Greatly summarized version of the Bardos (post death)

I thought it might help someone so spent a couple of hours greatly shortening it with salient points. Buy the book The Tibetan Book of living and dying by Sogyal Rinpoche if you wish for all the details (and more) and of course the Tibetan book of the dead. Please do not rest on every word here and get the book it just gives a quick version, salient points.

Much of this ideally needs a master reading the Tibetan book of the dead and knowing many of the outer signs to know at what stage you are. But it seems to me any kind of knowledge of these realms is better than no knowledge of these potential realms.

The Bardo of dying

The Ground Luminosity dawns at the moment of death

There is the possibility of facing it with equanimity if practice has made one intimate with the nature of mind.
There is outer and inner dissolution outer - the senses and elements dissolve - the inner - the gross and subtle thoughts and emotions.

The Body in Tantric Buddhist terms is of a psycho-physical nature, a system a dynamic network of subtle energy channels "winds" inner air and essences. nadi, Prana and Buindu. Similar to chi/ki.

Chakras, energy wheels, branches flow the winds or inner air.

White essence - crown

Red essence - naval

A Yogin can experience enlightenment momentarily by allowing these winds to enter the center channel via meditation and see the clear light of the nature of mind.

The 5 Skandhas dissolve when we die. Form, feeling, perception, intellect, consciousness.

Lying on the right side is preferable at the time of death, right hand under chin and blocking right nostril. This should block tendency for karmic winds of delusion on the right side of the body.

Outer dissolution - sense and elements dissolve - senses begin to fail and not function.

Energy is lost, we cannot move, sense of being crushed, earth element is withdrawing into water element. In mind the sign is a shimmering mirage

We lose bodily fluids, bodily sensations dwindle, mind is hazy and irritable. Water element is dissolving into fire. The mind vision is of haze with swirling wisps of smoke.

Our mouth and nose dry up, warmth leave the body, perception is dissolving, We cannot remember names of people close by. Fire element is dissolving into air the vision is of shimmering red sparks dancing above an open fire.

It become harder to breath, intellect is dissolving and we may have hallucinations which reflect how we have lived. Air element is dissolving into consciousness and so we may have a vision of a red flaming torch or lamp.

We may at this stage be clinically dead but there is inner respiration.

Inner dissolution

Gross and subtle thoughts and emotions dissolve

Four increasingly subtle states of consciousness are to be encountered

Red and white essences meet in the heart your parents of this life, mother and father repectively. The vision is of sky meeting earth and a mind free from thoughts.

The ground luminosity dawns with a slight return of consciousness. Like a sky free of clouds., the Buddha nature, the real source of all consciousness. Our true nature is revealed.

At this stage a practitioner can devote and pray to a master visualizing him or her different energy centers, naval, forehead, transfer of wisdom mind into your master.

A dawning of ever more subtle levels of consciousness.

The Ground

Clear light or Ground Luminosity our true nature is revealed it is without center.

It is a great opportunity for liberation.

Unfortunately we may keep grasping due to fear an ignorance.

The crucial issue is how much we have been able to rest in the nature of mind during life and meditation and in daily life.

It seems a master would ideally introduce you to the nature of mind when ready, this is called the child or path luminosity and ideally merges with the mother or ground luminosity when you recognize the Ground. This recognition comes from practice in life to stabilize the merging of the 2 as a practice, presumably taught by a master. Few details are revealed in the book.

Ground luminosity can be a snap of a finger for a non practitioner or as long as it can be rested within for a practitioner. It may be 3 days.

Bardo of Dharmata (intrinsic nature of all)

4 phases, each offer liberation and if not the next unfolds

Like night turning into day

A special advanced practice Togal allows its understanding

1) Landscape of light - you take on a body of light become aware of color, sound and light unlimited by direction and dimension.

Space - light blue
Water - white
Earth - yellow
Fire - red
Wind - green

Without Togal it may flash by in an instant. They have no existence apart from the nature of mind.

2) Union - The deities

If you cannot recognize this as manifestation of nature of mind they turn into balls of light. Inside mandalas of good and bad deities appear, enormous taking up the entirety of space.they then appear in the forms of Buddhas.

It is extremely intense and may terrify and threaten. Shafts of light stream out from them to your heart, spheres flow through the shafts and the deities dissolve into you.

3) Union dissolving into wisdom

Light shaft appears from your heart, an enormous vision appears out of it, carpets of light and spheres, aspects of wisdom. Blue then white, yellow then red, representing various wisdom's. If you do not rest in the nature of mind here they dissolve into a radiant sphere of light that looks like peacock feathers.

4) Wisdom dissolving into spontaneous presence

Primordial purity dawns open cloudless sky, peaceful and wrathful deities, then the pure realms of the buddhas and below the 6 realms of samsaras existence.

This is almost beyond our imagination in its depth.Every possibility is presented,wisdom, liberation,confusion and rebirth. You will gain clairvoyance of 6 realms of existence and various teachings known and unknown may appear. Then the vision all collapses on itself.

If you have stability of ability of resting in nature of mind you may be liberated.

Without Togla practice initiation you will not be able to look at the extremely bright and intense visions and gaze downwards which may lure you to delusion.

Key is recognizing it as a projects of the nature of mind so DO NOT be fearful it is the nature of mind only.

They are not external visions and if we realize this is the nature of mind we can be liberated. If not we respond with fear or hope and become deluded. So recognition of the nature of mind (self radiance of Rigpa)
A parallel is drawn between recognizing various negative emotions in meditation as illusory and the states within the bardos of being at heart radiance of the nature of mind.

As well as the exceptionally bright lights there are cosy lights smoky (BEWARE !) yellow, green blue, red and white which represent habitual tendency, anger greed, jealousy, pride. If we did not rest and be familiar with the nature of mind we are instinctively drawn to these lights which result in rebirth.

At this stage it is suggested to NOT be afraid of the piercing Yellow light

And DO NOT be attached to the dim blue light.

Long for the dazzling radiant Yellow light !

Trekcho practice is mentioned in relation to recognizing the Ground Luminosity.

Also Togal practice is mentioned and that it seems this allows us to realize the deities are not separate from our nature of mind

The Bardo of becoming

A sense of sky and earth separating again

Mind takes on predominant role here. We have a mental body.

It is a karmic driven realm and we are simply buffeted around by karma.

Everything sensed is 7 x more intense than life.

There is an sense of solidity here and we are a man or woman.

We do not know we are dead, we may see recently departed relatives dealing with our death but they do not respond.

it is reminded that solitary wandering in the bardo is frantic and nightmare like.

There may be very loud sounds as winds return and various visions are briefly explained, different abysses white,red and black and deep and dreadful. They represent anger desire and ignorance. Many horrors are described. The wind of karma controls us. We have sorrow and joy of great intensity and may start to grasp for a new body to inhabit. This is all the winds of karma an delusion. Much in this bardo reflects how we were in life.

This last 1 week to 49 days and we are here until we make a karmic connection with our new parents.
There may be a judgment scene and you are judging yourself.

The mind here has tremendous influence, small thoughts have big consequence good or bad. Whatever dominated life tends to dominate here. Practice in life will help against the buffeting in this realm. It is said a single positive thought can offer enlightenment but single negativity may have consequences of prolonged and extreme suffering. There are clear warnings given about this critical bardo.

The Tibetan book of the dead (I presume if read to you by someone during this period) suggests to give up attachment to people and possessions and to abandon yearning for a body and not to give in to desire or anger. and be good instead, kindness and not contemplate negative actions. This is all deluded projection and empty but you only have a body of habitual tendencies. Emptiness cannot harm emptiness.

Liberation can occur it needs only one positive though (as it suggests in the book)

If you can retrieve practice your master or a Buddha and invoke with all your strength this can be beneficial. It can be powerful.

Focus on anything is fiendishly difficult it is warned.


Rebirth

You start to crave the support of a physical body more.

Lights may appear and once drawn in it is difficult to get away.

Your gaze may influence your rebirth up is good, forwards maybe an animal realms down could be a hell realm or hungry ghost. Be on guard.

Your future rebirth is directly determined by desire, anger and ignorance.

The sheer terror may make you seek refuge and a rebirth.

There may be great confusion about what a good or bad rebirth is.

And karma sweeps you along to your future parents making love.

Strong desire for either party may mean you are born in a lower realm.

If possible abandon desire anger and jealousy and that no bardo realm experience has any ultimate reality.
You may try to see your new parents as the Buddha or your master. At the very least renounce desire and consider the pure realms of the Buddhas.

If you can pray now you may still have a chance to be or in Buddha realm, if not your prior aspiration may help you come to a rebirth that allows greater potential for liberation in that life.

Abandon negative emotions meditate on the master. Ultimately it is the mind urge to inhabit a particular realm that propels us to reincarnate. When you see mother and father in intercourse your mind will be drawn into the womb. Then the dawning of the ground luminosity. Then the black experience of full attainment arises at the moment the connection with the womb is made. Life begins as it ends with the ground luminosity.

 

Once the Tibetan book of the dead turns up, I will be cross checking this at some stage, as far as possible to see if S. Rinpoche was accurate given his "fall from grace"