HOME | DD

Description
Bardo: literally, “intermediate state”.

There are six bardos:

The first is the bardo of the ordinary waking state (Tibetan, kye ne bardo). It is the experience
of the awake and conscious reality as we know it.

The second is the bardo of the dream state (Tibetan, milam bardo). It is the experience of
dream time while sleeping.

The third, the meditation bardo (Tibetan, samten bardo}, includes all experience of
meditation, from novice meditation to total realization.

The fourth, the bardo of the dying process (Tibetan, chilkai bardo), is the process during
which the five elements of which our body is constituted (space, air, water, fire, earth) dissolve
into one another.

The fifth bardo, (Tibetan, chonyid bardo), the bardo of reality, entails the arising of
apparitions and hallucination-like experience as a consequence of one’s karmic propensities.
Using meditative awareness the individual has an opportunity to recognize these images in their
illusory, true nature. These hallucinatory visions are similar in nature to the images in dreams.
Hence the capacity for lucid dreaming may be useful for understanding them as illusion.
According to the Tibetan Book of the Dead, an enlightenment experience is possible if one can
maintain the view that the frightening experiences are nothing more than manifestations of one’s
mind.

The sixth bardo, (Tibetan, sipa bardo), the bardo of the search for rebirth in samsara,
corresponds to the Tibetan Buddhist view of reincarnation. The sipa bardo details the process
whereby an individual will be reborn in one of six realms (the god realm, demi-god realm,
human realm, animal realm, hungry-ghost realm, and the hell realm), depending on karma.

from
Dream Yoga And The Practice Of Natural Light
By Namkhai Norbu

Oil on canvas
40 x 40 cm
read between the lines

Description
Bardo: literally, “intermediate state”.

There are six bardos:

The first is the bardo of the ordinary waking state (Tibetan, kye ne bardo). It is the experience
of the awake and conscious reality as we know it.

The second is the bardo of the dream state (Tibetan, milam bardo). It is the experience of
dream time while sleeping.

The third, the meditation bardo (Tibetan, samten bardo}, includes all experience of
meditation, from novice meditation to total realization.

The fourth, the bardo of the dying process (Tibetan, chilkai bardo), is the process during
which the five elements of which our body is constituted (space, air, water, fire, earth) dissolve
into one another.

The fifth bardo, (Tibetan, chonyid bardo), the bardo of reality, entails the arising of
apparitions and hallucination-like experience as a consequence of one’s karmic propensities.
Using meditative awareness the individual has an opportunity to recognize these images in their
illusory, true nature. These hallucinatory visions are similar in nature to the images in dreams.
Hence the capacity for lucid dreaming may be useful for understanding them as illusion.
According to the Tibetan Book of the Dead, an enlightenment experience is possible if one can
maintain the view that the frightening experiences are nothing more than manifestations of one’s
mind.

The sixth bardo, (Tibetan, sipa bardo), the bardo of the search for rebirth in samsara,
corresponds to the Tibetan Buddhist view of reincarnation. The sipa bardo details the process
whereby an individual will be reborn in one of six realms (the god realm, demi-god realm,
human realm, animal realm, hungry-ghost realm, and the hell realm), depending on karma.

from
Dream Yoga And The Practice Of Natural Light
By Namkhai Norbu

Oil on canvas
40 x 40 cm
read between the lines