Intermediate State

By Dudjom Rinpoche
A Talk Given on the Occasion of the Empowerment of the Thousand Buddhas Associated with the Sadhana of the Noble Compassionate One, the Lord of Space It has been said that the whole of the Buddha’s doctrine could be summarized in the teaching on the six bardos.
The Buddhadharma is vast and profound, and the many approaches of the various vehicles and cycles of teaching comprise an inconceivable wealth of instruction.

For those who wish to attain the primordial citadel of Buddhahood in the course of a single human life, the practice of these teachings is presented within the framework of the six bardos.

What, therefore, is a bardo? A bardo is a state that is “neither here nor there”: by definition it is something that comes “in between,” an intermediate state. The six bardos are:

1. the natural bardo of the present life
2. the hallucinatory bardo of dreaming
3. the bardo of meditative absorption
4. the painful bardo of dying
5. the luminous bardo of ultimate reality
6. the karmic bardo of becoming

Continue reading →

This was provided by Rinpoche teaching, California in 1980.

First is the bardo of birth and life; second, the bardo of meditation; 
third, the bardo of dreaming; fourth, the bardo of death 
and dying; fifth, the bardo of the true nature; and sixth, the bardo
 of becoming.

These six can be abridged to four: the bardo of birth 
and life, the bardo of death and dying, the bardo of true nature,
 and the bardo of becoming. Of these four the bardo of birth and
 life is most important because right now we all have a precious
 human birth with the eighteen endowments.
We have available 
to us teachers who are to a certain degree well qualified, and the
teaching we receive is a wish-fulfilling jewel, the very precious 
teaching of the sutras and tantras. It is rare to have such a precious opportunity. Don’t waste your timewhen you have everything going for you. Continue reading →