A dialogue with the Great Journey of Death | The School of Shamanic Initiation
What is the Bardo Thodol book?
The Bardo Thodol book details what happens between death and rebirth according to ancient Buddhist tradition. This can help guide those who are deceased through the confusing time after they have died before their next life has begun.
There is a whole ritual process, with specialist monks who familiarize themselves with this process of death and provide guidance to those that are near death. or that have died so that they will know what will happen next.
During this process, people are advised to practice non-attachment, meaning that they should not fix themselves on any thought or feeling but instead allow themselves to be open to enlightenment.
The Bardo thodol describes that there are six Bardos that are experienced after death. These stages are experienced by human beings before entering their next life form. In each bardo, the being goes through various stages where they have to face some past karma or some aspect from their lives that has not been resolved yet. This is a way to calm and teach people prepare for their journey after they die. Briefly:
Bardo of this life
Bardo of dreaming
Bardo of becoming
Bardo of dying – living
Bardo of karmic imprints
Bardo of Rebirth
In the first Bardo, one finds oneself as a new being with no memory of their past life.
In the Second Bardo, one experiences a review of their life just passed and a preview of what is to come in their next life.
In the third bardo, the being enters into a state of luminosity or clarity. It is here that they have their first glimpse of knowledge about what has gone before in their lives and where their next birth will be if it is to be a human one.
In the fourth bardo, beings are caught up in an intense state of reflection about the choices they have made during their present life. They now choose a direction to follow for their next reincarnation.
In the fifth Bardo, beings experience a vision of the paradise worlds where those who have chosen a rebirth.
In the sixth Bardo, beings experience what they have created for themselves and where they will accordingly reside before being reborn into another life.
Why the importance to get intimate with death?
What is written in the Bardo Thodol, is not very different of what some people experience in the day to day life: Death. Nowadays, some of what happens during the life of each individual may seem like a dream or nightmare because they see visions of their past, holding into those which pleasant or traumatizing memories not being aware of what was really happening around them.
Death being alive...a walking death. The possibility for someone who has died while still alive to become confused about where they are, why things are happening, and what will happen next if nothing else appears gives them some clarity. That is what this great journey starts to teach us.
The fact of your existence in this life and being able to study for the ultimate examination of Death...a new beginning where things might develop in various ways to what you learned during these interludes between lives. In this Life!
In this way, it is said that "the entire illusion becomes like a flowing river". Even though there is a sense of continuous development going on within different life experiences, there is also still a level of impermanence involved because nothing lasts forever even though some might try to hold onto things in certain ways.
What really matters?
Death teaches us to die while we are still alive: what am I holding to? It may seem like a nightmare or a visions of past mistakes. We can implement this ancient knowledge into this life letting go and allowing ourselves to reborn as many times as need it.
Life begins again which passes down knowledge from one existence to another instead of dwelling on worldly things. Continue your adventure by having new encounters based on what you learned during these phases in previous lives: yesterday, one month ago, 10 years ago etc. This is life is here…so you can earn it.