PART ii]
DAWNING OF AMITABHA
113
and evil karma from covetousness and miserliness produce awe of the sounds and radiances, and they flee. [If one be of these classes], then, on the Fourth Day, the Bhagavan Amitabha * and his attendant deities, together with the lightpath from the Preta-loka, proceeding from miserliness and attachment, will come to receive one simultaneously. Again the setting-face-to-face is, calling the deceased by name, thus: 0 nobly-born, listen undistractedly. On the Fourth Day the red light, which is the primal form of the element fire, will shine. At that time, from the Red Western Realm of Happiness,2 the Bhagavan Buddha Amitabha, red in colour, bearing a lotus in his hand, seated upon a peacock-throne and cmbraced by the Divine Mother GOkarmo,2 will shine upon thee, [together with] the Bodhisattvas Chenrazee3 and Jampal,* attended by the female Bodhisattvas Ghirdhima 5 and Aloke.5 The six bodies of Enlightenment will shine upon thee from amidst a halo of rainbow light. * Text: Snang-va-mthalt-yas (fton.NaHg-ioa-lha-yay):?iki.Aniitablia, 'Boundless (or Incomprehensible) Light'. As an embodiment of one of the Buddhaattributes or Wisdoms, the Alt-discriminating Wisdom, Amitabha personifies life eternal. 1 Text: Gds-Jkar-nto (pron. G6-kar-mo),' She-in-White-Raiment'. 1 Text: Sfyan-ras-gtigs (pron. C/ien->a-zf); Ski. Avalokileshvara, ' DownLooking One', the embodiment of mercy or compassion. The Dalai Lamas arc believed to be his incarnations; Amitabha, with whom he here dawns, is his spiritual father, whose incarnate representatives are the Tashi Lamas. He is often depicted with eleven heads and a thousand arms, each with an eye in the palm—as 'The Great Pitier'—his thousand arms and eyes appropriately representing him as ever on the outlook to discover distress and to succour the troubled. In China, Avalokiteshvara becomes the Great Goddess of Mercy Kwanyin, represented by a female figure bearing a child in her arms. 1 Text: Hjam-dfal (pron. Jam-pal): Skt. Manjiishn, 'Of Gentle Glory,'. A fuller Tibetan form is Hjam-dpal-dvyangs (pron. Jam-pal-yang): Skt. MdHjughosha, ' Glorious Gentle-Voiced One'. He is ' The God of Mystic Wisdom' the Buddhist Apollo, commonly depicted with the flaming sword of light held aloft in his right hand and the lotus-supported Pook of Wisdom, the PiajiidParamita, held in his left. 6 Text: Ghir-dhi-nta and Alokt, corrupted from Skt. Gflti,' Song', and Aloka, ' Light': Tib. Gin-ma (pron. Ln-nta) and Stiang-gsal-ma (pron. Kang-sal-ttuf). Gita, commonly represented holding a lyre, personifies (or symbolizes) music and song, and Aloka, holding a lamp, personifies (or symbolizes, light. Related to the element fire, as herein, their colour is red.