According to Vajrayana teachings, the Chikai stage is the first opportunity given to us to be free from the world of birth and rebirth, of the cycle of reincarnation with its concomitant sufferings and pain. Our main problem here is maintaining consciousness while undergoing the process of soul-release and recognizing the Clear Light when it appears. Most people pass through this stage unconsciously, in a state of slumber. Various factors causes the awareness-principle to fall into a stupor and not recognize its true nature as represented by the Clear Light. Impurity of thoughts and emotions, guilt, unforgivingness, attachment to the world of form and possessions, ignorance of the bardo states and its liberating potential, karmic stains, and the influence of drugs are just some of the many causes that prevents the soul from achieving salvation in the Clear Light. Earlyne Chaney in her book, "The Mysteries of Death & Dying" comments on why the Light may not be seen:

"If there is darkness within the consciousness, it is reflected on the mirror of your mind and the mirror cannot then reflect the radiance of the Clear Light itself. At this moment when the Clear Light dawns, the mind is like a mirror and only when it is cleared of karmic obstacles can the mind reflect the ultimate light of reality. This is why it is so difficult for most of us to imagine that we may merge with the Clear Light, because the mind must be completely cleared of all karmic darkness." (1989:70)

In order to prepare oneself for the Clear Light experience, we are advised by lamas to meditate daily, and to undergo certain purifying, detoxifying processes--mental, emotional, physical and spiritual--that clears the skandhas, the aggregates of the lower constitution of the microcosm, from all psycho-physical dross that hangs like a veil over the Clear Light preventing its shimmering brilliance from emerging and contacting the soul-in-transition. The more karmic stains in the skandhas, the less we see of the Clear Light. Purifying practices such as the Heruka Vajrasattva sadhana, for instance, are often resorted to, to clear one's mental and emotional continuum of karmic stains. The necessity for purity in one's nature in order to see the Clear Light is also to be found in Christian teachings where it is said that only the pure shall see "God." Surat An-Nur of the Quran alludes poetically to the Clear Light, to Nur Illahi and how it is perceived.

Basically, one has to be detached from the five skhandas (essence of form, sensation, volition, consciousness, and deluded perception) in order to recognize the Clear Light and its transformative qualities. It takes a perfectly detached mind and a pure awareness, free from karmic stains to merge with the high energies of the Divine flame of the Clear Light of the Void. Only then is one free from all mortal states and is born into a realm beyond the laws of change, of becoming. Immortality is attained in such a manner. Bokar Rinpoche, in the book Death & the Art of Dying tells us the significance of the consummation of one's mergence with the Clear Light:

Page 4 of 7 :: First | Last :: Prev | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | Next