Bardo

The concept of bardo refers to an intermediate, transitional, or liminal state. In many Buddhist traditions, it is the state between death and rebirth. The term is also known as antarābhava in Sanskrit. This state is viewed as a bridge between two different existences.

While it is most commonly linked to the period after death, the term can also describe any time when a person's usual way of life is suspended. For example, a period of illness or a meditation retreat might be described metaphorically as a bardo. These periods can offer chances for spiritual progress because external constraints are reduced. However, they can also present challenges as unskillful impulses may become more prominent.

In Tibetan Buddhism, the bardo is the central theme of the Bardo Thodol. This text is often called the Tibetan Book of the Dead in English. It serves two main purposes for the community. First, it is intended to guide a recently deceased person through the death bardo to achieve a better rebirth. Second, it is designed to help the loved ones of the deceased through the grieving process. The text focuses on helping the consciousness navigate the various phenomena that occur during this transition. For those who are prepared through training, the bardo offers a great opportunity for liberation. This is because transcendental insight may arise from the direct experience of reality.

According to Tibetan tradition, the bardo involves a specific sequence of experiences. During this time, a person's consciousness is not connected to a physical body. The experiences usually follow a pattern of degeneration. It begins with the clearest experiences of reality that a person is spiritually capable of having. This is followed by various hallucinations. These visions often arise from the impulses of a person's previous unskillful actions. For some, these karmically created hallucinations can be dangerous. They may impel the consciousness into a less desirable rebirth.

The history of the bardo concept involves many different Buddhist schools. The idea likely came from the Vedic-Upanishadic philosophical tradition. Soon after the death of Gautama Buddha, different groups began to debate its existence. During the third Council in Pataliputra, the Asokan section of early Buddhism rejected the concept of antarābhava. However, some monks who were sent away during this council later re-introduced the idea. These monks used Hybrid Sanskrit manuscripts to preserve the concept. In Indian Buddhism, at least six different groups accepted the notion of an intermediate existence. These included the Sarvāstivāda, Darṣṭāntika, Vātsīputrīyas, Saṃmitīya, Pūrvaśaila, and late Mahīśāsaka schools. Other groups, such as the Theravāda and Mahāsāṃghika, opposed the idea.

Scholars and texts have provided specific details regarding the duration and nature of this state. The Mahāvibhāṣa and the Abhidharmakośa suggest the intermediate state might last at most seven times seven days, or 49 days. The Sarvāstivāda school argued that an intermediate being is necessary to link death and rebirth in time and space. They believed this being is formed of the five aggregates, or skandhas. Some texts describe the intermediate being as a Gandharva. Others discuss the Antarāparinirvāyin, an individual who reaches parinirvāṇa during this intermediate existence. Even those guilty of heinous crimes are thought to pass through an intermediate existence before being reborn in hell.

There are several ways to categorize the different stages of the bardo. Some traditions identify six specific bardos. The first is the Bardo of This Life, which lasts from conception until death. This includes the Bardo of Dreams and the Bardo of Meditation. The fourth stage is the Bardo of Dying, which begins when the dying process starts. This leads to the clear light of death, a state of consciousness. The fifth stage is the Bardo of Luminosity, or the bardo of the true nature of reality. During this stage, visions and auditory phenomena occur. Finally, the sixth stage is the Bardo of Existence, or transmigration. In this stage, the consciousness takes on a mental body to move toward a new rebirth determined by karmic seeds.

Since the Bardo Thodol was translated into English, many different interpretations have emerged. In 1927, Walter Y. Evans-Wentz described it as an esoteric evolutionary system. In 1964, Timothy Leary and others viewed the states as psychological accounts of an acid trip. By 1975, Chögyam Trungpa portrayed the realms of rebirth as psychological states. Other scholars, like Sogyal Rinpoche and Robert Thurman, have offered different cultural and religious frameworks for understanding these experiences. These varying views show how the concept of bardo continues to be studied across different fields of thought.