Bardo consciousness

The bardo are "intermediate" states, the term normally referring to those states which are experienced between death and rebirth. Various deities are encountered in these states; it is said that liberation is achieved when these are recognized as luminosity and emptiness of one's own mind. The dying or dead person is guided through the intermediate stages of the departed soul to ensure a profitable rebirth or freedom from the cycle of rebirth. This is done through complex ritual involving reading from the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

In broader terms, [[[bardo]]] can refer to any situation of radical transformation where the psyche is in a confused and buffeted state between fear and longing. The recognition that this is a state of transition helps deal with the confusion and one can traverse it without fear.

The six bardo awarenesses enumerated in Tibetan Buddhism include three which are passed through in the process of dying - the bardos of the life-state, dream-state and meditation-state. These constitute, in a large part, the determining characteristics of the bardos in the after-life which are passed through in the subsequent 49 days before rebirth: death-bardo clear-light awareness, heaven-reality awareness and rebirth-seeking awareness.

Ecstatic discipline

This tends to culminate in an an "out of body" experience in which the seeker is no longer limited by time and space, often as a result of ascetic practices. An example is the vision quest of North American Indians. An enduring out-of-body experience is that moved through by the soul in the period between death and rebirth of Tibetan Buddhism.

Dream-state bardo awareness

This state of awareness is of the intermediate sphere of sleep and dream consciousness. It is illumined by meditation and yogic practice. Deceptive dream-imagery is said to be transformed into forms of knowledge, and because experience in this state can be guided, it is an important preparation for the bardos in the after-life.

Meditation-state bardo awareness

This state of awareness is of the intermediate sphere of experience of meditation. Thus, achievement of samadhi and the clear light of the dharmakaya, or of any of the stages of educating awareness, have the profoundest effect on the after-life bardos.

Death-bardo clear-light awareness

This state of awareness is represented by the first after-life bardo and is characterized by the perception of the dharmakaya. It is said to be an experience of the highest level of spiritual reality. If the deceased can sever all ties to the world he has left he will remain free in this state. During the first stage the consciousness principle is guided from the physical body; during the second, still under guidance, the thought forms of the death process are viewed.

CONTEXT:

This is one of the six major bardo conditions. It is experienced some time in the first two days after death

Death-bardo heaven-reality awareness

This state of awareness is represented by the second after-life bardo and is characterized by the perception of the sambhogakaya. It is said to begin the descent from the perception of the clear light to that of a perception of a heaven in which the soul or awareness-principle experiences the fields of bliss on the plane of the bodhisattvas in view of Buddha Amitabha. The beautiful creatures encountered are images of the self the person has constructed. If attachment to them is not renounced they will turn into demonic monsters.

CONTEXT:

This state is one of the six major bardo conditions. It is experienced from the 4th through the 19th day after death.

Absolute-body awareness

This state of awareness is characterized as the fullest great awakening and is represented as the innermost essence of Buddhahood. This body of the Buddha is said to be ineffable, neither existent nor non-existent. It is one yet manifold, since many attain it. One of the trikaya (three bodies) of a buddha, it represents Buddha's teaching and the unity of Buddha with all beings; it is identical with transcendent reality. In zen, hosshin is the perfect and complete cosmic consciousness from which arise dharma (the moral order) and all forms. Experienced as a bardo consciousness at the moment of death it is manifest as dazzling white light.

CONTEXT:

In Mahayana Buddhism, one of the trikaya (three bodies) of a buddha. In Tibetan Buddhism it is related to the first of three phases experienced in the "in-between" or bardo consciousness between death and rebirth, each being connected with one of the trikaya of the Buddha and in any of which a being may attain liberation. In Tibetan Sakya Buddhism this is one of the states in the "Ascension Stages Game". In some sets it is numbered 93 on the board.

Enjoyment-body awareness

This state of awareness is characterized by omniscience and represented as Buddha-consciousness beyond the ten degrees of development. Its "place" is Akanistha, the Superior Heaven, from which it sends forth the Emanation Bodies. The enjoyment- or [fruit]-body is the culmination of effort; it is a state of enlightenment resulting from the accumulated merit of good action; and its powers sustain the communion of Buddhist saints. Here the Buddhas are in paradise as embodied truth, the ecstasy of enlightenment. It arises from and embodies the qualities of dharmakaya and, as a "form body", communicates the experience of the absolute (in Zen, the experience of the "dharma mind"). The qualities are known as [buddhakula] and embody prajna (wisdom) in its five aspects, but each may be either positive or negative. Every phenomenon is associated with these aspects and, for example, in the bardo state it is manifest as mandalas of five colours deriving from the five fundamental qualities or [buddhakula].

The buddhakula - buddha families - are:

(i) Tahagata, the family of Vairocana, representing, in the positive sense, the wisdom underlying everything, that of ultimate reality; and, in the negative sense, avidya, the ignorance which leads to samsara, the unending cycle of birth and death. Vairocana is coloured white and is usually at the centre of the mandala.

(ii) Vajra, the family of Aksobhya, representing aggression which, in the positive sense, transmutes to reflective wisdom. Aksobhya is coloured blue is usually at the lower (eastern) side of the mandala.

(iii) Ratna, the family of Ratnasambhava, representing, in the positive sense, the wisdom of equanimity; and, in the negative sense, pride. Ratnasambhava is coloured yellow and is usually at the left (southern) side of the mandala.

(iv) Padma (lotus), the family of Amitabha, representing, in the positive sense, the wisdom of discrimination; and, in the negative sense, desire and passion. Amitabha is coloured red and is usually at the top (west) of the mandala.

(v) Karma, the family of Amoghasiddhi, representing, in the positive sense, the wisdom accomplishing; and, in the negative sense, jealousy or envy. Amoghasiddhi is coloured green and is usually at the right (northern) side of the mandala.

CONTEXT:

In Mahayana Buddhism, one of the trikaya (three bodies) of a buddha. In Tibetan Buddhism it is related to the second of three phases experienced in the "in-between" or [[[bardo]]] consciousness between death and rebirth, each being connected with one of the trikaya of Buddha and in any of which a being may attain liberation. In Tibetan Sakya Buddhism this is one of the states in the "Ascension Stages Game". In some sets it is numbered 92 on the board.

Emanation-body awareness

This state of awareness is characterized by the simultaneous presence of mind in various stations and is represented as the Buddha's distribution of emanation-bodies in all the world systems to teach the dharma. It is this body which appears on earth as a guide towards liberation for all beings and results from the compassion of buddhas in the sambhogakaya paradise, their meditation embodying dharmakaya as a human being. Thus the world's saviours have a docetic or illusory bodily existence. One attaining this state enacts the role of such an incarnation in the nirmanakaya, appearing to be born, experiencing a miraculous infancy and so on. Sakyamuni Buddha was such an emanated form or tulku, and his life is a paradigm of buddhic development. As a phase in the bardo state, nirmanakaya is manifest as light less brilliant than the previous phases and in forms related to the bhavacakra (six modes of existence).

CONTEXT:

In Mahayana Buddhism, one of the trikaya (three bodies) of a buddha. In Tibetan Buddhism it is related to the last of three phases experienced in the "in-between" or bardo consciousness between death and rebirth, each being connected with one of the trikaya of Buddha and in any of which a being may attain liberation. In Tibetan Sakya Buddhism this is one of the states in the "Ascension Stages Game". In some sets it is numbered 97 on the board.

Liberation through hearing in bardo

According to Tibetan Buddhist teaching, in the period between the death of an individual and subsequent rebirth he experiences a series of six states known as bardo. In the Tibetan Book of the Dead, the final three of these states, occurring during the 1st to 49th days after physical death, are related to trikaya, the three bodies of Buddha. They are: dharmakaya, or the bardo of the moment of death (absolute body awareness); sambhogakaya, supreme reality (enjoyment body awareness); and nirmanakaya, the bardo of becoming (emanation body awareness). In any of these phases it is possible to attain nirvana (liberation) if the true nature of the mind is recognized. The Book of the Dead provides systematic teaching for instruction leading to liberation in the three phases. However, the majority are not sufficiently enlightened and pass through these phases to be born again in another incarnation, there to commence where they left off on the path to eventual liberation.

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