;
(2)
to
prolong
the
session,
thus
assuring
a maximum
degree
of
illumination;
(3)
to select a favorable re-entry,
i.e., to return to a wiser and more
peaceful post-session personality.
77

---

## Page 82

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
Although no definite time estimates can be given, the Tibetans estimate
that about 50%
of the entire psychedelic experience
is spent
in the Third
Bardo by most normal people. At times, as indicated in the Introduction,
someone may move
straight
to
the
re-entry
period
if he
is
unprepared
for or frightened by the ego-loss experiences of the
first two Bardos.
The types of re-entry made can profoundly color the person's subsequent
attitudes and feelings about himself and the world, for weeks or even months
afterwards. A session which has been predominantly negative and fearful can
still be turned to great advantage and much can be learned from
it, provided
the
re-entry
is
positive and
highly
conscious.
Conversely,
a happy
and
revelatory experience can be made valueless by a fearful or negative re-entry.
The key instructions of the Third Bardo are:
(1) do nothing, stay calm,
passive and relaxed, no matter what happens; and
(2)
recognize where you
are.
If you do not recognize you will be driven by fear to make a premature
and unfavorable re-entry. Only by recognizing can you maintain that state
of calm, passive concentration necessary
for a favorable
re-entry. That
is
why so many recognition-points are
given.
If you
fail on one,
it
is always
possible, up to the very end, to succeed on another. Hence these teachings
should be read carefully and remembered well.
In the following sections some of the characteristic Third Bardo experi-
ences are described. In Part IV instructions are given appropriate to each
section. At this stage in a psychedelic session the voyager is usually capable
of telling the guide verbally what he
is experiencing, so that the appropriate
sections can be read. A wise guide can often sense the precise nature of the
ego's struggle without words. The voyager will usually not experience
all of
these
states, but only one
or some
of them;
or sometimes
the return
to
reality can take completely new and unusual
turns.
In
such
a
case
the
general instructions for the Third Bardo should be emphasized. (Page 141 ff).
78

---

## Page 83

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
I.
General Description of the Third Bardo
Normally,
the
person
descends,
step
by
step,
into
lower
(more
constricted)
states of consciousness. Each step downwards may be preceded
by a swooning into unconsciousness. Occasionally the descent may be sudden,
and the person will find himself jolted back to a vision of reality which by
contrast with the preceding phases seems
dull,
static, hard, angular, ugly
and
puppet-like.
Such changes can
induce
fear and horror and he may
struggle
desperately
to
regain
familiar
reality. He may
get trapped
into
irrational
or
even
bestial
perspectives
which
then
dominate
his
entire
consciousness. These narrow
primitive elements stem from
aspects
of
his
personal
history which
are
usually
repressed. The more
enlightened
con-
sciousness
of
the
first two Bardos and the
civilized elements
of ordinary
waking
life are shelved
in favor
of powerful,
obsessive primitive impulses,
which
in
fact
are merely
faded and
incoherent
instinctual
parts
of
the
voyager's total personality. The suggestibility of Bardo consciousness makes
them seem
all-powerful and overwhelming.
On the other hand, the voyager may also feel that he possesses super-
normal powers of perception and movement, that he can perform miracles,
extraordinary
feats
of
bodily
control
etc.
The
Tibetan
book
definitely
attributes paranormal
faculties
to the consciousness
of the Bardo voyager
and explains it as due to the fact that the Bardo-consciousness encompasses
future elements as well as past. Hence clairvoyance, telepathy, ESP, etc. are
said to be possible. Objective evidence does not indicate whether this sense
of increased perceptiveness
is real or illusory. We therefore leave this as an
open question, to be decided by empirical evidence.
This then
is the first recognition point of the Third Bardo. The feeling
of supernormal perception and performance. Assuming that
it
is valid, the
manual warns the voyager not to be fascinated by his heightened powers,
79

---

## Page 84

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
and not to exercise them. In yogic practice, the most advanced of the lamas
teach the disciple not to strive after psychic powers of this nature for their
own sake; for until the disciple is morally fit to use them wisely, they become
a
serious impediment
to
his higher
spiritual
development. Not
until
the
selfish, game-involved nature
of man
is completely mastered
is he
safe
in
using them.
A second sign of Third Bardo existence are experiences of panic, torture
and persecution. They
are distinguished from the wrathful
visions
of
the
Second Bardo in that they definitely seem to involve the person's own "skin-
encapsulated
ego."
Mind-controlling
manipulative
figures
and demons
of
hideous aspects may be hallucinated. The form that these torturing demons
take will depend on the person's cultural background. Where Tibetans saw
demons and
beasts
of
prey,
a Westerner may
see
impersonal machinery
grinding,
or
depersonalizing and
controlling
devices
of
different
futuristic
varieties.
Visions
of world
destruction,
dying
in
space-fiction modes, and
hallucinations of being engulfed by
destructive powers
will likewise come;
and
sounds
of
the
mind-controlling
apparatus,
of
the
"combine's
fog
machinery,"
of the gears which move the scenery
of the puppet show,
of
angry overflowing seas, and of the roaring of fire and of fierce winds springing
up, and of mocking laughter.
When these sounds and visions come, the
first impulse
will be to
flee
from them
in panic and
terror, not caring where one
goes, so long as one
goes out. In psychedelic drug experiences, the person may at this time plead
or demand to be brought "out of it" through antidotes or tranquillizers. The
person may
see himself
as about
to
fall down
deep,
terrifying
precipices.
These symbolize the so-called evil passions which, like narcotic drugs, enslave
and bind mankind to existence
in game-networks
(sangsara):
anger,
lust,
stupidity,
pride
or egoism,
jealousy, and control-power. Such
experiences,
just as the previous one of enhanced power, should be regarded as recognizing
features of the Third Bardo. One should neither flee the pain nor pursue the

---

## Page 85

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
pleasure. Recognition is all that is necessary — and recognition depends upon
preparation.
A
third sign
is a kind
of
restless, unhappy wandering which may be
purely mental or may involve actual physical movement. The person
feels
as
if driven by winds
(winds of karma)
or shunted around mechanically.
There may be brief respites at certain places or scenes
in the "ordinary"
human world. Like a person travelling alone at night along a highway, having
his attention arrested by prominent landmarks, great isolated trees, houses,
bridgeheads, temples, hot-dog stands, etc., the person in the re-entry period
has similar experiences. He may demand to return to familiar haunts in the
human world. But any such external placation
is temporary and soon the
restless wandering will recommence. There may come a desperate desire to
phone or otherwise contact your family, your doctor, your friends and appeal
to them to pull you out of the state. This desire should be resisted. The guide
and the fellow voyagers can be
of best assistance. One should not try
to
involve others
in one's hallucinatory world. The attempt
will
fail anyway
since outsiders are usually unable to understand what
is happening. Again,
merely to recognize these desires as Third Bardo manifestations
is already
the
first step toward liberation.
A fourth, rather common experience
is the following:
the person may
feel stupid and full of incoherent thoughts, whereas everyone else seems to be
perfectly knowing and wise. This leads to feelings of
guilt and inadequacy
and in extreme form to the Judgment Vision,
to be described below. This
feeling of stupidity
is merely the natural
result
of the limited perspective
under which the consciousness
is
operating
in
this Bardo.
Calm,
relaxed
acceptance and trust will enable the voyager to win liberation at this point.
Another
experience,
the
fifth
recognizing
feature, which
is
especially
impressive when it occurs suddenly, is the feeling of being dead, cut off from
surrounding life, and full of misery. The person may with a jolt awake from
some
trance-like swoon and experience himself and the
others
as
lifeless
81

---

## Page 86

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
robots, performing wooden meaningless gestures. He may
feel that he
will
never come back and will lament his miserable state.
Again, such fantasies are to be recognized as the attempts of the ego to
regain control. In the true state of ego-death, as
it occurs
in the
First or
Second Bardos, such complaints are never uttered.
Sixth,
one may have
the
feeling
of
being
oppressed
or
crushed
or
squeezed into cracks and crevices amidst rocks and boulders. Or the person
may
feel
that
a kind
of
metallic
net
or cage may encompass him. This
symbolizes the attempt prematurely to enter an ego-robot which
is unfitting
or unequipped
to
deal
with
the
expanded
consciousness.
Therefore
one
should relax the panicky desire to regain an ego.
A Seventh aspect
is a kind of grey twilight-like light suffusing every-
thing, which
is
in marked contrast
to the
brilliantly radiating
lights and
colors of the earlier stages of the voyage. Objects, instead of shining, glowing
and vibrating, are now dully
colored, shabby and angular.
The passages on page
141 contain general instructions
for the Third
Bardo state and its recognizable features. Any or all of the passages may be
read when the guide senses that the voyager is beginning to return to the ego.
82

---

## Page 87

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
II.
Re-entry Visions
In the preceding section the symptoms of re-entry were described, the
signs that the voyager is trying to regain his ego. In this section are described
visions of the types of re-entry one can make.
The Tibetan manual conceives of the voyager as returning eventually
to one of six worlds of game existence
(sangsara). That
is, the re-entry to
the ego can take place on one of six levels, or as one of six personality types.
Two of these are higher than the normal human, three are lower. The highest,
most illuminated, level is that of the devas, who are what Westerners would
call saints, sages or divine teachers. They are the most enlightened people
walking the earth. Gautama Buddha, Lao Tse, Christ. The second level
is
that of the asuras, who may be called titans or heroes, people with a more
than human degree of power and vision. The third level is that of most normal
human beings, struggling through game-networks, occasionally breaking free.
The fourth
level
is that of primitive and animalistic incarnations.
In
this
category we have the dog and the cock, symbolic
of hyper-sexuality con-
comitant with jealousy; the pig, symbolizing lustful stupidity and uncleanli-
ness; the industrious, hoarding ant; the insect or worm signifying an earthy
or
grovelling
disposition;
the
snake,
flashing
in
anger;
the
ape,
full
of
rampaging
primitive power;
the
snarling "wolf
of the
steppes;"
the
bird,
soaring freely. Many more could be enumerated. In all cultures of the world
people have adopted identities in the image of animals. In childhood and in
dreams
it
is a process familiar
to
all. The
fifth
level
is that
of
neurotics,
frustrated lifeless
spirits forever pursuing unsatisfied desires; the sixth and
lowest level
is hell or psychosis. Less than one percent of ego-transcendent
experiences end in sainthood or psychosis. Most persons return to the normal
human level.
According
to The
Tibetan Book
of
the Dead, each
of the
six game
worlds
or
levels
of
existence
is
associated
with
a
characteristic
sort
of
83

---

## Page 88

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
thraldom, from which non-game experiences
give temporary freedom:
(1)
existence
as a deva, or
saint, although more desirable than the
others,
is
concomitant with an ever-recurring round
of
pleasure,
free game
ecstasy;
(2)
existence
as an
asura,
or
titan,
is concomitant with
incessant
heroic
warfare;
(3) helplessness and slavery are characteristic of animal existence;
(4)
torments
of
unsatisfied
needs
and
wants
are
characteristic
of
the
existence
of
pretas,
or unhappy
spirits;
(5)
extremes
of heat and
cold,
pleasure and pain, exist in hell;
(6) the characteristic impediments of human
existence are inertia, smug ignorance, physical or psychological handicaps of
various
sorts.
According to the Bardo Thodol, the level one
is destined for
is deter-
mined by one's karma. During the period
of the Third Bardo premonitory
signs and visions of the different levels appear, that for which one is heading
appearing most
clearly. For example, the voyager may
feel
full
of godlike
power
(asuras),
or he may
feel
himself
stirred by
primitive
or
bestial
impulses, or he may experience the all-pervasive frustration of the unhappy
neurotics, or shudder at the tortures of a self-created hell.
The chances of making a favorable re-entry are increased
if the process
is allowed
to take
its own natural
course, without
effort
or
struggle. One
should avoid pursuing or fleeing any of the visions, but meditate calmly on
the knowledge that
all levels exist in the Buddha also.
One can recognize and examine the signs as they appear and learn a
great
deal about
oneself
in a very
short
time.
Although
it
is unwise
to
struggle against or flee the visions that come in this period, the instructions
given
(page
145)
are
designed
to
help
the
voyager
regain
First Bardo
transcendence. In this way,
if the person finds himself about to return to a
personality or ego which he finds inappropriate to his new knowledge about
himself, he can, by following the instructions, prevent this and make a fresh
re-entry.
84

---

## Page 89

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
III.
The All-Determining Influence of Thought
Liberation
may
be
obtained,
by
such
confrontation,
even
though
previously
it was not.
If, however, liberation is not obtained even after these
confrontations,
further earnest and continued application
is
essential.
Should you
feel attachment to material possessions, to old games and
activities,
or
if you
get angry
because
other
people
are
still
involved
in
pursuits that you have renounced, this will affect the psychological balance
in such a way that even
if destined to return
at a higher
level, you
will
actually re-enter on a lower level in the world of unsatisfied spirits (neurosis).
On
the other hand, even
if you do
feel
attached
to worldly games
that
you have
renounced, you
will
not be
able
to
play
them, and
they
will
be of no use to you. Therefore abandon weakness and attachment to them;
cast them away wholly; renounce them from your heart. No matter who
may be enjoying your possessions, or taking your role, have no feelings of
miserliness or jealousy, but be prepared to renounce them willingly. Think
that you are offering them to your internal freedom and to your expanded
consciousness. Abide in the feeling of non-attachment, devoid
of weakness
and craving.
Again, when
the
activities
of
the
other members
of
the
session
are
wrong, careless, inattentive or distracting, when the agreement or contract
is broken, and when
purity
of
intention
is
lost by any
participant, and
frivolity and laxness take
over
(all
of which can
clearly be seen by
the
Bardo voyager) you may feel lack of faith and begin to doubt your beliefs.
You
will be able
to perceive any anxiety or
fear, any
selfish
actions, ego-
centric conduct and manipulative
behavior. You may
think:
"Alas!
they
are playing me
false, they have cheated and deceived."
If you think thus,
you
will become extremely
depressed, and through
great resentment you
will acquire disbelief and loss of faith, instead of affection and humble trust.
85

---

## Page 90

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
Since this affects the psychological balance, re-entry will certainly be made
on an unpleasant
level.
Such thinking
will not only be
of no use, but
it
will do
great harm.
However improper the behavior of others, think thus: "What? How can the
words
of a Buddha be inappropriate?
It
is like the reflection
of blemishes
on my own face which
I see in a mirror; my own thoughts must be impure.
As for these others, they are noble in body, holy in speech, and the Buddha
is within them:
their actions are lessons for me."
Thus thinking, put your trust in your companions and exercise sincere
love towards them. Then whatever they do
will be
to your
benefit. The
exercise of that love
is very important; do not forget this!
Again, even
if you were destined
to return
to a lower
level and
are
already going
into that existence,
yet through the good deeds
of
friends,
relatives,
participants,
learned
teachers
who
devote
themselves
whole-
heartedly to the correct performance of beneficent rituals, the delight from
your feeling greatly cheered at seeing them will, by its own virtue, so affect
the psychological balance that even though heading downwards, you may
yet rise to a higher and happier level. Therefore you should not create selfish
thoughts, but exercise pure affection and humble faith towards
all, impar-
tially. This
is highly important. Hence be extremely careful.
The instructions given concerning the influence of thought (page 147)
are useful in any phase of the Third Bardo, but particularly
if the voyager
is reacting with suspicion or resentment to other members of the group, or
to his own friends and relatives.
86

---

## Page 91

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
IV.
Judgment Visions
The judgment vision may come:
the Third Bardo blame game. "Your
good genius will count up your good deeds with white pebbles, the evil genius
the evil deeds with black pebbles." A judgment scene
is a central part
of
many religious systems, and the vision can assume various forms. Westerners
are most likely to see
it in the well-known Christian version. The Tibetans
give a psychological interpretation
to
this as to
all the other
visions. The
Judge, or Lord of Death, symbolizes conscience
itself in
its stern aspect of
impartiality and love of righteousness. The "Mirror of Karma" (the Christian
Judgment Book)
, consulted by the Judge,
is memory. Different parts of the
ego will come forward, some offering lame excuses to meet accusations, others
ascribing baser motives to various deeds, counting apparently neutral deeds
among
the
black
ones;
still
others
offering
justifications
or
requests
for
pardon. The mirror of memory reflects clearly; lying and subterfuge will be
of no avail. Be not frightened,
tell no
lies, face truth fearlessly.
Now you may
imagine
yourself
surrounded by
figures who
wish
to
torment, torture or ridicule you
(the "Executive Furies of the Robot Lord
of Death"). These merciless
figures may be
internal
or they may
involve
the people around you, seen as pitiless, mocking, superior. Remember that
fear and guilt and persecuting, mocking figures are your own hallucinations.
Your own guilt machine. Your personality is a collection of thought-patterns
and
void.
It cannot be harmed or injured. "Swords cannot
pierce
it,
fire
cannot burn it." Free yourself from your own hallucinations. In reality there
is no such thing as the Lord of Death, or a justice-dispensing god or demon
or
spirit. Act so as to recognize this.
Recognize that you are in the Third Bardo. Meditate upon your ideal
symbol. If you do not know how to meditate, then merely analyze with great
care the real nature of that which is frightening to you: "Reality" is nothing
but
a voidness (Dharma-Kaya). That voidness
is not
of the voidness
of
87

---

## Page 92

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
nothingness, but a voidness at the true nature of which you feel awed, and
before which your consciousness shines more clearly and lucidly.*
If the voyager
is struggling with
guilt and penance hallucinations, the
instructions on page 149 may be read.
*That
is the state of mind known as "Sambhoga-Kdya." In that
state, you experience,
with unbearable
intensity, Voidness and Brightness inseparable — the Voidness
bright
by nature and the Brightness inseparable from the Voidness — a state of the primordial
or unmodified consciousness, which
is the Adi-Kayd. And
the power
of
this,
shining
unobstructedly,
will
radiate
everywhere;
it
is
the Nirmdna-Kdya.
These
refer
to
the fundamental Wisdom Teachings
of the Bardo
Thodol.
In
all
Tibetan systems of yoga,
realization of the Voidness
is the one
great aim. To
realize
it
is
to
attain
the
unconditioned
Dharma-Kaya.
or
"Divine
Body
of
Truth."
the
primordial
state
of
uncreatedness,
of
the
supra-mundane
All-Consciousness.
The
Dharma-Kdya
is
the
highest
of the three bodies
of
the Buddha and
of
all Buddhas
and beings who have perfect enlightenment. The other two bodies are the Sambogha-
Kdya
or
"Divine Body
of
Perfect Endowment" and
the Nirmdna-Kdya
or
"Divine
Body of Incarnation." Adi-Kaya
is synonymous with Dharma-Kdya. The Dharma-Kdya
is primordial, formless Essential Wisdom;
it
is true experience freed from
all error or
inherent or accidental obscuration.
It includes both Nirvana and Sangsdra, which are
polar
states
of
consciousness,
but
in
the
realm
of pure
consciousness
identical. The
Sambhoga-Kdya
embodies,
as
in
the
five
Dhyani
Buddhas,
Reflected
or
Modified
Wisdom: and
the Nirmdna-Kdya
embodies,
as
in
the Human Buddhas,
Practical
or
Incarnate Wisdom.
All enlightened beings who are reborn
in
this or any other world
with
full
consciousness,
as workers
for the betterment
of
their
fellow
creatures,
are
said
to be Nirmdna-Kdya incarnates. Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdup, the translator of the
Bardo Thodol, held that the Adi-Buddha, and
all deities associated with the Dharma
Kdya, are not to be regarded as personal
deities, but as personifications
of primordial
and
universal
forces, laws or
spiritual
influences.
"In
the boundless panorama
of the
existing and visible universe, whatever shapes appear, whatever sounds vibrate, whatever
radiances illuminate, or whatever consciousnesses cognize, all are the play or manifesta-
tion in the Tri-Kdya, the Three-fold Principle of the Cause of All Causes, the Primor-
dial Trinity. Impenetrating
all, is the All-Pervading Essence of Spirit, which
is Mind.
It
is uncreated, impersonal, self-existing, immaterial and indestructible." The Tri-Kdya
is
the esoteric trinity and corresponds to the exoteric trinity of the Buddha, the Scriptures
and the Priesthood
(or your own divinity, this manual and your companions).

---

## Page 93

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
V.
Sexual Visions
Sexual
visions
are extremely
frequent
during
the Third
Bardo. You
may
see
or imagine males and
females
copulating.*
This
vision may be
internal
or
it may
involve
the
people around
you. You may
hallucinate
multi-person
orgies and experience both
desire and shame,
attraction and
disgust. You may wonder what sexual performance
is expected of you and
have doubts about your ability to perform at
this time.
When these visions occur, remember to withhold yourself from action
or attachment. Have faith and
float gently with the stream. Trust
in the
unity
of
life and
in your companions.
If you attempt
to enter into your old ego because you are attracted
or repulsed,
if you try to join or escape from the orgy you are hallucinating,
you will re-enter on an animal or neurotic level.
If you become conscious of
"maleness,"
hatred
of
the
father
together
with
jealousy
and
attraction
towards the mother will be experienced;
if you become conscious of "female-
ness," hatred
of the mother together with attraction and fondness
for the
father
is experienced.
It
is perhaps needless
to say that
this kind
of self-centered sexuality
has little in common with the sexuality of transpersonal experiences. Physical
union can be one expression or manifestation of cosmic union.
Visions of sexual union may sometimes be followed by visions of concep-
tion — you may actually visualize the sperm uniting with the ovum —
,
of
intra-uterine
life and of birth through a womb. Some people claim to have
*According to Jung.
("Psychological Commentary" to The Tibetan Book of the Dead,
Evans-Wentz
edition,
p.
xiii), "Freud's theory
is the
first attempt made
in the West
to investigate, as
if from below, from the animal sphere of instinct the psychic territory
that corresponds in Tantric Lamaism
to the Sidpa Bardo." The vision described here,
in which the person
sees mother and father in sexual
intercourse, corresponds to the
"primal scene"
in psychoanalysis. At
this
level, then, we begin to see remarkable con-
vergence
of Eastern and Western
psychology. Note
also the exact correspondence
to
the psychoanalytic theory of the Oedipus Complex.
89

---

## Page 94

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
re-lived
their own
physical
birth
in
psychedelic
sessions and
occasionally
confirming evidence for such claims has been put forward. Whether this
is
so or not may be
left as a question
to be decided by empirical
evidence.
Sometimes the birth visions will be clearly symbolic — e.g., emergence from
a cocoon, breaking out of a
shell, etc.
Whether the birth vision
is constructed from memory or fantasy, the
psychedelic voyager should
try
to recognize the
signs
indicating the type
of personality that
is being reborn.
The appropriate instructions
(page 151) may be read to the voyager
who
is struggling with sexual hallucinations.
VI.
Methods for Preventing the Re-Entry
Although many confrontations and recognition points have been given,
the person may be ill-prepared and
still be wandering back to game reality.
It
is
of advantage
to postpone
the
return
for
as
long
as
possible,
thus
maximizing the degree of enlightenment in the subsequent personality. For
this reason four meditative methods
are given
for prolonging the
ego-loss
state.
They
are
(1)
meditation
on
the Buddha
or
guide
(page
153);
(2)
concentration on good games
(page
153);
(3)
meditation on
illusion
(page 155); and
(4) meditation on the void (page 157). Each one attempts
to lead the voyager back to the First Bardo central stream of energy from
which he has been separated by game involvements. One may ask how these
meditative methods, which seem
difficult
for
the ordinary
person, can be
effective. The answer given in the Tibetan Bardo Thodol
is that due to the
increased suggestibility and openness
of the mind in the psychedelic state
these methods can be used by anyone,
regardless
of
intellectual capacity,
or proficiency in meditation.
90

---

## Page 95

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
VII.
Methods of Choosing the Post-Session Personality
Choosing the post-session ego
is an extremely profound art and should
not be undertaken carelessly or hastily. One should not return fleeing from
hallucinated tormentors. Such re-entry will tend to bring the person to one
of the
three lower
levels. One should
first banish
the
fear by
visualizing
one's protective figure or the Buddha; then choose calmly and impartially.
The limited foreknowledge available to the voyager should be used to
make
a wise choice.
In the Tibetan
tradition each
of the
levels
of game-
existence
is associated with a particular color and also certain geographical
symbols. These may be
different
for twentieth-century Westerners. Each
person
has
to
learn
to decode
his own
internal
road map. The Tibetan
indicators may be used as a starting point. The purpose is clear: one should
follow the signs of the three higher types and shun those of the three lower.
One should follow light and pleasant visions and shun dark and dreary ones.
The world of saints (devas)
is said to shine with a white light and to be
preceded by visions of delightful temples and jewelled mansions. The world
of heroes (asuras) has a green light and
is signalled by magical forests and
fire images. The ordinary human world has a yellow light. Animal existence
is foreshadowed by a blue light and images of caves and deep holes in the
earth. The world
of
neurotics
or
unsatisfied
spirits
has
a
red
light and
visions of desolate plains and forest wastes. The hell world emits a smoke-
colored light and
is preceded by sounds of wailing, visions of gloomy lands,
black and white houses and black roads along which you have to travel.
Use your
foresight
to
choose
a
good
post-session
robot. Do
not
be
attracted to your old ego. Whether you choose to pursue power, or status,
or wisdom, or learning, or servitude, or whatever, choose impartially, without
being
attracted
or
repelled.
Enter
into game
existence with good
grace,
voluntarily and freely. Visualize
it as a celestial mansion,
i.e., as an oppor-
tunity to exercise game-ecstasy. Have faith in the protection of the deities
91

---

## Page 96

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
and choose. The mood of complete impartiality
is important since you may
be
in
error. A game
that
appears good may
later
turn
out
to
be
bad.
Complete impartiality, freedom from want or fear, ensure that a maximally
wise choice
is made.
As you return you
see spread out before you the world, your former
life, a planet full of fascinating objects and events. Each aspect of the return
trip can be a delightful discovery. Soon you will be descending to take your
place in worldly events. The key to this return voyage is simply this: take it
easy, slowly, naturally. Enjoy every second. Don't rush. Don't be attached
to your old games. Recognize that you are in the re-entry period. Do not
return with any emotional pressure. Everything you see and touch can glow
with radiance. Each moment can be a joyous discovery.
Here ends the Third Bardo,
The Period of Re-Entry
92

---

## Page 97

THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD
GENERAL CONCLUSION
Well-prepared students with advanced spiritual understanding can use
the
"Transference"
principle
at
the moment
of
ego-death and need
not
traverse subsequent Bardo states. They
will
rise to a state of illumination
and remain there throughout the entire period. Others, who are a little less
experienced
in
spiritual
discipline,
will
recognize
the
Clear
Light
in
the
second stage of the First Bardo and will then win liberation. Others, at a still
less advanced level, may be liberated while experiencing one of the positive or
negative visions of the Second Bardo. Since there are several turning points,
liberation can be obtained at one or the other through recognition at moments
of confrontation. Those of very weak karmic connection,
i.e., those who have
been involved
in heavy ego-dominated game-playing,
will have
to wander
downwards to the Third Bardo. Again, many points for liberation have been
charted. The weakest persons will fall under the influence of guilt and terror.
For weaker persons there are various graded teachings
for preventing the
return to routine-reality, or at least for choosing it wisely. Through applying
the methods of visualization described, they should be able to experience the
benefits
of
the
session. Even
those
persons whose
familiar
routines
are
primitive and egocentric can be prevented from entering into misery. Once
they have experienced,
for however short a
period, the great beauty and
power of a free awareness, they may, in the next period, meet with a guide
or friend who will initiate them further into the way.
The way in which this teaching is effective, even for a voyager already
in the Sidpa Bardo,
is as follows:
each person has some positive and some
negative game-residues (karma). The continuity
of consciousness has been
broken by an ego-death for which the person was not prepared. The teach-
ings are
like a trough
in a broken water
drain,
temporarily
restoring the
continuity with positive karma. As stated before, the extreme suggestibility
or detached
quality
of consciousness
in
this
state ensures the
efficacy
of
93

---

## Page 98

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
listening
to the
doctrine. The teaching embedded
in
this Manual may be
compared
to
a catapult which can
direct
the person towards
the
goal
of
liberation. Or like the moving of a big wooden beam, which
is so heavy that
a hundred men cannot carry it, but by being floated on water it can be easily
moved. Or it is like controlling a horse's bit and course by the use of a bridle.
Therefore, these teachings should be vividly impressed on the voyager,
again and again. This Manual may also be used more generally.
It should
be recited as often as possible and committed to memory as far as possible.
When ego-death
or
final death comes, recognize the symptoms,
recite the
Manual to yourself, and reflect upon the meaning.
If you cannot do
it your-
self, ask a friend to read
it for you. There
is no doubt as to
its liberative
power.
It liberates by being seen or heard, without need of
ritual or complex
meditation.
This Profound Teaching
liberates
those
of
great
evil karma
through the
Secret Pathway. One should not forget
its meaning and
the
words, even though pursued by seven mastiffs. By this Select Teaching, one
obtains Buddhahood at the moment of ego-loss. Were the Buddhas of past,
present and future to seek, they could not find any doctrine transcending
this.
Here ends the Bardo Thodol, known as
The Tibetan Book of the Dead
94

---

## Page 99

III.
SOME TECHNICAL COMMENTS
ABOUT PSYCHEDELIC SESSIONS

---

## Page 101

III.
SOME TECHNICAL COMMENTS
ABOUT PSYCHEDELIC SESSIONS
1.
Use of This Manual
The most important
use
of
this manual
is
for
preparatory
reading.
Having read the Tibetan Manual, one can immediately recognize symptoms
and experiences which might otherwise be
terrifying, only because
of lack
of understanding as to what was happening. Recognition
is the key word.
Secondly,
this guidebook may be used to avoid paranoid
traps
or
to
regain the
First Bardo transcendence
if
it has been
lost.
If the experience
starts with
light,
peace, mystic
unity,
understanding, and
if
it continues
along this path, then there is no need to remember this manual or have this
manual re-read to you. Like a road map, we consult
it only when
lost, or
when we wish to change course. Usually, however, the ego clings to
its old
games. There may be momentary discomfort or confusion.
If this happens,
the others present should not be sympathetic or show alarm. They should
be prepared to stay calm and restrain their "helping games." In particular,
the "doctor"
role should be avoided.
If at any time you find yourself struggling to get back to routine reality,
you can
(by pre-arrangement)
have a more experienced person, a
fellow-
voyager, or a trusted observer read parts of this manual to you.
Passages suitable for reading during the session are given in Part IV
below. Each major descriptive section of the Tibetan Book has an appro-
priate instruction
text. One may want to pre-record selected passages and
simply flick on the recorder when desired. The aim of these instruction texts
97

---

## Page 102

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
is always to lead the voyager back to the original First Bardo transcendence
and to help maintain that as long as possible.
A
third
use would be
to
construct
a "program"
for
a
session
using
passages from the text. The aim would be to lead the voyager to one of the
visions deliberately, or through a sequence
of
visions. The guide or friend
could read the relevant passages, show slides or pictures of symbolic figures
of processes, play carefully selected music, etc. One can envision a high art
or programming psychedelic sessions, in which symbolic manipulations and
presentations
would
lead
the
voyager
through
ecstatic
visionary
Bead
Games.
98

---

## Page 103

SOME TECHNICAL COMMENTS ABOUT PSYCHEDELIC SESSIONS
2.
Planning a Session
In planning a session, the
first question to be decided
is "what
is the
goal?"
Classic Hinduism suggests
four
possibilities:
(1)
For
increased
personal
power,
intellectual
understanding,
sharpened
insight
into
self
and
culture,
improvement
of
life
situation,
accelerated
learning,
professional
growth.
(2)
For duty, help
of others, providing care,
rehabilitation,
rebirth
for fellow men.
(3)
For
fun, sensuous enjoyment,
aesthetic
pleasure,
interpersonal
closeness,
pure
experience.
(4)
For
transcendence,
liberation from ego and
space-time
limits;
attainment
of
mystical
union.
This manual
aims
primarily
at
the
latter
goal — that
of
liberation-
enlightenment.
This emphasis
does not
preclude attainment
of
the
other
goals — in fact,
it guarantees their attainment because illumination requires
that the person be able to step out beyond game problems
of personality,
role, and professional status. The
initiate can decide beforehand to devote
the psychedelic experience to any of the four goals. The manual
will be of
assistance
in any event.
If there are several people having a session together they should either
agree collaboratively on a
goal, or at least be aware
of each other's
goals.
If the
session
is
to be "programmed" then the participants should
either
agree on or design a program collaboratively, or they should agree to let one
member of the group do the programming. Unexpected or undesired manipu-
lations by one of the participants can easily "trap" the other voyagers into
paranoid Third Bardo delusions.
The voyager, especially in an individual session, may also wish to have
either an extroverted or an introverted experience. In the extroverted tran-
99

---

## Page 104

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
scendent experience, the self is ecstatically fused with external objects
(e.g.
flowers,
or other people).
In
the introverted
state, the
self
is
ecstatically
fused
with
internal
life
processes
(lights,
energy-waves,
bodily
events,
biological forms,
etc.). Of course, either the extroverted or the introverted
state may be negative rather than
positive, depending on
the attitude
of
the voyager.
Also
it may be primarily conceptual
or primarily
emotional.
The eight types of experience thus derived (four positive and four negative)
have been described more fully in Visions 2 to 5 of the Second Bardo.
For the extroverted mystic experience one would bring to the session
objects or symbols to guide the awareness in the desired direction. Candles,
pictures, books, incense, music or recorded passages. An introverted mystic
experience
requires the elimination
of
all
stimulation; no
light, no sound,
no
smell, no movement.
The mode of communication with the other participants should also be
agreed on beforehand. You may agree on certain signals, silently indicating
companionship. You may
arrange
for
physical
contact — clasping
hands,
embracing. These means of communication should be pre-arranged to avoid
game-misinterpretations that may develop during the heightened sensitivity
of ego-transcendence.
100

---

## Page 105

SOME TECHNICAL COMMENTS ABOUT PSYCHEDELIC SESSIONS
3.
Drugs and Dosages
A wide variety of chemicals and plants have psychedelic ("mind-mani-
festing")
effects. The most widely used substances are listed here together
with dosages adequate for a normal adult of average size. The dosage to be
taken depends, of course, on the goal of the session. Two figures are therefore
given. The
first column indicates a dosage which should be sufficient for an
inexperienced person
to enter the transcendental worlds
described
in
this
manual. The second column gives a smaller dosage figure, which may be used
by more experienced persons or by participants in a group session.
A
B
LSD-25
(lysergic acid diethylamide)
200-500
jig
100-200
Mg
Mescaline
600-800 mg
300-500 mg
Psilocybin
40-60 mg
20-30 mg
The
time
of
onset, when
the
drugs
are
taken
orally
on
an empty
stomach,
is approximately 20-30 minutes for LSD and psilocybin, and one
to two hours for mescaline. The duration of the session is usually eight to ten
hours
for LSD and mescaline, and
five
to
six hours
for psilocybin. DMT
(dimethyltryptamine), when
injected intramuscularly
in dosages
of
50-60
mg,
gives an experience approximately equivalent to 500
jig
of LSD, but
which lasts only 30 minutes.
Some
persons have found
it
useful
to
take
other
drugs
before
the
session. A very anxious person, for example, may take 30 to 40 mg of Librium
about one hour earlier, to calm and relax himself. Methedrine has also been
used to induce a pleasant, euphoric mood prior to the session. Sometimes,
with excessively nervous persons, it is advisable to stagger the drug-adminis-
tration:
for example, 200 jig of LSD may be taken initially, and a "booster"
of another 200
p.g may be taken after the person has become familiar with
some
of the effects
of the psychedelic
state.
101

---

## Page 106

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
Nausea may sometimes occur. Usually this
is a mental symptom, indi-
cating fear, and should be regarded as such. Sometimes, however, particularly
with the use
of morning-glory
seeds and
peyote,
the nausea can have
a
physiological
cause.
Anti-nauseant
drugs
such
as
Marezine,
Bonamine,
Dramamine or Tigan, may be taken beforehand to prevent
this.
If
a
person becomes
trapped
in
a
repetitive
game-routine
during
a
session,
it
is sometimes possible to "break the set" by administering 50 mg
of DMT, or even 25 mg of Dexedrine or Methedrine. Such additional dosages,
of course, should only be given with the person's own knowledge and consent.
Should external emergencies
call for
it, Thorazine
(100-200 mg,
i.m.)
or
other
phenothiazine-type
tranquilizers
will
terminate
the
effects
of
psychedelic drugs. Antidotes should not be used simply because the voyager
or the guide
is
frightened.
Instead, the appropriate
sections
of the Third
Bardo should be read.*
* Further, more
detailed
suggestions concerning dosage may
be found
in
a paper by
Gary M. Fisher: "Some Comments Concerning Dosage Levels of Psychedelic Compounds
for
Psychotherapeutic
Experiences."
Psychedelic Review,
I,
no.
2.
pp.
208-218.
1963.
102

---

## Page 107

SOME TECHNICAL COMMENTS ABOUT PSYCHEDELIC SESSIONS
4.
Preparation
Psychedelic chemicals
are not
drugs
in the usual
sense
of
the word.
There
is no
specific
reaction, no expected sequence
of
events, somatic
or
psychological.
The specific reaction has
little to do with the chemical and
is chiefly a
function
of
set and
setting; preparation and environment. The better the
preparation^ the more ecstatic and revelatory the session. In
initial sessions
and with unprepared persons, setting — particularly the actions of others —
is
most
important.
With
persons who
have
prepared
thoughtfully
and
seriously, the setting
is less important.
There are two aspects of set:
long-range and immediate.
Long-range set refers to the personal history, the enduring personality.
The kind
of
person you
are — your
fears,
desires,
conflicts,
guilts,
secret
passions — determines how you
interpret and manage
any
situation
you
enter, including a psychedelic session. Perhaps more important are the reflex
mechanisms used when dealing with anxiety —
the defenses, the protective
maneuvers typically employed. Flexibility, basic trust, religious faith, human
openness, courage, interpersonal warmth, creativity, are characteristics which
allow for fun and easy learning. Rigidity, desire to control, distrust, cynicism,
narrowness,
cowardice,
coldness,
are
characteristics which make any new
situation threatening. Most important is insight. No matter how many cracks
in the record, the person who has some understanding of his own recording
machinery, who
can
recognize when
he
is
not
functioning
as
he would
wish,
is better able
to adapt to any challenge — even the sudden
collapse
of his ego.
The most
careful
preparation would
include some
discussion
of
the
personality characteristics and some planning with the guide as to how to
handle expected emotional reactions when they
occur.
Immediate set refers to the expectations about the session itself. Session
preparation
is
of
critical
importance
in
determining how
the
experience
103

---

## Page 108

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
unfolds.
People tend naturally
to impose
their
personal and
social game
perspectives
on
any new
situation.
Careful
thought
should
precede
the
session
to prevent narrow
sets being imposed.
Medical expectations. Some ill-prepared subjects unconsciously impose
a medical model on the experience. They look for symptoms, interpret each
new sensation in terms of sickness
health, place the guide in a doctor-role,
and,
if
anxiety
develops,
demand
chemical
rebirth — i.e.,
tranquillizers.
Occasionally one hears of casual, ill-planned, non-guided sessions which end
in the subject demanding to be hospitalized,
etc.
It
is even more problem-
provoking
if the guide employs a medical model, watches for symptoms, and
keeps hospitalization in mind to
fall back on, as protection for himself.
Rebellion against convention may be the motive of some people who take
the drug. The idea of doing something "far out" or vaguely naughty is a naive
set which can color the experience.
Intellectual expectations are appropriate when subjects have had much
psychedelic
experience.
Indeed, LSD
offers
vast
possibilities
for
acceler-
ated learning and scientific-scholarly research. But for initial sessions, intel-
lectual reactions can become traps. The Tibetan Manual never tires of warn-
ing about the dangers of rationalization. "Turn your mind off"
is the best
advice for novitiates. Control of your consciousness
is like flight instruction.
After you have learned how to move your consciousness around — into ego-
loss and back, at will — then intellectual exercises can be incorporated into
the psychedelic experience. The last stage of the session
is the best time to
examine
concepts. The
objective
of
this
particular manual
is
to
free you
from your verbal mind for as long as possible.
Religious expectations invite the same advice as intellectual
set. Again,
the subject
in early sessions
is best advised to
float with the stream,
stay
"up" as long as possible, and postpone theological interpretations until the
end
of the
session,
or to
later
sessions.
Recreational and
aesthetic
expectations
are
natural. The
psychedelic
experience, without
question,
provides
ecstatic moments which dwarf any
personal
or
cultural
game.
Pure
sensation
can
capture
awareness.
Inter-
104

---

## Page 109

SOME TECHNICAL COMMENTS ABOUT PSYCHEDELIC SESSIONS
personal intimacy reaches Himalayan heights. Aesthetic delights — musical,
artistic, botanical, natural —
are raised to the millionth power. But all these
reactions can be Third Bardo ego games:
"1 am having
this ecstasy. How
lucky / am!" Such reactions can become tender traps, preventing the subject
from reaching pure ego-loss
(First Bardo)
or the
glories
of Second Bardo
creativity.
Planned expectations. This manual prepares the person for a mystical
experience according to the Tibetan model. The Sages of the Snowy Ranges
have developed a most sophisticated and precise understanding
of human
psychology, and the student who studies this manual
will become oriented
for a voyage which
is much richer in scope and meaning than any Western
psychological
theory. We remain aware, however,
that
the Bardo
Thodol
model
of consciousness
is a human
artifact, a Second Bardo hallucination,
however grand
its scope.
Some practical recommendations. The subject should set aside at least
three days for his experience; a day before, the session day, and a follow-up
day. This scheduling guarantees a reduction in external pressure and a more
sober commitment to the voyage.
Talking to others who have taken the voyage
is excellent preparation,
although the Second Bardo hallucinatory quality of
all descriptions should
be
recognized.
Observing
a
session
is
another
valuable
preliminary. The
opportunity
to
see others during and
after a
session shapes
expectations.
Reading
books
about
mystical
experience
is
a
standard
orientation
procedure. Reading the accounts of others' experiences
is another possibility
(Aldous Huxley, Alan Watts, and Gordon Wasson have written powerful
accounts).
Meditation
is probably the best preparation
for
a psychedelic
session.
Those who have spent time
in the
solitary attempt
to manage the mind,
to eliminate thought and to reach higher stages
of concentration,
are the
best candidates
for a psychedelic
session. When the
ego-loss
state
occurs,
they
are
ready. They
recognize
the
process
as
an
end
eagerly
awaited,
rather than a strange event ill-understood.
105

---

## Page 110

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
5.
The Setting
The
first and most important thing
to remember,
in
the preparation
for a psychedelic session,
is to provide a setting which
is removed from one's
usual
social and interpersonal games and which
is as free as possible from
unforeseen distractions and intrusions. The voyager should make sure that
he will not be disturbed by visitors or telephone calls, since these will often
jar him into hallucinatory
activity. Trust in the surroundings and privacy
are necessary.
A period
of time
(usually at least three days)
should be
set aside in
which the experience will run
its natural course and there will be
sufficient
time for reflection and meditation.
It
is important
to keep schedules open
for three days and
to make
these arrangements beforehand. A too-hasty
return to game-involvements will blur the clarity of the vision and reduce
the
potential
for learning.
If the experience was with a
group,
it
is very
useful
to
stay
together
after the
session
in
order
to
share and exchange
experiences.
There are
differences between night
sessions and day
sessions. Many
people
report
that
they
are more comfortable
in
the evening and
conse-
quently
that
their experiences
are deeper and
richer. The
person
should
choose the time of day that seems right according to his own temperament
at
first. Later, he may wish to experience the difference between night and
day sessions.
Similarly,
there
are
differences
between
sessions
out-of-doors
and
indoors. Natural settings such as gardens, beaches, forests, and open country
have
specific
influences which
one may
or may
not
wish
to
incur. The
essential
thing
is
to
feel
as
comfortable
as
possible
in
the
surroundings,
whether in one's living room or under the night sky. A familiarity with the
surroundings may help one to feel confident in hallucinatory periods.
If the
session
is held
indoors, one must consider the arrangement
of
the room
106

---

## Page 111

SOME TECHNICAL COMMENTS ABOUT PSYCHEDELIC SESSIONS
and the specific objects one may wish to see and hear during the experience.
Music, lighting, the availability of food and drink, should be considered
beforehand. Most people report no desire for food during the height of the
experience, and
then,
later
on,
prefer
to have
simple,
ancient
foods
like
bread, cheese, wine, and fresh
fruit. Hunger
is usually not the
issue. The
senses
are
wide
open,
and
the
taste
and
smell
of
a
fresh
orange
are
unforgettable.
In
group
sessions,
the arrangement
of
the room
is
quite
important.
People usually
will not
feel
like walking
or moving very much
for a long
period, and either beds or mattresses should be provided. The arrangement
of the beds
or mattresses can vary. One suggestion
is
to place the heads
of the beds together to form a star pattern. Perhaps one may want to place
a few beds together and keep one
or two some distance apart
for anyone
who wishes to remain aside for some time. Often, the availability of an extra
room
is desirable for someone who wishes to be in seclusion for a period.
If
it
is desired to listen to music or to reflect on paintings or religious
objects,
one
should
arrange
these
so
that
everyone
in
the
group
feels
comfortable with what they are hearing or
seeing.
In a group
session,
all
decisions about
goals,
setting,
etc. should be made with collaboration and
openness.
107

---

## Page 112

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
6.
The Psychedelic Guide
For initial sessions, the attitude and behavior of the guide are
critical
factors. He possesses enormous power to shape the experience. With the cog-
nitive mind suspended, the subject is in a heightened state of suggestibility.
The guide can move consciousness with the slightest gesture or reaction.
The key issue here
is the guide's ability to turn
off his own ego and
social games — in particular, to muffle his own power needs and his fears. To
be
there
relaxed,
solid,
accepting,
secure. The Tao wisdom
of
creative
quietism. To sense
all and do nothing except to let the subject know your
wise
presence.
A psychedelic session lasts up to twelve hours and produces moments
of intense, intense, INTENSE
reactivity. The guide must never be bored,
talkative,
intellectualizing. He must remain calm
during
long
periods
of
swirling
mindlessness.
He
is the ground control in the airport tower. Always there to receive
messages and queries from high-flying
aircraft. Always ready to help navi-
gate
their course,
to help them reach
their
destination. An airport-tower-
operator who imposes his own personality, his own games upon the pilot
is
unheard
of. The
pilots have
their own
flight
plan,
their own
goals, and
ground control
is there, ever waiting to be of service.
The pilot is reassured to know that an expert who has guided thousands
of flights
is down there, available for help. But suppose the
flier has reason
to suspect that ground control
is harboring his own motives and might be
manipulating
the
plane
towards
selfish
goals. The bond
of
security and
confidence would crumble.
It goes without saying, then, that the guide should have had consider-
able experience in psychedelic sessions himself and in guiding others. To ad-
minister psychedelics without personal experience is unethical and dangerous.
The
greatest
problem
faced
by human
beings
in
general,
and
the
108

---

## Page 113

SOME TECHNICAL COMMENTS ABOUT PSYCHEDELIC SESSIONS
psychedelic guide in particular,
is fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of losing
control. Fear of trusting the genetic process and your companions. From our
own research studies and our investigations into sessions run by others —
serious professionals or adventurous bohemians — we have been led to the
conclusion
that
almost every
negative LSD
reaction has been caused by
fear on the
part
of the guide which has augmented
the
transient
fear
of
the subject. When the guide acts
to protect himself, he communicates his
concern
to
the
subject.
The guide must remain passively
sensitive and
intuitively relaxed
for
several hours. This
is a
difficult assignment
for most Westerners. For
this
reason, we have sought ways to
assist the guide
in maintaining a state of
alert quietism in which he
is poised with ready flexibility. The most certain
way to achieve this state is for the guide to take a low dose of the psychedelic
with the subject. Routine procedure is to have one trained person participate
in the experience and one
staff member present in ground control without
psychedelic aid.
The knowledge
that one experienced
guide
is "up" and
keeping
the
subject
company,
is
of
inestimable
value;
intimacy and
communication;
cosmic companionship; the security of having a trained pilot flying at your
wing
tip; the scuba
diver's security
in the presence
of an expert comrade
in
the
deep.
It
is not recommended that guides take large doses during sessions for
new subjects. The
less experienced he
is, the more likely
will the subject
impose Second and Third Bardo hallucinations. These intense games
affect
the experienced guide, who
is likely to be in a state of mindless void. The
guide
is then pulled
into the hallucinatory
field
of the
subject, and may
have
difficulty
orienting
himself.
During
the
First
Bardo
there
are
no
familiar
fixed
landmarks,
no
place
to
put
your
foot,
no
solid
concept
upon which to base your thinking. All
is flux. Decisive Second Bardo action
109

---

## Page 114

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
on the part
of the subject can structure the
guide's
flow
if he has taken
a heavy
dose.
The role of the psychedelic guide is perhaps the most exciting and inspir-
ing role in society. He
is literally a liberator, one who provides illumination,
one who frees men from their life-long internal bondage. To be present at
the moment of awakening, to share the ecstatic revelation when the voyager
discovers
the wonder and awe
of the
divine
life-process,
is
for many
the
most gratifying part to play in the evolutionary drama. The role of the psy-
chedelic guide has a built-in protection against professionalism and didactic
oneupmanship. The psychedelic liberation is so powerful that it far outstrips
earthly game ambitions. Awe and gratitude — rather than pride — are the
rewards of this new profession.
110

---

## Page 115

SOME TECHNICAL COMMENTS ABOUT PSYCHEDELIC SESSIONS
7.
Composition of the Group
The most effective use of this manual will be for the experience of one
person with a
guide. However, the manual
will be useful
in a group
also.
When used in a group session, the following suggestions will be most helpful
in planning.
The important thing
to remember
in organizing a group session
is to
have knowledge of and trust in the fellow voyagers. Trust in oneself and in
one's companions
is essential.
If preparing for an experience with strangers,
it
is very important to share as much time and space as possible with them
prior
to
the
session. The
participants
should
set
collaborative
goals and
explore mutually
their expectations and
feelings and past
experiences.
The
size
of the group should depend
to some
extent on how much
experience the participants have had.
Initially, small groups are preferable
to larger ones. In any case, group experiences exceeding six or seven people
are demonstrably less profound and generate more paranoid hallucinations.
If planning for a group session of five or six people,
it
is preferable to have
at least two guides present. One will take the psychedelic substance and the
other, who does not, serves as a practical guide to take care of such concerns
as changing the recordings, providing food,
etc., and
if necessary or desired,
reading selections from the manual. If it is possible, one of the guides should
be
an
experienced woman who
can
provide
an
atmosphere
of
spiritual
nurturing and comfort.
It
is sometimes
advisable
that the
initial
session
of married
couples
be separate in order that the exploration of their marriage game not dominate
the session. With some experience in consciousness-expansion, the marriage
game
like
others may be explored
for any
purpose — increased
intimacy,
clearer communication, exploration of the foundations of the sexual, mating
relationship,
etc.
Ill

---

## Page 116

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
Just as one day should be set aside for preparation, so also should at
least one day
(preferably more) be reserved for follow-up. Game schedules
should be minimal, and no routine appointments or commitments made. A
transcendent
experience
can
be
soul-shaking,
and
it
is
often
painful
to
return at once to game reality. The person should avoid thinking too much
about the session at
first. His brain
is like a computer that has received a
huge amount of new information to be assimilated. Attempts to rationalize,
explain, understand intellectually, are usually made prematurely, sometimes
even during the session. This
is to be avoided. Maximal benefit accrues
if
the brain-computer
is given ample time without pressure
to work through
and integrate the vast quantities
of new impressions. Thus, the
first
rule
for
the
follow-up
period
is:
avoid
too much
thinking and
talking.
Rest,
relax,
avoid
games.
Sometime toward the end of the post-session day, the voyager should
meet with
the
guide
or
fellow voyagers
to
give
a
verbal
account
of
his
experience. Some
of the most revealing insights can come from these com-
parisons. Each
person has
shot
his own
film, and
the
discrepancies and
similarities between the different versions of the same behavioral or external
events can yield startling clarifications.
112

---

## Page 117

IV.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE
DURING A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION

---

## Page 119

IV.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE
DURING A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
FIRST BARDO INSTRUCTIONS
(name of voyager)
The time has come for you to seek new
levels
of
reality.
Your ego and the (name) game are about
to
cease.
You are about to be set face to face with the Clear Light.
You are about
to experience
it
in
its
reality.
In the ego-free state, wherein
all things are like the void and cloudless sky,
And the naked spotless
intellect
is
like a transparent vacuum;
At
this moment, know yourself and abide
in that state.
(name of voyager),
That which
is called ego-death
is coming to you.
Remember:
This is now the hour of death and rebirth;
Take advantage
of
this temporary death
to obtain the perfect state —
Enlightenment.
Concentrate on the unity
of
all living beings.
Hold onto the Clear Light.
Use
it to attain understanding and love.
115

---

## Page 120

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
If you cannot maintain the bliss of illumination and
if you are slipping back
into contact with the external world,
Remember:
The hallucinations which you may now experience,
The visions and insights,
Will teach you much about yourself and the world.
The veil of routine perception will be torn from your eyes.
Remember the unity of
all living things.
Remember
the
bliss
of
the
Clear
Light.
Let
it guide you through the visions of this experience.
Let
it guide you through your new
life
to come.
If you feel confused;
call upon the memory of your friends and the power of
the person whom you most admire.
(name),
Try to reach and keep the experience of the Clear Light.
Remember:
The light
is the
life energy.
The endless flame
of
life.
An ever-changing surging turmoil of color may engulf your vision.
This is the ceaseless transformation of energy.
The life process.
Do not
fear
it.
Surrender to
it.
Join
it.
It
is part
of you.
You are part of
it.
Remember
also:
Beyond the restless flowing electricity of
life
is the ultimate reality —
The Void.
116

---

## Page 121

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
Your own awareness, not formed
into anything
possessing form
or
color,
is naturally void.
The
Final Reality.
The
All Good.
The All Peaceful.
The Light.
The Radiance.
The movement
is the fire of life from which we all come.
Join
it.
It
is
part
of
you.
Beyond the light of life
is the peaceful silence of the void.
The quiet
bliss beyond
all transformations.
The Buddha smile.
The Void
is not nothingness.
The Void
is beginning and end
itself.
Unobstructed;
shining,
thrilling,
blissful.
Diamond
consciousness.
The All-Good Buddha.
Your own
consciousness,
not formed
into
anything,
No thought, no vision, no color,
is void.
The intellect shining and blissful and silent —
This
is the
state
of perfect enlightenment.
Your own consciousness, shining, void and inseparable from the great body
of
radiance, has no
birth, nor death.
It
is the immutable light which the Tibetans
call Buddha Amitabha,
The awareness of the formless beginning.
Knowing this
is enough.
Recognize the voidness of your own consciousness to be Buddhahood.
Keep
this
recognition and you
will maintain the state
of the divine mind
of the Buddha.
117

---

## Page 123

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
SECOND BARDO PRELIMINARY INSTRUCTIONS
Remember:
In this session you experience three Bardos,
Three states
of ego-loss.
First there is the Clear Light of Reality.
Next
there
are
fantastically varied game
hallucinations.
Later you will reach the stage of Re-Entry
Of regaining an ego.
friend,
You may experience ego-transcendence,
Departure from your old
self.
But you
are
not
the
only
one.
It comes
to
all
at some
time.
You are fortunate to have this gratuitously given rebirth experience.
Do not cling in fondness and weakness to your old self.
Even though you cling to your mind, you have lost the power to keep
it.
You can gain nothing by struggling in
this hallucinatory world.
Be not attached.
Be not weak.
Whatever fear or terror may come to you
Forget not these words.
Take their meaning into your heart.
Go forward.
Herein
lies the
vital
secret
of
recognition.
O friend, remember:
When body and mind separate, you experience a glimpse of the pure truth
Subtle, sparkling, bright,
119

---

## Page 124

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
Dazzling,
glorious, and radiantly awesome,
In appearance like a mirage moving across a landscape
in springtime.
One continuous stream
of vibrations.
Be not daunted thereby,
Nor
terrified, nor awed.
That
is the radiance of your own true nature.
Recognize
it.
From the midst of that radiance
Comes the natural sound
of
reality,
Reverberating like a thousand thunders simultaneously sounding.
That
is
the natural sound
of your own
life process.
Be not daunted thereby,
Nor
terrified, nor awed.
It is sufficient for you to know that these apparitions are your own thought-
forms.
If you do not recognize your own thought
forms,
If you
forget your preparation,
The lights will daunt you,
The sounds
will awe you,
The rays will terrify you,
The people around you will confuse you.
Remember
the
key
to
the
teachings.
friend,
These realms are not come from somewhere ouside your
self,
They come from within and shine upon you.
The
revelations too are not come from somewhere
else;
They exist from eternity within the faculties of your own
intellect.
Know them
to be
of that nature.
120

---

## Page 125

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
The key to enlightenment and serenity during the period
of ten thousand
visions
is simply
this:
Relax.
Merge
yourself with them.
Blissfully accept the wonders of your own creativity.
Become neither attached nor afraid,
Neither be attracted nor repulsed.
Above
all, do nothing about the visions.
They exist only within you.
121

---

## Page 127

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
INSTRUCTIONS FOR VISION
1:
THE SOURCE
(Eyes closed, external stimuli ignored)
nobly-born,
listen
carefully:
The Radiant Energy of the Seed
From which come
all living forms,
Shoots forth and strikes against you
With a light so brilliant that you
will scarcely be able to look at
it.
Do
not
be
frightened.
This
is the Source Energy which has been
radiating
for
billions
of
years,
Ever manifesting
itself
in
different forms.
Accept
it.
Do not try to intellectualize
it.
Do not play games with
it.
Merge with
it.
Let
it flow through you.
Lose yourself in
it.
Fuse
in the Halo of Rainbow Light
Into the core of the energy dance.
Obtain Buddhahood
in the Central Realm of the Densely Packed.
123

---

## Page 129

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
INSTRUCTIONS FOR PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS
friend, listen carefully.
The bodily symptoms you are having are not drug-effects.
They indicate that you are struggling against the awareness of feelings which
surpass your normal experience.
You cannot control these universal energy-waves.
Let the
feelings melt
all over you.
Become part
of them.
Sink into them and through them.
Allow yourself to pulsate with the vibrations surrounding you.
Relax.
Do
not
struggle.
Your symptoms
will disappear as soon as
all trace of ego-centered striving
disappears.
Accept them
as the message
of the body.
Welcome
them. Enjoy them.
125

---

## Page 131

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
INSTRUCTIONS FOR VISION
2:
THE INTERNAL FLOW OF ARCHETYPAL PROCESSES
(Eyes closed, external stimuli ignored; intellectual aspects)
nobly
born,
listen
carefully:
The
life flow
is whirling through you.
An endless parade
of pure forms and sounds,
Dazzlingly
brilliant,
Ever-changing.
Do not try to control
it.
Flow with
it.
Experience the ancient cosmic myths of creation and manifestation.
Do
not
try
to
understand;
There
is plenty of time for that later.
Merge with
it.
Let
it flow through you.
There
is no need to act or think.
You are being taught the great lessons of evolution, creation, reproduction.
If you try to stop
it, you may
fall into hell-worlds and endure unbearable
misery
generated by your own
mind.
Avoid game interpretations.
Avoid thinking,
talking or doing.
Keep
faith
in
the
life
flow.
Trust your companions on this watery journey.
Merge in Rainbow Light,
Into the Heart of The River of Created Forms.
Obtain Buddhahood
in the Realm called Pre-Eminently Happy.
127

---

## Page 133

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
INSTRUCTIONS FOR VISION
3:
THE FIRE-FLOW OF INTERNAL UNITY
(Eyes closed, external stimuli ignored, emotional aspects)
nobly born, listen carefully:
You are flowing outward into the fluid unity of
life.
The ecstasy of organic fire glows in every
cell.
The hard, dry, brittle husks of your ego are washing out,
Washing out to the endless sea of creation.
Flow with
it.
Feel the pulse of the sun's heart.
Let the red Buddha Amitabha sweep you
along.
Do not
fear the
ecstasy.
Do not
resist the
flow.
Remember,
all the exultant power comes from within.
Release your attachment.
Recognize the wisdom of your own blood.
Trust the tide-force pulling you into unity with all living forms.
Let your heart burst
in love
for
all
life.
Let your warm blood gush out into the ocean of all life.
Do not be attached to the ecstatic power;
It comes from you.
Let
it
flow.
Do not try to hold on to your old bodily
fears.
Let your body merge with the warm flux.
Let your roots sink into the warm
life body.
Merge into the Heart-Glow of the Buddha Amitabha.
Float in the Rainbow Sea.
Attain Buddhahood in the Realm named Exultant Love.
129

---

## Page 135

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
INSTRUCTIONS FOR VISION
4:
THE WAVE-VIBRATION STRUCTURE OF EXTERNAL FORMS
(Eyes open, rapt involvement with external visual stimuli, intellectual aspects)
nobly born, listen carefully:
At
this point you can become aware
of the wave structure
of the world
around
you.
Everything you
see
dissolves
into energy
vibrations.
Look closely and you will tune in on the electric dance of energy.
There are no longer things and persons but only the direct flow of particles.
Consciousness
will now leave your body and flow into the stream of wave
rhythm.
There
is no need for talk or action.
Let your brain become a receiving set for the radiance.
All interpretations are the products of your own mind.
Dispel them. Have no
fear.
Exult in the natural power of your own brain,
The wisdom of your own electricity.
Abide
in
the
state
of
quietude.
As
the three-dimensional world fragments, you may
feel
panic;
You may beget a fondness for the heavy dull world of objects you are leaving.
At this time, fear not the transparent, radiant, dazzling wave energy.
Allow your intellect to rest.
Fear not the hook-rays
of the light of
life,
The basic structure of matter,
The basic form of wave communication.
Watch
quietly and
receive
the message.
You
will now experience directly the revelation of primal forms.
131

---

## Page 137

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
INSTRUCTIONS FOR VISION
5:
THE VIBRATORY WAVES OF EXTERNAL UNITY
(Eyes open; rapt involvement with external stimuli such as lights,
or movements; emotional aspects)
nobly born, listen carefully:
You are experiencing the unity
of
all living forms.
If people seem
to you rubbery and
lifeless,
like plastic puppets,
Be
not
afraid.
This
is only the attempt of the ego to maintain
its separate identity.
Allow yourself
to
feel the unity
of
all.
Merge with the world around you.
Be not afraid.
Enjoy the dance of the puppets.
They are created by your own mind.
Allow
yourself
to
relax
and
feel
the
ecstatic
energy-vibrations
pulsing
through you.
Enjoy the
feeling
of complete one-ness with
all
life and
all
matter.
The
glowing radiance
is
a
reflection
of your own
consciousness.
It
is one aspect of your divine nature.
Do not be attached to your old human
self.
Do not be alarmed at the new and strange feelings you are having.
If you are attracted now to your old
self,
You
will be reborn shortly
for another round
of game-existence.
Exercise humble trust and remain
fearless.
You
will merge into the heart of the Blessed Ratnasambhava,
In a Halo of Rainbow Light,
And attain liberation in the Realm Endowed with Glory.
133

---

## Page 139

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
INSTRUCTIONS FOR VISION
6:
"THE RETINAL CIRCUS"
nobly born, listen well:
You are now witnessing the magical dance
of forms.
Ecstatic
kaleidoscopic
patterns
explode around
you.
All
possible shapes come to
life before your eyes.
The retinal circus.
The ceaseless play of elements —
Earth, water,
air,
fire,
In ever-changing forms and manifestations,
Dazzles you with
its complexity and variety.
Relax and enjoy
the rushing stream.
Do not become attached to any vision or revelation.
Let everything flow through you.
If unpleasant experiences come,
Let them flit by with the rest.
Do not struggle against them.
It
all comes from within you.
This
is the great lesson in the creativity and power of the brain, freed from
its learned structures.
Let the cascade of images and associations take you where
it
will.
Meditate calmly on the knowledge that
all these visions are emanations of
your own consciousness.
This way you can
obtain self-knowledge and be
liberated.
135

---

## Page 141

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
INSTRUCTIONS FOR VISION
7:
"THE MAGIC THEATRE"
nobly born, listen well:
You are now in the magic theatre of heroes and demons.
Mythical superhuman
figures.
Demons,
goddesses,
celestial
warriors,
giants,
Angels,
Bodhisattvas, dwarfs, crusaders,
Elves,
devils,
saints, and
sorcerers,
Infernal
spirits,
goblins, knights and emperors.
The Lotus Lord of Dance.
The Wise Old Man. The Divine
Child.
The Trickster, The Shapeshifter.
The tamer of monsters.
The mother of gods, the witch.
The moon king. The wanderer.
The whole
divine
theatre
of
figures
representing
the
highest
reaches
of
human knowledge.
Do not be afraid
of them.
They are within you.
Your own creative intellect
is the master magician
of them
all.
Recognize the figures as aspects of your self.
The whole fantastic comedy takes place within you.
Do not become attached to the
figures.
Remember
the
teachings.
You may
still attain liberation.
137

---

## Page 143

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE WRATHFUL VISIONS
nobly born, listen carefully:
You were unable
to maintain the perfect Clear Light
of the
First Bardo.
Or the serene peaceful
visions
of the Second.
You
are now entering Second Bardo nightmares.
Recognize
them.
They are your own thought-forms made visible and audible.
They
are products
of your own mind with
its back
to
the
wall.
They indicate that you are close to liberation.
Do not fear them.
No harm can come to you from these hallucinations.
They are your own thoughts in frightening aspect.
They
are
old
friends.
Welcome them. Merge with them. Join them.
Lose yourself in them.
They are yours.
Whatever you see, no matter how strange and terrifying,
Remember above
all that
it comes from within you.
Hold onto that knowledge.
As soon as you recognize that, you
will obtain
liberation.
If you do not recognize them,
Torture and punishment will ensue.
But these too are but the radiances of your own intellect.
They are immaterial.
Voidness cannot injure voidness.
None
of the peaceful or wrathful visions,
Blood-drinking demons, machines,
monsters,
or
devils,
Exist
in
reality
Only within your
skull.
This will dissipate your fear. Remember
it well.
139

---

## Page 145

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
THIRD BARDO:
PRELIMINARY INSTRUCTIONS
(name),
listen well:
You
are now entering the Third Bardo.
Before,
while
experiencing
the
peaceful
and
wrathful
visions
of
the
Second Bardo,
You could not recognize them.
Through fear you became unconscious.
Now, as you recover,
Your consciousness rises up,
Like a trout leaping forth out
of water,
Striving
for
its
original form.
Your former ego has started to operate again.
Do not struggle to figure things out.
If through weakness you
are
attracted
to
action and
thinking,
You
will have to wander amidst the world
of game existence,
And
suffer
pain.
Relax your
restless mind.
O (name), you have been unable to recognize the archetypal forms
of the
Second
Bardo.
You have thus come down
this
far.
Now,
if you wish to see the truth,
Your mind must rest without distraction.
There
is nothing
to
do,
Nothing to think.
Float back to the unobscured, primordial, bright, void state of your intellect.
In this way you will obtain liberation.
If you are unable
to relax your mind,
141

---

## Page 146

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
Meditate on (name of protective figure)
Meditate on your friends (name)
Think of them with profound love and trust,
As overshadowing the crown of your head.
This is of great importance.
Be not distracted.
(name),
You may now feel the power to perform miraculous feats,
To perceive and communicate with extrasensory power,
To change shape, size and number,
To
traverse space and time
instantly.
These feelings come to you naturally,
Not through any merit on your
part.
Do not desire them.
Do not attempt to exercise them.
Recognize them as signs that you are in the Third Bardo,
In
the
period
of
re-entry
into
the normal
world.
O (name),
If you have not understood the above,
At
this moment,
As a result
of your own mental
set,
Frightening
visions may
come.
Gusts
of wind and
icy
blasts,
Humming and clicking of the controlling machinery,
Mocking
laughter.
You may imagine
terror producing remarks:
"Guilty,"
"stupid,"
"inadequate,"
"nasty."
Such imagined taunts and paranoid nightmares
Are the residues
of
selfish, ego-dominated game-playing.
142

---

## Page 147

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
Fear them
not.
They are your own mental products.
Remember that you are in the Third Bardo.
You
are
struggling
to
re-enter the
denser atmosphere
of
routine game
existence.
Let
this re-entry be smooth and slow.
Do not attempt
to use force
or will-power.
(name),
As you are driven here and there by the ever-moving winds of karma,
Your mind, having no resting place or focus,
Is like a feather tossed about by the wind,
Or like a rider on the horse or breath,
Ceaselessly and involuntarily you
will wander about,
Calling
in despair
for your old ego.
Your mind races along until you are exhausted and miserable.
Do not hold on
to thoughts.
Allow the mind to
rest
in
its unmodified
state.
Meditate on the oneness of all energy.
Thus you will be free of sorrow,
terror, and confusion.
(name),
You may feel confused and bewildered.
You may be wondering about your sanity.
You may look at your fellow voyagers and friends,
And sense that they cannot understand you.
You may think: "I am dead! What shall I do?,"
And feel great misery,
Just like a fish cast out of water on red-hot embers.
You mav wonder whether you will ever return.
143

---

## Page 148

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
Familiar places, relatives, people known to you appear now as in a dream,
Or through a glass darkly.
If you are having such experiences,
Thinking
will be of no avail.
Do
not
struggle
to
explain.
This is the natural result of your own mental program.
Such feelings indicate that you are in the Third Bardo.
Trust your
guide,
Trust your companions,
Trust the Compassionate Buddha,
Meditate calmly and without distraction.
(name),
You may now feel as if you are being oppressed and squeezed,
Like between
rocks and
boulders,
Or like inside a cage or prison.
Remember:
These are signs that you are trying to force a return
to your ego.
There may be a dull, gray light
Suffusing
all objects with a murky glow.
These are
all signs of the Third Bardo.
Do not struggle to return.
The re-entry
will happen by
itself.
Recognize where you
are.
Recognition
will lead to liberation.
144

---

## Page 149

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
INSTRUCTIONS FOR RE-ENTRY VISIONS
(name).
You have still not understood what is happening.
So far you have been searching for your past personality.
Unable to find
it, you may begin to feel that you will never be the
same again,
That you will come back a changed person.
Saddened by this you will feel self-pity,
You will attempt to find your ego, to regain control.
So thinking, you will wander here and there,
Ceaselessly and distractedly.
Different images of your future self will be seen by you;
The one you are headed for will be seen most clearly.
The special art of these teachings
is particularly important at this moment.
Whatever image you
see,
Meditate upon
it as coming from the Buddha —
That level of existence also exists in the Buddha.
This
is an exceedingly profound art.
It
will
free you from your present confusion.
Meditate upon (name of protective ideal)
for as long as possible.
Visualize him as a form produced by a magician,
Then let his image melt away,
Starting with the extremities,
Till nothing remains
visible.
Put yourself in a state
of Clearness and Voidness;
Abide in that state for a while.
Then meditate again on your protective
ideal.
Then again on the Clear Light.
145

---

## Page 150

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
Do
this
alternately.
Afterwards, allow your own mind also to melt away gradually.
Wherever the air pervades, consciousness pervades.
Wherever consciousness pervades, serene ecstasy pervades.
Abide
tranquilly
in the uncreated
state
of
serenity.
In that state, paranoid rebirth will be prevented.
Perfect enlightenment
will be gained.
146

---

## Page 151

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE ALL-DETERMINING
INFLUENCE OF THOUGHT
(name), you may now experience momentary joy,
Followed by momentary sorrow,
Of great intensity,
Like the stretching and relaxing of a catapult.
You
will go through sharp mood
swings,
All
determined by
karma.
Be not
in the least attached to the joys nor displeased by the sorrows.
The actions of your friends or companions may evoke anger or shame in you.
If you get angry or depressed,
You
will immediately have an experience
of
hell.
No matter what people are doing,
Make sure that no angry thought can arise.
Meditate upon love for them.
Even at this late stage of the session
You are only one second away from a life-changing joyous discovery.
Remember that each
of your companions
is Buddha within.
Your mind in
its present state having no focus or integrating force,
Being light and continuously moving,
Whatever thought occurs to you,
Positive or negative,
Will wield
great power.
You are extremely suggestible
Therefore think not of selfish things.
Recall your preparation for the session.
Show pure affection and humble
faith.
Through hearing these words,
Recollection will come.
Recollection
will be followed by recognition and liberation.
147

---

## Page 153

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
INSTRUCTIONS FOR JUDGMENT VISIONS
(name),
if you are experiencing a vision
of judgment and
guilt,
Listen
carefully:
That you are suffering like this
Is the result
of your own mental
set.
Your karma.
No one
is doing anything to you.
There
is nothing
to
do.
Your own mind is creating the problem.
Accordingly float into meditation.
Remember your former beliefs.
Remember the teachings of this manual.
Remember the friendly presence of your companions.
If you do not know how
to meditate
Concentrate on any
single
object
or
sensation.
Hold
this (hand the wanderer an object),
Concentrate on
the
reality
of
this,
Recognize the
illusory nature
of existence and phenomena.
This moment
is
of great importance.
If you are
distracted now
it
will take you a long time to
get out
of the
quagmire
of misery.
Up
till now the Bardo experiences have come
to you and you have not
recognized them.
You have been
distracted.
On
this account you have experienced
all the fear and
terror.
Even though unsuccessful thus far
You may recognize and obtain liberation
here.
Your session can
still become
ecstatic and
revelatory.
149

---

## Page 154

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
If you do not know how to meditate, remember (person's
ideal).
Remember your companions
Remember
this manual.
Think of
all these fears and terrifying apparitions as being your own ideal.
Or as the compassionate one.
They are
divine
tests.
Remember your guide.
Repeat the names over and over.
Even though you
fall.
You
will not be
hurt.
150

---

## Page 155

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
INSTRUCTIONS FOR SEXUAL VISIONS
(name),
At this time you may see visions of mating couples.
You
are convinced that an orgy
is about
to take
place.
Desire and
anticipation
seize you,
You wonder what sexual performance
is expected
of you.
When these visions occur,
Remember to withhold yourself from action or attachment.
Humbly exercise your
faith.
Float with the stream.
Trust the process with great fervency.
Meditation and trust in the unity of
life are the keys.
If you attempt to enter into your old personality because you are attracted
or repulsed,
If you try to join the orgy you are hallucinating,
You will be reborn on an animal level.
You will experience possessive desire and jealousy,
You
will suffer stupidity and misery.
If you wish to avoid these miseries
Listen and
recognize.
Reject the feelings of attraction or repulsion.
Remember the downward
pull opposing enlightenment
is strong
in you.
Meditate upon unity with your fellow voyagers.
Abandon
jealousy,
Be neither attracted nor repulsed by your sexual hallucinations.
If you are you will wander in misery a long time.
Repeat these words to yourself.
And
meditate
on
them.
151

---

## Page 157

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
FOUR METHODS OF PREVENTING RE-ENTRY
First Method:
Meditation on the Buddha
O (name), tranquilly meditate upon your protective figure (name).
He
is
like
the
reflecting
of
the moon
in
water.
He
is apparent yet
non-existent.
Like illusion produced by magic.
If you have no special protective figure,
Meditate upon the Buddha or upon me.
With
this in mind meditate tranquilly.
Then causing the visualized form
of your
protective
ideal
To melt away from the
extremities,
Meditate, without any thought-forming, upon the Void Clear Light.
This
is a very profound
art.
By virtue of
it rebirth
is postponed.
A more illuminated future
is assured.
Second Method:
Meditation on Good Games
(Name), You are now wandering in the Third Bardo.
As a sign
of
this, look into a mirror and you
will not see your usual
self
(show the wanderer a mirror).
At this time you must form a single, firm resolve in your mind.
This
is very important.
It is like directing the course of a horse by the use of the reins.
Whatever you desire
will come to pass.
153

---

## Page 158

THE PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE
Think not of evil actions which might turn the course of your mind.
Remember your spiritual relationship with me,
Or with anyone from whom you have received teaching.
Persevere with good games.
This
is essential.
Be not distracted.
Here lies the boundary line between going up or down.
If you give way to indecision for even a second,
You will have to suffer misery for a long, long time,
Trapped in your old habits and games.
This
is the moment.
Hold fast to one single purpose.
Remember good games.
Resolve to act according to your highest insight.
This
is a time when earnestness and pure love are necessary.
Abandon jealousy.
Meditate upon laughter and trust.
Bear this well at heart.
154

---

## Page 159

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
Third Method:
Meditation on Illusion
If
still going down and not
liberated,
Meditate
as
follows:
The
sexual
activities,
the manipulation machinery,
the mocking
laughter,
dashing sounds and terrifying apparitions,
Indeed
all phenomena
Are
in their nature,
illusions.
However they may appear,
in truth they are unreal and fake.
They are like dreams and apparitions,
Non-permanent,
non-fixed.
What advantage
is there
in being attached to them,
Or being afraid
of them?
All these are hallucinations
of the mind.
The mind
itself does not
exist,
Therefore why should they?
Only
through
taking
these
illusions
for
real
will you wander around
in
this confused existence.
All these
are
like dreams,
Like echoes,
Like cities of clouds,
Like mirages,
Like mirrored forms,
Like phantasmagoria,
The moon seen in water.
Not
real even for a moment.
By holding one-pointedly
to that
train
of thought.
The
belief that they
are
real
is
dissipated,
And liberation
is attained.
155

---

## Page 161

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
Fourth Method:
Meditation on the Void
"All substances are part of my own consciousness.
This consciousness
is vacuous, unborn, and unceasing."
Thus meditating,
Allow the mind to rest in the uncreated state.
Like
the pouring
of water
into
water,
The mind should be allowed
its own easy mental posture
In its natural, unmodified condition, clear and vibrant.
By maintaining
this relaxed, uncreated state
of mind
Rebirth
into routine game-reality
is sure
to be prevented.
Meditate on
this until you are certainly free.
157

---

## Page 163

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE DURING
A PSYCHEDELIC SESSION
INSTRUCTIONS FOR CHOOSING THE
POST-SESSION PERSONALITY
(Name), Listen:
It
is almost time
to return.
Make the selection of your future personality according to the best teaching.
Listen well:
The signs and characteristics of the level of existence to come
Will appear to you in premonitory
visions.
Recognize them.
When you find that you have to return to reality,
Try to follow the pleasant
delightful
visions.
Avoid the dark unpleasant ones.
If you return
in panic, a fearful state
will
follow,
If you strive to escape dark, gloomy scenes, an unhappy state
will
follow,
If you return in radiance, a happy state will follow.
Your mental state now will affect your subsequent level of being.
Whatever you
choose,
Choose
impartially,
Without attraction or repulsion.
Enter into game-existence with good grace.
Voluntarily and
freely.
Remain calm.
Remember
the
teachings.
159

---

## Page 168

€$$$&
Tha drug is oniy one component of a psychedelic session. Equally impor-
tant is tbe mental and spiritual preparation, both before and in the course
of taking the drug. The authors find no need to invent new mental and
spiritual materials for this purpose. The great literature of meditation lends
itself very well to this use. This particular manual uses for this preparation
material from THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD. The authors make an
important contribution to the
interpretation of THE TIBETAN BOOK OF
THE DEAD. They show that
it
is concerned, not with the dead, but with
the
living. The
last section
of the manual provides
instructions
for an
actual psychedelic session, under adequate safeguards.