The Cycle of Life, Death, and After Death

The endless delusory cycle of life, death, and after death is known as samsara in Sanskrit. It is sometimes pictured as a ceaselessly turning wheel.

Cyclic existence has been divided into four periods or passages representing different stages of experiences:

(1) The passage of this life starts at conception and ends with the “fatal sickness,” or whatever is the cause of death. Each moment of existence is also considered a “passage of life” that arises and then dissolves in an endless chain of changing events moving between birth and death, waking and sleeping, happiness and suffering.

(2) The passage of dying begins with the fatal sickness and goes through the gross and subtle dissolution, when physical, mental, and emotional components disintegrate. This phase ends at the cessation of breathing.

(3) The passage of ultimate nature starts at the moment when the “luminosity of the basis” – the true nature of the mind, as it is – arises. This period is characterized by the spontaneous arising of “luminous visions” – the appearance not just of light but also of sounds and images. It ends when these visions dissolve. However, ordinary people will not recognize the luminous visions as expressions of their own nature. Instead, they will perceive them all as objects of fear or attachment. For them, the experience will last only a moment, because they will fall into unconsciousness.

(4) The transitional passage, or bardo, starts either when the spontaneously arisen visions dissolve or when we regain consciousness. It ends with the conception of our next life.

In Tibetan Buddhist texts, each of the four major periods or passages described above is considered a bardo – an intermediate or transitional passage – because each comes between two other periods.

Thus, even life is called a bardo, strange as that may sound, for it is simply the transition between birth and death.

Nevertheless, many people use the word bardo exclusively for the interval between death and the next birth – a momentous time, rich with many vivid experiences and offering crucial opportunities for determining one’s future existence.

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

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