The Five Elements and Five Pure Lights During The Bardo States

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"Ho′zho′: The Navajo Concept of Balance and Beauty...Hozho is said to be the most important word in the Navajo language and is loosely translated as peace, balance, beauty and harmony. To be "in Hozho" is to be at one with and a part of the world around you."

"The Five Pure Lights (Wylie: 'od lnga) is an essential teaching in the Dzogchen tradition of Bon and Tibetan Buddhism. For the deluded, matter seems to appear. This is due to non-recognition of the five lights. Matter includes the mahābhūta or classical elements, namely: space, air, water, fire, earth. Knowledge (rigpa) is the absence of delusion regarding the display of the five lights. This level of realization is called rainbow body."

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"The Great Liberation upon Hearing in the Intermediate State"

"The Lamp that Illuminates the Liberation upon Hearing"

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"SELECTIONS FROM THE BONPO BOOK OF THE DEAD".....Collected and translated by John Myrdhin Reynolds

"Following the cessation of the outer breathing (phyi dbugs), when one is declared clinically dead, the energies of the elements gradually dissolve into space. When this process is completed, the circulation of the psychic energies known as the inner breathing (nang dbugs) cea ses and individual consciousness is absorbed back into the Natural State. This experience of a black -out, or unconsciousness, or a state of total emptiness, lasts for a few moments at least. Then internally the manifestations of sounds, the lights, and the rays begin to arise in the presence of intrinsic Awareness. Delusory appearances or impure karmic vision being temporarily obstructed ('khrul snang 'gags) because of the sensory deprivation following this second death, then during the course of five days the manifestations of the five clear lights arise, provided one has done the practice previously."

"As for what comes forth at the time of the Bardo: At the time when awareness and the corpse have separated at the time of physical death, the manifestations of the elements fire, water, earth, and air, having become obstructed externally , and internally the manifestations of the sounds, the lights, and the rays arise.
Having obstructed delusory appearances, during the course of five days the manifestations of the five lights arise. (Now the text is speaking of the experience of the Bardo of the Clear Light of Reality. Over a period of five days, in a symbolic sense, the five clear lights arise successively.)
Furthermore, they are called the five lights of the channels, namely, the white light of the gnosis of emptiness, the yellow light of the mirror-like gnosis, the green light of the gnosis of sameness, the red light of the gnosis of discrimination, and the blue light of the gnosis of activity. As for their meaning, the signs of gnosis become clearly visible as these five clear lights, and they are called the five Essential Lights.
Then, originating from these five lights, the five Buddha Families become clearly visible. From the white light arises Shenlha, from the yellow light arises Serje, from the green light arises Ga rse, from the red light arises Namse, and from the blue light arises Godse. They are called the five Lights which Diffuse Everywhere.
Moreover, each of these five lights diffuse and spread everywhere, five into five. Indeed, they are called the five Radiant Lights. But with respect to their individual colors and forms, they arise in an uncertain manner. And they are called the five Lights which are Emanated. From these five colors originate various different images (of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas) that are cre ated. Furthermore, the five lights arise without center or boundaries, arising like rainbows in the sky."

..http://holybooks.lichtenbergpress.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/Selections-form-the-Bonpo-Book-of-the-Dead.pdf

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Five Elements....Five Colors....."The different colors which the mind in the bardo state perceives are the natural expression, the radiance, of the fundamental, intrinsic qualities of mind. The element of water is perceived as white light; space as blue (blackblue); earth as yellow; fire as red; and wind (air) as green. These colors are simply the natural expression of the elemental qualities in the mind when the first glimmer of consciousness begins to appear.....As consciousness begins to develop and perceive more, the experience of the elemental qualities also becomes more developed. What was formerly the simple impression of different rays or colors of light now undergoes a change. The light begins to integrate itself and cohere into 'tig le', points or balls of light in varying sizes. It is within these spheres of concentrated light that we experience the 'Mandalas of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities'.

"Our being is composed of different elements, namely earth, water, fire and air...... during the process of dying we will see the dissolution of those elements. When we say dissolution of those elements, it means that each of these elements will loose its power and energy. Of course all those different steps do not happen suddenly, immediately one after another. It is a progressive process, when we talk about peaceful death, when one is dying in his bed, out of sickness, or of old age....

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Earth...the dissolution of the earth element, till the moment our consciousness will live our body, is described as taking the time of a meal. So, it depends on how quick or how slow we eat ;-), but usually we say it’s about 20-25 minutes. This concerns common beings. The practitioners, people who have more advanced knowledge or control over the death process, who can use it as a practice, will meditate much longer on this process....The 1st element which will start to loose its power is the earth element. When it starts to loose strength, the body starts to loose its mobility, it starts to become stiff, consequently the vision starts to become blur and the forms become confuse and unclear. What we can see from outside, when we observe somebody who is going through this dissolution, is the immobility of the pupil. What is experienced from inside, is the vision of mirage.

Earth element = Buddha Ratnasambhava family or precious gem family; Water element = Buddha Akshobhya family or dorje (cepter) family; Fire element = Buddha Amithaba or lotos-family; Air element = Amoghasiddhi or karma-family; Space/Ether element = Vairocana or dharma-wheel family. Many tantras include a sixth element: the Primordial element or Vajradhara family.

Earth... Yellow...This mind, essentially empty and illuminating, gives rise to all experiences which, wether samsara or Nirvana, is rooted in mind just as plants are rooted in soil. This function of the mind as the origin of all experience corresponds to the elemental quality of earth.

Earth element (pruṭhavī-dhātu)....Yellow Light ('od ser-po)....From the yellow light, there arises the dimension of the spiritual element of earth......Earth element represents the quality of solidity or attractive forces. Any matter where attractive forces are in prominence (solid bodies) are called earth elements. Internal earth elements include head hair, body hair, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bone, organs, intestinal material, etc.

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Water....The 2nd element, which will dissolve and loose its power, is the water element. From outside we can see that this process is going on by the lack of humidity of the tongue and the eyes of the dying person. And from inside, the vision experienced by the consciousness is like a cloud or fog. The sense which is connected to the dissolution of the water element, is the sense of audition. In the earth element it was the sense of vision, which disappeared; in the second element is the sense of audition. So we progressively do not hear well, we become very far, far, far, till only a low continuous sound remains. In the Tibetan text they mention it as a sound “Hur”. It’s the inner sound. When we put on earplugs, this sounds still remains, and when we focus on it, it fills our head. This is the sound of our blood circulating and all the different vibrations that still exist in our body. So, this is the last sound, which remains when all the other sounds disappear."

Water....White....Mind with these four elemental qualities has always been so and always will be. This very continuity, and the fact that mind adapts itself to different situations, corresponds to the element of water*. Just as water sustains its continuity and adapts itself to every contour as it flows, the mind too is fluent, continuous, and adaptable.

Water (or liquid) element (āpa-dhātu)...... Blue Light ('od sngon -po).....From the blue light, there arises the dimension of the spiritual element of water. .....represents the quality of Liquidity or relative motion. Any matter where relative motion of particles is in prominence are called water elements. Internal water elements include bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, nasal mucus, urine, etc.

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Fire:.....The next element, which will loose its power, is the fire element. From outside we notice it because of two main signs. The 1st is that the body starts to loose its heat. The second sign is the heart, which progressively starts to beat irregularly, weaker and weaker. From inside, from the point of view of the consciousness, first of all the different smells start to disappear, the sense of odor starts to disappear and the consciousness experiences a vision of sparks. For example, when you make fire out of wood, and you hit the wood, you get a lot of sparkling coming out like this. This is the vision experienced by the consciousness during the fire element dissolution.

Fire... Red.....But mind is not simply empty; it has the illuminating potential to perceive anything whatsoever. This unlimited ability of mind to perceive is its illuminating nature, and corresponds to the element of fire.

Fire element (teja-dhātu)..... Red Light ('od dkar-po).....From the red light, there arises the dimension of the spiritual element of fire.....represents the quality of heat or energy. Any matter where energy is in prominence are called fire elements. Internal fire elements include those bodily mechanisms that produce physical warmth, ageing, digestion, etc.

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Air.......the next element, which will loose its power, is the air element. During the dissolution of the air element the breath will start to loose its regularity, the expiration will sound much stronger than the inspiration. When we listen to somebody at this stage it sounds like a short taking of breath in and a long breath out. From inside, the mind starts to get really confused, it does not remember well what it has to do what it should not do. Until now it was physical senses which were disturbed, but the consciousness inside was rather clear. Even though it started to become disconnected to the outside, the mind remained clear. But from that moment on and further, it starts to get very much confused. The vision experienced by the consciousness is like the last moment of a candle, when the flame starts to go down and only a pale light remains.

Wind/Air...Green....Another aspect of the mind is its dynamic quality. Mind is never still: no single experience in it lasts, but quickly passes to another. Wheter one is undergoing an emotional reaction, an experience of pleasure or pain, or a sensory perception such as seeing or hearing, the contents of the mind are always in a state of flux. This continual activity of mind is the elemental quality of wind (air).

Air (or wind) element (vāyu-dhātu).....Green Light ('od ljang-khu).....From the green light, there arises the dimension of the spiritual element of air.....represents the quality of expansion or repulsive forces. Any matter where repulsive forces are in prominence are called air elements. Internal air elements includes air associated with the pulmonary system (for example, for breathing), the intestinal system ("winds in the belly and ... bowels"), etc.

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Space ....Blue.....When we speak of mind, we speak of something that is not a thing in itself. In its most fundamental sense, mind is not something we can limit. We cannot say it has a particular shape, size or location, color or form, or any other limiting characteristic. The element we call space, which in our perceptual situation also has no limiting characteristics, is this very emptiness of mind; this is the elemental quality of space in the mind.

Space element (ākāsa-dhātu).....White Light ('od dkar-po)....From the white light, there arises the dimension of the spiritual element of space......includes bodily orifices such as the ears, nostrils, mouth, anus, etc.

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The origin or basis of all experiences is mind, characterized by the five elemental qualities. Our particular situation at the moment is that of physical waking existence, in which we experience what is termed the body of 'Completely Ripened Karma' ('nam min ji lü'). The meaning here is that completely ripened karmic tendencies have given rise to this seemingly solid, concrete projection of mind that is our physical body......The connection between the body we now experience and the mind which produced it is as follows. The solid elements of our body, such as flesh and bone, represent the element of earth, just as the "solidity" of mind - its function as the basis and origin of all experience - reflects the element of earth. Similarly, the bodily fluids such as blood, saliva, urine, lymph and so forth, represent the element of water. The biological warmth of the body is the element of fire, while the element of space is represented by the orifices of the body, and by the spatial separation of the organs, which, instead of forming a homogeneous mass, are distinct and separate from each other. Finally, there is the element of wind (air) which is connected with the breath, and maintains the organism by way of the respiratory process...... In short, it is from mind, which embodies the five elemental qualities, that the physical body develops. The physical body itself is imbued with these qualities, and it is because of this mind/body complex that we perceive the outside world - which in turn is composed of the five elemental qualities of earth, water, fire, wind (air), and space.

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Sources....

SELECTIONS FROM THE BONPO BOOK OF THE DEAD.....Collected and translated by John Myrdhin Reynolds......http://holybooks.lichtenbergpress.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/Selections-form-the-Bonpo-Book-of-the-Dead.pdf

"The process of dying, intermediary state and entering the next life."....http://www.dharmaling.org/en/teachings/38-death-bardo-and-rebirth....Lama Tubten Shenpen Rinpoche - Teaching in Ljubljana, part of a series of teachings on the Lam Rim.

http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Buddhism/A%20-%20Tibetan%20Buddhism/Authors/Kalu%20Rinpoche/The%20Six%20Bardos/The%20Six%20Bardos%20by%20Kalu%20Rinpoche.htm

http://www.near-death.com/religion/buddhism/tibetan-book-of-the-dead.html......

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The Six Bardos

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Trungpa Rinpoche: Bar means "in-between" or "gap" or "the middle," and do means "island," so altogether bardo means "that which exists between two situations." It is like the experience of living, which is between birth and death.
Student: What is not bardo?
Trungpa: The beginning and the end. [Laughter]

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"The Bon religion of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism both maintain that crucial moments of transition are charged with great spiritual potential, especially the intervening moments between death and rebirth. This intermediate period, called bardo, is a state of suspended reality in which the deceased are presented with a series of opportunities for recognition of the true nature of Reality. ....Both versions are classified as a type of literature known in Tibetan as tö-dröl or "that which liberates through hearing alone" (thos grol).... the instructions of the Liberation upon Hearing are meant to be read out loud by a teacher, after a person has died, to help guide him or her through the bewildering sensations of the bardo experience."

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The Buddhist Text....."The Great Liberation upon Hearing in the Intermediate State"..... (bar do thos grol chen mo)....Karma Lingpa discovered several hidden texts (terma) on top of Mount Gampodar....Karma Lingpa (ཀརྨ་གླིང་པ་, Wyl. karma gling pa) (b. 1326) was a 14th century tertön who revealed the Shyitro Gongpa Rangdrol cycle, from which come the teachings on the six bardos and the Bardo Tödrol Chenmo, the so-called Tibetan Book of the Dead..... ....From among these texts he found a collection of teachings entitled The Self-Emergence of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities from Enlightened Awareness (zhi khro dgongs pa rang grol), which included the texts of the now famous Great Liberation upon Hearing in the Bardo.

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The Bon Text...."The Lamp that Illuminates the Liberation upon Hearing"....The Oral Tradition
Tibetan: sNyan brgyud bar do thos grol gsal sgron chen mo
Author: Dampa Rangdröl.....Dam pa rang grol ye shes rgyal mtshan (b.1149 A.D.)
Then, the doctrine is mystically revealed in the mind of that discipleâs future reincarnation (e.g., Kundröl Drakpa) ...This famous mind treasure of Kundröl Drakpa offers a detailed presentation of the standard Bon-po doctrines on death, intermediate state, and rebirth, with special emphasis on the symbolism of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities that appear in the Bardo of Reality.
In the early eighteenth century, the great Bon-po treasure revealer (tertön) Rikdzin Kundröl Drakpa (Rig 'dzin Kun grol grags pa, b.1700) had a series of mystical visions of Dampa Rangdröl (Dam pa rang grol, b.1149), the twelfth century author of the "Bon-po Book of the Dead." In these visions, Dampa Rangdröl awakened in Kundröl Drakpa's mind the teachings contained in the scriptural treasure (terma) entitled The Peaceful and Wrathful Deities: A Collection of Visionary Revelations. This form of revelatory transmission is called a "mind treasure" or gongter (dgongs gter).
The Bon Text is more or less parallel in content to that of the more familiar Tibetan Book of the Dead....The instructions on the bardo from the oral tradition of Zhangzhung Valley, which is traced back to the master Tönpa Shenrap, founder of the Bon religion, are among the oldest recorded concerning knowledge of the intermediate state in Tibet....the Bon text being nearly two centuries older than its Buddhist counterpart, symbolism, and iconographic personality....the many Bon-po deities, of course, have different names.....

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"According to the Bardo Thodol, upon dying the dead are “presented with a series of opportunities for recognizing the actual “truth” (de-bzhin-nyid) of that moment...Following one’s death the mind is separated from the body for 49 days and the dead are confronted with bardo visions of many wrathful deities.... If the person is able to distinguish these visions as simply “mental projections reflective of the previous life’s thoughts and deeds then it is said that Buddhahood will be attained”. If the person cannot make this distinction then he is led to an eventual rebirth and consequently further suffering in cyclic existence (“samsara”)."

The word bardo literally means "an interval between two things." Bar means 'interval' and do means 'two'. We can think of this interval in a spatial or temporal way. If there are two houses, the space between them is a bardo. The period between sunrise and sunset, the interval of daylight, is a bardo. A bardo can be of long or short duration, of wide or narrow expanse.

The six kinds of bardo that we experience as human or sentient beings in samsara can be changed for the better, but the power to do this lies in the waking state. It is in the bardo of our present lives that we can make the most progress in developing the ability to deal effectively with all the others. What we usually mean by the word, bardo, however, is the 'Bardo of Becoming', the phase of hallucinations before new physical conception.

From an absolute level, the mind that perceives a deity and the deity itself are not two separate things, but are essentially the same.

The six bardos are the six major phases of experience for any being wandering in the cycle of rebirth. In every one of them the practice of Dharma is of the greatest possible value, for through it we can purify ourselves of confusion, obscurations, and negative emotions, and further develop our awareness and merit.

{This intermediate period, called bardo, is a state of suspended reality in which the deceased are presented with a series of opportunities for recognition of the true nature of Reality. If the deceased persons are capable of recognizing the confusing and often frightening bardo visions as simply their own mental projections reflective of the previous life's thoughts and deeds (karma), the ongoing cycle of birth and death will be overcome.....Failure to recognize these appearances, on the other hand, leads eventually to rebirth and further suffering in cyclic existence (samsara)."

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1. Bardo between Birth and Death.....che shi bar do.....The waking existence is the first great bardo on our experience, the 'Bardo between Birth and Death' ('che shi bar do')....The six kinds of bardo that we experience as human or sentient beings in samsara can be changed for the better, but the power to do this lies in the waking state. It is in the bardo of our present lives that we can make the most progress in developing the ability to deal effectively with all the others.....

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2. Dream Bardo..... mi lam bar do.....The bardo of the dream state, which lasts from the moment we go to sleep at night until the moment we wake in the morning is another example. The state of consciousness that obtains during that interval is termed the 'Dream Bardo' ('mi lam bar do').

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The Moment of Death...Death occurs as a result of one of three causes: reaching the end of one's lifespan, exhausting one's meritorious energy, or meeting with an untimely event, such as a sudden accident.....the final moment of the dying process is marked by the sudden and dramatic appearance of the radiant clear light....the fundamental mind of clear light is said to exist beginninglessly and continuously in each individual through each lifetime and into Buddhahood itself.
"It has been said that the clear light experience can only happen in the moment of death, when you begin to separate from physical being. At the moment of separation between consciousness and the physical body, you begin to develop the idea of clear light as spontaneous experience. In that perception of clear light, if you are a meditator who meditated before, you begin to see the clear light and you begin to recognize it, as in the analogy of son meeting mother."(Trungpa)
In Bon....According to the ritual texts, the moment just after death marks the beginning of a critical period in which the corpse becomes vulnerable to attacks by demons.....These evil beings may enter the body and reanimate it, in some cases assuming the form of a zombie or ro-lang (ro langs, "a corpse that has risen").....To guard against such attacks the corpse is watched continuously as the exorcism is performed. ....A small "ransom effigy" or lü (glud) is carefully crafted and decorated in a manner that will entice the demon and lure it away from the corpse. ....By reciting certain magical spells from the exorcism texts, the officiating Bon-po lama tricks the demon into entering the lifeless effigy and traps it there, rendering it powerless....This demon trap is then carted away in a carnival-like celebration that involves beating drums and shouting loudly to frighten the helpless demon out of the community.
The whole death process takes about 20 minutes. There are some situations in which it takes much shorter, specifically in accidents. The process remains the same, but it will be much faster then in case of a natural death......Once the consciousness has left the body, it does not hold the memory of the past life any more. So when it leaves the body, it can remain a certain amount of time around the body or in a room, without necessarily connecting to the dead body. When it comes out, it sees a dead body, it doesn’t connect necessarily, “Oh, this was me”. This is a concept, which was gone in the dissolution process. Nevertheless, when there is a very emotional environment: when there are people crying a lot, very emotionally, close to the body, naming the body, recalling his quality, who he was, .....For an ordinary person, the trauma of death produces a state of unconsciousness, which lasts for an indefinite time: it may be very brief or quite long. Traditionally, this period of blackout is considered to last three and a half days. Afterwards, the consciousness of the individual begins to awaken again and experience things in a new way. The interval of unconsciousness into which the mind is plunged by the trauma of death, and which lasts till the awakening of consciousness again, is referred to in Tibetan as the 'chö nyi bardo', the interval of the ultimate nature of phenomena; here the mind is plunged into its own nature, though in a confused or ignorant way.

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3. "Bardo of Reality" or Chö-nyi Bardo (chos nyid bar do)....." the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities that appear in the Bardo of Reality. .....Those who have not practiced during their lives will fail to recognize the clear light at death and will digress into the intermediate state known as the "Bardo of Reality" or Chö-nyi Bardo (chos nyid bar do), wherein the deceased experiences the visions of the one hundred Peaceful and Wrathful Deities......
Peaceful Deities....seven days after the initial appearance of the radiant clear light of death, the deceased awakens in the bardo, confused and bewildered by a stunning array of lights and visions.....On the fourteenth day, this peaceful mandala dissolves into the mandala of the fifty-eight Wrathful Deities."
Wrathful Deities....On the fourteenth day, this peaceful mandala dissolves into the mandala of the fifty-eight Wrathful Deities. These Deities manifest also in the same circular pattern of their peaceful counterparts, only now each Deity appears in its terrifying form. As blood-drinking, flesh-eating demons, the Wrathful Deities symbolize the intensity or "violence," if you will, of liberation, understood here as the compassionate "murdering" of the neurotic and distorted thoughts and emotions that trap human beings in the ongoing cycle of rebirth. Some more contemporary sources assert that the Deities, in both their quiescent and frightening forms, are not really gods in the traditional sense. They are actually symbolic manifestations of psychological states in the inner space of human awareness. If the deceased is capable of properly identifying these Deities as projections of the mind and as manifest reflections of past karma, he or she will merge with the enlightened consciousness that these images represent.
"In the third bardo the soul encounters the Lord of Death, a fearsome demonic deity who appears in smoke and fire, and subjects the soul to a Judgment. If the dead person protests that he has done no evil, the Lord of Death holds up before him the Mirror of Karma, "wherein every good and evil act is vividly reflected." Now demons approach and begin to inflict torments and punishments upon the soul for his evil deeds. The instructions in the Bardo Thodol are for him to attempt to recognize the Voidness of all these beings, including the Lord of Death himself; the dead person is told that this entire scene unfolding around him is a projection from his own mind. Even here he can attain liberation by recognizing this.....The soul who is still not liberated after the Judgment will now be drawn remorselessly toward rebirth.
For ordinary beings the 'chö nyi' bardo is experienced as a period of deep unconsciousness following the moment of death. There is no mental activity or perception, only a blank state of fundamental unconsciousness.

(The possibility exists of achieving liberation during the instant of confronting the mandalas of the deities......If this liberation does not happen in the interval between the 'chö nyi' bardo and the 'Bardo of Becoming', the benefits of receiving empowerment and understanding teachings about the nature of the after-death experience, that of the 'Bardo of Becoming'. This means that we can either experience a positive rebirth in the cycle of samsara or, in some cases, achieve existence in what we term the 'Buddha Realms', a great and sure step towards ultimate Enlightenment....The experience of confronting the mandalas of the deities takes place only briefly and if the opportunity is lost, then the mind enters the 'Bardo of Becoming'. Here the situation becomes roughly analogous to what we experience now - many varied impressions continually arise in the mind and we cling to them, taking them all to be ultimately real. This hallucinatory state is traditionally said to last for a period of forty-nine days before the consciousness takes physical form again as an embryo. At the end of each week there is the trauma of realizing that we are dead and our minds plunge into another state of unconsciousness like the one immediately after death, but not quite as intense. After each of these very short periods of unconsciousness, consciousness returns, and once more the mandalas of the deities present themselves, but now in a fragmentary and fleeting way. The successive opportunities afforded by these appearances are not as great as at the first stage, but the possibility of liberation does recur throughout the after-death experience.)
"Several days after the visions of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities have subsided, the deceased acquires a mental body complete with all five senses, enters the "Bardo of Becoming" or Sipa Bardo (srid pa bar do), and begins his or her descent to a new birth......The 'chö nyi' bardo ends with the first glimmer of awareness in the mind. In the interval between the end of the 'chö nyi' bardo and before the beginning of the 'si pa' bardo there arises what is called the 'Vision of the Five Lights'. The appearance of these is connected with the five elemental qualities.

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4. "Bardo of Becoming" or Sipa Bardo (srid pa bar do).....Several days after the visions of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities have subsided, the deceased acquires a mental body complete with all five senses, enters the "Bardo of Becoming" or Sipa Bardo (srid pa bar do), and begins his or her descent to a new birth.....From the moment of this reawakening of consciousness (the end of 'chö nyi bardo') to the moment we take actual physical rebirth in one of the six realms of samsara, is known as the 'si pa bardo', the 'Bardo of Becoming'.
the Bardo of Becoming details this third and final bardo state, in which the visions that now appear become increasingly associated with physical rebirth and culminate with the onset of prenatal experience.....The text relates that just prior to entering the womb at the instant of conception the bardo-being perceives its future parents in sexual embrace....Being desirous, it rushes toward this vision, grows angry at either the mother or father (depending on whether it is to be born female or male), and in this emotionally agitated state makes the connection to its new life."
the 'chö nyi' bardo ends with the first glimmer of awareness in the mind. In the interval between the end of the 'chö nyi' bardo and before the beginning of the 'si pa' bardo there arises what is called the 'Vision of the Five Lights'. The appearance of these is connected with the five elemental qualities.
While in the Bardo of Becoming leading to the event of rebirth, the bardo-being experiences the manifestations of the previous life's accumulated karma and undergoes a series of disturbing sensations that create intense fear and confusion. At this late stage, full liberation from samsara is practically unattainable and thus the deceased must strive to achieve a suitable rebirth in one of the six realms of existence--that of the gods, demi-gods, humans, animals, hungry ghosts, or hell-beings. Ideally, the most favorable realm would be that of human beings, but actually to achieve this world is no easy task. In the bewildering state of the bardo, most beings usually have very little control over their behavior. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that the deceased gain outside assistance from a ritual expert or lama in order to receive the guidance necessary for insuring an auspicious rebirth within the six realms.

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5. Bardo of Meditative Stability....The Bardo of Meditation....sam ten bar do......Another example is a state of meditation: when someone who practices begins to meditate effectively, there is a certain change in consciousness; when that person rises from the meditation and goes about wordly activities again, there is a cessation of that state of consciousness. The interval of actual formal meditation is called the 'Bardo of Meditative Stability', 'sam ten bar do'.
"In order to survive in that meditative state of the world of heaven, there is the experience of the clear light. In Tibetan it is called samten bardo. Samten means meditative state, in other words, complete absorption in the clear light, or the perception of luminosity." (Trungpa)

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6. Bardo of Gestation.....che nay bar do..... The sixth bardo we distinguish is the 'Bardo of Gestation', 'che nay bar do'. This interval begins at the end of the 'Bardo of Becomnig' when the consciousness of the being unites with the sperm and egg in the womb of the mother and lasts until the time of physical birth, the beginning of the 'Bardo between Birth and Death'.

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Sources:

TRANSCENDING MADNESS.....by Chogyam Trungpa.....(1971)....https://www.beezone.com/Trungpa/transcendingmadness/transcendingmadness3.html

The Six Bardos and Five Elements by Ven. Kalu Rinpoche (1982)

http://www.near-death.com/religion/buddhism/tibetan-book-of-the-dead.html......

https://tibettalk.wordpress.com/2007/12/07/bardo-thodol-the-tibetan-book-of-the-dead/......December 7, 2007 .....By: Jigme Duntak

The process of dying, intermediary state and entering the next life.....http://www.dharmaling.org/en/teachings/38-death-bardo-and-rebirth....Lama Tubten Shenpen Rinpoche - Teaching in Ljubljana, part of a series of teachings on the Lam Rim.

https://explore.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/show/dead/texts/transitions1.....https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/mistic/bardo_thodol05.htm.....UniversityOfVirginiaLibrary Website

The Bon-po funeral ceremonies....Death Rituals of the Tibetan Bonpos and Bonpo Funeral Rites Eliminating All Evil Rebirths

Tara's Enlightened Activity: An Oral Commentary on the Twenty-One Praises to ...By Khenchen Palden Sherab...(Google Books)

The Dharma: That Illuminates All Beings Impartially Like the Light of the .......By Khenpo Kalu Karma-Ran-Byun-Kun-Khyab-Prin-Las...(Google Books)

The Mirror of Mindfulness is a classic Tibetan text on bardo by Tse-le Natsok Rangdröl (rTse le sna tshogs rang grol, b.1608),

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Five Elements: The Colour Yellow

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"Ho′zho′: The Navajo Concept of Balance and Beauty....Hozho is said to be the most important word in the Navajo language and is loosely translated as peace, balance, beauty and harmony. To be "in Hozho" is to be at one with and a part of the world around you."

"The Five Pure Lights (Wylie: 'od lnga) is an essential teaching in the Dzogchen tradition of Bon and Tibetan Buddhism. For the deluded, matter seems to appear. This is due to non-recognition of the five lights. Matter includes the mahābhūta or classical elements, namely: space, air, water, fire, earth. Knowledge (rigpa) is the absence of delusion regarding the display of the five lights. This level of realization is called rainbow body."

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The seed syllables of the five elements of space, air, fire, water and earth are written in the Zhang Zhung mar chen script. From left to right, the seed syllables are AH, YANG, RAM, MANG, AND KHAM.

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Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of visible light......The word yellow comes from the Old English geolu, geolwe (oblique case), meaning "yellow, yellowish", derived from the Proto-Germanic word gelwaz "yellow". It has the same Indo-European base, gʰel-, as the words gold and yell, or "cry out."....It plays an important role in Asian culture, particularly in China, where it is seen as the color of happiness, glory, wisdom, harmony, and culture.

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"Salwa Rangjung and consort.....Within the Yungdrung Bön tradition, there are the Five Buddha Families. Each deity is associated with specific colors, hand objects, wisdoms, elements. organs, impure aspects that are purified, etc. Here are listed a few of these characteristics along with a line of scripture from the prayer known to Western students as The Precious Garland, an aspirational prayer to support those who have recently died.......Salwa Rangjung is associated with the Eastern direction. This deity is yellow in color, associated with the pure dimension of the element of earth and the consort is the khandro of the earth element. This deity is associated with Mirror-like Wisdom and the Yungdrung Family."

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"In Chinese philosophy, earth (Chinese: 土; pinyin: tǔ), is the changing point of the matter. Earth is the third element in the Wu Xing cycle.....Earth is a balance of both yin and yang, the feminine and masculine together. Its motion is inward and centering, and its energy is stabilizing and conserving. It is associated with the color yellow and the planet Saturn, and it lies at the center of the compass in the Chinese cosmos. It is associated with the turn of each of the four seasons and with damp weather. It governs the Spleen, Stomach, mouth and muscles. Its negative emotion is anxiety and its positive emotion is empathy. Its Primal Spirit is represented by the Yellow Dragon. Colour Yellow, Golden (Sun)."

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Tibetan Book of the Dead......"Listen without wavering! In this third period, the yellow light that is the purity of the element of earth manifests. At this time, from the yellow southern Buddha-land of Shrimat, the yellow Lord Ratnasambhava appears seated on a fine horse, carrying a precious wish-granting gem, in union with his consort Mamaki, attended by the male Bodhisattvas Akashagarbha and Samantabhadra and the female Bodisattvas Mala and Dhupa - a group of six Buddha deities in a background of rainbows, rays and lights. The yellow light of the Equalizing wisdom, the purity of the sensation mosaic, yellow and piercing, dazzling and clear, adorned with glistening drops of droplets, shines from the heart of the Ratnasambhava couple before you, penetrating your heart center, unbearable to behold with your eyes."

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"Yellow, in the form of yellow ochre pigment made from clay, was one of the first colors used in prehistoric cave art. The cave of Lascaux has an image of a horse colored with yellow estimated to be 17,300 years old......In Ancient Egypt, yellow was associated with gold, which was considered to be imperishable, eternal and indestructible. The skin and bones of the gods were believed to be made of gold. The Egyptians used yellow extensively in tomb paintings; they usually used either yellow ochre or the brilliant orpiment, though it was made of arsenic and was highly toxic. A small paintbox with orpiment pigment was found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun. Men were always shown with brown faces, women with yellow ochre or gold faces.....The ancient Romans used yellow in their paintings to represent gold and also in skin tones. It is found frequently in the murals of Pompeii."

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"Impressionist art is based on the use of color, which has to "draw" the motive without resorting to line......At the beginning of his career, Monet used dark colors, as he did in the 'Studio Corner' marked by black shades. His painting evokes Courbet and the Realist School....From 1860 on, Monet abandonned dark colors and worked from a palette limited to pure light colors. In 1905, answering a question about his colors, he wrote : "As for the colors I use, what's so interesting about that ? I don't think one could paint better or more brightly with another palette. The most important thing is to know how to use the colors. Their choice is a matter of habit. In short, I use white lead, cadmium yellow, vermilion, madder, cobalt blue, chrome green. Tha t's all."

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Five Elements: The Colour Red

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"Ho′zho′: The Navajo Concept of Balance and Beauty...Hozho is said to be the most important word in the Navajo language and is loosely translated as peace, balance, beauty and harmony. To be "in Hozho" is to be at one with and a part of the world around you."

"The Five Pure Lights (Wylie: 'od lnga) is an essential teaching in the Dzogchen tradition of Bon and Tibetan Buddhism. For the deluded, matter seems to appear. This is due to non-recognition of the five lights. Matter includes the mahābhūta or classical elements, namely: space, air, water, fire, earth. Knowledge (rigpa) is the absence of delusion regarding the display of the five lights. This level of realization is called rainbow body."

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"In the shamanic worldview of Tibet, the five elements of earth, water, fire, air, and space are accessed through the raw powers of nature and through non-physical beings associated with the natural world. In the Tibetan tantric view the elements are recognized as five kinds of energy in the body and are balanced with a program of yogic movements, breathing exercises, and visualizations. In these Dzogchen teachings the elements are understood to be the radiance of being and are accessed through pure awareness. Tenzin Rinpoche's purpose is to strengthen our connection to the sacred aspect of the natural world and to present a guide that explains why certain practices are necessary and in what situations practices are effective or a hindrance... the world too is transformed from dead matter and blind processes into a sacred landscape filled with an infinite variety of living forces and beings." ......Healing with Form, Energy, and Light......The Five Elements in Tibetan Shamanism, Tantra, and Dzogchen......by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche .....edited by Mark Dahlby

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"The quintessence of the body is the citta lamp of the flesh at the heart, the inside of which is soft white. This is called the lamp of the channels, the quintessence of the channels, and hollow crystal kati channel. It is a single channel, one-eighth the width of a hair of a horse's tail, with two branches that penetrate inside the heart like the horns of a wild ox. They curve around the back of the ears and come to the pupils of the eyes. Their root is the heart, their trunk is the channels, and their fruit is the eyes."

"Beginners may achieve stability in this by gazing for a month at the sun and a crystal during the daytime, at the moon during the nighttime, and by gazing at a flame while indoors. At the beginning, shimmering images arise, after awhile they become more stable, and finally they remain motionless. At that time, look at a clear window, dispense with the flaws of enjoying or not enjoying the beauty or lack of beauty of the light images. Then a whitish blue emerges which is not that of the external sky, but know that it is important to rest in a state without attraction or aversion to its qualities."
"To protect your eyes, it may be better to direct the gaze about six feet away from the sun......Although the daytime practice of gazing near the sun may impair one's vision, it is said that the nighttime practice of gazing at the moon may actually enhance one's vision. Most important is that one carefully examine whether one's practice is damaging one's eyesight and to alter the practice if that occurs."

"As for the three kinds of lamps of the vital essence, the lamp of the pristine absolute nature is the quintessence of the five outer elements. The transformation of impurities into the five-colored lights of the empty essential nature of the quintessence is called the absolute nature, and because of the purification of the reification of impurities, it is called pristine. The element appearing as fire, transformed into the quintessence, is red .....

"O Vidyavajra, when you who are following this path finally go beyond that stage, red-colored light emerges from your throat spreading into the sky in front of you. In the midst of that light a fivefold aggregate of bindus arises, in the center of which appears Amitabha with his consort surrounded by the four male and female bodhisattvas. Between them are red vajra-strands in patterns of lattices and half-lattices, like rubies strung together. From the hearts of those divine embodiments rays of red light appear which strike your throat in the form of a string of bindus, like inverted ruby bowls, and stack there. They appear to dissolve into your throat for twenty-one, seven, or five days. You thereby receive the secret vajra empowerment of unceasing speech, and you achieve confidence."

In its center, is a lotus, sun, and moon seat upon a jeweled throne supported by eight peacocks. On it sits the Bhagavan Amitabha, red in color, adorned with all the sambhogakaya ornaments and garments, of the nature of the purified aggregate of recognition, the embodiment of the primordial wisdom of discernment. He is turning the wheel of Dharma for an immeasurable congregation of bodhisattvas on the tenth ground. You are instantly transported into their midst, you stabilize there, and achieve confidence in this state.

Source: Dzogchen: Thodgal (Leap-Over) Instructions by Dudjom Lingpa.............http://www.theopendoorway.org/Dzogchen-Thodgal.htm

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"Tibetan Buddhism is considered a fancy form of the traditionally simple religion, with its brightly colored extravagant art and rituals. All of the colors used in Tibetan art and its rituals hold specific meanings....There are five main colors that are known as pancha-varna in Sanskrit, which means The Five Pure Lights,.....Each color represents a state of mind, a celestial Buddha, a body part, a part of the mantra word Hum or a natural element.....Red is related to life force and preservation. The Buddha Amitabha is depicted with a red body in Tibetan art. The part of the body associated with this color is the tongue. Fire is the natural element complementary to the color red. In Buddhism, meditating on the color red transforms the delusion of attachment into the wisdom of discernment."

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Fire.....Season: Summer.......Energy Channels: Heart, Small Intestines, Pericardium, Triple Heater........In Chinese philosophy the Five Elements of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water are the five basic aspects of Qi, or life energy. These five elements are interconnected and interdependent. The harmonious balance of ‘the five elements’ are key components of a healthy life.....The Qi of the Fire element is most prominent in summer when the weather is hotter and fire is heat. The color of this element is red. The energy channels most prominent in the wood element are the heart, small intestines, pericardium and the triple heater. Heart energy is so critical to healing and health and joy in our lives it is important to always focus on enhancing our heart energy and especially in summer time.

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Five lights....."According to Dzogchen, the five poisons are nothing but the manifestation of the luminosity of rigpa. They are called ö nga, the five luminous lights. The five luminous lights of rigpa are white, yellow, red, green, and, like the color of Kuntuzangpo, deep blue.....The red luminous light is the manifestation of the quality of rigpa that encompasses and magnetizes. Like a magnet, it draws all things in that direction. In a similar way, that very nature of our mind called rigpa encompasses all qualities, encompasses all wisdom. This means that everything is included within rigpa, nothing is left outside. That's why we have this magnetizing red light, which encompasses all the qualities...The fire element manifests from red light.
The difference between the yellow and the red light is that the yellow light of enriching has the quality of possessing all the many different elements of buddha wisdom, while the red light of magnetizing encompasses all these qualities that actually boil down to rigpa. It's rigpa that has all these qualities. So everything boils down to one and only one essence. The single essence, which that contains all, is rigpa. It is the primordial mind, the primordial wisdom.
If we recognize the emotion and say, "Yes, it is passion," and then try to stop it, that's a problem. Rejecting our emotions is a problem in Vajrayana. Instead of trying to stop it, let it come. Invite it more. Look at the nature of passion more nakedly.
In the Dzogchen tradition, there are the methods of Trekchö to cut through the emotions, and the methods of Thögal to experience the luminosity of the emotion, of those states of mind. These things are details that we need to have pointed out.

Source: Ponlop Rinpoche......http://dharmacorner.blogspot.com/2010/01/five-lights.html.....

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"Colors seen by an ill eye.....In 1908, aged 68, Monet was affected by cataracte at both eyes, he began to loose sight. The first signs of this cataracte can be found in the paintings he made in Venice in 1908.......Cataracte is a progressive opacity of the crystalline lens that filters the colors. As cataracte develops, whites become yellow, greens become yellow-green and reds, oranges. Blues and purples are replaced by reds and yellows. Details fade out, shapes blurr and become hazy......When his vision altered, Monet went on with working. He could know what color he used by the labels and the unvarying order he set them on the palette. « My bad sight means that I see everything through a mist," he wrote. «Even so it is beautiful, and that's what I would like to show.....Monet was used to paint exactly what he saw. Gradually his paintings are invaded by reds and yellows. Blues vanish. Details fade like in the Weeping Willows of 1919 and the Waterlilies of 1920.... “ I see blue, I don't see red anymore, nor yellow ; this bothers me terribly because I know that these colors exist, because I know that ther e is red, yellow, a special green, a particular purple on my palette ; I don't see them anymore as I used to see them in the past, and however I remember very well how it was like. ” .".....http://www.intermonet.com/colors/

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Primary colors normally used are red, green and blue .......Primary colors are not a fundamental property of light but are related to the color vision system in animals. The human eye normally contains only three types of color photoreceptors (L, M and S) that are associated with specialized cone cells. Each photoreceptor responds to different ranges of the visible electromagnetic spectrum and there is no single wavelength that stimulates only one photoreceptor type. Humans and other species with three such types of color photoreceptor are known as trichromats.
Before the nature of colorimetry and visual physiology were well understood a number of color models assigned primary colors to different hues (e.g. the RYB model). Scientists such as Thomas Young, James Clerk Maxwell and Hermann von Helmholtz expressed various opinions about what should be the three primary colors to describe the three primary color sensations of the eye. Young originally proposed red, green and violet, and Maxwell changed violet to blue; Helmholtz proposed "a slightly purplish red, a vegetation-green, slightly yellowish, and an ultramarine-blue. In modern understanding, human cone cells do not correspond precisely to a specific set of primary colors, as each cone type responds to a relatively broad range of wavelengths."...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_color

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"Full-spectrum lights may offer some psychological benefits, according to the LPC experts, but no biophysical explanation for any positive effect has been found......Since no adverse health effects have been linked to indoor lighting, I wouldn’t worry about your fluorescent fixtures. You’ll do more good for your health by making an effort to get some direct sunlight as often as possible (given climatic conditions in your area), not only to optimize your body’s production of vitamin D, but also to boost your mood and normalize your sleep/wake cycle. (You should also be sure to sleep in complete darkness.)".....Andrew Weil, M.D.

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Five Elements, Hozho and Dzogchen

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"Ho′zho′: The Navajo Concept of Balance and Beauty....Hozho is said to be the most important word in the Navajo language and is loosely translated as peace, balance, beauty and harmony. To be "in Hozho" is to be at one with and a part of the world around you."

"The Five Pure Lights (Wylie: 'od lnga) is an essential teaching in the Dzogchen tradition of Bon and Tibetan Buddhism. For the deluded, matter seems to appear. This is due to non-recognition of the five lights. Matter includes the mahābhūta or classical elements, namely: space, air, water, fire, earth. Knowledge (rigpa) is the absence of delusion regarding the display of the five lights. This level of realization is called rainbow body."

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Earth element (pruṭhavī-dhātu) Earth element represents the quality of solidity or attractive forces. Any matter where attractive forces are in prominence (solid bodies) are called earth elements. Internal earth elements include head hair, body hair, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinews, bone, organs, intestinal material, etc.

Water (or liquid) element (āpa-dhātu)...... represents the quality of Liquidity or relative motion. Any matter where relative motion of particles is in prominence are called water elements. Internal water elements include bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, nasal mucus, urine, etc.

Fire element (teja-dhātu)..... represents the quality of heat or energy. Any matter where energy is in prominence are called fire elements. Internal fire elements include those bodily mechanisms that produce physical warmth, ageing, digestion, etc.

Air (or wind) element (vāyu-dhātu).....represents the quality of expansion or repulsive forces. Any matter where repulsive forces are in prominence are called air elements. Internal air elements includes air associated with the pulmonary system (for example, for breathing), the intestinal system ("winds in the belly and ... bowels"), etc.

Space element (ākāsa-dhātu).....includes bodily orifices such as the ears, nostrils, mouth, anus, etc.

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Email:johnnyhozho@gmail.com

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