A Complete Set of Instructions for the Bardos

Crucial Advice: A Complete Set of Instructions for the Bardos

by Longchen Rabjam

At the feet of the sacred master, respectfully I pay homage!

Although you have gained this life of freedom and advantage, it will not last,
So keep in mind these instructions for the moment of death.

Now, during this intermediate period of the bardo of this life,
Decide, with complete certainty, that the wisdom of your own awareness is dharmakaya,
And sustaining the ongoing experience of its self-radiance, the meditation which is naturally clear,
Everything will only enhance naturally arising wisdom!

During the bardo of dying, when the four elements dissolve,
There will be the illusory experiences of rising and falling, shaking, and haziness.¹
And the dissolution of earth, water, fire, wind and space.
 

The sense faculties too will cease to function. At that time, remind yourself:
“Now I am dying, but there is no need to fear.”
 

Examine: “What is death? Who is dying? Where does dying take place?”
Death is merely the return of borrowed elements.
 

In the face of rigpa itself, there is no birth or death.
 

Within the very form² of the dharmakaya of primordial purity, the union of rigpa and emptiness,
Examine: “What is death? Who is dying? Where does dying take place?”
 

As dying exists nowhere, it is absolutely unreal.
 

In the experience of this, generate courage and confidence.
The arising of rigpa is not obstructed in any way.
 

Earth, water, fire, wind and consciousness dissolve into space.
When space dissolves into pure luminosity,
The six consciousnesses dissolve into the basis of all, the dharmadhatu,
As awareness parts from the inanimate, there is an experience of pure awareness, devoid of phenomena.
 

Separated from the ordinary mind, the great primordial purity of dharmakaya dawns.
Through having recognized this here and now in training,
You will be freed directly, in a single instant.
 

And gain the dharmakaya of twofold purity.

A Brief Introduction to the Bardos

by Patrul Rinpoche

Generally, whenever physically embodied beings die, they first experience the twenty phases of coarse dissolution, which are as follows:

1. As the aggregate of form dissolves, the limbs twitch, and the body loses its strength and power.

2. As the mirror-like wisdom dissolves, the mind grows unclear and hazy.

3. As the earth element dissolves, the body grows dry.

4. As the eye faculty dissolves, sight becomes unclear and the eye takes on a rounder shape.

5. As the object form dissolves, the body loses its vitality and weakens.

6. As the aggregate of sensations dissolves, the dying person can no longer detect feelings.

7. As the wisdom of equality dissolves, there is no longer any awareness of the three types of sensation (i.e., pleasant, painful or neutral).

8. As the water element dissolves, the lips, sweat, urine, semen and ovum all dry up.

9. As the ear faculty dissolves, external and internal sounds can no longer be heard.

10. As the object sound dissolves, the sounds of the body itself can no longer be heard.

11. As the aggregate of perception dissolves, it is no longer possible to distinguish between different creatures. ¹

12. As the wisdom of discernment dissolves, the dying person forgets the names of his or her own parents, siblings or children.

13. As the fire element dissolves, proper digestion of food is no longer possible.

14. As the nose faculty dissolves, upper respiration ²slows.

15. As the object smell dissolves, the person can no longer detect the odours of their own body.

16. As the aggregate of formations dissolves, the person is unable to carry out physical activities.

17. As the all-accomplishing wisdom dissolves, the person can no longer remember ordinary mundane tasks or their purpose.

18. As the wind element dissolves, the ten internal winds shift from their usual locations.

19. As the tongue faculty dissolves, the tongue feels thicker and shorter than usual and turns blue at its base.

20. As the object taste dissolves, the person can no longer detect the six kinds of taste.

Following the twenty coarse forms of dissolution, which unfold in this way, comes the process of subtle inner dissolution:

As earth dissolves into water, the person is unable to move the body and can no longer maintain its strength. ³It feels as if the body is sinking into the ground. As an inner sign, there is a shimmering expanse of blue, and the impression of softly drizzling rain and flowing water.

As water dissolves into fire, the mouth and nostrils dry up, and the tongue becomes lodged against the palate. As an inner sign, there is an appearance of a smoky haze swirling on a plain.

As fire dissolves into wind, the body loses heat in its extremities, and the stomach's digestive energy grows weaker. As an inner sign, shimmering red sparks crackle and flicker like fireflies.

As wind dissolves into consciousness, exhalations become longer, and, as the coarse outer breathing ceases, the person is unable to inhale. As an inner sign, there is a vision of a burning lamp, and many torches arranged in a row.

As consciousness dissolves into space, as an inner sign, awareness is very clear, and as an outer sign, there is an experience like the sky devoid of clouds. ⁴

Then, as space dissolves into luminosity, four visions gradually unfold:

1. The white essence obtained from the father descends from the crown, and when it reaches the heart there is what is called 'appearance'. As an outer sign, this is accompanied by an experience of whiteness, as when moonlight fills a completely clear sky that is entirely free from clouds. As an inner sign, there is a clear experience of the self-clarity of consciousness devoid of any coarse thought states focused on perceived objects.

2. As the subtle red element of the mother ascends from the base of the central channel, the wisdom of appearance fades into 'increase'. As an outer sign, a red vision unfolds like a cloudless sky pervaded by sunlight. As an inner sign, there is an extremely clear state of mind devoid of any coarse thought states focused on the perceiving subject.

3. As the subtle white and red essences meet at the heart, the wisdom of increase dissolves into 'attainment'. Through this, as an outer sign, there is an experience of blackness, like the thick darkness which falls when the sky turns completely black. As an inner sign, extremely subtle thoughts involving perceived objects and perceiving subject become completely absent, and all distinct concepts based on the appearance aspect of mind fade away, so that, as the ordinary dualistic mind ceases, the wisdom of attainment dawns.

4. When the the subtle essences of blood and breath, the bindus A and HANG ⁵and so on, which are inside the white, silken thread-like channel in the heart, all dissolve completely, the ground luminosity of the moment of death arises. As an outer sign, there is an experience of emptiness and clarity without centre or periphery, like a cloudless sky when it is completely clear. As an inner sign, you remain in co-emergent, non-conceptual wisdom that is entirely without elaboration. If, having recognized this, you can settle into an ongoing experience of the present moment, mother and child luminosities will meet together, and you will be liberated in the first bardo.

In this context, empty luminosity is explained according to the general approach of the tantras, whereas how the forms of the deities arise out of clear light, how the tikles of light and so on appear are explained in the Dzogchen tantras. Nevertheless, it would seem to be rare for these to unfold in a way that provides an opportunity for liberation. ⁶

Next, out of the luminosity into which the three visions dissolved, appearances unfold gradually once again, and the body of the bardo of becoming is formed. For the first half of this bardo, however long that might be, you have the form of your preceding life, and for the second half you take on the appearance of your eventual rebirth. All sensory faculties are intact, and you can travel anywhere but the mother's womb, miraculously and without obstruction. You are invisible to all except those of the same class (i.e. other bardo beings) and those who have obtained divine vision. Since you have taken on something like a body in a dream, for example, which is generated in an instant, and knows neither light nor complete darkness, this is known as the 'bardo of semi-darkness'.

Advice from Me to Myself

Patrul Rinpoche (1808-1887)


Vajrasattva, sole deity, Master,

You sit on a full-moon lotus-cushion of white light

In the hundred-petalled full bloom of youth.


Think of me, Vajrasattva,

You who remain unmoved within the manifest display

That is Mahamudra, pure bliss-emptiness.


Listen up, old bad-karma Patrul,

You dweller-in-distraction.


For ages now you’ve been

Beguiled, entranced, and fooled by appearances.

Are you aware of that? Are you?

Right this very instant, when you’re

Under the spell of mistaken perception

You’ve got to watch out.

Don’t let yourself get carried away by this fake and empty life.


Your mind is spinning around

About carrying out a lot of useless projects:

It’s a waste! Give it up!

Thinking about the hundred plans you want to accomplish,

With never enough time to finish them,

Just weighs down your mind.

You’re completely distracted

By all these projects, which never come to an end,

But keep spreading out more, like ripples in water.

Don’t be a fool: for once, just sit tight.


Listening to the teachings—you’ve already heard hundreds of teachings,

But when you haven’t grasped the meaning of even one teaching,

What’s the point of more listening?


Reflecting on the teachings—even though you’ve listened,

If the teachings aren’t coming to mind when needed,

What’s the point of more reflection? None.


Meditating according to the teachings—

If your meditation practice still isn’t curing

The obscuring states of mind—forget about it!


You’ve added up just how many mantras you’ve done—

But you aren’t accomplishing the kyerim visualizatiion.

You may get the forms of deities nice and clear—

But you’re not putting an end to subject and object.

You may tame what appear to be evil spirits and ghosts,

But you’re not training the stream of your own mind.


Your four fine sessions of sadhana practice,

So meticulously arranged—

Forget about them.


When you’re in a good mood,

Your practice seems to have lots of clarity—

But you just can’t relax into it.

When you’re depressed,

Your practice is stable enough

But there’s no brilliance to it.

As for awareness,

You try to force yourself into a rigpa-like state,

As if stabbing a stake into a target!


When those yogic positions and gazes keep your mind stable

Only by keeping mind tethered—

Forget about them!


Giving high-sounding lectures

Doesn’t do your mind-stream any good.

The path of analytical reasoning is precise and acute—

But it’s just more delusion, good for nothing goat-shit.

The oral instructions are very profound

But not if you don’t put them into practice.


Reading over and over those dharma texts

That just occupy your mind and make your eyes sore—

Forget about it!


You beat your little damaru drum—ting, ting—

And your audience thinks it’s charming to hear.

You’re reciting words about offering up your body,

But you still haven’t stopped holding it dear.

You’re making your little cymbals go cling, cling—

Without keeping the ultimate purpose in mind.


All this dharma-practice equipment

That seems so attractive—

Forget about it!


Right now, those students are all studying so very hard,

But in the end, they can’t keep it up.


Today, they seem to get the idea,

But later on, there’s not a trace left.

Even if one of them manages to learn a little,

He rarely applies his "learning" to his own conduct.


Those elegant dharma disciples—

Forget about them!


This year, he really cares about you,

Next year, it’s not like that.

At first, he seems modest,

Then he grows exalted and pompous.

The more you nurture and cherish him,

The more distant he grows.


These dear friends

Who show such smiling faces to begin with—

Forget about them!


Her smile seems so full of joy—

But who knows if that’s really the case?

One time, it’s pure pleasure,

Then it’s nine months of mental pain.

It might be fine for a month,

But sooner or later, there’s trouble.


People teasing; your mind embroiled—

Your lady-friend—

Forget about her!


These endless rounds of conversation

Are just attachment and aversion—

It’s just more goat-shit, good for nothing at all.

At the time it seems marvelously entertaining,

But really, you’re just spreading around stories about other people’s mistakes.

Your audience seems to be listening politely,

But then they grow embarrassed for you.

Precious Human Rebirth

We may now have a life endowed with the freedoms and advantages which are so difficult to find, but it will not last for long.

--Patrul Rinpoche, Words of My Perfect Teacher

The Meaning Of Virtue And Virtuosity

By Tsoknyi Rinpoche

From: Open Heart, Open Mind

The Buddhist path is often described in terms of steps one takes to lead what is commonly referred to as a "virtuous life" -- an idea that strikes a chord of anxiety into the hearts of people new to Buddhism (and quite a few long-term practitioners).

The meaning of virtue has been debated and defined in various ways by different schools of Buddhism-- as well as other religious and philosophical traditions-- over the centuries. There are many stories, for example, about Buddhist monastics who, in the centuries following the Buddha's passing, took exceptional precautions to avoid stepping on insects or the possibility of inhaling them. So it's quite natural that people might wonder what virtue means in the context of modern life, with its abundance of choices and challenges. At various times, people have asked, "Do I have to become a vegetarian?" "Do I have to give up sex, alcohol, or good food?" "Do I have to stop watching TV?" "Do I have to stop going out with my friends?"

Of course, there's a lot to be said for living simply. Fewer distractions allow us more time to devote to examining our lives and the effects of our thoughts, feelings, and behavior, not only on our own lives but on the lives of all the people with whom we come into contact. But that is only one aspect of a manner of living that might be described as virtuous.

In a broader sense, virtue, or virtuous living -- as I understand it -- comes very close to the Hippocratic oath that doctors take: First, do no harm. The earliest and most persistent descriptions of virtue in the Buddhist teachings involve avoiding activities that cause harm to others, including killing, theft, sexual abuse, lying, slander, and gossip. Interestingly enough, they also include activities that may harm oneself, such as overindulging in intoxicants, food, and certain types of habitual activity -- understandings that evolved long before terms like "addiction" or "obesity" were defined by modern medicine.

But the Tibetan word gewa, which is often translated as "virtue," has a deeper, more significant meaning. Like the old Middle English word vertue, which was related to the effectiveness of an herb or other plant to strengthen certain qualities inherent in the body and the mind, gewa means making choices that extend our emotional and intellectual strength, illuminate our potential greatness, build our confidence, and enhance our ability to assist those in need of help.

A third, and final, understanding of virtue -- which has evolved from conversations with a few friends and students around the world -- builds on this aspect of developing or cultivating our strengths. Artists who exhibit extraordinary skill in their respective fields are known as "virtuosos" -- an English word that comes from an Italian term signifying someone who demonstrates exceptional skill.

"Virtuoso" may not have been a common term in the language the Buddha spoke or in the languages in which his teachings were passed down orally from teacher to student for several hundred years until they were finally written down. However, everything I've learned from my own studies, the teachings I've received, and my own experience as a teacher, counselor, husband, and father suggests to me that what the Buddha discovered during the days and nights he spent meditating under a tree in Bodhgaya, India, was a method through which we can all become virtuosos in the art of living.

Each of us is gifted with the ability to recognize within ourselves an astonishing capacity for brilliance, kindness, generosity, and courage. We also have the potential to awaken everyone with whom we come in contact to the possibility of greatness. We become virtuosos to the extent that we develop our potential to the point at which -- even without our conscious intention -- our actions and our words serve to awaken the "human artist" in everyone.

But in order to do that, we have to understand the basic material with which we're working. A skillful potter has to learn to recognize the qualities and characteristics of a lump of clay with which he or she works. A virtuoso farmer has to understand the relationship between soil and seeds, fertilizer and water, and implement that understanding in terms of actions.

Likewise, in order to become virtuoso human beings, we have to begin by understanding our basic nature -- the clay, so to speak, with which we're given to work.

And that, to me, is the essence of the Buddha's teaching. It's within our power to become virtuoso humans. The process involves a step-by-step examination of the ways in which we relate to ourselves and the world around us. As we integrate this examination into our daily lives, we begin to realize the possibility of living each moment of our lives with a previously unimagined richness and delight.

This approach, advanced 2,500 years ago, asks us to look at who we are in terms beyond the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, about others, and about the world around us.

So let's begin to practice virtuosity in our own lives. Let's ask questions of ourselves.

Who are we? What are we? How can we learn not just to survive but to thrive in the midst of the challenges we face moment by moment, day by day, year by year?

The answers may surprise -- and possibly even delight -- us.

For more by Tsoknyi Rinpoche Click Here

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Completely Ordinary People

We must be willing to be completely ordinary people, which means accepting ourselves as we are.

-Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, The Myth of Freedom

What Meditation Really Is - Mingyur Rinpoche

What Meditation Really Is - Sogyal Rinpoche

Emptiness

"Since things neither exist nor don't exist,
are neither real nor unreal,
are utterly beyond adopting and rejecting -
one might as well burst out laughing."

--Longchenpa Rabjam

Mongolian Musical Praise of 21 Taras

Bell and Dorje

By Rinchen Khandro

In Vajrayana Buddhism there are ritual implements and instruments. Many of the Buddha images hold one or two, or many of these, depending on how many arms the particular Buddha is displaying. All of these implements have meaning. Each is there to engage our busy minds in a way that will lead us toward the Truth. Those held in the left hand relate to wisdom, the realization of the emptiness of all phenomena, and those held in the right hand relate to skillful means, or compassion.

The bell and dorje are two of these implements. The dorje, held in the right hand, represents skillful means, and the bell, held in the left, represents wisdom. Together these ritual implements represent the inseparability of wisdom and compassion in the enlightened mindstream. Looked at separately, each is a great treasure of spiritual meaning.

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The Tibetan Buddhist Altar

Emanations of Amitabha Buddha

The Three Poisons

By Barbara O'Brien

Buddhism teaches that harboring the three poisons leads to evil (akusala) and suffering (dukkha). The Three Poisons are lobha, dvesha and moha, most often translated as "greed," "hate" and "ignorance."

Lobha, greed or desire, is attraction to something we think will gratify us.

Dvesha (Sanskrit) or dosa (Pali) is anger, hatred, animosity, ill-will, aversion.

Moha is ignorance or delusion. The first two poisons have ignorance as their root. Because we see ourselves as small, limited and needy, we pursue things we think will make us happy and hate things that cause us discomfort.

At the center of the Wheel of Life are a rooster, representing greed; a snake, representing hate; and a pig, representing ignorance. They are at the center of the wheel because they keep the wheel turning and bind us to the cycle of samsara. Sometimes they are shown intertwined, because the three poisons feed into and support each other.

Also Known As: Three Unwholesome Roots, akusala-mula, mula priyaya

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Buddha Mind

By Bankei

When we look back on this life, we see that when people are born, no one has thoughts of joy, sadness, hatred, or bitterness. Are we not in the state of the buddha mind bequeathed by our parents? It is after birth that intelligence develops, and people learn bad habits from others in the course of seeing and hearing them. As they grow up, their personal mental habits emerge, and they turn the buddha mind into a monster because of biased self-importance.

People are born with nothing but the unconceived buddha mind, but because of self-importance they want to get their own way, arguing and losing their temper yet claiming it is the stubbornness of others that makes them mad. Getting fixated on what others say, they turn the all-important unique buddha mind into a monster, mulling over useless things, repeating the same thoughts over and over again. They are so foolish they will not give up on things even if getting their own way would in any case prove to be futile. Folly is the cause of animality, so they are inwardly changing the all-important unique buddha mind into a paragon of animality.

Everyone is intelligent, but through lack of under- standing they turn the buddha mind into all sorts of things hungry ghost, monster, animal. Once you've become an animal, even if you hear truth you don't listen, or even if you do listen, being animal-like, you can't retain what you've heard.

Going from one hellish state to another, from one animalistic state to another, from one ghostly state to another, from darkness to darkness in an endless vicious cycle, you go on experiencing infinite misery for the bad things you have done, with never a break.

This can happen to anyone, once you've gone astray. Just understand the point of not turning the buddha mind into something else.

As soon as a single thought gets fixated on some- thing, you become ordinary mortals. All delusion is like this. You pick up on something confronting you, turn the buddha mind into a monster because of your own self-importance, and go astray on account of your own ego.

Whatever it is confronting you, let it be. As long as you do not pick up on it and react with bias, just remaining in the buddha mind and not transforming it into something else, then delusion cannot occur. This is constant abiding in the unconceived buddha mind.

Everyone makes the mistake of supposing that acquired delusions produced by selfish desire and mental habits are inborn, and so they are unable to avoid confusion....

As I listen to the people who come to me, all of them make the mistake of turning the buddha mind into thoughts, unable to stop, piling thoughts upon thoughts, resulting in the development of ingrained mental habits, which they then believe are inborn and unalterable.

Please understand; this is very important. Once you have unconsciously drifted into delusion, if your state of mind degenerates and you flow downward like a valley stream in a waterfall, there is no way back after you have fallen into vicious cycles.

Again, suppose that you have developed mental habits based on selfish desires. When people criticize things that suit your selfish mentality, you become angry and defensive since they are, after all, bad things and you rationalize them as good. When people praise things that do not suit your selfish mentality, you reject them being, of course, good things and you retort that they are bad.

Everything is like this. Delusion can make a defect seem like a virtue. Having fallen into ignorance, you go through all sorts of changes, degenerating further and further until you fall into hell, with precious little chance of regaining your humanity.

The most important thing is not to be self-centered; then you cannot fail to remain in the buddha mind spontaneously.

To want to be at least as good as others in everything is the worst thing there is. Wanting to be at least as good as others is called egotistic pride. As long as you don't wish to be superior to others, then you won't be inferior either.

Also, when people mistreat us, it is because we have pride. When we consider mistreatment from others to be due to our own defects and so we examine ourselves, then no one in the world is bad.

When angry thoughts arise, they turn the buddha mind into a monster. But anger and delight both, being self-centered, obscure and confuse the luminous buddha mind, so that it goes around in vicious circles. Without subjective bias the buddha mind remains unconceived, so it does not revolve in circles. Let everyone understand this.

From: "Teachings of Zen" Ed. Thomas Cleary

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The Great Way

“Not to borrow the strength of another, nor to rely on one’s own strength; to cut off past and future thoughts, and not to live within the everyday mind…then the Great Way is right before one’s eyes”.”

― Bankei   *  +

Empty Forms

“in the universal womb that is boundless space
all forms of matter and energy occur
as flux of the four elements,
but all are empty forms, absent in reality:
all phenomena, arising in pure mind, are like that.

just as dream is a part of sleep,
unreal in its arising,
so all and everything is pure mind,
never separated from it,
and without substance or attribute.

experience is neither mind nor anything but mind;
it is a vivid display of emptiness, like magical illusion,
in the very moment inconceivable and unutterable.
all experience arising in the mind,
at its inception, know it as emptiness!”

--Longchenpa

Freedom

“freedom attends reality:
free at the core, any effort is wasted;
timelessly free, no release is needed;
free in itself, no corrective is possible;
directly free, released in seeing;
completely free, pure in nature;
constantly free, familiarization is redundant;
and naturally free, freedom cannot be contrived.

yet 'freedom' is just a verbal convention,
and who is 'realized' and who is not?
how could anyone be 'liberated'?
how could anyone be lost in samsara?
reality is free of all delimitation!

freedom is timeless, so constantly present;
freedom is natural, so unconditional;
freedom is direct, so pure vision obtains;
freedom is unbounded, so no identity possible;
freedom is unitary, so multiplicity is consumed.

conduct changes nothing - our lives are already free!
meditation achieves nothing - our minds are already free!
the view realizes nothing - all dogma is freedom!
fruition demands nothing - we are free as we are!”

― Longchenpa

Pure Mind

“pure mind is like the empty sky,
without memory, supreme meditation;
it is our own nature, unstirring, uncontrived,
and wherever that abides is the superior mind,
one in buddhahood without any sign,
one in view free of limiting elaboration,
one in meditation free of limiting ideation,
one in conduct free of limiting endeavor,
and one in fruition free of limiting attainment.

vast! spacious!
released as it stands!
with neither realization nor non-realization;
experience consummate! no mind!
it is open to infinity.”

--Longchenpa

Living Buddha

According to the lower schools of Buddhist thought, when a being, like Sakyamuni Buddha, attains mahaparinirvana and passes away, he ceases to exist, there is no further continuity of consciousness. Therefore, according to the Vaibhasika school, for example, after this point there is no more being, no more consciousness. Only the name remains. And yet, they believe that this being who has now disappeared can influence the course of those who follow him due to the virtues that he created in the past.

This is not accepted by the higher schools of thought, however, that instead believe that there are two kinds of bodies, those that are pure in nature and those that are impure. The latter is more gross, whereas a body that has been purified is more subtle. Now, for example, when Sakyamuni Buddha gave up his body, there still remained the more subtle one. So, according to these schools of thought, at the stage of Buddhahood, there are two bodies: a mental body and a physical one.

I don't know whether the English word "body" is the most appropriate one. In Sanskrit, the words used to signify these two bodies of the Buddha are dharmakaya and rupakaya. The first is of the nature of mind, whereas the latter is material. So when the Buddha passes away, there is still this more subtle body, which is of the nature of mind, and since the mental continuum is also present, we can say that the personality is still there. Even today, the Buddha remains as a living being. I think this is better, don't you?(p.91)

--from Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists by the Dalai Lama, edited by Jose Ignacio Cabezon, published by Snow Lion Publications

Heart Advice

At all times, do not lose courage in your inner awareness; uplift yourself, while assuming a humble position in your outer demeanor. Follow the example of the life and complete liberation of previous accomplished masters (siddha). Do not blame your past karma; instead, be someone who purely and flawlessly practices the Dharma. Do not blame temporary negative circumstances; instead, be someone who remains steadfast in the face of whatever circumstances may arise.

In brief, taking your own mind as witness, make your life and practice one, and at the time of death, with no thought of anything left undone, do not be ashamed of yourself. This itself is the pith instruction of all practices.

Eventually, when the time of death arrives, completely give up whatever wealth you possess, and do not cling to even one needle. Moreover, at death, practitioners of highest faculty will be joyful; practitioners of middling faculty will be without apprehension; and practitioners of the lowest faculty will have no regrets. When realization's clear light becomes continuous day and night, there is no intermediate state (bardo): death is just breaking the enclosure of the body.

If this is not the case, but if you have confidence that you will be liberated in the intermediate state, whatever you have done in preparation for death will suffice. Without such confidence, when death arrives, you can send your consciousness to whichever pure land you wish and there traverse the remaining paths and stages to become enlightened. (p.58)

--from Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche's Heart Advice trans. by Ron Garry, a Tsadra Foundation Series book, published by Snow Lion Publications