The phenomena of the three tigles should be considered symbolic. They represent psychological processes that purifies, as much as possible, the psyche from emotional and mental stains. Our primordial nature is the Clear Light of the Void, in Christian terms this corresponds to one's "Father" in heaven or Nur Illahi, as muslims would call it.. This shining divine spark within is clouded by negative emotional and mental qualities, recognized my muslim mystics as the "hijab" or veil. Once freed from those negative toxins of the psyche, one's true nature may be easily apperceived. The "movements" of the tigles facilitates this process. In the Bardo Guidebook the author refers to the psychological cessation of thoughts related to sensual desire, anger and delusions and in connection with the stages of the three tigles:

"During the white experience the thirty-three thought states caused by anger cease. During the red experience the forty thought states caused by passions cease. When the two essences meet, the seven thought states caused by stupidity cease." (1991:12)

And once freed from the above negative, deluded thoughts of anger, passion and stupidity, what remains is the Clear Light of the Dharmakaya--one's divine nature.

When the dying's last expiration is about to cease, lamas make it a practice to turn the pilgrim's dying body over to the right side. This they call the "Lying Posture of the Lion." The carotid arteries of the left and right side of the throat are pressed simultaneously. By such a practice it is hoped that the "awareness-principle" would emerge from the crown chakra. By pressing the arteries the remaining life-force in the body no longer re-circulates within the physical system--it is forced out through the crown portal. Pressure on the arteries prevents the soul, or awareness-principle from falling unconscious, or into the death-swoon. It also triggers the experience of the Clear Light of the first phase of the Bardo and the hoped-for recognition of it. Incidentally, it is likewise believed that the arterial pressure stimulates kundalini, or the serpent-force lying at the base of the spine, just as the death-hormone is believed to by Chaney. This occult writer also believes that kundalini is an active cause of the appearances of the bardos. Kundalini as it rises to the dying brain via sushumna, or the subtle spinal nerve, is believed by lamas to be an important factor in manifesting the Clear Light of the Void. The pressure on the carotid arteries is maintained for about six minutes after the last breath--the time that it takes for the Clear Light to dawn. We are also advised by Bardo teachings not to touch a corpse for at least an hour after death, for, it is said, that the awareness-principle is attracted to the area being touched. This would only cause the mind of the soul to be distracted and to wander away from the important bardo experiences.

Although soul-emergence out of the crown chakra is the desire of every well-informed Tibetan, the incarnated soul may also exit, according to Lamas, through any of the other eight different openings of the body, the route of which, it is said, determines the place of abode of one's awareness-principle in the after-life. Below we give the nine portals of exit and their associated realms:

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