Dec 31

1st Kalu Rinpoche | 1988 “Bardo Todol”

Samsara

… According to the Buddhist teachings, there are six different possibilities of rebirth within this cycle of samsara, the cycle of conditioned existence that is experienced by sentient beings : three of these are lower states of rebirth : in hells, in the realm of the pretas or hungry ghosts and in the animal realm, and three of these are relatively speaking superior or higher realms of rebirth and there are more fortunate states : the human realm, the realm of demi-gods and the realm of gods, the gods of the cycle of rebirth. This constitute the six categories, the six realms of beings. …

History of Buddhism in Tibet

… We can classify the approach of the Buddhist path in those of the Hinayana and those of the Mahayana. And within the Mahayana, the greater vehicle of Mahayana, we can distinguish that there is a dialectic approach, a causal vehicle which employs methods as cause as leading to eventual results which is known as vehicle of the paramitas or the perfections. And then there is the secret mantra path of the Vajrayana in which the goal is an ever-present possibility, a much more rapid path. …

Bardo of Living

… Let’s take this term “bardo” in Tibetan, “bar” meaning interval and “do” meaning two, between two, the idea of an interval or space between two things or two events. In term of physical space, we could look at the space between two mountaintops and say that was a bardo, that was an interval or an intermediate space. But the kind of bardo that we are talking about here is more one of psychology and experience. …

Dissolution of Elements during the Dying Process

During this present bardo or interval state between birth and death, we are not able to engage in a very deep, far-reaching practice of virtues, virtuous practice. Nevertheless, it is possible through the connections that we’ve established in this lifetime with the dharma, with the three jewels, particularly through the vehicle of tantric empowerments and the introduction to the blessing of these teachings, it is possible that through our faith and connection, then when we come to die they can nevertheless be benefit, even if we have not be able to carry this teaching through to their ideal consummation. We may die because of an illness, we may die in an accident, we may die simply through growing older and die naturally. But in any case, the process regardless the cause of death is much the same. …

Powa

There are many techniques, many methods of practice which can be of use during the dying process, particularly at the end of the dying process at the moment of which mind and body separates, when the final bond between these two dissolves. And perhaps the most effective, the most powerful of these is the technique known in Tibetan as Powa, the transfer of the consciousness whereby through a process of meditation that is practiced, and with which one becomes familiar in this lifetime, one can actually facilitate the exit of the consciousness from the body in a skillful and conscious way. …

Bardo of Dharmata

The next stage of the process brings us to the interval, the bardo or interval state of dharmata, of the fundamental nature of reality. The normal way in which this is usually experienced by an unenlightened being is as a state of unconsciousness, that is a state of mind finally sleeps in a state of total darkness, total unconsciousness. If a practitioner has been exposed to and has developed some familiarity with the yoga of luminous clarity of mind or the Mahamudra teachings or the Great perfection teachings of the Nygma school, at this point, the person will experience all the appearances, all of the perceptions of the process of dying, but without the attendant suffering that an unprepared individual might. …

Mandalas of Peaceful and Wrathful Deities

If a given individual is not able to achieve this release during the bardo, during the interval of Dharmata, the fundamental state of reality, fundamental nature of reality, but instead experiences this period of unconsciousness. At a certain point, just before the bardo of becoming, the process of rebirth begins, there is an interval, a brief interval in which there are the glimmerings of consciousness and discourse of awareness arising in the mind again. The way that this particular process of returning consciousness is experienced by the mind is in terms of the configuration of this mandalas of peaceful and wrathful deities, of the 58 wrathful and 42 peaceful deities of the bardo or intermediate state. …

Bardo of Rebirth

Traditionally this final period of bardo or interval state, that of becoming, a process of moving towards rebirth in samsara, is held in 49 days. But this is an approximate figure; it may last as long as 41 days, it may last shorter time as a week or several weeks. …