do states and the signs of approaching death as well as the

transformation of awareness in the six worlds from the following

works: the "Ye-shes bla-ma," 1 6 the "bsKyed-rim lha-khrid," 1 7 the
"hes-rig rdo-r!e rnon-po," 1 " the important "#am-rim ye-shes
snying-po" on f$ndamental principles, 1 % the encyclopedic "K$n-
b&ang bla-ma'i &hal-l$ng," ( ) the collected works of g*er-ston
+adma gling-pa, ( 1 the rit$al work "r,o-r!e theg-pa sngags-kyi
gso-sbyong," ( ( and the "-ani bka'-'b$m" attrib$ted to the *ibet-
an king rong-btsan sgam-po.
/$rther contrib$tions to the doctrines of the bardo are to be
fo$nd in a third gro$p of texts, the "ix ,octrines of 0aropa" 1*.
0a-ro chos-dr$g2, which constit$te a pi3otal point in the tradition
of the bKa'-brgy$d-pa sect of *ibet. *he "ix ,octrines of
0aropa"
( 4 pro3ide important information for the $nderstanding
of the bardo doctrines, the awareness principle, the trikaya doc-
trine, and meditation on the light, all of which play an important
role in the *ibetan 5ook of the ,ead.
"
*raditions of the *ibetan 5ooks of the ,ead
0aropa 1who li3ed from 1)16 to 11)) in 6ndia and
Kashmir ( 7 2 is the second g$r$ in the bKa'-brgy$d-pa tradition of
*ibet. ( 8 *here are two 3ersions of his "ix ,octrines" extant, one
by him and the other by his sister 0ig$ma 1*. 0i-g$ chos-dr$g2.
0aropa's teachings reached *ibet thro$gh his p$pil -ar-pa of
#ho-brag 11)1( to 1)%72, the great *ibetan translator. -ar-pa is
the fo$nder of the bKa'brgy$d-pa sect, the line of "oral tradition."
*he "ix ,octrines of 0ig$ma" came thro$gh the dakini
$khasiddhi 1a p$pil of 9ir$pa2 to the *ibetan scholar hangs-pa
Khy$ng-po rnal-'byor 1born 1)"62, in a tradition named the
hangs-pa sect after its fo$nder. 6ts fo$nder transmitted the "ix
,octrines" to :hos-kyi seng-ge, hangs-ston rig-pa'i rdo-r!e
11(47-14)%2, and f$rther s$ccessors. (6
;hat then are the "ix ,octrines" of 0aropa and 0ig$ma<
*hey are doctrines fo$nded $pon Yoga and tantric 5$ddhist ex-
perience that disc$ss "the mystical heat" 1. canda= *. g*$m-mo2,
the "6ll$sory body" 1. mahamaya= *. s>y$-l$s2, the "dream
state" 1. s3apnadarsana= *. r-i-lam2, the "clear light" 1. abhas-
3ara= *. '?d-gsal2, the "intermediate state" 1. antarabha3a= *.
5ar-do2, and the "transmission of conscio$sness" 1. samkranti= *.
*ho-ba2.
/or o$r p$rposes, the last three doctrines, those of the "clear
light," the "bardo," and "transmission of conscio$sness" are the
most important, and we can draw from se3eral so$rces ( 7 that
de3eloped these basic concepts of the 5ar-do thos-grol. @nother
highly esoteric doctrine called >rong-'!$g 1. parakayapra3esana2
belongs to the doctrine of transmission of conscio$sness, the li3ing
transmission of which was c$rtailed by the death of -ar-pa's son
in the 11th cent$ry. >rong-'!$g has a metaphorical meaning eA$i-
3alent to "the re-animating of a dead person" and forms a part of
the @rya-:at$spitha-*antra. e3eral theoretical and practical di-
rections connected with it are to be fo$nd in the s0ying-thig litera-
t$re. *he "ix ,octrines" were transmitted from the *ibetan
translator -ar-pa to his great p$pil, the poet and yogi -i-la ras-
pa, who is held to be *ibet's most important mystic. 6n his
"B$ndred *ho$sand ongs," as in the collection "ix ongs," ( "
we are gi3en wonderf$l detailed descriptions of the bardo and
%