In the Sacred Tarot, Arcanum 13 is pictured as a skeleton, with the Keywords of Death & Transformation. When this card appears in a reading, there is usually a certainly amount of consternation from the person receiving the reading. As part of the process of gathering cross-cultural references to this Arcanum, I think this piece by Trungpa Rinpoche adds a great deal to a wider perspective on the Nature of Arcanum 13. STUDENT: Could you discuss what it is that reincarnates, especially in relation to the Theravadin doctrine of anatman, egolessness? TRUNGPA RINPOCHE: Well, from the point of view of anatman, nothing reincarnates. It is more of a rebirth process rather than reincarnation. The idea of reincarnation is that a solid, living quality is being passed on to the next being. It is the idea of some solid substance being passed on. But in this case, it’s more of a rebirth. You see, something continues, but at the same time, nothing continues. In a sense we’re like a running stream. You could say, such and such a river, such and such a stream. It has a name, but if you examine it carefully, that river you named three hundred years ago isn’t there at all: it is completely different, changing, passing all the time. It is transforming from one aspect to another. That complete transformation makes it possible to take rebirth. If one thing continued all the time there would be no possibilities for taking rebirth and evolving into another situation. It is the change which is important in terms of rebirth, rather than one thing continuing. STUDENT: Doesn’t that happen moment to moment within a lifetime? TRUNGPA RINPOCHE: Yes, exactly. You see, the ultimate idea of rebirth is not purely the idea of physical birth and death. Physical birth and death are very crude examples of it. Actually, rebirth takes place every moment, every instant. Every instant is death, every instant is birth. It’s a changing process: there’s nothing you can grasp onto; everything is changing. But there is some continuity, of course the change is the continuity. The impermanence of the rebirth is the continuity of it. And because of that, there are possibilities of developing and possibilities of regressing. Certain new elements and inspirations could insert themselves into that process of continual change. You can enter yourself into the middle of the queue, if you are queuing, because the queue is made out if small particles, or people, rather than one thing. From: Chögyam Trungpa, Transcending Madness. The Experience of the Six Bardos, Shambhala, Boston & London, 1992, p. 20.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 20:01:59 +0000