The Bardo of Dying
The Bardo of Dying is what the previous three bardos of life have been preparing us for. It is where the pedal hits the medal so to say. It is here we take our final exam to see how far we have progressed in our spiritual development during this life. It’s important to realize, however, this is not an all or nothing proposition.
It’s Not All or Nothing
In other words, we shouldn’t worry if we can’t reach complete realization. There are degrees of progress along the way that, according to the Tibetan Buddhists can lead us into intermediate realms where we can continue to work on our realization in more favorable climates. Even if we can’t attain that level, our efforts will at least ensure us of a favorable rebirth. So, any progress along the way is beneficial.
For review, I covered the Bardos in General here , and the three Bardos of Life: the Bardo of this Life here, the Bardo of Dream here the Bardo of Meditation here.
In his book Mind Beyond Death, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche says at death we are given a tremendous opportunity to experience mind’s ultimate nature. The amazing thing is we already possess this nature, we just don’t know it yet. We could even say, we are already dead, we just don’t know that yet either. On this topic Rinpoche says,
“At the time of death, however, this very experience arises effortlessly. When we finally reach the point of the dissolution of all dualistic appearances, we experience a moment of complete awareness, a moment of vivid clarity.”
Normally the outside world and all its cares, worries and concerns distracts from this ultimate state. But at death it arises easily and effortlessly if we are prepared to experience it. Our readiness will be determined by how much we have trained for it in the Bardo of this Life, through the Bardo of Dreams and the Bardo of Meditation. It is here that we learn to recognize the appearances before the mind for what they are, so when they do appear at death, we aren’t overwhelmed by them.
Attachment to This Life
At the time of death, Rinpoche says, we may be overcome with feelings of sadness, pain and fear, caused by our unwillingness to let go of our attachments to this life. This may be to our spouse, family, friends, home, work, wealth, reputation, or whatever. We just don’t want to let this life go.
This is what our practices are designed to work on. Rinpoche reminds us that everyone goes through this dying process, so it is best to let those thoughts and fears go, and instead focus on the clear presence of mind.
The more we progress on this journey, the more pleasant the Bardo of Dying will be. If we haven’t done the work, or any work, then this Bardo will be much more difficult.
In Rinpoche’s own words,
“That is the whole purpose in working with these instructions. If we can let go of our attachment, then this bardo is no longer the painful bardo of dying. It is simply “the bardo of dying,” which we can then experience clearly. Otherwise, our minds are so overwhelmed by our clinging and grasping that we miss the whole experience.”
Rinpoche says when we look closely at our attachments, we will see they are nothing more than the habituation patterns we have developed over our lives; patterns our practices were meant to break.
Preparing For Death
Rinpoche counsels that when preparing for death, we should say to ourselves,
“Now death is coming. It is my time to die. This is a very important moment for me.”
He also says we should focus on our intention, and not on things left undone or ways to extend our life. He continues,
“What will help us is to begin preparing for that moment by setting a firm intention to meet our death with calmness and mindfulness. We prepare ourselves mentally by becoming familiar with the stages of death, and then affirming our intention to remain calm and present, alert and mindful throughout these stages.”
In the dying process we witness the dissolution of our coarse and subtle bodies in stages.
Coarse and Subtle Bodies
Our coarse body is our ordinary physical body, composed of the five elements. The subtle body is the “inner essential body” and is not visible to the eye. This is the body where energies flow through inner channels. For more details, please read this part of the book.
The Stages of Dissolution
The first five stages of the dying process focus on the dissolution of our coarse physical body and the five senses. We lose one sense in each of the five stages. The fifth stage could be seen as a bridge to the subtle body dissolution. As an overview of the five stages, we lose, sight, sound, smell, taste and touch in that order.
The last three stages of dissolution occur in our inner subtle body, leaving us residing in the very subtle body of pure awareness, the end state of our journey.
The Coarse Dissolution Process
This is something I covered in my article “The Eight Stages of Death” linked here. Here is a similar, but slightly different version. I will give both outer and inner signs of each stage.
The First Dissolution: The Earth element dissolves into the Water element.
At this stage the Navel Chakra dissolves
Outer signs: The sense of sight ends as images become blurry. Since the visual cortex is not accustomed to seeing nothing, it creates hallucinations to stay active
The body grows heavy. We might feel our body dissolving or becoming less solid. Our physical strength and balance diminishes.
Inner signs: Our mind feels heavy and listless. Perception dims and appearances become unclear or murky as though the light has diminished significantly in the room.
The Second Dissolution: The Water element dissolves into the Fire element.
At this stage the Heart Chakra dissolves
Outer signs: The sense of hearing dissolves. We feel inundated by water. Then our bodies begin to dry out. Our mouth, nose and tongue feel dry and uncomfortable as our body loses fluids. We may feel very thirsty.
Inner signs: Our mind becomes increasingly unclear, but also restless and agitated. Emotions may be easily evoked.
The Third Dissolution: The Fire element dissolves into the Wind element.
At this stage the Throat Chakra dissolves
Outer signs: The sense of smell deteriorates. We first feel increased warmth in the body followed by a loss of body heat. The heat escapes through our breath that becomes gradually colder. The loss of body heat begins in the extremities and moves inward toward the heart.
Inner Signs: Clarity of mind fluctuates, alternately clear and unclear. Like waking up and falling back asleep. We realize we are losing touch with our conscious experience. We can have trouble recognizing people and external appearances.
The Fourth Dissolution: The Wind element dissolves into Consciousness.
At this stage the Root Chakra dissolves
Outer signs: Our sense of taste disappears. Breath becomes shorter and more difficult. The exhale is longer than the inhale and can sometimes have a rattling sound. Eyes start to roll upward. Tongue and tactile sense consciousness dissolves. Eventually the final breath happens and this is when death occurs, but only for the outer coarse body. This is followed by the cessation of inner respiration which is the actual moment of death.
Inner signs: Mind becomes extremely confused and unstable. Can’t recognize familiar people or things. We begin to hallucinate and those depend on our karmic seeds or our habitual tendencies resulting from our past negative or positive thoughts. These will arise more vividly and appear more solid and real. This will exert a powerful influence on our mind. At this stage, if our mind remains calm, we can focus on it and place it where we want it, otherwise we will feel unbalanced.
Rinpoche counsels us on this point,
“When you can rest your mind within that experience, just as in the practices, this time becomes genuinely auspicious. It becomes a powerful opportunity to realize the nature of mind.”
The Fifth Dissolution: Consciousness dissolves into Luminous Space.
At this stage the Crown Chakra dissolves.
The sense of touch departs.
This occurs on the level of the subtle body and is categorized separately
Here, consciousness is not seen as a single entity, but a collection of consciousnesses from coarse to very subtle that function to create a sense of self, of others and of the world.
Summary of the Three Consciousnesses
Coarse consciousness: the five-sense and mental consciousness
Subtle Consciousness: The afflicted consciousness with its mistaken thoughts and disturbing emotions. The perceiving mind fixates on itself as the only the only existing self and sees objects as separate and other.
Very Subtle Consciousness or the Basic Mind Itself: Storehouse or basis of all consciousness and is the stream of consciousness that continues moment to moment and carries karmic seeds from past actions as well as potentialities for ripening into positive or negative actions in the future.
The Inner Subtle Body Dissolution
Stage 6: The Luminous Dissolves into Radiance
The bright moonlight becomes orangish or reddish like a cloudless sky flooded with sunlight. It’s very bright. It’s so bright we can’t stand it and this leads to the next stage.
Stage 7: The Bright Light Dissolves into Darkness
To escape the brightness of the light, we retreat into darkness and very likely lose consciousness if we are not trained in this process.
This is the state of deep dreamless sleep in which we are normally unconscious. This is the “nothingness” that many believe is the end state of death, but it is not the last stage.
Stage 8: The Darkness Dissolves into Transparency
The darkness gives way to clear light. This should not be confused with the bright light from earlier.
Clear light is a merging of the dark and the light which gives way to transparency.
Here the energies of the subtle inner body dissipate, leaving us in the very subtle body of pure awareness.
This is the end state, and if we have remained conscious throughout this whole process, we will have attained enlightenment.
The rest of this chapter is filled with more details on these stages and practices to prepare ourselves for them. Perhaps in future articles I’ll mention some of them that strike me as interesting.
This will lead us to the next stage, the Bardo of Dharmata or the After-Death State. What goes on there? What is this realm we inhabit between lives? Stay tuned!
To learn more about the magic of the universe: Click this link: The Magical Universe.
Photo by Mathew Schwartz
