The Rainbow Body

Tib., 'ja' lus; Rainbow body
Skt., indracapa; Bow of Indra

Based on the Tibetan terms lus (that which is left behind, ordinary body) and 'ja' (rainbow, rainbow hue), the Rainbow Body or Vajra Rainbow Body ('ja' lus rdo rje'i sku) is not so much a "body" but rather a vortex of energy into which certain adepts can apparently transform themselves on dying.
Rather than leaving a corpse behind that needs to be cremated or chopped to pieces, highly accomplished men and women rather pass away in a mass of rainbow light. To use a Tibetan phrase, they "dissolve into space like a rainbow" (nam mkha' la 'ja' yal ba ltar); a process which - curiously enough - is reported as leaving the practioners hair and nails behind as physical remnants.

The Tibetan concept of the rainbow is different from the Western (five instead of seven colors). Each of the five colors corresponds to one of the five gross elements that form the material, physical body. Based on this, one finds expressions such as the sphere of five-colored rainbow light ('ja' tshon 'od lnga'i klong) and the light body of the five essences (lnga ldan snying po 'od kyi lus), both of which are poetic synonyms for 'ja' lus, the rainbow body.

Those who will attain the body of rainbow light ('ja' lus bsgrub pa), who - in other words - undergo the great transformation of the rainbow body ('ja' lus 'pho ba chen po), must have learned to cease all grasping and to have exhausted all fixations. This inner cleansing of all attachments, so difficult to realize for human beings, is at the core of the practice known as Thogal or Tögal (Thod-rGal), the "All-Surpassing Realisation" that is part of the Concealed Instructions Series of Dzogchen teachings.

As the above used term great transformation of the rainbow body ('ja' lus 'pho ba chen po) clearly shows by its use of 'pho ba, we're also dealing here with the technique known as Phowa or Powa; the so-called "Transformation Yoga" (Skt., samkranti; Tib., pho-ba) that aims at the conscious ejection or transference of consciousness (to a higher realm) at the moment of death. It is one of the six yogas or doctrines taught by Naropa and Niguma in their respective cycles of teachings; the Naro Chosdrug and Nigu Chosdrug.