What is the Tibetan Book of the Dead?

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The Tibetan Book of the Dead, or the Bardo Thodol, is arguably the most popular Buddhist text in Europe and the United States. Carl Jung loved it. So did John Lennon. But why? What is this text all about?
Sources:
Lopez, Donald S. Jr. The Tibetan Book of the Dead: A Biography. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011.
Coleman, Graham, and Thupten Jinpa, eds. The Tibetan Book of the Dead: First Complete Translation. Translated by Gyurme Dorje. New York: Penguin Random House, 2005.

Пікірлер: 765

  • @ReligionForBreakfast
    @ReligionForBreakfast Жыл бұрын

    Thank you to Wondrium for sponsoring today’s video! Signup for your FREE trial to Wondrium here: ow.ly/BBou50N4T0f

  • @christopherp.8868

    @christopherp.8868

    Жыл бұрын

    Can you talk about Jung/Campbell/Peterson on archetypes? FYI I don't agree with those concepts because there is obviously way too much nuance/historical context. That perennialist way of thinking probably hurts religious studies. I'd love more content challenging those ideas they possess.

  • @rogerdodger8415

    @rogerdodger8415

    Жыл бұрын

    Could you do a review of a fascinating book called "the Passover plot"?? I'd love to hear your take on it. Thanks!

  • @inceldetector6148

    @inceldetector6148

    Жыл бұрын

    this guy doesnt even read the comments

  • @astitvakachiar

    @astitvakachiar

    Жыл бұрын

    It is not for dead or corpses to real aloud. It is for practicing death during meditation while living

  • @rogerdodger8415

    @rogerdodger8415

    Жыл бұрын

    @@astitvakachiar It's always fun to practice death while living. Gets you ready for the real thing.

  • @danielx40
    @danielx40 Жыл бұрын

    My teacher’s teacher once told him: “when you die, look straight ahead. Do not be distracted by left or right. Or you will be sucked right back to this place.” After you die, things that scares you, disturbs you, attracts you, attached to you, turns you on the most will appear, if you don’t look straight ahead, you will be sucked back and become someone’s child. You will become the child of parents that embodies the qualities that stimulates/disturbs you the most. The only way to not be reborn, is to let go of everything and look straight ahead.

  • @donnafraenkel7852

    @donnafraenkel7852

    Жыл бұрын

    Helpful information You are right and I recommend this in life pathways as well.... focus on the finish line and not the people next to you It's not for comparison and this is where people fail

  • @uwangchuk90

    @uwangchuk90

    Жыл бұрын

    ❤🙏

  • @ralphhardie7492

    @ralphhardie7492

    Жыл бұрын

    😂😂😂😂

  • @freeyourmind7538

    @freeyourmind7538

    Жыл бұрын

    Meh...if this is the case, just look left/right, the first death, be born again, learn from your first experience and look up straight during the second death 🤷🏾‍♂️ The issue i find with these rebirths is that you NEVER know your previous events so how can you know, you are being born again,?

  • @LovingRockDoula

    @LovingRockDoula

    Жыл бұрын

    Sounds like avoidance.

  • @hankinaz
    @hankinaz Жыл бұрын

    When I first read this book, I was confused by it's imagery (i.e. demons drinking blood from skulls??!!) However, a friend recommended also reading The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche as a way to provide graspable context. In a nutshell, what I took away was the practical learning that when confronted with someone who is dying (i.e. in a hospice or coming upon a very traumatic accident), you should try to put them at ease and let them know it is okay for them to move on ... the mindset with which they leave this world (i.e guilt, fear, calm, etc.) is the mindset with which they will enter the new world (kind of like how waking from a scary or peaceful dream can shape your state of mind for that day.) Just a thought ...

  • @furrycircuitry2378

    @furrycircuitry2378

    Жыл бұрын

    It's ok, Mr.hanikaz, I accept your passing go forth into the light and feel joy and comfort knowing you left this realm and the people in it better than before.

  • @illsed

    @illsed

    Жыл бұрын

    Is just symbol n avatar

  • @bb9a

    @bb9a

    Жыл бұрын

    They're not demons, but they are entities of spirit

  • @LoahKiLynKd87

    @LoahKiLynKd87

    Жыл бұрын

    Perfectly sumadup

  • @hellboundtruck123

    @hellboundtruck123

    11 ай бұрын

    You’ve unlocked the gross level meaning, now you may delve deeper 🙏🏼

  • @simonpaterson9648
    @simonpaterson9648 Жыл бұрын

    5 months ago, I was lingering between life and death on life support with a usually lethal pneumonia. I was having these incredible mental projections for 13 days on life support. There were many projections, but one was of possessing a very small mental body, and others had very small mental bodies. I went searching, and after not being impressed with Christian experiences, I was finally in shock to find how similar these Bardos in Buddhism were to my direct experience. I have a psychiatrist, for post ICU,'' PTSD'', and he was fascinated with my description of what I experienced. Usually, he would diagnose someone as psychotic.

  • @altverse1

    @altverse1

    2 ай бұрын

    So good to hear brother.The deity in the bardos are similar to Hindhu text such as yama which we call him as yamaraj, so for me religion has been more like derived from each other since padmasambahava took the teaching from india.Anyway may the god bless you to an eternity.

  • @DavidAKZ

    @DavidAKZ

    2 ай бұрын

    Psychotic or awakening ?

  • @Yourmomsassstinks
    @Yourmomsassstinks Жыл бұрын

    No way, this is freaking scary. I was literally looking this up LAST NIGHT and I was like “damn I wish RFB had a video about this, I know he would explain better. All well, I’m sure he’d do it eventually”

  • @ReligionForBreakfast

    @ReligionForBreakfast

    Жыл бұрын

    This is why the RFB audience is so great. The type of people that research Buddhist texts in their spare time.

  • @stevemcgroob4446

    @stevemcgroob4446

    Жыл бұрын

    ​ @ReligionForBreakfast I'm currently reading the Tenchi Hajimari no Koto, or the Beginning of Heaven and Earth in English. It was made by Japanese Christians from the Tokugawa period and although it doesn't seem to be an important text to them, I find it to be a fascinating mix of Buddhist, Shinto, and Catholic beliefs.

  • @the_neutral_container

    @the_neutral_container

    Жыл бұрын

    Hah! Carl Jung approves 😁

  • @schorpioen7466

    @schorpioen7466

    Жыл бұрын

    ​@@the_neutral_container synchronicity?

  • @mldouglasjr

    @mldouglasjr

    Жыл бұрын

    @@stevemcgroob4446 Wow. Never heard of it, but you've certainly piqued my interest in finding this text.

  • @stephenburgess5710
    @stephenburgess5710 Жыл бұрын

    I always find a text more interesting when framed in the context of the culture that produced it. The romanticizations of the east from the 60s, from orientalism, from theosophy, and the like are never as interesting as an exploration of those topics that involves the actual people and conditions from which they originated! Great video, thanks.

  • @stevenvaleriojr1177

    @stevenvaleriojr1177

    Жыл бұрын

    I agree. Out of curiosity, though, what is your opinion on western authors who are actually legitimate practitioners of an authentic lineage- I'm thinking along the lines of Robert Thurman, Robert Buswell, Bernie Glassman, or even Brad Warner?

  • @chitwansingh

    @chitwansingh

    Жыл бұрын

    +

  • @viljamtheninja

    @viljamtheninja

    Жыл бұрын

    What about the context of the culture that produced that romanticization? That is, after all, also a culture with its own context, its own reasoning, its own metaphysic search for truth and meaning which, to me, is just as interesting. And, it IS a way to understand other cultures, it was just a simplified, immature attempt at that. I think the typical presentation of Orientalism as somehow nefarious often rings a little hollow. People in the West, in their search for meaning and grappling with the eternal questions of death and suffering, finding inspiration in and fascination with foreign sources and ideas and somewhat turning them into their own thing is not much different from how cultures have always interacted and taken inspiration from elsewhere while reinterpreting through the context of their own cultural lens. The concept of Orientalism seems like a pretty natural result of Weber's demystification of the world through Western science and philosophy; it's an interesting cultural and philosophical phenomenon on its own. Now of course a video on the Tibetan Book of the Dead should probably primarily focus on the Tibetan context in which it originated, but I think its role in the West is equally interesting, just in a completely different way. It was, after all, an interest that arose due to some kind of spiritual need, something deeply human, and to present it as something negative just because it doesn't understand the entire context of the origins of its sources of inspiration seems either like academic elitism (but academics research these texts for reasons entirely different from why they become popular in the first place) or some kind of problematic cultural purism.

  • @benardman2665

    @benardman2665

    Жыл бұрын

    Theosphy is Christian lol

  • @seadawg93

    @seadawg93

    Жыл бұрын

    Absolutely! I love so much the approach nowadays (well, you know, in some circles at least) of approaching texts and ideas IN context. Especially given the western tendency to privilege text over other forms of authority, which may or may not be appropriate to a given culture.

  • @iguanajoe9329
    @iguanajoe9329 Жыл бұрын

    I read the Bardo Thodol as a teenager because I was fascinated by eastern "mysticism", but little did I know how much it carried on with me. I partake in psychedellic use, and DMT once brought me to a place of pure blackness, and in it, I forgot everything that made me, "me". I instantly felt terror, because I could not fathom the idea of "me" disappearing, but deep in the blackness I remembered some of the lines, and I was able to let go of everything as it pleased. That was the only way I could achieve peace of mind deep where I was, and I inmediately understood that everything is connected. This book is severely underrated and everyone should get to know it.

  • @theopenmouth9695

    @theopenmouth9695

    Жыл бұрын

    U just did drugs.

  • @Suzume-Shimmer

    @Suzume-Shimmer

    Жыл бұрын

    Thats great you had such a tool to guide you at rhe right moment. 👍 Yeah, Timothy Leary , the original LSD 'guru' of the 60s acid experiments, recommends 2 books to understand and help with the psychedelic terrain . And one of them is The Tibetan Book of rhe Dead

  • @Badficwriter

    @Badficwriter

    6 ай бұрын

    You were better prepared than I was. During an acid trip, I got amnesia. It was terrifying and only a kind person in the house with me constantly reassuring me kept me calm. Telling me my memories had no effect, because my brain deleted them as soon as I heard the information. It wore off as the drug did. I have heard many stories of hallucinations in bad trips, but never knew you could get temporary amnesia.

  • @eyeofgnosis558
    @eyeofgnosis558 Жыл бұрын

    Weird thing: before I knew anything about Buddhism, Jung or theosophy, I had (unknowingly) been drawing 'mandalas' to help organise my mind when I was going through chronic depression and suicidal ideation. Then I had an experience not too dissimilar to that in the Tibetan Book of the Dead (which I only encountered a year after the experience) that completely turned my life around for the better ^_^

  • @L3onking

    @L3onking

    Жыл бұрын

    It's no coincidence, these are the signs of the lama mass awakening.

  • @donnafraenkel7852

    @donnafraenkel7852

    Жыл бұрын

    I've also had such experience. God greets you 😊

  • @maitreyajambhulkar
    @maitreyajambhulkar Жыл бұрын

    You made so many videos on Buddhism. ❤ From India. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, a Buddhist from India.

  • @chrisrichardson8988

    @chrisrichardson8988

    Жыл бұрын

    Since Buddhism was nearly wiped out of India, it is wonderful to see that the spread of teachings around the world is returning home.

  • @expressnigga

    @expressnigga

    Жыл бұрын

    Buddha wasn't a Buddhist. He didn't drop from the sky neither were his teachings. He and his teachings went nowhere. They were here and shall stay so until the end.

  • @dreamadventure8220

    @dreamadventure8220

    Жыл бұрын

    ​@@chrisrichardson8988 yes Buddhism is the original civilisation, heritage of india

  • @tribaljukebox1773

    @tribaljukebox1773

    9 ай бұрын

    Jesus is King

  • @beaustur

    @beaustur

    3 ай бұрын

    Buddhism is evil, all religions are. Putting sophisticated consciousnesses into something with as limited capacity as a dog, frog, or whatever is SATANIC. These are things that aren't up for debate, they're facts.

  • @seadawg93
    @seadawg93 Жыл бұрын

    Excellent. Another American/western aspect of the “Tibetan Book of the Dead,” is the idea that it is for anyone or everyone. While some modern teachers would accept that, the traditional view is that this is a text specifically for vajrayana practitioners who have received the specific teachings while alive. I have specifically been warned against using it for non-initiated people, because things like the descriptions of the wrathful deities would be very upsetting. There are other funerary practices, such as phowa, Shitro or Chang Chod. John Reynolds has a large section in his book “self liberation through seeing with naked awareness” (from the same cycle as the bardo thodrol) describing how deeply wrong Wentz’s and Jung’s understanding of Tibetan Buddhism were.

  • @meesalikeu

    @meesalikeu

    Жыл бұрын

    they were not “deeply wrong” lol, that is just hyperbole - they were just misguided as it was a partial text pulled out of context that they felt was enough and ran with for their western audience.

  • @seadawg93

    @seadawg93

    Жыл бұрын

    @@meesalikeu they were misguided, took texts out there historical context and opined on the meaning, sometimes even the “true” meaning (ie. Allegedly truer than actual Buddhist teachers), of Buddhism and influenced how westerners viewed Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism specifically, to this day. If you don’t think that that is deeply wrong, so be it. But they were pretty wrong, and pretty sure of themselves as well.

  • @bushit123456

    @bushit123456

    Жыл бұрын

    could yoo quote some of his criticism?

  • @RJ-we1me

    @RJ-we1me

    Жыл бұрын

    What did jung got wrong?

  • @yrobtsvt

    @yrobtsvt

    Жыл бұрын

    "phowa" is a scary term to me as Aum Shinrikyo used that word as a euphemism for murdering their enemies

  • @SudoSkitz
    @SudoSkitz Жыл бұрын

    Dude, your channel is awesome. You're always so succinct and on point. Keep these up. To me, your channel sets the standard for anyone speaking on religion.

  • @joshgwin8820

    @joshgwin8820

    Жыл бұрын

    Agreed

  • @skarrven

    @skarrven

    Жыл бұрын

    💯 Same

  • @contempris2383

    @contempris2383

    Жыл бұрын

    He's a breath of fresh air. The internet discourse on religion is so toxic and not very academic. I can not stand Bible beaters or Debate Bro Atheists.

  • @samgamgee7384

    @samgamgee7384

    Жыл бұрын

    What I like best is how eclectically agnostic he is. He can talk about Kabbalah, Chinese folk religion or the roots of anime with the same objectivity.

  • @Chamelionroses

    @Chamelionroses

    Жыл бұрын

    I just like that he is honest

  • @NullStaticVoid
    @NullStaticVoid Жыл бұрын

    I started my journey into Buddhism with some books on Japanese Zen (Chan) Buddhism. Later when I was in college I realized that everything I read on Buddhism was written by European intellectuals. So I'd basically learned European existentialism with Buddhist window dressing. I moved on to Tibetan Buddhism, but again I messed up and read the "Book of the Dead" and a few other such texts which came to the west from European orientalists, who were were putting quite a lot of their own philosophy into their interpretation of Buddhism. Eventually I found a few books written by Tibetans with help from westerners. These were less sullied by the imposition of dualistic frameworks and philosophical baggage of Plato and the enlightenment (irony no?). The Dalai Lama has a few really good books on mindfulness meditation. And his discursive style is easy to follow. More recently I've been studying Theravada through the translations of Bhikku Bodhi. Though I got there strangely through Thích Nhất Hạnh. After I read a few of his books I mistakenly assumed he was Theravadan, though he is actually from the Vietnamese branch of Chan/Zen. Nevertheless I find Theravada more straightforward and less reliant on supernaturalism and deity worship. It's been pointed out that I am not the first westerner to find a home in Theravada for these reasons. A western preference for the secular I suppose?

  • @lexwaldorf5202

    @lexwaldorf5202

    Жыл бұрын

    If it's not too much to ask, can you tell us your book recommendations that haven't been tainted by western philosophy? I honestly don't know where to shart

  • @yrobtsvt

    @yrobtsvt

    Жыл бұрын

    @@lexwaldorf5202 This would have to be translations of sutras. It's impossible to have a modern text *about* Buddhism without Western influence, although academic scholars do their best....

  • @yaoliang1580

    @yaoliang1580

    Жыл бұрын

    The road to better understanding of spirituality is long, difficult n filled with many pitfalls. Most important is understanding of the basics of life n keep our feet firmly on the ground n not be carried away with too much theories n philosophies, which is good for references but often do not work in real life n has cause many who seek such pursuits to fall into a state of disillusion, disenchantment, confusion n separation.

  • @dreamadventure8220

    @dreamadventure8220

    Жыл бұрын

    Woo, I thought thic nan to be thereavada too, thanks for clearing

  • @alex434343

    @alex434343

    Жыл бұрын

    I find secularism to be appealing to Western students in large part as a reaction to what we don't/didn't like in our own native religions (the many flavors of Christianity, mainly). Almost exclusively we've found our native religions to be wanting in some way and gone looking to the East for something that suits us better. Personally I think we can go too far in rejecting anything that even kinda-sorta-maybe looks like something Judeo-Christian. However to each his own, Theravada is wonderful as are Vajrajana/Mahayana which I personally prefer :)

  • @justinspicyrhino3075
    @justinspicyrhino3075 Жыл бұрын

    I take the Tibeten book of the Dead literally. There are a lot of parallels to people with near death experiences. I try to prepare my mind for death as often as possible.

  • @catherinegrimes2308

    @catherinegrimes2308

    Жыл бұрын

    I noticed the similarity as well, maybe that is where the ideas come from?

  • @fraktaalimuoto
    @fraktaalimuoto Жыл бұрын

    A practitioner of a Buddhist terma tradition here: there are various bardo practices in various practice lineages - many of them practiced while alive.

  • @hexane8

    @hexane8

    8 ай бұрын

    ICU psychosis happens a lot it doesn't mean that you're schizophrenic

  • @justjoe4390

    @justjoe4390

    7 ай бұрын

    Can you name some of the ones that are practiced while alive? I'd be very grateful.

  • @DavidAKZ

    @DavidAKZ

    2 ай бұрын

    ​@@hexane8you could be wakening and this society cannot handle it.

  • @jeffreysousa1104
    @jeffreysousa1104 Жыл бұрын

    You provided so much necessary context to something I've been trying to understand for a while now, thank you so much

  • @LangThoughts
    @LangThoughts Жыл бұрын

    I'm a linguistics student studying Tibetan, and in the Modern Language "Bardo" is pronounced "Pardo" The full name "Bardo Thodol" is pronounced something like "Pardo Toejoel"

  • @celsus7979

    @celsus7979

    Жыл бұрын

    That reminds me of a fun video by NativLang - The Hardest Language to Spell A video about Tibetan by a language lover, who had quite a difficult time with it

  • @LangThoughts

    @LangThoughts

    Жыл бұрын

    @@celsus7979 Actually "Bardo Thodol" is a fusion of the modern pronunciation and the Classical Spelling "Bar-do Thos-grol"

  • @LangThoughts

    @LangThoughts

    Жыл бұрын

    Note that the "oe" in "Toejoel" represents the sound that German spells as "ö" ie. o-umlaut.

  • @Iskbest

    @Iskbest

    Жыл бұрын

    @@LangThoughts That's not how everyone says it! I personally haven't heard the Bardo spelled with "P". Can imagine a regional Kham (east Tibet) people saying it but have never heard that myself.

  • @LangThoughts

    @LangThoughts

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Iskbest Not in Khams, no, but if someone from the Western World mentions "Modern Tibetan", most of the time, we mean Lhasa Dialect, as that is the most studied Modern Dialect and IIRC, in that dialect བ་ is pronounced like ཕ་, unless there is a pre-initial consonant. Also, I made a mistake, I should have said "Perto" or "Peto", because in Lhasa Dialect, བར is pronounced as if it were ཕེར་ཐོ་ or ཕཻ་ཐོ་, except the tone is different.

  • @mbass718
    @mbass718 Жыл бұрын

    Still in the middle of the video but getting ready to go to sleep. I had what I can only describe as a Buddhist near death experience a year and a half ago. Almost died. Woke up after being in the Bardo. My Bardo experience was just my conscious being someplace where I was seeing what I can only say were strands of my DNA in building blocks swirling like Mandalas in a way. It was far beyond any psychedelic I've ever experienced. And at one point I said...Where am I. A voice that sure sounded god like replied.. "You're in the Bardo State of Dying and being reborn"' That was it. That's exactly what it felt like. It was so beautiful I wish I could remember it better. If I would have been reborn I think I would have been okay. It was almost sad coming back but I'm glad to be here

  • @mbass718

    @mbass718

    Жыл бұрын

    @@mydreamsarecomingtrue No idea. It was infinite

  • @tenzinchokdup3466

    @tenzinchokdup3466

    6 ай бұрын

    @@mbass718as a Tibetan I don’t know much about my religion. I recommend you vist India place called nalanda (origin of Buddhism), it’s a very important pilgrimage Indian and Tibetan make. I also recommend you visit Tibetan monastery in India because you will truly see what it’s about. Don’t vist Tibet in china because it’s very restricted to foreigners.

  • @BallBatteryReligion

    @BallBatteryReligion

    Ай бұрын

    Well, that's interesting. It sounds similar to an intense psychedelic experience I had. I too saw DNA strands (though it wasn't clear that it was my own, felt more general) spinning in cycles, interconnecting like turning gears. The DNA would transform into two dimensional spiders and strange geometric patterns too. I had no concept of mandalas or Buddhism at the time beyond a very basic knowledge as something I'd heard about. The more I learn, the more the entire experience gets recontexulized in hindsight. Considering this, along with the other visuals like hieroglyphics and cave paintings of hunters and men marching, the weird insights I had about why humans build monolithic structures and the general theme of finite, cyclical time, mortality and the how I had been, and how so many humans waste their limited time on petty distractions; the overall meaning of it has become pretty clear. Thus here I am, former agnostic/atheist more and more drawn to Buddhism by the day lol.

  • @mbass718

    @mbass718

    Ай бұрын

    @@BallBatteryReligion I've definitely had my share of intense psychedelic experiences too. This was far beyond the strongest medicines I've worked with. The strongest being Bufo. Bufo would be the only medicine I could somewhat compare it to but this was really far beyond a complete ego death with Bufo. I've definitely had experiences with losing my body and being connected to Source /G_D as well as connected to family members who've passed on. I only had a little knowledge about the Bardo and I never really believed in reincarnation before this NDE. I've had to rethink all of that. I've done some of the strongest medicines on the planet but never had anything where I asked a question and got a clear answer by a voice that certainly sounded G_D like. The whole time it was just seeing or being part of what I mentioned.. Just a non stop deluge of strands of my DNA that I somehow knew was mine.. I can't remember where they were coming from but they were in blocks.. One after another swirling endlessly. I was in Total peace and was just consciousness. At some point I asked where I was and that clear message in a booming voice answered.. You're in the Bardo state of dying and being reborn. From there I didn't need to ask anything else and if I would have died at that moment I would have been fine. I've definitely had immense visuals on potent shrooms, K, Bufo, 5meo etc.. But this was really way beyond all the experiences I've had with psychedelics. I also literally saw my mom's soul /light leave this world the second she passed away. That's a whole other story and completely different from what I experienced. I'm not sure where our souls go when we transition but I think some souls have different outcomes. I'm pretty certain my mom went to heaven from what I saw. Or at least to a better place. I think I'm coming back when my time is up in this body. I'm not a Buddhist but I do really like Buddhism and have done alot of Buddhist mantra meditations. I have no idea what the rest of the Bardo is like but I do know I was at peace and other than seeing my mom's soul /light leave this world.. Which people can believe or not. I know what I saw and it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen and the biggest gift I've ever been given. Being in the Bardo and having Buddhist friends say they believe I was in it... Makes it equally the most incredible gift I've ever received.

  • @mbass718

    @mbass718

    Ай бұрын

    @@BallBatteryReligion lol and I hear ya about Buddhism. It's the only religion that truly preaches peace and respect for all life.

  • @madnessbydesign1415
    @madnessbydesign1415 Жыл бұрын

    Your academic, non-judgemental breakdowns always amaze me. Thank you so much for keeping knowledge alive... :)

  • @bhante1345
    @bhante134511 ай бұрын

    I find that the movie Enter The Void does a fantastic job and visualising the emotional intensity and confusion that the Bardo wanderer is expected to encounter.

  • @somerandomwords999

    @somerandomwords999

    9 ай бұрын

    I saw this movie, was very hyped by all kinds of "psychonauts" back in the day.. How do you know it "does a fantastic job and visualising the emotional intensity and confusion that the Bardo wanderer is expected to encounter"? Don't you have to have the experience of bardo(of dying) to know that it does?

  • @ShadyCharacter97
    @ShadyCharacter97 Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for more Vajrayana & general Highland Mahayana Buddhist content! So underexplored in this KZread space.

  • @luridus584
    @luridus584 Жыл бұрын

    Yet again You provide some of the best mythological/cultural lectures on this platform, thank You for Your hard work, i could listen to You for hours

  • @marykayryan7891
    @marykayryan7891 Жыл бұрын

    You never cease to amaze me. Such high quality videos. Succinct. Clear. Accurate. Accessible. Respectful. Just fantastic. Thank you.

  • @freemanacount5609
    @freemanacount5609 Жыл бұрын

    If you want to read about Tibetan religious views on death and rebirth that's very accessible to a western audience, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying is a great modern read written by a Tibetan.

  • @BornR3STLESS

    @BornR3STLESS

    Жыл бұрын

    That book radically changed my perspective on life, death and spirituality. It is quite a thought provoking book.

  • @amberevol

    @amberevol

    Жыл бұрын

    I bought these at the same time bc I was under the impression they went together. I feel like they do even tho they weren't written that way to my knowledge

  • @facebookmary7502

    @facebookmary7502

    Жыл бұрын

    ​@@BornR3STLESSthe author is a creepy guy that rapes women

  • @Jack-fs2im

    @Jack-fs2im

    Жыл бұрын

    Bhuddism is not a religion its a philosophy

  • @siddarth3955

    @siddarth3955

    11 ай бұрын

    ​@@Jack-fs2im Buddhism is literally a religion with elaborate myths and after life. Saying it's just a philosophy is done by non Buddhists especially abrahamics adherents to not feel guilty for following another faith when their god especially prohibited them from doing so.

  • @3mindgame
    @3mindgame9 ай бұрын

    Tibetan book of the Dead is one of the most profound book I ever read. It’s almost like it’s referring to everyday life on one level while simultaneously referring to a actual physical death process. Great read. Then check out the “ American Book of the Dead”

  • @pemaya4555
    @pemaya4555 Жыл бұрын

    Ah, this is so, so good.👏🏽 Last semester I taught our new study of religion students about the tibetan book of the dead after Prof. Jens Schlieter held his lecture on it for us, and I continue to be amazed by the academic quality of this channel. Big kudos to the team behind it! Also, I made my students watch quite a bunch of the other videos of RFB as I think they are wonderful teaching material with reliable information, especially for newer students 😄 Thank you for your work!

  • @dgeraldrunkle9304
    @dgeraldrunkle9304 Жыл бұрын

    I have to say this is one of your best videos on this channel, nice job

  • @Eclipti_Faith
    @Eclipti_Faith Жыл бұрын

    Thank you for all the work you put into your videos, they are always so informative!

  • @jibranelbazi
    @jibranelbazi Жыл бұрын

    First step sounds exactly like an ego death/awakening experience. The dying “person” is the ego dying, and this text helps the Self (capital S) to “pass through” and be “reborn.” Realizing the ego is nonexistent and thus leaving samsara.

  • @seanpatrick4155
    @seanpatrick4155 Жыл бұрын

    I have seen many videos on this subject. I appreciate how concise and to the point your presentation was. ;)

  • @Grace-fb7jk
    @Grace-fb7jkАй бұрын

    This video was amazing. Concise and highly informative. Thank you.

  • @SunsetHoney615
    @SunsetHoney615 Жыл бұрын

    It is also a remarkable commentary on the modern idea of near death experiences. The parallels are remarkable indicating a rich tradition within Tibetan history of discussing the NDE experience.

  • @Tinil0

    @Tinil0

    Жыл бұрын

    But this has nothing to do with NDE, this is intended to be read to the already dead. This isn't revealed information from people who have had near-death experiences.

  • @SunsetHoney615

    @SunsetHoney615

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Tinil0 most likely the tradition that created this text is very much based on the stories told by people who “returned from death”. They are called Delogs.

  • @jcfal1708
    @jcfal1708 Жыл бұрын

    I love your style. Your presentation is clinical, factual, but very engaging, making stupidly complicated texts and concepts understandable by far lesser minds ;)

  • @robertpenny7180
    @robertpenny7180 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you. I appreciate the time you spend on these videos. I've also heard the translation as "Oh child of noble family." It's interesting how a few words makes a huge difference.

  • @QuasarEE

    @QuasarEE

    9 ай бұрын

    That could probably be understood to refer to the Five Buddha families if it were accurate, and not a worldly lineage.

  • @vk3act
    @vk3act11 ай бұрын

    I m. Student of Sogyal Rinpoche. Thank you for this video.

  • @driphella4080
    @driphella4080 Жыл бұрын

    I never knew the Tibetan Book of the Dead was such a small part of such a large tradition, though it makes sense in hindsight Your commentary on the relationship between Western spiritualism and Eastern religions is highly insightful, especially so in this video I'm always happy I subscribed every time you show up in my feed. Always high quality stuff.

  • @flamephlegm
    @flamephlegm Жыл бұрын

    I love your videos but especially the ones on Buddhism. Wish there was a whole course on here lol. Thanks for all of the videos. I deeply appreciate your labor.

  • @tapishatrey6098
    @tapishatrey6098 Жыл бұрын

    I'm gonna start my tibetian book of dead study soon. This video definitely build a overview and info was very descriptive.

  • @Jaz-ml5jv
    @Jaz-ml5jv Жыл бұрын

    Love all the videos on Buddhism! I’m currently reading through the Tibetan Book of the Dead and it has been great to watch your videos to get a deeper understanding of it all 🌸

  • @isaaccutlip5815

    @isaaccutlip5815

    Жыл бұрын

    Read the bible too

  • @secretshaman189
    @secretshaman1898 ай бұрын

    This review of the "Tibetan Book of the Dead" was great, and to the point. The narration material and delivery was so professional! Loved it!

  • @robertschlesinger1342
    @robertschlesinger1342 Жыл бұрын

    Excellent video. Very interesting, informative and worthwhile video.

  • @aimeemorgado8715
    @aimeemorgado8715 Жыл бұрын

    Thank you for your scholarly, yet kind and human , analysis

  • @777johnp
    @777johnp Жыл бұрын

    Great stuff. I have this book on my shelf and didn't know how to approach it. This gave me the context and framework on how to read and understand it, thank you.

  • @Slapsista
    @Slapsista Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the critical angle and placing this in the historical context of how the text was published.

  • @jessequimpo7354
    @jessequimpo73549 ай бұрын

    That helped so much! Thank you 🙏

  • @zorgius
    @zorgius Жыл бұрын

    Thank you! What a work of scholarship!!

  • @blixten2928
    @blixten29288 ай бұрын

    So much fun, so interesting, so well done. THANK YOU!

  • @skatman339
    @skatman339 Жыл бұрын

    Loved this video, thank you! Any chance we can get a video on The All-Pervading Melodious Drumbeat(or just on Ra Lotsawa in general)? It shows a side of Tibetan Buddhism rarely discussed in the west, and I think it would make for a great video

  • @MultiWeb23
    @MultiWeb23 Жыл бұрын

    As a zen buddhism practitioner, it is amazing to see how incredibly different tibetan buddhism is and how much it diverged and innovated in comparison to other schools! It's beautiful!

  • @Prasad_California

    @Prasad_California

    Жыл бұрын

    This definitely can not be true Buddha’s teachings. This is pure hallucination and imaginary. Funny enough to package it under name of Buddha who didn’t at all believe in deities like Yamdharma ( described here as drinking brain lol)

  • @i_love_tibet7001

    @i_love_tibet7001

    11 ай бұрын

    @@Prasad_California You are quite the Ignorant and delusional one..... get the fact check right, even all informations are there.

  • @khayon4364

    @khayon4364

    9 күн бұрын

    @@Prasad_California Or perhaps your lineage lost something important, eh?

  • @ThatsJustMyBabyDaddy
    @ThatsJustMyBabyDaddy9 ай бұрын

    Excellent commentary.

  • @phillylifer
    @phillylifer9 ай бұрын

    So well explained

  • @LoudWaffle
    @LoudWaffle Жыл бұрын

    Very cool video! Fascinating to learn not only the "book's" contents, but its history as well. I also didn't even realise its significance in the West.

  • @LaPlumapages101
    @LaPlumapages101 Жыл бұрын

    Love your content!

  • @hannahtunks411
    @hannahtunks411 Жыл бұрын

    Great video, pumping out hits left and right

  • @hunterpicker
    @hunterpicker Жыл бұрын

    Seems pretty similar to the buddhists chants at my Chinese grandpapa’s buddhist funeral.

  • @aaliyahs6600
    @aaliyahs660010 ай бұрын

    Beautiful knowledge thank you ❤

  • @Tekmirion
    @Tekmirion Жыл бұрын

    Nice vid, images and information Andrew

  • @HEROFrogman69
    @HEROFrogman69 Жыл бұрын

    Very glad I found this channel

  • @canisronis2753
    @canisronis2753 Жыл бұрын

    Worth a cup of coffee for sure, very useful!

  • @PaulHaesler
    @PaulHaesler Жыл бұрын

    As far as I know, John Lennon only had access to Timothy Leary's "The Psychedelic Experience" which was loosely based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead - not the Bardo Thodol itself. (Certainly the opening line "Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream" is a quote from Leary's book)

  • @JunguianPhantom

    @JunguianPhantom

    Жыл бұрын

    It reminded me of "wade into the quiet of the stream" said by Hannibal in the eponymous series

  • @majorphenom1
    @majorphenom1 Жыл бұрын

    Thanks for sharing 🙏🏾

  • @shamanic_nostalgia
    @shamanic_nostalgia Жыл бұрын

    Coincidentally been listening to a lot of James Low talks on this and Vajrayana/Dzogchen in general...your videos on Buddhism are some of the best out there in my opinion and incredibly timely

  • @afpwarmodernizationarchive1320
    @afpwarmodernizationarchive1320 Жыл бұрын

    thank you for this enlightening video sensie

  • @chronikhiles
    @chronikhiles Жыл бұрын

    Gotta say, you're the first Westerner I've heard pronounce guru correctly. Appreciate it.

  • @lethemyrsmith2847
    @lethemyrsmith2847 Жыл бұрын

    This is one of the best series on Buddhism on the internet! Keep it up! Very few popular videos on Buddhism portray the religion like it really is because of how many misconceptions there are. I’m excited for the Zen video you teased in another comment.

  • @ekim000
    @ekim000 Жыл бұрын

    Fascinating! Thank you.

  • @donnafraenkel7852
    @donnafraenkel7852 Жыл бұрын

    I did the walk of the bardo....true story Every person should know these scripts

  • @donnafraenkel7852

    @donnafraenkel7852

    Жыл бұрын

    The five wisdoms is very similar as each direction is a different realm and links to character

  • @trevorjennings720

    @trevorjennings720

    Жыл бұрын

    @@donnafraenkel7852 Hello Donna, how are you doing today, hope you’re fine and safe from the COVID-19 virus??

  • @mjr_schneider
    @mjr_schneider Жыл бұрын

    I went to Tibet for about two weeks back in 2017 and learned so much about Tibetan religion and culture just from being there a short time, but was never able to learn about it in the depth that you go into in this video. I would be very interested in seeing you do a video on the Bon religion, because I haven't yet seen anyone do a really thorough explanation of it.

  • @plotinuswashere
    @plotinuswashere Жыл бұрын

    bought a copy of this years ago. great to see this covered by RFB! would also love to see something on the egyptian book of the dead at some point.

  • @badsmilesorrisocattivo
    @badsmilesorrisocattivo Жыл бұрын

    "They have weapon of fire, but have no fear" "Easy to say!"

  • @apollion888
    @apollion888 Жыл бұрын

    Videos like these are why I am glad I found you "I Found It" 🙂

  • @ImzelM
    @ImzelM Жыл бұрын

    Great content!

  • @MSHNKTRL
    @MSHNKTRL Жыл бұрын

    *TERMA: "oh, of course I couldn't have made this up; it was like this when I found it"*

  • @briankleinschmidt3664
    @briankleinschmidt366411 ай бұрын

    It's not a guide to the dead. It is a description of the dying process. I read it (many years ago). It's not a life changing experience, but you can get some good out of it.

  • @jgn1989
    @jgn1989 Жыл бұрын

    This channel has been making me think a bit differently about religions, especially on how they work in practice for those who believe in it. I'd love to watch an essay on spiritualism under Allan Kardec's tradition since it's mostly seen as religion but fundamentally positioned itself as a science amidst the positivism of the 19th century.

  • @Kaiyanwang82
    @Kaiyanwang82 Жыл бұрын

    This was great. Thank you. Funny how I came to know about this years back - it was through a very well-made movie by Adrian Lyne.

  • @AnaspaceshipShow
    @AnaspaceshipShow Жыл бұрын

    ❤ this channel so much

  • @eatalone6782
    @eatalone67822 ай бұрын

    Informative video

  • @JonathanDavisKookaburra
    @JonathanDavisKookaburra Жыл бұрын

    great summary

  • @paradise1group
    @paradise1group Жыл бұрын

    awesome video ! good work

  • @mldouglasjr
    @mldouglasjr Жыл бұрын

    Profoundly interesting. I just happen to be in a seminar that's discussing Westernization, Orientalism, and Buddhism this week. Thanks!

  • @trevorjennings720

    @trevorjennings720

    Жыл бұрын

    Hello Mel, how are you doing today, hope you’re fine and safe from the COVID-19 virus??

  • @dason5408
    @dason54088 ай бұрын

    This is the video I was looking for 🤗😇

  • @kevinnielsen1356
    @kevinnielsen135611 ай бұрын

    Bardo Thodol is only one of six methods to escape ignorance this is within the Terma left by Padmasmbhava. Liberation on seeing is my favorite.

  • @aliseus3773
    @aliseus37738 ай бұрын

    I love your channel! ❤️

  • @ralphhardie7492
    @ralphhardie7492 Жыл бұрын

    🎉 thank you for your hard work. Informative and surprisingly revelatory. I tried to read this decades ago and found it awful but wondered why it had such an awesome reputation. The Egyptian book of the dead, I managed to see one in Tokyo some years ago was far more interesting and instructive for anyone interested in the foundations of religious thought, ideas, philosophy or marketing tools for a rip off zero product. Thanks again for your effort 😊.

  • @TheRealShadowX
    @TheRealShadowX Жыл бұрын

    Great Tibetan Buddhism videos lately.

  • @tripx3033
    @tripx303311 ай бұрын

    First video I saw and did not had a problem, straight 💯 into the point , which is interesting

  • @theunknownfragment5473
    @theunknownfragment547310 ай бұрын

    Don't know how I missed this video but glad I came through it now.

  • @rabbitazteca23
    @rabbitazteca2311 ай бұрын

    Tobetan culture and philosophy is so interesting to me

  • @prismgems
    @prismgems Жыл бұрын

    The part I like is a verse at the end, sort of in an appendix. It goes, O procrastinating one, who thinketh not of the coming of death, Spending your time in the useless doings of this world, Improvident art thou in dissipating thy great opportunity, If thou returneth empty handed from this life. That's more for someone who wants to prepare for death, than someone who hasn't prepared as you described. Lucid dreaming, meditation, both great ways to prepare for the after death experience.

  • @SnackPack913
    @SnackPack91311 ай бұрын

    It always blows my mind how deep and complex various religions are. Centuries of refinement, analysis, religious experiences, all build this extremely deep and mystical lore. Pretty wild what humans can transcribe onto paper

  • @Thescrubsliker
    @Thescrubsliker Жыл бұрын

    I think I experienced this when I was on lsd, even tho I didn’t know much to anything about these concepts except for maybe the name of the book. On one hand I find this really scary, on the other hand I’m relived that I found something that describes my expirence, so I don’t feel alone with it anymore.

  • @assassinweed5390
    @assassinweed5390 Жыл бұрын

    This was so interesting, like every video if you, thanks for the work

  • @_ClearConscious
    @_ClearConscious9 ай бұрын

    We are truly limitless! Don’t let your mind rule you! Love yourself and keep moving forward! ❤

  • @thelostone6981
    @thelostone6981 Жыл бұрын

    Another thorough, objective, and well-stated video! In my philosophical journey, I really latched on to Zen Buddhism as I had visited Japan back in the day. As I tried to read everything I could, I came across this in the early 90s so I bought it and it’s the Wentz version. Still on my bookshelf today. It was a very different feel to my familiarity to Zen and made me feel uncomfortable. But being uncomfortable in one’s skin can help us grow and I’m glad to have read it. (I was drawn to Buddhism because of the focus on one’s self and actions, not out of fear of a deity) So yeah, I was one of the people born in the US who looked into this and viewed it through a western lens. 😂

  • @sidmarx7276

    @sidmarx7276

    Жыл бұрын

    Then you're maybe familiar with Ph. Kapleau's Three Pillars of Zen, in which he accredits the Bardo Thodol's origin to two tracts of Vasubindhu: the Vijnaptimatrasiddhi Shastra and the Abidharmakosa Shastra. (the only readable versions i could find were translations of De La Valee Poussin's, which were heavily edited and hence unsatisfactory)

  • @chrisrichardson8988
    @chrisrichardson8988 Жыл бұрын

    There is a real connection to the ABHIDHAMMA that similarly describes the transmigration to rebirth linking. The Tibetan text is more poetic and personal, whereas the ABHIDAMMA is technical. Of course it’s always encouraging to see these teachings supported among various schools of Buddhist Teachings. Even Shinran Shonin of the Japanese school of Jodo Shinshu writes about ‘Transformed Lands’ which seemingly has to do with the descriptions of transmigration and rebirth linking.

  • @casparcoaster1936
    @casparcoaster1936 Жыл бұрын

    Really interesting, many thanks

  • @stevenvaleriojr1177
    @stevenvaleriojr1177 Жыл бұрын

    I've really been enjoying this series on Buddhism. Are you planning to do one on the Zen sects (or have you done one and I somwhow missed it)? As a Zen (well, technically Soen, it's a Korean lineage) teacher and amateur scholar, I'm very interested to hear your take on it.

  • @ReligionForBreakfast

    @ReligionForBreakfast

    Жыл бұрын

    Yes, a video on Zen is in the works.

  • @stevenvaleriojr1177

    @stevenvaleriojr1177

    Жыл бұрын

    @@ReligionForBreakfast Awesome!

  • @tenzin4997

    @tenzin4997

    Жыл бұрын

    a tibetan monk helped create the written language script for koreans in the court of kublai the phags-pa script

  • @user-xg9ow1sl7b

    @user-xg9ow1sl7b

    Жыл бұрын

    What a pleasure to see a fellow Seon Buddhist here! 🌷

  • @fannyalbi9040

    @fannyalbi9040

    Жыл бұрын

    i found a lot of people rather finding attachments or comfort for certain buddhist sect than achieving buddha hood within

  • @River-ki7ug
    @River-ki7ug Жыл бұрын

    Wow! Centuries later we can find it on KZread! Nice!

  • @kylefenrick9168
    @kylefenrick9168 Жыл бұрын

    Fascinating to meditate upon.

  • @shervinmarsh2456
    @shervinmarsh2456 Жыл бұрын

    I appreciate your neutral analysis of religion. It speaks volumes. I live in Taiwan. I've been to both my in-laws' funerals, and they read from something. I'd be curious to know exactly what it is they are reading and what it means. I supposed it could be a Book of the Dead, but they are Mahayana Buddhists here, and I wasn't aware that they had a similar ceremony.