"The Tibetan Book of the Dead:" "The Great Liberation" "Soon, we all will die." "Our hopes and fears will be irrelevant." "Under luminous continuity of existence, which has no origin and which has never died, human beings project all the images of life and death, terror and joy, demons and gods." "This images became our complete reality, and we submit without thinking to their dance." "In all the movement of this dance, we project our greatest fears on death." "And we make every effort to ignore it." "Anything that has a shape will crumble away." "Anything in a flock will disband." "We are all like bees alone in this world, buzzing and searching with no place to rest." "So we offer this prayer." "The illusions are as various as the reflections of the moon on a rippling sea." "Being so easily become caught in the net of confused pain." "May I develop compassion boundless as the sky, so that all may rest in the clear light of their own awareness." "This is Tubten Sering." "He is a 13-year old novice monk." "For the last 5 years, he has lived in the monastery in a small town in Ladak at the Tibetan border." "This is Tubten's teacher, lama Pema Chorden." "Like Tubten he was born into a poor farm family." "He has spent all his life studying and practicing the Buddhist teachings." "When the Chinese invaded Tibet," "Pema Chorden fled from a monastery he'd been visiting there, and came back to Ladak carrying a hundred volumes of sutras and other texts on his back." "These are what he is teaching Tubten and all the other young monks." "Sutras are the records of Buddha's words." "Pema Chorden shows how they have guided people on the path of awakening for more than 2000 years." "He is careful that his students learn their true meaning, and know how to apply them properly in daily life." "Buddhism is always taught this way, directly from teacher to student." "And Pema Chorden teaches just as he was taught." "One day, while Tubten Sering is preparing the morning meal, his teacher tells him a man in the next village is dying." ""We will leave here early tomorrow so that we can help him." "We will be going there everyday for the next 7 weeks." "We will read the Bardo Thodol to him."" "Then he sends Tubten to the monastery library to find the Bardo Thodol." "Known in the west as the Tibetan book of the dead," "This text is a guide for those who are dying, and is used in all Buddhist countries in the Himalayas." "It was written in 8th century by Padmasambhava who brought" "Buddhism to this region." "And it is been an integral part of people's lives here ever since." "The Bardo Thodol will be read aloud to the dead person for 49 days, which is the usual length of time between death and rebirth." "This is the first time that Tubten has been asked to assist his teacher." "What happens when we die?" "At death, we lose everything we thought was real." "Unless we can let go of all the things we cherished in our life, we are terrified." "We cannot stop struggling to hold on to our old life." "All our fear and yearning will drag us into yet another painful reality." ""But where does the consciousness actually go?"" ""We are always wandering through transitional states called Bardos." "The name of this text, means the great liberation through hearing in the Bardo." "And it describes the transitions from death to life." "As we read the text aloud to guide the dying man, what happens will become clear to you."" "The Sonams live at the edge of a nearby village." "The family is very religious, and grand father Sonam has offered a temple." "But it is his second son, Sering Sonam, who is dying." "He is somehow stricken while traveling on business, in spite of the fact that he is only 42." "Would be hard for him to let go of his attachment to this world." "Leave his wife and his old father must be very difficult." "And this can cause him to wander in the painful uncertainty of the Bardo, for all the 49 days after his death." ""Thank you for coming to us."" ""Are you well, old man?"" ""I'm all right." "But my son..."" "The lama will do all he can for the dying man and also for his family who themselves must be grief stricken at the suddenness with which they face the loss of the beloved son, husband and kinsman." "The Bardo of dying lasts from the beginning of the body's physical collapse until the body and consciousness separate." "While we are living, the elements of earth, water, fire and air together support and condition our consciousness and our perceptions." "Death occurs when this is no longer the case." "Now, without the screens and filters of daily life, at this time, mind itself can be seen directly." ""We will now begin to read the Bardo Thodol."" ""Don't cry, it doesn't help." "It just confuses the dying man." "The most important thing now, is to help Sering Sonam's mind beyond trouble and clear." "First, move him onto his right side." "Then, as in the statue, he will be lying in the same way the Buddha did at his own death." "In this position it will be easier for his life force to become peaceful."" "According to the book of the dead, dying people are sensitive to sound both as they die, and for certain periods after their death." "Thus he will hear the teachings which can help him." ""Sering Sonam, we are here to help you." "Sering Sonam, listen to me carefully." "Listen Sering Sonam." "Now is the time for you to pay close attention." "Do not be afraid." "You are dying." "And the 4 great elements of your body are collapsing one into the other." "It feels as if you are being crushed by mountains tossed by waves, scorched and carried off by a strong wind." "This is the Bardo of dying." "It is important now to recognize your own nature." "Do not resist this." "Do not be afraid." "Oh son of noble family, the time of death has arrived." "Now let your compassion be limitless as space." "Let your mind be at peace." "Rest in this:" "the vast empty luminosity of mind itself."" "The Tibetan book of the dead describes the collapse of the body's constituent elements:" "earth collapses into water, water collapses into fire, fire collapses into air, and air dissolves into consciousness." "Then, there is an experience of piercing luminosity, pure white light." "The clear radiance arises from the direct experience of one's own basic nature." "Now there is no darkness, no separation, no direction and no shape, only brilliant light." "This boundless sparking radiance is mind, free from the shadows of birth and death, free from boundaries of any kind." ""Sering Sonam, listen." "Now all pervasive light engulfs you completely." "All of space has dissolved into pure light." "This radiance is the mind of all the Buddhas, all the awaken ones." "To recognize this is all that is necessary."" ""Teacher, what happens to him if he doesn't recognize his own nature?"" ""Well there were definitely indications that he did not recognize it." "So it is as if he is falling into a dreamless sleep."" ""Can he still hear?"" ""No, but in 3 days time, his consciousness will hear more clearly than ever before." "All his senses, all his emotions will be vivid and intense." "And although it will seem to him that he's entered some new reality, it is still just the reality of his own mind."" ""Because you didn't recognize your real nature, you wandered here." "And your own mind will now arise before you in unfamiliar ways." "Now his body and consciousness have separated."" "Now that dead person does not know whether he is alive or not." "Even so, he can see his family and hear them crying." ""Oh Sering Sonam, listen carefully." "You are not alone in leaving this world." "Everyone dies." "Do not indulge any longer in desires and longings for this place." "There is no way that you can stay here."" "Because the dead person was unable to recognize the luminosity of mind itself, his experiences now take shape out of random imagery from his former life." "He sees his friends and relatives calling out to him, but they cannot hear his replies." "Death is cutting him off from them, and sorrow strikes his heart." "He sees his family and relatives crying." "He can see his bed." "But he is no longer the one lying there." "Instead, there is a corpse." ""Sering Sonam, listen to me carefully." "Soon you will experience intense presence of your own emotional states, as peaceful and raging light forms." "Do not be afraid." "They cannot hurt you." "You are dead." "Do not cling to the past." "Go forward." "Sering Sonam, go forward." "You are dead." "Do not cling to the past."" "Pema Chording teaches that though this world seems stable and solid, nothing here is permanent." "But like water, snow and ice, life is always shifting, changing form." ""Please tell us more about the Bardo."" ""All existence is one kind of Bardo or another." "It means living in an atmosphere of uncertainty, moving without a place to rest."" ""So that means we are in the Bardo now?"" ""Yes, we are now passing through the Bardo of existence." "Here, we want to make something lasting and secure." "But no one has ever accomplished this." "Our life is always in the hands of death."" ""But death is a different kind of Bardo?"" ""Yes, when we die, it is completely out of our control." "Our experience is completely naked."" ""What is the best path through this Bardo?"" ""It is a question of waking up right now." "Look at your own mind." "Look at it, when it is calm and still, and when it is running wild." "This is what the Buddha did and what he taught."" ""Sering Sonam, listen carefully." "You do not know who you are or where you have been." "Now you will meet your mind in the form of projections which seem vivid and entirely real." "Now you will see penetrating blue light shining all around you." "This is the essence of consciousness itself," "Buddha Vairochana." "His wisdom is like a mirror, reflecting everything." "He is the form of consciousness in its complete purity." "This wisdom is inseparable from your own heart." "But also, you will see a diffuse white light." "A void." "If you follow the allure of the soft white light, you will find yourself ensnared in the temporary pleasures of being born as a god." "Living in lordly ignorance of the passage of time, yet subject to unexpected death."" ""Tubten, here are the forms of the deities which Sering Sonam will encounter now." "They are the wisdom in his very heart and mind." "The 42 peaceful deities will emanate from his heart." "And then the 58 wrathful ones will emerge from his brain." "They will appear one by one, and then all together." "The peaceful deities are complete, immovable, invincible." "If you cannot bear to enter their vast benevolent space, if you cannot let go of self-centeredness and fear, these deities will become terrifying wrathful ones, who drink the blood of his ego-clinging, and crush all his delusions." "If he recognize as them as the expression of his own mind, they are the unsparing face of wakefulness."" "The wrathful forms emerging from the dying man's own brain, appear before him actually and clearly as if they were real in their own right." "The terror and anger he feels are his own efforts to evade being completely awake." "He wanders uncertainly in the landscape of his own mind." "If he recognize as this as his own projection, liberation is instantaneous." "Alone in the night, the old lama would sing to himself:" ""The light to wisdom spontaneous play, dances and bright ripples on an empty lake."" "8 days after his death, Sering Sonam's body is cremated." "In order that he may no longer cling to his former body, and so that his relatives and loved ones may release him from the bonds of their attachment to him, his body is offered to the fire." ""I take refuge in the Buddha," "I take refuge in the Dharma," "I take refuge in the Sangha."" "Sering Sonam's widow make this prayer not just for her self and her husband, but for all beings to be released from suffering." ""It's been 8 days since Sering Sonam died, but still he wanders in the Bardo." "Now he's seen the wrathful deities, so it is a difficult time for him." "Please continue to think of him kindly, continue to offer prayers for him and encourage him." "It will help him find his way." "Sering Sonam, now pay attention." "Do not be afraid or bewildered." "The great wrathful ones are now appearing before you." "They are the presence of your innate wisdom." "The vivid form of your own wakefulness." "Recognize them as a reflection of your own mind." "Recognition and liberation are simultaneous."" "All of us feel sparks of anger, flickers of passion, twinges of jealousy, small moments." "But from these seeds, we grow to become a jealous person, an angry woman and passionate man." ""We say: 'This is what I am.'" "And we act accordingly." "But these are just our masks." "We forget that we are wearing them." "And we run from the ones which others wear."" ""So, really these wrathful deities are just part of us?"" ""Yes, that's why I say it's impossible to run away from them." "They are the sharpness of your own clarity." "They are all in your head."" ""But still it's hard not to find them frightening."" ""Maybe they can understand why you are always running away."" "Then altogether and all at once, the peaceful and wrathful deities come before the dying man, filling the whole of space." "If he does not recognize these as his own projections, then they transform into the terrifying image of the lord of death, with gnashing fangs and glassy eyes." "This too is his own projection." "But if he does not accept that, his fear and turmoil force him to wander on in terror to the Bardo of rebirth." "When Sering Sonam was alive, he was too busy to look closely at his life." "Now, 3 weeks has passed since his death." "Drawn on by the stream of his old habits of mind, he still cannot recognize his own basic nature." "Now, he is left the Bardo of the nature of mind." "Again, he is lost and wandering." "So now he seeks to end his suffering by being born into a solid and familiar place." "Now in the Bardo of rebirth, all his senses has become extremely acute." "And his consciousness is like a body without substance." "In this body the dead man, by a mere thought can travel anywhere." "As if he has miraculous powers, he can pass through mountains or circle the universe." "He can enter anywhere, but nowhere can he rest." "In the pain of his endless wandering, the thought of being born now promises great relief." ""Oh, Sering Sonam, listen carefully." "Though you can still see your family, they no longer know that you are with them." "Though still you can go anywhere yo wish, you cannot slow down." "You are simply being driven on the winds of hope and fear, just as a dead leaf is carried on a gale."" "Still unable to recognize his own nature, his anger, lust and confusion become ever more intense, ever more solid." "They at last appear to him as entire realms where he may stop and dwell." "Oh, Sering Sonam, now all your desperate thoughts peruse as shadows, beasts and armies of demons." "You will move about backwards and forward, towards anything that appears." "The image of your former body is becoming faint." "And the image of your future body is becoming clear." "Any birth seems better than your current pain." "Sering Sonam, this would be your last chance." "Let your grasping mind dissolve completely." "Whether you are born as a god or a human or an animal, whether you are a hungry ghost, a jealous god or a hell being, you will again suffer the inescapable torments of living and dying." ""Since everyone is caught in these Bardos of suffering and delusion, what can we do?"" ""People make hell realms out of their own anger." "They make worlds out of passion, out of envy or complacency." "We project our emotional states and then believe it is the real world." "But no matter what, everyone longs for compassion, everyone wishes to be awake." "So the best thing is to develop genuine compassion for all beings, and for ourselves too." "And our compassion should extend beyond our friends and family and the people we like." "It must extent to all people and to all living beings."" "Somehow it seems that we don't truly care for others, we can never know our own minds." "Whenever Tubten you could have love the incite's pure impulsive but then return to your old habits without even noticing." "We have to work all the time to open our hearts and look for the truth." "Otherwise there's neither understanding nor purpose for understanding." "Also Tubten, it's not a bad idea as life goes by to keep your sense of humor." ""Sering Sonam is coming to the end of this journey." "As he reaches the end of the Bardo of rebirth the features of the world he is going to enter will become very clear to him." "If he pays attention now, he can find his way to a favorable rebirth." "Sering Sonam, listen carefully." "You are now on the path to rebirth." "Choose carefully where you are to be born." "In all the possibilities that are present for you, choose a good human birth, in a good place." "So that you can continue on the path to recognize your own mind." "Even though you are desperate for a home, a dark cave in a forest may well lead to a birth in the animal realm." "Even if you are consumed by yearning, the realm of hungry ghosts is a never ending wilderness where life is ruled by hunger and thirst." "Rage, bitterness and anger open all the images of hell." "The gods may command all the pleasures of the senses, but their death comes at suddenly, as an unpleasant smell born on the summer breeze." "Put your mind at ease." "Avoid the extremes of pleasure and pain, and take birth where you may still recognize the luminous essence of your own mind." ""Will Sering Sonam remember much of his journey when he is born again?"" ""No." "He may be more sensitive in some ways but he will still be starting out new."" ""So it seems coming to life is not necessarily a thing to be celebrated?"" ""Just as death is not always something to be mourned, being born is not necessarily a joy itself."" ""And what is the meaning in our journey through life and death?"" ""Seeking the truth, and pack us in compassion." "That is the way life becomes meaningful."" "This is it does for this young bride." "The beginning of a new life always holds a promise." "When you are born, you cry, but the whole world is overjoyed." "When you die, the world cries, but you may find the great liberation."