There is no longer a physical structure that controls us.

Our negative mental habits appear as the world of delusions and fear.

Our positive habits arise as the world of peace and joy.

So we must remember to generate and maintain spiritual qualities.

For ordinary people, the bardo, the transitional passage, starts when consciousness is regained. It ends at the conception of the next life. For experienced esoteric meditators, it starts with or at the end of the spontaneously present luminous visions.

During the passage of dying our mind is joined with our body.

The next stage, the passage of ultimate nature, is often so brief that ordinary people barely witness it.

So the bardo, the period between the experience of ultimate nature and our next rebirth, is the major after death event – the most crucial juncture of our lives – and the longest in duration among the first three transitional periods.

Generally, the passage through the bardo lasts for up to seven weeks (forty-nine days), but it could be much shorter, or in some rare cases it might even be longer.

During the first half of this transitional passage, we may feel that we have the body and emotions of our previous life.

During the second half, we may feel that we have the body and experiences of our coming rebirth.

Experiences of this Bardo

In the bardo, most of us will feel that we are traveling through narrow paths or tunnels, traversing a desert, crossing bridges over turbulent rivers, being judged by the Lords of the Dead, perhaps persecuted by executioners, and dispatched to hellish regions, higher realms, or heavenly pure lands.

All these encounters are reactions of our own physical, cultural, mental, and emotional habits that we have fostered in the past.

We may feel as if we are squeezing out of a narrow, dark tunnel as our consciousness exits the dying body.

At the end of the tunnel, we might see a door or a window with light shining through. This could be the cranial aperture or any of the nine openings of the body.

Until we can clear the deeply rooted habits that we are harbouring and find the exit to total liberation, we will go around in a cycle without end, like a bee trapped in a room.

In the bardo, many beings experience similar kinds of world systems together, because they are all reaping the effects of similar karmas that they produced in the past.

But in some cases, the experience will be a purely subjective perception of the deceased person, with no actual participation by others, even though the deceased may feel as if many beings are sharing the experience with him or her.

For example, the delog Do Khyentse felt that his sister and others were accompanying him during his visit to the pure lands, but in fact she was alive and busy studying at Yarlung Monastery.

As noted earlier, if we are highly realized meditators who have attained enlightenment in life or while in the passage of ultimate nature, we may have no need to go through the bardo.

If we have accumulated a great deal of merit and achieved some meditative experiences, we will go through the bardo, but with little sense of fear and suffering.

By the power of our merits and meditative realizations, we will be able to take rebirth in a spontaneously manifested pure land, or at least in one of the happy realms of the world.

If our mind stream is filled with karmic traces of evil deeds, we will not be able to see the ultimate nature and will be terrified by natural sounds and the visions of lights, rays, and images.

We might not even dare to look at the visions, nor will we understand them to be expressions of our own true nature.

Instead we will struggle with them as mental objects in the form of conflicting forces. Such negative perceptions of conflict and struggle could lead us to the experience of a hell realm as our rebirth.

In the bardo, our consciousness is totally separated from our body. Our mind has left our cherished form behind as a corpse with no warmth, no breath, and no movement. Our consciousness will be floating around without any gross body to anchor it. We will be able to see without benefit of sunlight or moonlight.

We will assume a mental body, most likely imagined according to our past habits.

Some texts, however, describe it as a subtle body of soft light.

But still we might be thinking we have our previous body and are still alive.

We may go through the following experiences:

We will have no sense of stability, as our feelings and the circumstances around us will change from moment to moment, according to the changes in our thoughts and the influences of our karmic forces.

We will find ourselves with any person or in any place that comes to our mind, unless the place is beyond our karmic range. If we think of New York City, we will be there instantly, without spending any time or effort to travel there, since our body is a mental, not a physical, one. Being able to travel is not our problem, but stability is. It is hard for us to stay in one place and to focus on any thought, as we are always moving, flickering, floating, and being driven about.

We are constantly running, flying, and moving, like a feather in a storm, with no endurance.

Our mind will be much sharper than it was in life.

We will see and hear from many others who, like ourselves, are wandering in the bardo.

We will enjoy some degree of clairvoyance, knowing other people’s thoughts, but we will have less reasoning or analytic power, owing to the lack of mental focus.

From moment to moment, our mind may swing through many changes of happiness and suffering, hope and fear, peace and pain. Sometimes we might feel in danger from the force of the elements, as if we were buried under houses, caves, or collapsed earth; falling and sinking in water; burning in a wood fire or in flaming houses; and being blown about in strong, stormy winds— experiences that are perhaps similar to the dissolutions of the passage of dying, only here they are more naked and direct.

If we see our dead body, we might behold it clearly, as it actually is, and become protective of it.

Or, we might hate it and not want to look at it.

We might not see or recognize our corpse at all.

Many times, mysteriously, we might see it in a different form, such as the body of a dog or a snake.

Seeing our body might help us realize for a moment that we are dead, but immediately afterward we might have no recollection of that, since there is so little strength of focus for remembering. That is why it can take a long time before we really understand that we have died.

We have little reasoning power in the bardo. So one moment we will realize that we’re dead, but the next moment we’ll forget and resume our habit of feeling alive.

We might be seeking food all the time, but we are unable to enjoy any food unless it is offered to us spiritually or dedicated in our name.

We will mostly be able to enjoy the smell of food rather than the food itself. That is why many texts refer to beings in the bardo as the “odor-eaters.” (In the Tibetan tradition, this is the very reason why the smoke of burning food, or sur, is ritually offered to a deceased person for many weeks after his or her death.)

We may feel lonely and insecure, ever searching for shelter and stability.

Tired of being swept about by karmic, mental, and emotional storms, we will be so desperate for the steadiness of a body that we may care little about what kind of future situation we trap ourselves into.

Some people relive their dying experiences, exactly as they went through them, on every seventh day after their death, again and again, especially if it was a tragic death. That is why every seventh day is observed by survivors with prayers and dedications.

We might approach our friends, but to our surprise, they will ignore us.

We might sit down at the dining table, but no one will offer us a chair or serve us any meal.

We might ask people questions, but no one will answer us. That might make us sad, thinking that everyone is angry at us and no one cares for us.

Maybe we will see others going through our personal belongings and taking whatever they want, and we might angrily conclude that they are robbing us.

At such a juncture, the worst thing we could do for ourselves would be to succumb to negative emotions such as anger.

So we should learn about the signs of death while we are alive and remind ourselves, thinking again and again, “At the time of death I will not get into negative emotions.”

What Should We Do in this Bardo?

How should we handle the bardo?

First, it is very important to verify whether we are really dead or not, so we must look for certain signs:

(1) Look into a mirror or water. If you don’t have a reflection, you are dead.

(2) Walk on sand or in snow. If there are no footprints, you are dead.

(3) Go into the sun or walk in the light. If there is no shadow beside your body, you are dead.

(4) If people are not responding to you, if they are not even looking at you, or if they are not serving you any food, that is not their fault, nor are they are angry with you. It is because you are dead.

After realizing that you are dead, try not to feel sad and shocked, for this will not help and will only hurt.

Try to react to death in the three following ways:

(1) Realize that you are at the most crucial juncture of your life. For the sake of your future, you cannot waste a moment. This is your greatest opportunity to advance.

(2) Remember and feel happy about whatever spiritual path you have pursued in your lifetime. That will be the great source of peace, joy, and strength for you.

(3) Remember any one of the following three practices, according to your ability and experience. Then try to stay with that practice without distraction.

(a) When you see the forms of male and female beings, as mentioned in Liberation by Hearing, recognize them as male and female buddha families and pure lands. Realize them as the reflection of your own buddha-mind. If you try to see them with positive perception, you will find them to be the source of blessings, as they are all mere impressions of the mind in the bardo. Remember the feelings of devotion to the buddhas, to your spiritual teachers, and to your meditation. If you have any experience in esoteric meditation, try to realize the oneness of everything that happens, for all happenings are one in their true nature, according to the esoteric path. You must try to see and feel that all the peaceful or wrathful forms, sounds, and feelings that you might be encountering are merely the manifestational power of that oneness. See the lights as wisdom-lights, or turn them into lights of wisdom through meditation techniques that are familiar to you. Do not grasp at or struggle against them, taking the attitude of subject versus object; instead, open to them and be one with them. Relax in the awareness of that oneness state. Rest in it again and again.

(b) If you are not a realized or experienced meditator, but a spiritual person, first you should try to calm down your mind and be stable. Then try to remember your spiritual support, whether it is a divine presence, a master, or a positive experience that is present to you and in you. Try to keep your mental focus on it again and again, instead of being distracted everywhere. Try to have compassion for others, instead of pitting yourself against them. Try to see all as divine manifestations instead of sources of fear and pain. Try to say prayers and mantras and hear all sounds as words of devotion and compassion, instead of lamentations. We must try to stay in such a spiritual atmosphere throughout our transitional journey. Positive memories, devotional prayers, and compassionate openness will become a source of powerful protection, soothing experience, and wisdom-light that makes the transitional journey a joyful ride. Experienced spiritual people are able to perform services for others. Through the power of prayers, merit making, devotion, and/ or contemplation, they can bring our mind to an image (or an object) and stabilize it. Then they can give us teachings, invoke the compassionate blessings of deities, and bestow empowerments in order to lead our mind to buddhahood or at least to a good rebirth. If we have some virtuous karmas as the cause, these meditative services will function as effective conditions, and the service will be most beneficial. Such service could become a real turning point for us in our transitional journey. Whatever positive memories or experiences we can muster, they will generate and strengthen the force of peace, joy, devotion, love, pure perception, and wisdom. That force will lead to the attainment of enlightenment or to a better rebirth – just as the force of negative emotions causes us to be born in a hell realm. Such a positive force could divert us from the path of rebirth in the hell realms, even if we have been destined for them. Whatever spiritual experiences and strength we have acquired in our lifetime will certainly bear their fruit at the right time. However, it is prudent to activate the force of our positive karmas instead of giving the negative karmas that we also have the chance to dominate our life. Longchen Rabjam advises:

Although arisings [of the ultimate nature] have appeared in that manner, if you cannot recognize them,

The bardo of transitional passage, like a dream, will appear. Then, by remembering buddha pure lands, and

Seeking refuge in your spiritual masters and tutelary deities,

You might take rebirth in pure lands and attain liberation.

Many, instead, may take rebirth as human beings with sevenfold qualities, and

The attainment of liberation will be assured in their next birth. 9

(c) You might be going through the delusory hallucinations of the bardo without having had much spiritual and meditative experience. If so, you must try to remember not to become angry, upset, or afraid, but strive to see all the appearances as unreal, like a dream. No one is putting together a show of these transitional arrangements for your benefit, for they are just illusions imagined because of your own past mental habits, fuelled by afflicting emotions. Try to make your mind open, positive, stable, and peaceful, instead of adopting a grasping or negative perception with emotions of hatred, desire, or confusion. Try to feel compassion for others who are also being buffeted about in this scary transitional journey. If you can generate and maintain such a positive state of mind, purified by the wind of devotional or compassionate energies, your mind will be in great peace, like the immaculate cloudless sky. No dark clouds of negative karmic energies will come to cast shadows of confusion or pain. Sun- and moonlight-like joy and peace will prevail throughout your experience of whatever phenomena arise, ensuring an abundantly happy journey.

In addition to the above three practices, we might also remember how to “reverse” the process of taking birth in inferior realms, if we face any of them.

If you see indications of an inferior birth – the soft lights and signs, or your future birthplace or parents – the most important thing is not to fall into negative thoughts or emotions, such as grasping, craving, attachment, hatred, jealousy, fear, or confusion.

Try to see them with a spiritual mind, a mind of peace, oneness, and openness.

You could try to see them with a peaceful and relaxed mind by realizing that they are fabrications of your own mind.

Or you could try to see them as male and female deities and their pure lands.

Pray to the deities and spiritual masters for their blessings and guidance.

Source: Based on Thondup, Tulku. Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth: A Tibetan Buddhist Guidebook. Shambhala. Kindle Edition.

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