Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, The

Sogyal Rinpoche's 1992 publication, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, is a work partly based upon the Tibetan Buddhist text Bardo Thödol, or Tibetan Book of the Dead. Sogyal Rinpoche's text interprets and expands upon many of the teachings in the Bardo Thödol and includes personal stories of struggles with death, dying, and grief in the 20th century. This entry overviews the book's content.

Content

The four main parts, “Living,” “Dying,” “Death and Rebirth,” and a “Conclusion,” of the 425-page [Page 952]book explain Sogyal Rinpoche's interpretations of the Bardo Thödol and offer advice in the style of many popular psychology works on coping with caregiving, death, and the dying process. Details of translations from the Bardo Thödol are not provided in The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. Sogyal Rinpoche explains basic assumptions within the Buddhist view of reality, including karma, rebirth, the impermanence of all things, and meditation as a means to liberation from the repeated cycle of rebirth and death. Particularly Tibetan Buddhist beliefs are also explained, including the concept of bardol (or in-between states) experienced immediately after the time of death, between one life and rebirth in the next. Each of the book's parts is punctuated with accounts of individuals struggling with terminal diseases, grief, or suffering in general. Sogyal Rinpoche often draws parallels between Buddhist and Christian concepts, such as compassion, patience, and the Buddha and Jesus as great teachers, suggesting that the book is meant primarily for Western audiences. Sogyal Rinpoche also draws upon Western poets such as Rainer Maria Rilke, William Blake, and Percy Bysshe Shelley to further establish commonalities between Buddhist and Western epistemologies and modes of contemplation, as well as contemporary scholars and authors such as Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Cicely Saunders for foundational theories of grieving processes and caregiving advice. A portion of the book's Part Three on “Death and Rebirth” interprets near death experiences (NDEs) in Buddhist terms, referencing the Bardo Thödol in detail to argue that NDEs are accepted in the Tibetan Buddhist worldview as valid accounts of what happens in bardo existences. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying also contains four appendices, “My Teachers,” “Questions About Death,” “Two Stories,” and “Two Mantras.” These sections address contemporary questions about Buddhist attitudes toward such issues as suicide, abortion, and organ donation; provide further personal stories, such as those of an English cancer patient and an American man with AIDS coping with pain; and offer meditative prescriptions for the dying or grieving.

The 1992 publication begins with a brief Foreword by Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, who emphasizes the importance of a meditative and virtuous state of mind for a good life and a good death, both defined as opportunities for enlightenment.

BardoExistences

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying is partly based on the Bardo Thödol, perhaps best translated as “Liberation Through Hearing,” a reference to the opportunities presented in the bardo stages for liberation from samsara, the world of birth, death, and rebirth. The text is popularly known in English as the Tibetan Book of the Dead. The Tibetan Buddhist sacred scripture is attributed to Padmasambhava, the 8th-century yogin, and contains deeply rich symbolism often characteristic of the Vajrayana school of Buddhism. It teaches, in agreement with all Buddhist schools, that there is no self or soul, and desires attached to the imagined self must be overcome in order to achieve release from endless rebirths. According to the Bardo Thödol, the period of 49 days, divided into three states or stages, from the moment of death and after is a time in which the deceased will either find liberation or reenter samsara. The words of the Bardo Thödol are both explicit instruction and comfort through this passage. In the Chikhai Bardo (or “moment of death” state), consciousness separates from the body. In the Chönyid Bardo (or state of experiencing “supreme reality”), powerful visions caused by one's own illusions of ego appear. The person must conquer the projected images as representations of his or her own desires. Finally, in the Sidpa Bardo (or “becoming” state), the person is drawn to samsara, and the chances for liberation are greatly decreased. The deceased is “becoming” again and searches for a body. It is these three stages of existence that form the basis for Sogyal Rinpoche's discussions and commentaries on death, dying, and the ideal life.

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