We oscillate between Death and rebirth. Tibetan term Bardo is a beautiful word that simply means a ” transition or a gap between completion of one situation and the on set of another. “Bar”means in-between and “do” means suspended or thrown. Bardo is a word made famous by the popularity of the Tibetan book of the Dead. Since its first translation into english in 1927, this book has aroused enormous interest among psychologist, writers and philosophers in the west, and has sold millions of copies.
We continuously move between Happiness and unhappiness, between light and darkness and so between death and rebirth. The awareness of these gaps is the wisdom of Bardo. Because of the popularity of the Tibetan book of of the Dead, people usually associate the word Bardo with death.It is true that Bardo is used in every day speech among tibetans for the intermediate state between death and rebirth, but it has a much wider and deeper meaning. It is in the Bardo teachings, perhaps more than anywhere else, that we can see just how profound and all – encompassing the Buddhas, knowledge of life and death is, and how inseparable what we have called life and what we have called death truly are when seen and understood clearly from the perspective of enlightenment. Happyho also provide best Meditation classes and yoga classes in Noida and Delhi NCR India area.
We can divide the whole and our existence into four realities: Life, dying and death, after -death, and rebirth. These are the four Bardos.
- The “natural” Bardo of this life
- The ” painful” Bardo of dying
- The ” luminous” Bardo Dharmata
- The ” karmic” Bardo of becoming
1st the natural Bardo of this life spans the entire period between birth and death. In our present state of knowledge, this may seen more than just a Bardo, it a transition. But if we think about it, it will become clear that, compared to the enormous length and duration of our karmic history, the time we spend in this life is intact relatively short. The teachings tell us emphatically that the Bardo of this life is the only end therefore the best time to prepare for death by becoming familiar with the teachings and stabilising the practice.
2nd the painful Bardo of dying lasts from the begining of the process of dying right up until the end of what is known as the “inner respiration” this, in turn, culminates in the dying of the nature of mind what we call the ground luminosity at the moment of death.
3rd the luminous Bardo of Dharmata encompasses the after death experience of the radiance of the nature of mind, the luminosity or “clear light”, which manifests as sound, colour, and light.
4th the karmic Bardo of becoming is what we generally call the Bardo or intermediate state, which lasts right up until the moment we take on a new birth.
What distinguishes and defines each of the Bardos is that they are all gaps or periods in which the possibility of awakening is particularly present. Opportunities for liberation are occurring continuously and uninterruptedly through out life and death, And the Bardo teachings are the key or tool that enables us to discover and recognise them, and to make the fullest possible use of them.
