Tibetan Book of the Dead

Description

By Padmasambhava
Hardcover
ISBN 9780670858866
535 pages

This work presents for the first time in English the entirety of the Bar-do Thos-grol Chen-mo, a comprehensive guide to both living and dying as originally taught by Padmasambhava, who formally established Buddhism in Tibet during the 8th century. This text contains exquisitely written guidance and practices related to transforming our experience in daily life, on how to address the processes of dying and the after-death state, and on how to help those who are dying. These teachings include methods for investigating and cultivating our experience of the ultimate nature of mind in daily practice, guidance on the recognition of the signs of impending death, a detailed description of the mental and physical processes of dying, rituals for the avoidance of premature death, passages read to the dying and the dead, aspirational prayers read at the time of death, an allegorical masked play that dramatizes the journey through the intermediate state, and a translation of the sacred mantras that are attached to the body after death. Two additional texts set out the preliminary meditations and practices related to the teaching and the instructions on methods for transferring consciousness at the point of death into an enlightened state, both essential aspects of the practices related to dying.