Peter Hunter and the Minions of Mara

Chapter 43: Nobly Born Jody Hunter

Over the next few weeks, Peter's mom became a shadow of herself. He spent as much time as he could by her side, wanting to be close. He had a gut feeling that he needed to pay attention and stay with her.

One particular afternoon, he sat in the chair next to where she slept on the sofa and read the Tibetan Book of the Dead. He had found it more comforting than he had initially suspected.

"What are you reading?" she asked when she woke up.

"It's this cheerful, uplifting book Sensei got me," he told her. "The Tibetan Book of the Dead. It's supposed to help us with the transition."

She smirked. "You've been holding out on me?"

"You want me to read it to you?" he asked, surprised.

She nodded and adjusted herself with great difficulty.

He started reading, "'O nobly born, Jody Hunter—'"

"Nobly born. I like that," she interrupted.

He smiled. "I think you're supposed to listen."

She gave him a sideways look. "You ever follow that advice?"

He continued reading. "'...The time has come for you to see the path. You will be set before the clear light. And you will experience it in its reality in the bardo.'"

"What's a bardo?" she interrupted again.

"It's an in-between place," he explained, "between this life and the next. Anyway. 'In the bardo, all things are like the void and cloudless sky and the naked spotless intellect is like a transparent vacuum without circumference or center. At this moment, know yourself and abide in that state. I, too, at this time, will sit with you face to face.'"

"What's that 'clear light' and 'spotless intellect?'"

"You know how everyone talks about seeing a light at death? It's supposedly pure consciousness or intellect, like if you were stripped of everything except for your energy. Anyway, the light is pure consciousness. 'Jody Hunter—'"

"Wait, am I not nobly born anymore?"

Peter rolled his eyes. "'O nobly born, Jody Hunter, resolve thus: O this now is the hour of death. By taking advantage of this death, I will act for the good of all sentient beings peopling the illimitable expanse of the heavens, as to obtain the Perfect Buddhahood, by resolving on love and compassion toward all and by directing my entire effort to the Sole Perfection.'"

She became relaxed as she listened. Peter continued for about ten minutes. She was so still, he was afraid she had fallen asleep or worse.

When he was finished, she took a long and slow breath.

"That was wonderful," she whispered with her eyes closed in reverie.

"I don't know if I believe everything they say happens in the afterlife," Peter confessed, "but it's fun to think about, huh?"

"Tell me about these realms of existence. Any travel brochures?"

"There's Naraka," he told her, "which are supposedly these super cold and hot caverns of hellish torment."

"I'll just cross that one off the list," she decided quickly.

"It's for those who've earned the worst karma," he assuaged her. "And even if you did end up there, you could pass on to another realm once your bad karma runs out."

"Hm. So it's like a cosmic jail?" she speculated.

He nodded. "Then there's the realm of hungry ghosts."