Preface

This text has been compiled from the translation by lay practitioner Sun Jingfeng of the Esoteric Teaching of Liberation Through Hearing in the Intermediate State (hereafter, Intermediate State). Because many currently circulated recitation editions add modern explanatory passages for recitation, whereas the original text of Intermediate State states: “The intermediate-state body possesses all six sense faculties and also has karmic powers. It is intelligent and keen, nine times more so than before death,” ritual practitioners need not worry that the deceased will be unable to understand the instructions. Therefore, this compilation focuses on using the original text in its entirety for recitation.

I. This recitation manual is based on the 1994 edition of Intermediate State published by the Shanghai Book Bureau. Its selections are arranged in sequence according to the four phases of the intermediate state. Each phase is further explained in three parts: “Time for Performing the Practice,” “Instructions for Practice,” and “Conducting the Recitation.”

II. To facilitate performing the practice each day, a time-indexed table of contents has been added. Practitioners may consult the relevant instructions for conducting the practice according to the time and number of days since the deceased’s death.

III. The section “Conducting the Recitation” uses the original text of Intermediate State throughout. The bold, italicized orange text indicates the recitation passages, for the convenience of those performing the practice.

IV. All images in this text are from the internet and are for reference only.

V. The matters requiring attention and the explanations in performing the practice draw as far as possible on the original text of Intermediate State. However, to facilitate rapid reading and understanding of the instructional methods, the compilation team has rendered certain original expressions into plain language and rearranged the order of some explanations.

For a fuller understanding, one should still study the original text of Intermediate State and consult Master Yuanyin’s Essential Explanation of the Intermediate State.

Birth and death are great matters in human life; one should treat the end with reverence and honor those who have gone before. To transcend birth and death is all the more the goal and proper duty of practitioners. Now, sustained by the Buddha’s blessing, we understand how one may receive deliverance from the perilous passage of the intermediate state. We should all the more cherish the present, make use of this life and this body, and undertake solid, firsthand practice and realization of liberation: transcend the ocean of emotion and consciousness, cross the river of birth and death, and not wait until the moment of death to place our hopes in others’ rites for the deceased. If this is recognized here and now, the work of assisting the deceased is complete.

Respectfully compiled by the Materials Compilation Team

March 15, 2023