Speaker 1: Okay, let's unpack this. What if what if everything you
thought you knew about death, well, what if this is
a carefully constructed illusion. Imagine finding an ancient text, one
hidden away for centuries, that actually claims to map out
exactly what happens the moment you draw your last breath. Yeah,
not just you know, vaguely talking about an afterlife, but
guiding you through it, step by profound step, like a
kind of atlas for the ultimate journey.
Speaker 2: It's a pretty staggering claim, absolutely right.
Speaker 1: It really challenges our whole understanding of life, consciousness, everything.
Speaker 2: It truly does. And it's remarkable, isn't it. How with
all our modern science, all our technology, dazzling stuff, this
one question, what happens after we die? It just remains
as elusive as ever. We can map genomes, explore space,
but this is still a big mystery exactly. And maybe
that's precisely why a text like this, the Tibetan Book
of the Dead, still holds such power, why it captures
imaginations across the world even now.
Speaker 1: It just steps right into that void it dares to.
Speaker 2: It offers not just like a theory, but a practical
guidebook for what it calls life's biggest transition.
Speaker 1: So today we're doing a deep dive into something really extraordinary,
the Tibetan Book of the Dead, or the Bardo Total
as it's known to Dettan.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Bardo Tootal meaning liberation through hearing in the intermediate.
Speaker 1: State, crafted over a thousand years ago, apparently by the
master Padma Sanpava, then hidden away.
Speaker 2: To be found later a term Attex.
Speaker 1: Right, and it makes this truly revolutionary claim. Consciousness doesn't
just switch off when our bodies stop.
Speaker 2: Working, No, it says it goes on a journey, an
intricate one, through different states, different realms.
Speaker 1: And here's where it gets really really interesting. These ancient descriptions,
they line up remarkably well with modern accounts of near
death experiences Dase.
Speaker 2: The parallels are striking.
Speaker 1: You think about all the stories people tell after being
clinically dead, seeing a brilliant light, maybe meeting being feeling
this overwhelming piece.
Speaker 2: That sense of interconnectedness too. It comes up again and again.
Speaker 1: Could that just be a coincidence or are we actually
glimpsing something fundamental here, something about consciousness itself, maybe like
a blueprint for existence that goes beyond culture or time.
Speaker 2: It certainly makes you wonder, aren't these ancient texts describing
a universal process?
Speaker 1: And the implication is this isn't just some dusty old
guide for the dying. It's framed as a wake up
call for us for the living.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, it fundamentally reframes death not as an end, but
as a transition that informs life.
Speaker 1: So what does understanding this ancient map mean for you?
For how you live your life, how you think about death,
what you believe about reality itself? Get ready, because I
think once you really start to.
Speaker 2: See this, well there's probably no going back to the
old way of looking at things now. A lot of
us when we hear to Betten Book of the Dead,
we immediately think, Okay, it's about dying, the final moments.
Speaker 1: That's the common perception. Yes, sort of a grim annual
for the end.
Speaker 2: But what if I told you it's core teaching this
whole concept of the Bardo. What if it's not just
about the afterlife? What if it's actually a roadmap for
anyone navigating the big transitions in life. That's such a
crucial point. It shifts the whole perspective.
Speaker 1: It really does, from end of life care to well
every day living.
Speaker 2: Exactly if we connect this to the bigger picture into
bed and Buddhism, a bardo isn't only the state between
death and rebirth, that's maybe the most famous one, but
it really encompasses any transitional phase, anytime where everything familiar
just dissolves, where the ground shifts beneath.
Speaker 1: Your feet and the unknown opens up.
Speaker 2: Precisely, it opens a doorway, a really potent one for
profound transformation. Think about that space between being asleep and
fully awake, that gaggy steage. Yeah, that hazy, disoriented space
where dreams still linger but reality hasn't quite clicked in.
That's a kind of mini bardo. Or you know, standing
at a major life crossroom, changing careers, ending a relationship,
moving somewhere new.
Speaker 1: Those moments of huge uncertainty.
Speaker 2: That suspension between what was and what's coming next, That
liminal space filled with uncertainty but also potential. That is
a burdo.
Speaker 1: Fundamentally, it's a state where change is almost inevitable.
Speaker 2: Yes, and it invites us, really demands us to be
fully present and aware within it.
Speaker 1: It's fascinating, isn't it. When you put it like that,
you realize just how many bordos we actually navigate all
the time, maybe without even realizing. Constantly Beyond those big
life changes, what about smaller moments like the instant before
you step on stage or start a really important presentation.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that feeling there's.
Speaker 1: That little dissolution of your ordinary self, right, Yeah, and
then the performer you emerges.
Speaker 2: That's a great example. A definite shift in state.
Speaker 1: Or those times when you're totally lost in creating something, art,
solving a problem, even just being completely present out in
nature flow states maybe kind of like that, Yeah, where
the usual sense of self and time just seems to
fade away. You're touching the edge of something different, a
different kind of consciousness.
Speaker 2: And the text suggests these moments are potent, right.
Speaker 1: So the big question then becomes, if these are all opportunities,
these bardoes, how do we learn to navigate them with intention,
with wisdom instead of just being swept along by the changes?
Speaker 2: Exactly? And that's where the Bartow photo goes deeper. It
doesn't just give us the general concept. It meticulously maps
out not one, but three major.
Speaker 1: Bardoes, three man ones, yes, each.
Speaker 2: Representing a critical stage in this journey of consciousness, and
each one brings unique challenges, but also crucially you need
opportunities for growth, not just in death, but potentially mirrored
in the transitions of our daily lives too, quite profound.
We're about to unpack these hidden realms and hopefully reveal
how understanding them can really transform your perspective on well everything.
The first morto the moment of death chikai bardow.
Speaker 1: Okay, brace yourself. We're stepping right into the heart of
the first part. Now the moment of death itself, the
che hi.
Speaker 2: Bard, the bard of the moment of death.
Speaker 1: This isn't described as just you know, a medical events,
a biological shut down. It's painted as this incredible, almost
mind bending doorway. Imagine standing right at the edge of
everything you've ever known. The life you just lived is fading,
dissolving like smoke.
Speaker 2: Your senses are shutting down.
Speaker 1: Exactly sight, sound, touch, tastes, smell, They all go silent.
But your consciousness, now supposedly free from the body, It's said.
Speaker 2: To be more alive, more aware, more vast than ever before.
Speaker 1: And then in front of you a light appears.
Speaker 2: Ah.
Speaker 1: The light not just any light. It's described as being
so brilliant, so all encompassing, like it holds the secrets
of existence itself, the gateway, yeah, a gateway to profound possibilities,
a state of ultimate clarity potentially.
Speaker 2: So the immediate question is what is this light? Exactly right?
The ancient texts call it the clear light, a dazzling
brilliants described as the purest essence of mind itself, unconditioned,
pure awareness, pure primordial awareness, completely free from concepts, from
the usual split between subject and object. It is the
fundamental reality, the ground of all being. Experiences both empty
yet luminous.
Speaker 1: Blinding not because it hurts, but because it's just so pure,
how overwhelming for our usual way of seeing things.
Speaker 2: Exactly it overwhelms the conditioned mind that's used to separateness
form duality. And what's truly remarkable here, as you mentioned,
is how closely these ancient descriptions match up with modern
end accounts.
Speaker 1: It's uncanny.
Speaker 2: Researchers like doctor Bruce Grayson, doctor Samparnia, They've documented thousands
of cases people coming back from clinical death describing this
brilliant light profound piece, often a life review.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the life review comes up a lot too.
Speaker 2: And the Tibetan wisdom says this clear light isn't an illusion,
it's not a hallucination caused by a dying brain. It's
the truest reality, the ultimate nature of everything. Wow, it's
a state beyond life and death, offering this immediate path
to liberation if you can recognize it.
Speaker 1: So it's where this ancient wisdom and modern research seem
to point towards the same thing.
Speaker 2: It really does seem like a convergence hinting at something
universal about consciousness.
Speaker 1: The stakes sound incredibly high. Then in that moment, and
if recognizing that clear light is the ultimate opportunity, what
happens if you don't recognize it, Because you're saying, in
that instant you get this rare chance to see the
universe as it really is, without the filters of everyday life,
without conceptual thought stripped bear. And if you can just
recognize that light as your own true nature, your own awareness,
your own mind essentially, then you achieve liberation enlightenment instantly.
Speaker 2: That's the teaching, going beyond suffering, breaking free from the
cycle of conditioned existence, attaining absolute freedom.
Speaker 1: Wow. Just like that.
Speaker 2: Imagine it's the ultimate test of awareness, the moment that
advanced practitioners train their whole lives for to face it
with presence, unwavering recognition. But this is a big butt.
The moment is incredibly fleeting, doesn't last long.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: The experience of the clear light is often described as
lasting just an instant, a flash, and then it starts.
Speaker 1: To fade, like a dream when you wake up, very
much like that.
Speaker 2: For many, perhaps most people, this opportunity just slips away.
And for those who are unprepared, who haven't cultivated awareness
of their mind's true nature during life, the light can
feel overwhelming, even frightening.
Speaker 1: Because it's so different, so vast.
Speaker 2: Yes, their conditioned mind, used to separation, sees this boundless,
formless light as something external, unknown, maybe even threatening, instead
of recognizing it as their own deepest self.
Speaker 1: And that fear, that misidentification.
Speaker 2: Causes consciousness to recoil, to pull back, and that pulls
it deeper into the next stages, the more illusory realms
of the subsequent bordoes immediate enlightenment and back towards the
cycle of rebirth, conditioned by all the unresolved stuff from
the past.
Speaker 1: Okay, this definitely sounds like something you want to prepare for, absolutely,
But if that final moment didn't have to be about
fear of confusion. What if it could be about clarity, liberation.
Speaker 2: That's the whole point of the preparation practices.
Speaker 1: Tibetan masters teach that through deep meditation, through sustained spiritual practice,
you can actually get glimpses of this clear light even
while you're alive.
Speaker 2: Yes, those rare moments of profound clarity, maybe when you're
deep in meditation or even just walking in nature.
Speaker 1: The feeling of sudden peace or timelessness.
Speaker 2: Exactly, those moments where the world seems to just drop away.
They're described as like training sessions, little windows into the true,
unconditioned nature of reality.
Speaker 1: So you're preparing yourself to recognize it when the real
moment comes.
Speaker 2: You're tuning your mind to that ultimate reality, training yourself
to see it, to be comfortable with it. So when
you face the clear light at death, you can meet
it with strength, with recognition, not fear.
Speaker 1: Transforming death from something terrifying into well an opportunity for.
Speaker 2: Freedom and empowering journey towards awakening. That's the ideal. The
Second Bardo, the Bardo of visions, Jony Bardo.
Speaker 1: Okay, so for many people, the journey continues past that
fleeting glimpse of the clear light.
Speaker 2: Right for those who aren't ready to fully recognize it.
Speaker 1: Or merge with it, Consciousness doesn't just stop. It plunges
deeper into realms of really vivid, sometimes overwhelming experiences.
Speaker 2: M the tony Bardo, often called the Bardow of visions
or the Bardo of Dermata, the reality Bardo.
Speaker 1: Imagine stepping deeper into the unknown. And now you're in
this vast, almost divine theater, surrounded by incredible visions.
Speaker 2: Both beautiful and terrifying.
Speaker 1: Yeah, radiant beings of light, but also fearsome, wrathful figures
swirling around in this constantly shifting surreal dance.
Speaker 2: And here's the crucial twist, the absolute core truth of
this Bardo. Okay, these beings, these amazing or scary visions,
they aren't separate from you.
Speaker 1: They're not out there, they're not no.
Speaker 2: They are described as powerful, unfiltered projections of your own mind.
Speaker 1: Wow, so like reflection.
Speaker 2: Reflections of everything hidden inside you, every fear you've carried,
every longing you've suppressed, every wound you haven't healed, every
karmic imprint you've made.
Speaker 1: So it's a journey through your own subconscious basically.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but amplified, massively, amplified a cosmic mirror showing you
the totality of your inner world. And the fundamental challenge
the question you face here is can you confront that?
Can you recognize these intense visions as a direct reflection
of you rather than seeing them as external threats or
separate gods and demons.
Speaker 1: And the Book of the Dead describes this in stages right,
almost like acts in a play.
Speaker 2: Yes, it unfolds systematically.
Speaker 1: First, you might encounter these luminous, calm, peaceful beities, beings
radiating compassion, wisdom.
Speaker 2: Piece figures like Amitaba, the Buddha of infinite light, presenting
pure awareness, or Vadrisatva embodying purification.
Speaker 1: Their presence is overwhelming, but in a good way, full
of all.
Speaker 2: Yes, incredibly beautiful. But the challenge, the critical test, is
to recognize these beings as reflections of your own mind's
highest potential, your own inherent compassion, your own innate wisdom.
Speaker 1: So see them as parts of yourself.
Speaker 2: Exactly if you can do that, if you can merge
with these peaceful emanations realizing they are you, the journey
to liberation can happen. Right there, you've recognized your true
nature in its pure form. But for many even this
encounter with their own divine brilliance is too much, too overwhelming.
Speaker 1: Why why would that be scary?
Speaker 2: Because the mind isn't prepared, It's conditioned by lifetimes of
thinking in terms of me and other, recognizing that pure
radiance as one's self shatters that duality, So the mind recoils.
Speaker 1: It retreats, and as it retreats.
Speaker 2: The gentle light seems to dim. The peaceful forms start
to shift, to morph. The scene gets darker, more.
Speaker 1: Intense, and now come the wrathful ones.
Speaker 2: Now you're surrounded by the wrathful deities. Fear spirits, yeah,
powerful formidable beings, faces of fire, wielding weapons.
Speaker 1: Okay, that sounds terrifying.
Speaker 2: It can be, But again the crucial insight here, These
are not external demons sent to punish you. They're also projections, yes,
manifestations of everything unresolved within you. Your anger, your fear,
your envy, your attachments, your judgments, all the parts of
yourself you've denied or repressed.
Speaker 1: So a figure like Mahakala, the really fierce looking one.
Speaker 2: He's not there to hurt you. He's there to force
you to confront what you've buried, to face the raw
truth of your own mind. The purpose isn't punishment, it's purification.
It's an urgent invitation to see these forces for what
they are, a mind stuff, and cut through lifetimes of
baggage by facing them without fear.
Speaker 1: How do you face them without fear?
Speaker 2: The teaching is about non resistance, recognizing them, seeing them clearly,
but not getting hooked by them, not fighting them, not
running from them, just seeing them as expressions of consciousness,
like clouds passing in the sky.
Speaker 1: If you can do that, they lose their power.
Speaker 2: Exactly, they dissolve back into emptiness. This recognition, cultivated in
life through mindfulness and self awareness, allows you to meet
them in the bardo not with terror, but with a
kind of liberating detachment.
Speaker 1: So okay, if these visions are just projections, what does
this mean for us right now in our daily lives?
Why should this matter today?
Speaker 2: Because these visions aren't just for the dead. There are
reflections of the psychological and emotional forces living inside.
Speaker 1: You right now, the same forces.
Speaker 2: The very same subtly shaping your choices, influencing your actions
coloring your perceptions every single day. The anger, the fear,
the compassion, the peace swirling within you today are the
energy as you will meet magnified in the Chony Bardo.
Speaker 1: So this Bardo is basically challenging us to confront those
forces now while.
Speaker 2: We still can, precisely while you have the chance to
work with them, to understand them, to transform them. Imagine
seeing every surge of anxiety, every flash of anger, every
moment of deep peace in your life as one of
these deities, internal messengers, showing you exactly what needs healing
or integration.
Speaker 1: That's a radical way to look at everyday emotions, it
really is.
Speaker 2: It reframes everything. And interestingly, if we look broader, psychologists
like Carl Jung saw incredible parallels here. You did, Oh yes,
He wrote extensively about archetypes, the collective unconscious. He basically
said that gods and demons are projections of the unconscious,
powerful and inescapable until understood as parts of ourselves.
Speaker 1: Wow. So he was in the same thing. We lived
with these forces already.
Speaker 2: Pretty much, whether we recognize them or not. These archetypal energies,
these personified emotions, are active within us constantly, influencing our reality,
waiting to be understood, integrated. The Bardo just provides this
incredibly dramatic, high definition mirror of that inner world.
Speaker 1: So the second Bardo, the Choney Bardo, it's fundamentally about integration,
bringing all the parts of your wind together, the light
and the dark.
Speaker 2: Yes, can you look at your shadow aspects, your fears,
your anger, your insecurities with compassion, with clarity, without letting
them run the.
Speaker 1: Show, and without getting caught up in their drama.
Speaker 2: Exactly, that's the path to liberation described here. Recognizing all
these forces, beautiful or terrifying, as just projections, empty reflections
of your own mind, constantly arising and dissolving.
Speaker 1: What if you fail, what if you can't recognize them
as projection, then.
Speaker 2: The experience can become horrifyingly real. The mind gets trapped
in its own creations. It mistakes its internal landscape for external.
Speaker 1: Threats, like being stuck in a nightmare you can't wake.
Speaker 2: Up from precisely, And that's where the stakes get even higher.
You risk descending further into cycles of fear, delusion, and
inevitably another rebirth, bound by the very patterns you couldn't face.
Speaker 1: So this Bardo is this huge opportunity to confront yourself,
transform yourself, see yourself without any filters, and.
Speaker 2: Truly understand the incredible power of your own mind at
its most raw and intense. The third Bardow, the Bardow
of rebirth sid Bibardo.
Speaker 1: Okay, so moving on, Imagine you've passed through those intense
visions of the second Bardo. Maybe you recognize that maybe
you didn't fully.
Speaker 2: For those still on the journey.
Speaker 1: Those visions fade away, and now you find yourself drifting
in a kind of formless space.
Speaker 2: A vast formless sea is how it's often described. The
life you knew is gone. The previous Bardo experiences have faded.
Yet there's this pull something drawing you forward. Yes, a
force like gravity, pulling you towards a new reality, a
new existence. You've entered the Bardow of rebirth, the sid Pibardo,
the third and final main stage.
Speaker 1: The void meets creation, past meets future.
Speaker 2: Something like that, a critical transition point. And what's truly
profound here is that in this realm, everything matters. Every
thought you had, every unresolved emotion, every single karmic imprint
you've ever accumulated.
Speaker 1: It all comes into play.
Speaker 2: It becomes the guiding force, the determinant for your next life.
Consciousness stripped beaar now of a physical form and those
vivid Bardo visions. It's like a pure magnet.
Speaker 1: Pulling in the elements for the next.
Speaker 2: Life, exactly, pulling in the specific conditions, the circumstances, the body,
the environment that will shape your future existence. It's not
passive drifting. It's described as an intense, active, even chaotic
process of creation.
Speaker 1: Where you're both the artist and the painting.
Speaker 2: Perfectly put, you are simultaneously creating your destiny and becoming
the result of it. There are no filters left, no
escaping the weight of your past actions, intentions, desires. This
is where karma becomes incredibly tangible.
Speaker 1: Like resonance, your past actions create a frequency that attracts
a similar future.
Speaker 2: That's a great analogy. Your every thought word, indeed, creates
a kind of energetic pattern, a vibrational signature. Generosity, clarity,
compassion resonate at one frequency, drawing you toward positive conditions. Attachment, anger,
confusion resonate differently, pulling you towards circums stances that mirror
those energies. You literally tune into the world that matches
your internal state.
Speaker 1: And as you're drifting in this, this karmic current, you're
surrounded by visions again, but different ones.
Speaker 2: Yes, visions of potential futures, a swirling kaleidoscope of images, faces, landscapes,
entire worlds, each one a possible path, a glimpse of
a life you could enter.
Speaker 1: And these aren't random, not at all.
Speaker 2: They are the sum total of your interstate, a kind
of hyperreal preview of possible rebirths. If you cultivated kindness, wisdom,
the visions might be bright, inviting, leading toward a life
with opportunities for growth.
Speaker 1: But a fear anger attachment were dominant, then.
Speaker 2: The visions take on a darker, more turbulent quality, reflecting
those unresolved energies and attracting conditions that match them. Each
potential rebirth exerts a pull, tugging on the threads of
your karma, drawing you towards the life you're most strongly
aligned with, the life that will provide the necessary lessons.
And it's important to remem this isn't a judgment from outside,
it's not a test imposed by a god. It's just
the mirror, the ultimate mirror, of your own mind, showing
you the direct results of your accumulated actions, intentions, desires.
Your karma acts like this powerful gravitational force guiding you
toward a life that precisely matches your soul's current frequency.
Speaker 1: Is there still any choice even now or is it
completely determined?
Speaker 2: That's the crucial question, and the teaching says yes, a
glimmer of choice remains a subtle but significant opening. If
you can somehow maintain clarity, maintain a calm, non reactive
awareness amidst all those swirling visions and pulls. If you
can avoid getting hooked by strong attachment or a version.
Speaker 1: You might be able to influence the outcome.
Speaker 2: You might you might be able to steer your consciousness
towards a more favorable rebirth, or, with ultimate detachment, perhaps
even transcend the pull altogether and avoid rebirth entirely. It's
about finding that calm center in the storm.
Speaker 1: Okay, So, given this whole intricate dance of cause and effect,
what does this mean for us right now today?
Speaker 2: Well, Intobetan Buddhism, this isn't just some abstract belief about
what happens after you die. It's a deeply practical reminder
of how everything we do, think and intend now in
this life matters profoundly.
Speaker 1: It underscores the power of conscious living absolutely.
Speaker 2: What if every single act of kindness, every moment you
choose mindfulness over distraction, every time you consciously work with
your anger instead of just reacting, what if that's shaping
not just this life, but potentially countless lives to.
Speaker 1: Come, setting the conditions for your future exactly.
Speaker 2: The third Bardow forces us to confront that we are
constantly actively creating the karma that shapes our journey. Every
decision ripples outwards, affecting not just today, but potentially our
entire future trajectory. So the challenge becomes, if you see
yourself caught in patterns fear, anger, clinging, how do you
break free? How do you stop creating the causes for
future suffering?
Speaker 1: Right? How do you change that karmic momentum button.
Speaker 2: Buddhism offers practices like mindfulness, meditation, ethical conduct, compassion practices.
These aren't just about being good in a superficial way.
Speaker 1: They're about transforming the underlying energy.
Speaker 2: Precisely, it's about understanding your mind deeply, seeing the roots
of your actions and reactions, addressing them with clarity, with wisdom.
The more awareness you bring to each thought, word, and
deed now, the.
Speaker 1: Less likely you are to be swept away helplessly in
the bardow of rebirth later.
Speaker 2: That's the idea. This bardo reveals the ultimate lesson the
power of your mind to create reality isn't just a
philosophical concept. It's happening every second, shaped by every choice,
culminating the very world you inhabit life after life.
Speaker 1: It really puts the responsibility back on us, doesn't it.
Speaker 2: Fundamentally every moment is a chance to influence your destiny.
Speaker 1: Okay, so let's talk about preparation. Imagine preparing for death.
Not is this dreaded end, but is the most important
journey you'll ever take, like training for the Olympics of
the soul.
Speaker 2: Huh, that's one way to put it.
Speaker 1: This isn't just a poetic idea in Tibetan Buddhism, is it.
It's a core practice. Life is the training ground.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, every moment, every thought, every action is seen as
actively preparing you for that ultimate transition.
Speaker 1: So what if you could learn to navigate death with skill,
with grace, with the same awareness you try to bring
to living, approaching it not with fear but as this
this empowering journey towards freedom, awakening.
Speaker 2: That's the goal to make death not a failure or
an ending, but a culmination of a life lived with awareness.
And one of the most powerful, maybe most distinctive practices
for this is called consciousness transference.
Speaker 1: Poua consciousness transformence. What does that involve?
Speaker 2: Well, the truly remarkable aspect here is the idea of
consciously directing your awareness beyond this world, even as you're
letting go of the body.
Speaker 1: So aiming your consciousness.
Speaker 2: Exactly like an arrow at the moment of death, training
your mind project itself towards a state of enlightenment or
a pure land, rather than just being blown about by
karmic winds.
Speaker 1: Wow. So it's not about clinging to life or escaping death.
Speaker 2: No, it's about skillfully moving your awareness away from the
dissolving physical form and its limitations and directing it with
intention towards a higher, pure state of being. It often
involves specific meditations, visualizations.
Speaker 1: Training the mind to recognize its own clear light nature
and project it precisely.
Speaker 2: And the question this raises is huge. Could this ancient
rigorous technique be a key to finding peace and freedom
no matter what happens, by cultivating this ultimate sense of innerdirection.
Speaker 1: So how does somebody even begin that kind of training
in daily life? It sounds pretty advanced.
Speaker 2: It can be, but there are foundational practices anyone can
do well. A surprisingly simple, but incredibly powerful place to
start is just meditating on impermanence.
Speaker 1: Daily, thinking about death every day. Doesn't that sound morbid?
Speaker 2: It might sound it, but it's actually incredibly liberating. Spend
just a few minutes each morning reflecting life is precious,
life is fleeting, This moment is a gift.
Speaker 1: How does that help?
Speaker 2: That simple awareness changes everything? It makes each moment more vivid,
every interaction potentially more meaningful, every choice more intentional. You
start seeing life from a different perspective, almost like from
the perspective of eternity.
Speaker 1: Living each day like it's invaluable.
Speaker 2: Exactly, appreciating it fully. It builds resilience, clarity, So when
that final moment does come, you're not shopped or terrified.
You're prepared, calm, ready to let go with grace because
you've been practicing letting go of attachment to permanence all
along and looking broader. Another absolutely essential practice is tonglin' tonglin.
Speaker 1: That's the compassion practice.
Speaker 2: Right, Yes, a profound technique for cultivating boundless compassion. Imagine this,
You consciously breathe in the suffering, the pain, the fear
of others. You really try to feel it. You take
it on, you visualize taking it on, yes, and then
on the outbreath you breathe out love, healing, well being,
relief to everyone.
Speaker 1: That sounds intense, almost counterintuitive.
Speaker 2: It can feel that way at first, but it's incredibly transformative.
It expands your heart. It dissolves the walls of self centeredness,
that feeling of.
Speaker 1: Me versus them, breaking down the separation.
Speaker 2: Fundamentally seeing the interconnectedness of all beings. And in Tibetan Buddhism,
developing this genuine, wide ranging compassion isn't just, you know,
a nice ethical thing to do.
Speaker 1: It's essential for the Bardoes, absolutely.
Speaker 2: Essential, because when you face those intense, maybe terrifying visions
later on, a heart trained in compassion can transmut fear.
It sees the wrathful deities not as threats, but perhaps
as manifestations of suffering needing compassion. It turns potential suffering
into a path of awakening.
Speaker 1: Okay, and what about mantras? Where do they fit in?
Speaker 2: Mantras are huge, these ancient sound vibrations. They're scene as
much more than just words or chance. They're like frequencies,
powerful living frequencies that align your mind with higher states
of awareness, like divine tuning forks, calibrating your mind to
the subtle rhythms of the universe, or maybe like a
mental pathway to deeper states.
Speaker 1: So repeating them creates calm focus, deep.
Speaker 2: Calm, unwavering focus, profound clarity. Yes, each repetition isn't just sound.
It's seen as an energetic imprint, training your consciousness for
the subtle transitions of the bardo.
Speaker 1: So they're used to prepare for death, but also just
for living better.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, to live with more intention, find stillness amidst chaos,
connect deeply with the present. By practicing mantras daily, you're
building mental habits, creating an inner sanctuary, a reservoir of
peace and fearlessness to face life's challenges and ultimately death itself.
What becomes really clear is that these practices meditating on
impermanence Tonglan mantras, they're more than just spiritual exercises.
Speaker 1: The tools for reshaping your whole outlook exactly potent tools.
Speaker 2: When you start to genuinely see each moment as precious,
each action as significant, everything shifts. Petty worries fall away, purpose, focus,
gratitude take their.
Speaker 1: Place, and that's the real power. Preparing for death actually
makes you live more fully.
Speaker 2: That's the transformative paradox. You're no longer run by fear
of the unknown. You feel empowered, calmer, ready knowing you've
cultivated the inner resources to face whatever comes.
Speaker 1: Imagine if our whole society approach death this.
Speaker 2: Way right, instead of hiding from it, avoiding it, treating
it like a failure, what if we embraced it as
a natural teacher, allowing it to inform how we live.
Speaker 1: Could that lead to less fear and more joy?
Speaker 2: I truly believe it could fundamentally change our collective human experience.
It's about integrating death into life, not separating them.
Speaker 1: Now, let's go back to the deathbed scenario for a moment.
Imagine lying there, feeling the body letting go mm, and
instead of silence or maybe just vague reassurances, a trained
sacred voice starts guiding you whispering the secrets of the
journey ahead, the one nobody.
Speaker 2: Else can see, offering precise and star.
Speaker 1: Right, not just comforting words, but in the Tibetan tradition,
a literal map through the afterlife, giving a direction, purpose,
and that chance to break free.
Speaker 2: It's not fiction. It's the intended use of the Bardo thortle,
a tool for conscious dying, and the tradition around this
is really quite profound. As someone near's death, a lama,
a highly trained spiritual guide, someone who's deeply studied and practiced.
Speaker 1: These teachings, it's right beside them.
Speaker 2: Yes, intimately, and they don't just offer prayers. They meticulously
read aloud from the Bardow total, describing in vivid, empathetic
detail the stages, the experiences the consciousness will encounter after
leaving the body.
Speaker 1: So it's like spiritual midway free.
Speaker 2: That's a beautiful way to put it. These words are
a direct, moment by moment orientation, a spiritual compass guiding
the soul through uncharted territory.
Speaker 1: And you have to contrast that with how death is
often handled in modern settings.
Speaker 2: It's a stark contrast, often met with fear, silence, avoidance,
treated primarily as a clinical event to be managed, rather
than a sacred guided spiritual journey. It really challenges our
whole societal.
Speaker 1: Approach and the power of the Barto tootal in that moment.
It's acting as this roadmap, right, an instruction manual to
recognize the illusions that come.
Speaker 2: Up exactly, not just describing them, but actively guiding you
to see beyond the intense visions, the peaceful deities, the fierce.
Speaker 1: Demon and realize their true nature as just projections.
Speaker 2: Projections of your own mind, ultimately dissolving back into that
clear light of awareness from the first bardo. The guide
the Lama is constantly gently reminding you recognize the light.
Merge with the light. It is your own essence.
Speaker 1: Imagine the impact having that guidance steering you towards liberation
instead of just getting lost in fear or confusion leading
to another rebirth.
Speaker 2: It's just death isn't just an ending, but maybe the
greatest opportunity for enlightenment, and the Guide is the anchor
helping you navigate towards that freedom, and the instructions are
remarkably specific. If the dying person is told directly, don't
fear the clear light embrace it. It is your mind.
Speaker 1: Every step is explained.
Speaker 2: Every step from the peaceful deities embodying your own compassion
and wisdom, to the wrathful figures reflecting your hidden fears
and unresolved karma. Imagine facing each of those, but being prepared,
being told this is just you. Recognize it, don't be afraid.
How different would that feel?
Speaker 1: Completely different?
Speaker 2: And again looking broader, This is such a profound challenge
to Western practices, where dying is often treated purely as
a medical, biological process, something to manage.
Speaker 1: Or fight, whereas here it's understood is equally, if not
more so, a spiritual and psychological journey.
Speaker 2: Exactly, this ancient view pushes us to fundamentally reimagine our
approach to end of life care, to infuse it with meaning,
purpose and skillful guidance.
Speaker 1: So bringing it back to us listening, now, what does
this all mean for you? Can these ancient teachings really
apply in our modern world? Smartphones, deadlines, everything?
Speaker 2: Is it just for monks and monasteries or people literally
on their deathbeds?
Speaker 1: Right? Is it relevant? The transformative truth seems to be Yeah,
understanding these mysteries. Isn't some esoteric luxury. Anyone can benefit
from the lessons by choosing to live with more intention,
by practicing mindfulness consistently, by consciously seeing every day of
life as preparation for that final journey.
Speaker 2: So instead of avoiding the thought of death.
Speaker 1: Embrace it. Let it be your teacher, Let it illuminate
your present moments. Imagine living each day knowing you're actively
preparing for that ultimate transition, feeling confident you can face
whatever comes with clarity, courage, and open heart.
Speaker 2: And it's truly fascinating, isn't it How this ancient text
is now drawing serious interest from such diverse modern fields scientists, psychologists, philosophers, neuroscientists.
Speaker 1: Is studying the bardothotal with.
Speaker 2: Real intellectual rigor. Researchers and NDEs like Grayson and Moody
keep finding these striking parallels we talked about the Life,
the Life Review, the Beings. Neuroscientists are exploring consciousness in
altered states, finding things that challenge the idea that the
brain is the only source of consciousness.
Speaker 1: Some quantum physicists too right, exploring consciousness is fundamental.
Speaker 2: Exactly ideas that resonate remarkably well with the Tibetan view
of the mind's ultimate nature as clear light, existing independent
of the body. So if the Bardow total was right,
if consciousness can transcend the body persist journey beyond.
Speaker 1: What does that mean for everything? Yeah, for life, for reality,
for being human.
Speaker 2: We're just starting to grasp the possibilities. But one thing
seems clear. The more we learn about these states, the
more we realize they aren't just about dying. They're about
accessing deeper layers of our own awareness. Right here, right now.
Speaker 1: Ridging ancient wisdom and cutting edge science.
Speaker 2: We are absolutely at a fascinating frontier of understanding. Hashtag
hashtag tag outracts over.
Speaker 1: So as we wrap up this deep dive, what does
it all really mean for us? We've journeyed through this
incredible wisdom from the Tibetan Book of the Day, and
we've uncovered some profound truths, haven't we. Death, maybe not
the end we fear, but presented as our greatest teacher
in the art of living, the Bardos these transitions not
just afterlife, but happening every single day, waking up, making
a choice, shifting moods, all offering chances for transformation.
Speaker 2: For waking up, many deaths and rebirths constantly.
Speaker 1: And ultimately maybe the most empowering thing, recognizing the incredible
power of your own mind to create your reality in
this life and whatever comes next.
Speaker 2: It's really compelling, isn't it? How this perspective offers such
a radical shift, a liberating one. I think, like trungpaw
Rinposh said, it's about another way of looking at the
psychological picture of ourselves in terms of a practical, meditative situation.
Speaker 1: Seeing it practically, not just theoretically.
Speaker 2: Exactly, by embracing these teachings, by seeing every change as
a mini bardo, we can navigate life's ups and downs
with more ease, more clarity, resilience.
Speaker 1: Leads to that big question, what if facing your deepest
fears about death? What if that could actually unlock a
life filled with more meeting, more purpose, more beauty than
you ever imagine, a life lived with real freedom, real presence.
Speaker 2: So as you let these ideas settle, maybe take a
moment and genuinely ask yourself, how can I take this
ancient wisdom and apply it deliberately to my decisions, my interactions,
even just my breath?
Speaker 1: How might your life fundamentally change if you saw it
every single day not just as another day to get through,
but is this precious, exquisite opportunity for awakening, a chance
to live as if this were your last day with
that kind of intensity, that awareness, that compassion.
Speaker 2: Approaching each moment as sacred.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this journey into the unknown, Yeah, it really feels
like it's just the beginning.