Dying and the Bardos

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Dying and the Bardos

My Title

The Four Bardos (bar do bzhi)

1. rang bzhin skye ba'i bar do the natural bardo of this life

2. 'chi kha gnad gcod kyi bar do the painful bardo of dying

3. chos nyid 'od gsal gyi bar do the luminous bardo of dharmata

4. srid pa las kyi bar do the karmic bardo of becoming

The Six Bardos (bar do drug)

The Four Bardos above with the addition of:

5. bsam gtan gyi bar do the bardo of meditation

6. rmi lam gyi bar do the bardo of dreaming

dkar cha white essence

dkar lam whiteness experience

skye gnas birthplace

mngal sgo 'door of the womb'

nyer thob near attainment

thim rim stages of dissolution

nag lam blackness experience

nang rtags inner sign

snang mched thob gsum appearance, increase and attainment

phyi rtags outer sign

'pho ba transference of consciousness

bar do intermediate state, transition, 'between'

dmar cha red essence

dmar lam redness experience

srog 'dzin rlung life-supporting wind

Further Reading

Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Harper San Francisco, Revised Edition, 2002

The Tibetan Book of the Dead, translated by Gyurme Dorje, London: Penguin, 2005

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