Bardo Thodol

But that's not a popular opinion.

Um, could he have gone and, uh, studied over in Egypt what the Egyptian Book of the Dead or the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

And either way, could he have studied those? Could he have learned how to resurrect? And that's why we have the story of Lazarus.

Could he have learned the healing? Could he have learned, you know, being able to meditate and truly pray the proper way? meaning he didn't sin, he didn't break any laws whatsoever, is it still possible to accept that and still have your relationship with him and see him as, okay, he died showing us the way, And he resurrected, but he also had this human side.

All right, I want to take a quick pause there.

That sounds to me very much like the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

If I go back a little bit, so hold on, let me stop for a while.

It cannot pass to a worse.

It's the Atlantean tradition.

They're just... transmitting it in a different era where the church was killing people if they had alternative beliefs to the Nicene Creed and all these you know other versions of their Holy Roman corporate empire that says you know confessed Christ will literally kill you which doesn't make sense because Christ was you know this loving kind godlike being that you know didn't want to kill people so Scratch my head on that one, right? But anyway, so fire.

So back to this Tibetan Book of the Dead example.

So this sounds to me like the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

So there was no light there.

You know, I've studied the Bardo Thordal, you know, Tibetan Book of the Dead.

You know, I know a hell of a lot about Buddhism.

And none of that happened to me.

Yeah.

Okay.

And you know, also now you, you read the Tibetan book of the dead and the Egyptian book of the

dead.

There's the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

There's the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

There's the Western spiritualist literature.

How do you sort through it all?

"Dear Luang Por, I have a friend who follows all sorts of spiritual practices, including Theravada Buddhism.

Two days ago, he said he was reading The Tibetan Book of the Dead, and it said to follow the light upon death.

However, he said that newer mediums have said not to follow the light because it traps us in a cycle of rebirth.

I told him that in my opinion, where we go is based on karma.

Oh.

"As the days passed and she became less responsive, I started reading to her from The Book of Natural Liberation, translated by Robert Thurman, AKA The Tibetan Book of the Dead-

Mm

... or what I like to call Bardo for Dummies."

Uh, and they, and, and years later, these, you know, spiritually alive beings who are tertöns discover them.

Yeah? So for example, the Bardo Todol, the, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, this is actually a Padmasambhava terma, treasure.

Uh, it's attributed to Padmasambhava even though it appeared hundreds of the years later than Padmasambhava's historical life.

Yeah? So this is the idea of the tertön and, uh, the, the, the terma, treasures that they leave.

Evans-Wentz was...

He wrote the, um, Tibetan Book of the Dead translation.

Lama Govinda wrote the bestseller Way of the White Clouds, which was about reincarnation of the Tibetans.

Fascinating book.

I feel like we're slowly relearning the wisdom that was shared in the past.

The Tibetans have this thing called the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and they're not unique in having this.

There are other traditions that recognize when someone is dying, there's a process that's happening.

And it's a process of leaving the body and transitioning, as you said early on, a shift in perspective, a shift in perception.

And You talked about him feeling a feeling of confusion.

Depending on what people believe, when they step out of their body, they're very confused because they don't expect to exist without their body.

And they're looking at their body and they're like, is that me? Or where am I? How is this possible? So you talked about the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and it's something that I haven't read the book, but I've been studying this for a while because I want to be ready when I cross over so I'm not confused because some people do end up confused.

Am I alive? Am I dead? Am I dreaming? You know, what's going on here?