Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thodol)

The Tibetan Book of the Dead, known in Tibetan as the Bardo Thodol (literally 'Liberation Through Hearing in the Intermediate State'), is one of the most famous and influential texts of Tibetan Buddhism and arguably the most widely known Tibetan text in the Western world. It is a guide for the dying and the recently deceased, providing detailed instructions for navigating the experiences that the consciousness encounters in the bardo, the intermediate state between death and rebirth.

The text belongs to a category of Tibetan literature known as terma ('hidden treasures'), texts said to have been composed by the great Indian Buddhist master Padmasambhava (also known as Guru Rinpoche, 'Precious Teacher') in the eighth century CE and then hidden for future discovery at the appropriate time. According to tradition, Padmasambhava concealed the Bardo Thodol and other texts in rocks, lakes, and sacred sites throughout Tibet, to be discovered by predestined 'treasure revealers' (tertons) in later centuries. The Bardo Thodol was reportedly discovered by the terton Karma Lingpa in the fourteenth century.

The text describes three successive bardos or intermediate states: the bardo of the moment of death (chikhai bardo), the bardo of experiencing reality (chonyid bardo), and the bardo of seeking rebirth (sipai bardo). In each stage, the deceased encounters visions, from blinding clear light to peaceful and wrathful deities, and is given instructions on how to recognize these visions as projections of the mind and thereby achieve liberation from the cycle of rebirth (samsara). If the deceased fails to achieve liberation at any stage, the instructions guide them toward the most favorable possible rebirth.

For students of the Bible, the Bardo Thodol provides a fascinating comparative perspective on afterlife beliefs, the nature of death, and the ultimate destiny of the human person. While the biblical tradition and Tibetan Buddhism differ radically in their cosmological and theological frameworks (the Bible teaches bodily resurrection and divine judgment; Buddhism teaches cyclical rebirth and liberation through enlightenment), both traditions take death with utmost seriousness and both offer detailed visions of what awaits the human person beyond the threshold of death. The comparison illuminates what each tradition considers most important about human existence and destiny.

• Revelation 4:6-8
• Revelation 6:1-8
• Revelation 13:1
• Revelation 20:11-15
• Ezekiel 37:1-14
• 2 Corinthians 5:1-10
• 2 Corinthians 6:2
• 1 John 1:5
• John 8:12
• John 11:25
• Matthew 5:7
• Matthew 17:1-8
• Psalm 23:4
• Psalm 27:1
• Psalm 36:9
• Genesis 1:27
• Galatians 6:7
• Romans 5:20
• Hebrews 9:27
• Ephesians 2:8
• 2 Timothy 1:7
• Jeremiah 1:5
• 1 Corinthians 13:4
• 1 Peter 4:8
• Isaiah 41:10

The title 'Tibetan Book of the Dead' was invented by the first English translator, Walter Evans-Wentz, in 1927. The actual Tibetan title, Bardo Thodol, means 'Liberation Through Hearing in the Intermediate State,' which more accurately describes its purpose: a text to be read aloud to the dying and recently deceased to help them navigate the after-death experience and achieve spiritual liberation.