Tibetan Book of the Dead - 1

I recommend to have a good look at this series put in video
about the Tibetan Book of dead.
This name has been coined for its smiliarity of its content to the Egyptian book of dead. 

but its real name is :
The Great Liberation upon Hearing in the Intermediate State. 

meaning, 
this book was recited to the dead 
during the 40 days period following his death
for in this weakened state
upon hearing this word
he may in this transitory place called Bardo
recognise his true nature-if lucky.

Here is an excerpt of an article :

The After death experiences on the Bardo plane.

Foreword

This book is the first English language translation of the famous Tibetan death text, The Great Liberation upon Hearing in the Intermediate State. Also known as the Bardo Thodol which means "liberation by hearing on the after death plane" (Bardo: after death plane, Thodol or Thotrol: liberation by hearing), it was originally written in the Tibetan language and is meant to be a guide for those who have died as they transition from their former life to a new destination.

The work has been traditionally attributed to Padma-Sambhava, an Indian mystic who was said to have introduced Buddhism to Tibet in the 8th century. Legend has it that while visiting Tibet, Padma-Sambhava found it necessary to conceal sanskrit works he had arranged to be written. The Tibetans of that time were not ready for the spiritual teachings contained therein, so he hid his texts in strange and remote locations, leaving them to be discovered at a later time when their spiritual message could be received by those with an open mind.
The most famous of those that discovered and revealed Padma-Sambhava's writings was Karma Lingpa who was born around 1350 CE. According to his biography, Karma Lingpa found several hidden texts on top of a mountain in Tibet when he was fifteen years old. Within those texts, he found a collection of teachings entitled The Self-Emergence of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities from Enlightened Awareness. These teachings contained the texts of the now famous Great Liberation upon Hearing in the Bardo.
The Tibetan Book of the Dead was first published in 1927 by Oxford University Press, London. Dr. Walter Y. Evans-Wentz coined the title because of parallels he found with the writings of The Egyptian Book of the Dead. The paperback and hardcover editions of the book contain extensive notes by Evans-Wentz about the conclusions he drew from the translation which, some say, were greatly influenced by his involvement with Theosophy and neo-Vedantic Hindu views. A later edition of the book includes commentary by the renowned psychoanalyst, Dr. Carl Jung, whose insightful essay illustrates that this Tibetan text goes beyond a study of Tibetan culture and reaches into a psychology that has great relevance to the western world.

source : http://www.summum.us/mummification/tbotd/

here is an extract of the transcript i grossly did, with some of my notes,
from this video :

all the way
i felt great coolness 
the words are very true.
show the importance of recognising our true nature
and the state of the dead person, before, during and after death.

"death is from the collapse of the body physical condition until the separation of the consciousness from the body about 40 days

while the elements of earth (water, earth, fire) together support and condition our consciousness and our perception

death occurs when it is no longer the case."

"so die before you die"
is wiser. 
and is the famous saying of the prophet
of course it means not to commit suicide lol :

is to detach your soul from its identification with the consciousness (be it a beautiful or less beautiful consciouness. the beautiful one is only a respite given at best until next reincarnation; the less beautiful one is your hell).

so dying is to become free from the attachments;  "shackles and fetters" (as said by the prophet zakarya in his sermon to jewish priests (another post may be)
when attempting to explain to them
point is spirituality and not religion.

better do it while alive 
than when you actually taste physical death.
for in the latter case 
is harder.
so this is the meaning of "die before you die".

for our soul is tied down to the consciousness
so that it becomes loaded by its weight and fears
which are "real" in so much that they have been fed by the earth elements
of course they are real. 3D

and are "illusory" in so much that from spirit point of you
you can gain freedom from them, as is a higher dimension no more the 3D one.
and thus not being tied down to their limitation.

"which make us see life through filters and screens of fears and hope
and attachement of daily life.
AT THIS STATE
The Mind can be seen directly.
 
which become our new realm were the soul is lead to after death.

don't cry it confuses the dead. but help its mind beyond trouble and clear.

he turns the dead one it on his right side/channel
as the buddha at his death
to make him more peaceful
i guess he is purifying his left channel 
the channel of the pure desire
for he has his right hand on the right hemisphere of his brain
which is actually the nerve ending of the left channel
ie the one of the desire
so that he may have some respite to hear the prayers being done
for his guidance.

then read it :

do not be afraid 
the 4 great elements of your body are collapsing one after the one,
it feels you are being crushed by wind, tossed by waves

do not resist it and do not be afraid
recognise your true nature.

compassion
mind at peace
vast empty luminosity of Mind itself

earth collapses into water and water into fire  and fire into air  and air dissolve into consciousness

this very description
you will find it in the book of Imam Ali
he described the creation of the universe
in nearly exact same sentence
for the universe creation is also the human being creation
made of those very elements of the earth.

then there is experience of piercing luminosity
pure white light

the clear radiance which arises from the direct experience of one's own basic nature

now there is no darkness, no separation, no direction, no shape only bright light.
this boundless sparkling radiance is mind free from shadows of birth and death
free from boundaries of any kind

listen
now the all pervading of light engulfes you completely
all of space has dissolve into pure light

this radiance of the mind 
of all the buddhas and all the awakened ones
to recognise that is
all that is necessary

and the child ask to the teacher:

what happened to him if he recognsie not his own true nature?

well there were definitely indications that he did not recognised it
so it is as if he has fallen into a dreamless sleep

can he still hear?

no but in 3 days times
his consicousness will hear more clearly than ever before
all his senses and emotions to what he lived are intense
will seem to him he entered into a new reality
is still the reality of his own mind

because as air dissolved into consciousness 
the new one will reincarnate following what dissolved into it
during this life time 
and it is the one 
that the mind will accept
as it will be recognised as his own

and he will reap 
what he sow


and the mind


which is like a circuit 
will re-live the patterns
printed in his subconscious

and that you have accepted as reality

and make it your next life
heaven/hell degrees.

and the elements of our bodies such as 
the fire and earth acts like 
receptacles
such as clay
to receive water of life

and if you recognise not
your true Mind
then your Mind will emerge 
under the form 
(using the stored experiences 
through these elements in your subconscious)

that you can recognise
and these are your earned experiences
in this past life

and you get it back.


because you did not recognise your real nature
you wandred here
and your own mind will now arise before you in unfamiliar ways

now his body and consciousness have seprataed
and now the dead person know not if he is dead or alive
even so he can see his family crying

you are not alone living this world
everyone dies
do not indulge longer in longing and desires with this place
there is no way you can stay here

because unable to recognise the luminosity of mind itself.
his experience takes place out of  random imaginary from his former life

he sees his friend and relatives calling out him

but they can't hear his reply
death cut him off of them
and sorrow on his heart
he can see his bed but is no longer the one lying there
instead is only a lying corpse

listen
soon you will experience
intense presence of your own emotional states
as peaceful and raging life forms

do not be afraid
they cannot hurt you
you are dead
do not cling to the past
go forward

i wonder
are these tibetan optimistic 
can we?
for he who when alive could not detach himself 
when he had power and control
then how easy could be it when dead
and having lost all control?

on the other hand
the weakened and transitory
state
is also the ideal moment
to catch the change to hear 
the clarity of the words 
leading to your liberation


go forward
you are dead
do not cling to the past

though this world seem stable and solid
nothing is permanent
like water, snow and ice
life is always shifting and changing form

Kids asking his teacher,
please tell us more about the bardo

all existence is one kind of bardo or another
it means living in an atmospher of uncertainty
moving without a place to rest

so that means we are in bardo now?

==> very good movie inception illustrates it so well
especially the final cliffhanger on which the movie ends

the bardo is like in the egyptian book of death 
well described in their own symbols
or by the muslims called barzakh - intermediary existence

this is why utmostly important 
to support the dead on his way
and not say hurtful words
for he comes haunting places and houses and lives
of those who did it to him at his death time
lack of manners make it understandable
why the dead seek vengeance in a way / compensation
as it happened in one place i visited a few months ago
of a yogi haunting an ashram
he was very angry at the lack of consideration he received
by one or a few there 
who happened to insult the dead


yes we are now passing through the bardo of existence
here we want to make something lasting and secure
but no one ever accomplished this

our lifes is always in hands of death

kid :
but death is different kind of bardo?

yes when we die
it is completely out of our control
our experience is completely naked