I began to become interested in the Tibetan Book of the Dead after reading a section of Novak for a homework assignment. As soon as I began to read the book, I developed many questions that would later be used to guide my project's research. My original and most general question of all was “What really is the Tibetan Book of the dead and why is it so significant?” I also wanted to know who was responsible for writing it and what that person was like as a human being was. Another important question that came about after the reading, was how the author knew these things if he never experienced death. What lead to these questions being asked, was that the experience that was described in the book, sounded so extraordinary. The Tibetan Book of the Dead gives people both instructions on how to die and what to do when one actually ends up dying.
The sources I used to collect research for my project consisted of both online sources and specific sections of philosophy and religion books. In my opinion, both the internet sites and the books were extremely helpful in their own ways. The internet sources for example, gave my broad ideas about Tibetan death customs and the certain aspects of the book. Later on, these sources allowed me to grasp general ideas which lead to the discovery of more specific parts of the Book of the Dead. The texts on the other hand, provided me with more narrow details of the rituals of death and how to become at one with death.
The Tibetan Book of the Dead, also known as Bardo Thodol, is translated as meaning “Liberation through Hearing in the Intermediate State.” This means acquiring freedom by listening and understanding while in the stage of life between death and one's reincarnation. The Tibetan Book of the Dead is the most well known work of Tibetan Nyingma literature and one of the most significant. There are multiple sections within the book that give different information and instructions on the different stages of dying and death. It describes some of the signs that one may notice leading up to death and what rituals are encouraged for the dying to perform. The book was composed by Padmasambhava, a Tibetan Guru who is said to have brought Tantric Buddhism to Tibet at some time in the 8th century. The actual book was written down by one of his Nyingma students whose name was Yeshe Tsogyal. The original text was buried in the Gampo hills which are located in the central part of Tibet. They were later discovered in the second half of the 14th century by a Tibetan tertan named Karma Lingpa. The Tibetan Book of the Dead consists of multiple different bardos that relate to the parts of the experience of death ranging from meditation prior to death, to the rebirth into the person's new life.
The actual teachings of the book inform people on what to do during the time of death, which will allow them to be reincarnated in a life that is desirable and closer to reaching enlightenment. First, it is said that one receives awareness after their death, and a dream-like world is created before them. This dream realm feels both beautiful and peaceful while at the same time is frightening and overwhelmingly wrathful. A person's awareness is no longer protected by a human body and as a result, your key decisions provide you with guidance to enlightenment. It is essential that you resist the strong temptations given off by the other realms, so that it is possible to reach the heavenly world.
The entire Tibetan Book of the Dead is based around the one idea of the Wheel of Life which is also known as the Bhavacakra. This wheel is an extremely complex, symbolic representation of the cycle of death and reincarnation, in a circular form. Some of the other names for the Bhavacakra are the Wheel of Becoming, of Existence, of Rebirth, of Samsara, of Suffering, and of Transformation. The multiple images of the Wheel of Life in Buddhism are all relatively the same and express the same general concepts. In the background we see the God of Death, Yama, grasping the wheel in his jaws, hands, and feet. In the upper two corners of the picture, there is usually a cloud, and image of the Buddha, or a bodhisattva. The outer rim is divided into twelve sections that are called the “Twelve Links of Casualty.” These sections are there to represent what actions and feelings within our lives, cause people to go to certain realms when they are reborn. The Twelve Links are ignorance, volitional or intentional actions, consciousness, name and form, sensory organs, contact, sensation, desire, grasping, becoming, birth, and death or decay. The center or hub is split into two sections where the one on the right is white and the left is black. White symbolizes the elevation to the more godly realms, while black represents the descension into the lower, more hellish realms.
