Chapter 7: "Bardos and Other Realities" Summary

Bardo T?drol Chenmo, meaning The Great Liberation through Hearing in the Bardo. These teachings are based in Dzogchen Tantras, and stem as far back as the Primordial Buddha. The book is a guide to after-death, and for preparing for death. Tibetans believe there are five ways to attain enlightenment without meditation, those of seeing a great master or sacred object, wearing blessed drawings of sacred mantras, tasting sacred nectars, remembering the transference of consciousness, or the phowa, at death, and hearing certain teachings, such as those in the Dzogchen book.

According to Sogyal, existence is separated into Four Bardos, those of the natural bardo of life, the painful bardo of dying, the luminous bardo of dharmata, and the karmic bardo of becoming. The natural bardo spans the period between birth and death...