It’s right here.īy refining even further the understanding of the essence of bardo, it can then be applied to every moment of existence. Its original meaning, the experience of being between death and rebirth, is the prototype of the bardo experience, while the six traditional bardos show how the essential qualities of that experience are also present in other transitional periods. But it can also be interpreted as any transitional experience, any state that lies between two other states. Later Buddhism expanded the whole concept to distinguish six or more similar states, covering the whole cycle of life, death, and rebirth. With the rise of Mahayana, belief in a transitional period prevailed. There was considerable dispute over this theory during the early centuries of Buddhism, with one side arguing that rebirth (or conception) follows immediately after death, and the other saying that there must be an interval between the two. And this is still its normal meaning when it is mentioned without any qualification. Originally, bardo only referred to the period between one life and the next. But it is upheld in Vasubandu’s Abhidharma Kosha. So that the Sarvastivadans and four other major schools accepted this intermediate state, while the Theravadins and the Mahasamghikas did not. But much earlier in India, different Buddhist schools debated this concept of intermediate existence. I should mention that the Tibetan Buddhist view of the Bardo is very elaborate and it built up over time. That is how the Bardo Plane is generally understood. Now this sequence is significant and I’ll come back to that.įor the prepared and appropriately trained individuals the Bardo offers a state of great opportunity for liberation, since transcendental insight may arise with the direct experience of reality, while for others it can become a place of danger as the karmically created hallucinations can impel one into a less than desirable rebirth. …and then proceeding to terrifying hallucinations that arise from the impulses of one’s previous unskillful actions. So there’s a moment of real clarity there. We talk about the first pure precept of cessation. These usually follow a particular sequence of degeneration from, just after death, the clearest experiences of reality of which one is spiritually capable… According to Tibetan tradition, after death and before one’s next birth, when one’s consciousness is not connected with a physical body, one experiences a variety of phenomena. Used loosely, the term ‘Bardo’ refers to the state of existence intermediate between two lives on earth. I’m going to give a little historical information about how the antarabhava, the Bardo, the in-between state, has been viewed. One of the things about Bardo Plane the way it’s often described, is that there’s a phase when wild beasts start nipping at your heels to propel you on, you know, to get you moving. Now, if you look on the wall over here, there’s a big leopard. So that’s death and birth, and here we are, in the Bardo plane. Our old life, our old venue is gone our new life, our new venue is under construction. That’s the original, and it means “in between state.” Bardo is a Tibetan translation of the Sanskrit word antarabhava. One thing I like about American Buddhism is that it has taken terms and expressions and practices from all these different traditions, so all the different lineages refer to Bardo even though it’s a Tibetan term, and most lineages use Sanzen and Zafu which are Japanese and most also use the term Metta which is Pali from Southeast Asia. And it’s now commonly used in American Buddhism. The Bardo Plane, however, is more mysterious. In addition, Buddhism and Zen have a particular understanding of it, and I’ll get to that a little later. We see them, we know what they are, but nobody really understands it. One thing that’s true is that nobody really understands them. Today’s talk is “Birth, Death, and the Bardo Plane.” This week’s bulletin had a description of the fact that we’d left the Madison Street place, and we were starting this place, and we had a matriculation ceremony and I thought, “Well, there you are, ‘Birth, Death, and the Bardo Plane’ and you can figure out which is which.”īirth and Death. So thank you all for making this happen so nicely. We were all there…the same teapot, the same bowls, and the same wonderful people. I heard people make the comment, “It’s like we’re back home. Thanks to the organizational team who worked on the logistics of getting this all together. We’ve reconstituted in this new location almost seamlessly and very quickly. We have many people to thank for help with the move from there to here. Transcribed by Jeff Stookey, and edited by Genko Rainwater. Editor’s Note: This is an edited transcription of the first talk given after we moved from the southeast Madison St location to meeting at the Jason Lee Elementary School cafeteria June 15, 2014.
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