Bardo Thodol: the Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Intermediate State

Bardo Thödol:
The Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Intermediate State

Tibetan: bar-do thos-grol Pronounced, Bardo Thötröl
The Bardo Thödol (incorrectly translated in the West as The Tibetan Book of the Dead) can be understood at two levels:
1. as advanced practice for trained meditators, and,
2. as support for beings experiencing the bardo without specific meditative training, experience or empowerment.

The Bardo Thödol is a text based on oral teachings by Padmasambhava and recorded in written form around 760 AD.
Through early misrepresentation to the West by the incomplete translation of Evans-Wentz (1878-1957), the Westerners have come to know this text as The Tibetan Book of the Dead, a title that has misguided many. A much better translation is The Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Intermediate State.

Serious meditative practitioners, who have received the proper empowerments (initiations) meditative training and sustained meditative experience, have an opportunity at death to recognize the Clear Light of the Absolute True Nature of Reality and achieve Ultimate Enlightenment at that time. Much of an advanced practitioner's meditative training involves meeting this transformative moment.

To help the dying achieve the goal of auspicious re-birth or even Enlightenment, a spiritual master (lama) whispers guiding instructions through the bardo into the person's ear. Traditionally, these instructions are read from The Bardo Thödol, designed to help guide the deceased's consciousness through the intermediate realm between lives (bardo). Thus the meaning of the Bardo Thödol: The Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Intermediate State.

The bardo state is recognized as an opportunity for change; a starting point of transformation. It is understood as a gap between familiar boundaries through which beings can glimpse the Absolute True Nature of Reality. By fully recognizing this ultimate nature, the deceased is capable of breaking the afflictive cycle of rebirth (samsara) and achieving final liberation: Enlightenment for the sake of all sentient Beings.

Buddhism recognizes the fact that human beings tend to avoid thinking about or dealing with the fact of death. The refusal to acknowledge the imminence of death and impermanence is regarded in Buddhism as a fundamental cause of the confusion and ignorance that prevents spiritual progress (Four Noble Truths of Buddhism). Spiritual growth is achieved not by avoiding ‘unpleasant’ facts, but by facing and accepting them with calmness, wisdom and compassion.

Specific meditations enable Buddhist practitioners to seriously consider the truth of impermanence and to comprehend the true nature of human existence. The goal of skillful meditation study and practice is experience and actualization of the Absolute True Nature of Reality (Enlightenment).

Tibetan Buddhism and the Bardo Thödol teach that the first moment of death is marked by a gradual process of disintegration, in which both the mental and physical components of the dying individual begin to collapse. Corresponding to the gradual deterioration of consciousness during death, the dying patient experiences a variety of distinctive visions, each marking a stage in the dying process.

Serious meditators study these stages in order to gain intimate knowledge of them, since a person familiar with the death experience is less likely to be frightened when death finally arrives. But more importantly, a detailed knowledge of the dying process enables advanced practitioners to simulate the experience during meditation. Through cultivation and experience of these subtle visionary states of consciousness the meditator can achieve complete Liberation (Enlightenment) during life or at the moment of death.

But in the case of ordinary individuals without empowerment, training and advanced meditative experience, the deceased is dependent upon the assistance of the lama (or other religious practitioner), to recite the guiding instructions from the Bardo Thödol in order to bring Reality into clear focus for the deceased in the bardo.

The words of the lama communicate the essential truth of the postdeath experience, giving the deceased a point of reference to make sense of the often confusing and terrifying visions with which non-trained and ordinary individuals are confronted during the bardo period. Also, recitation of the texts within a ceremonial setting offers practical wisdom to the participants.

Before the ordinary dying process is complete, relatives and friends are advised to quietly bid the dying person farewell, without creating excessive drama. Tibetan Buddhists believe that it is crucial for both the dying person and those around him/her to avoid causing excessive regret, grief or longing in the patient; and to have a mindful, calm and compassionate state of mind. The state of mind at the time of death is believed to influence directly the experiences of the departing consciousness.

Any thoughts that occur during this time are extremely important; it is vital for the individual to generate and sustain a positive mental state throughout all the stages of dying. The quality of mind at the time of death is a critical component in determining the dying person's experience in the bardo. If disruptive thoughts can be avoided while simultaneously directing the mind toward pure and virtuous thoughts, even the ordinary person without advanced meditative training may be capable of positively effecting the outcome of the dying process.

Further Reading:
Tsele Natsok Rangdrol, THE MIRROR OF MINDFULNESS: The Cycle of the Four Bardos. Presentation of Tibetan Buddhist teachings on the endless cycle of experience, the four bardos: life, death, after-death, and rebirth. Instruction is aimed at inspiring and helping the practitioner achieve liberation from deluded existence and awaken to complete enlightenment for the benefit of others.

Dudjom Rinpoche, COUNSELS FROM MY HEART . As a teacher of legendary kindness and wisdom, Dudjom Rinpoche (deceased, former head of the Nyingma lineage) is highly regarded. This volume contains some of the very few of Dudjom Rinpoche's teachings that have ever been translated and published. In it he discusses the Three Jewels, self and cyclic existence and the bardo states between life and death.Thurman, Robert A. F. (trans.). Bardo Thödol: The Tibetan Book of the Dead.
Sogyal Rinpoche, Tibetan Book of Living and Dying.
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