Bardo (yoga)

Tibetan name
Tibetan script : བར་ དོ་
Wylie transliteration : bar do
Pronunciation in IPA : [ pʰàrtò ]
Official transcription of the PRCh : Pardo
Other spellings: Pardo
Chinese name
Traditional : 中有
Simplified : 中有

Bardo ( Tibetan for " intermediate state , inclusion, relocation, inherent givenness of the mind"; Sanskrit अन्तर्भाव IAST antarbhāva ) is the name for the possible states of consciousness according to the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism , in this world and in the hereafter . The Tibetan Book of the Dead contains descriptions of the Chikhai-Bardo , Chönyi-Bardo and Sidpa-Bardo .

The Six Yogas of Naropa combine each of the six Bardos with a yoga and meditation technique :

Tummo Shinay-Bardo

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Milam Milam-Bardo

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Ösel Samten-Bardo ${\ displaystyle \ triangleright}$
Phowa Chikhai-Bardo ${\ displaystyle \ triangleright}$
Bardo Tschönyi-Bardo ${\ displaystyle \ triangleright}$
Gyulü Sipa-Bardo ${\ displaystyle \ triangleright}$

The aim of these yogas is to recognize the phenomena occurring in the bardos as projections of one's own mind in order to leave Saṃsāra ( cycle of birth , life , death and rebirth ) and reach nirvāṇa .

From the knowledge of the illusory nature of the phenomena in the Bardos follows the experience of the ultimate nature of things and with it the Great Liberation .

origin

The roots of the term “bardo” can be found in numerous spiritual traditions of the Middle and Far East. The distinction between different levels of being in life and in death can be found among others. a. in the so-called Egyptian Book of the Dead , which in its earliest parts was about 2,500 BC. BC, as well as in the Upanishads , which as part of the Hindu Vedas to approx. 800–500 BC. To be dated.

In the three-part Pali canon , the oldest, closed, traditional series of written doctrinal and religious rules of Buddha Siddhartha Gautama , which is the basis of the oldest school of Buddhism, Theravada , the text compilation of the medium-length discourses, the Majjhima-Nikaya , is next to father and mother presupposes a third, otherworldly being as a necessity. This passage was considered by the proponents of the between-existence theory as sufficient evidence of the same and became the starting point for interschool discussions.

Even around the 1st century, the "Great Commentary" of the Buddhist Sarvastivada school postulates the existence of the intermediate state as given.

The “bardos” can first be traced back to the Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna (approx. 2nd century). However , according to legend , it was the people's saint of the Tibetans, Padmasambhava (8th to 9th century) who brought the knowledge of the intermediate states to Tibet in the form of Bardo Thödröl, known to us under the title “Tibetan Book of the Dead” . They were finally brought into a systematic, empirical-religious context by the Tibetan master Nāropa (11th century). In his Six Yogas of Naropa he documented the teaching construct of the levels of consciousness in connection with accompanying meditation techniques.

The Dzogchen tradition also received and passed on the knowledge of the states of consciousness of the human mind in its own transmission lines.

Systematics

The bardos are usually divided into six broad categories. There are also less differentiating systematizations with only three to four different states.

Shinay-Bardo , the natural state of the place of birth ( Tibetan རང་བཞིན་ སྐྱེ་ གནས་ ཀྱི་ བར་ དོ་ Wylie rang bzhin skye gnas kyi bar do , Sanskrit चण्ड अन्तर्भाव IAST jāti-antarābhava )
Here is the state of the "normal" Wakefulness is meant, which is generally considered to be the best known to humans. The practitioner acquires the desired posture associated with this bardo through mindfulness exercises that are intended to evoke a sharpened feeling of being. In Shinay-Bardo, clinging to concepts and material is particularly strong and should be given up.

Milam-Bardo , the state of dreaming ( Tibetan རྨི་ལམ་ གྱི་ བར་ དོ་ Wylie rmi lam gyi bar do , Sanskrit स्वप्नअन्तर्भाव IAST svapnāntarābhava )
The second most common state of consciousness for most people is that of dreaming. It usually occurs during what are known as REM sleep phases . Special training aims to ensure that thinking and “ acting ” can also be consciously controlled in dreams ( lucid dream ). Letting go of the concept of one's own body with the limitations associated with reception and motor skills in favor of a focus on cognition and association allow the trinity of subject , object and activity to merge in the mind .

Samten-Bardo , the state of ecstatic equilibrium during deep meditation ( Tibetan ཏིང་ ངེ་ འཛིན་ བསམ་གཏན་ གྱི་ བར་ དོ་ Wylie ting nge 'dzin bsam gtan gyi bar do , Sanskrit समाधि अन्तर्भाव IAST samādhi-antarābhava )
This one State can best be compared to a formless experience of being with clear awareness.

Chikhai-Bardo , the (painful) state at the moment of death ( Tibetan འཆི་ ཁའི་ བར་ དོ་ ( འཆི་ ཁ་ སྡུག་བསྔལ་ གྱི་ བར་ དོ་ Wylie 'chi kha'i bar do ), Sanskrit IAST -Transliteration mumūrṣāntarābhava )
This state is about the time shortly before, during and shortly after medical death . The different experience of this period is essentially determined by the stability of the previously internalized knowledge about it. Very extensive, simulative and therefore not harmless meditation techniques for the physical well-being make it possible to familiarize oneself with the circumstances of this bardo during one's life span. The focus is on the one hand on the ability to adequately, personal preparation for the imminent death, to recognize beyond doubt (signs of death) the occurrence of the same, as well as the "correct" behavior afterwards.

Tschönyi-Bardo , the state of experiencing reality ( Tibetan ཆོས་ ཉིད་ བར་ དོ་ Wylie chos nyid bar do , Sanskrit धर्मअन्तर्भाव IAST dharmatāntarābhava ) Definitely
separated from the living human body, the remaining entity sees itself numerous within symbolic 14 days Challenges of confrontation with positive and negative aspects or archetypes created by one's own spirit (in the Tibetan Book of the Dead: 42 peaceful and 58 angry deities) contrasted with oneself. Recognizing this as a self-created illusion is an essential goal of this bardo.
Sipa-Bardo , reincarnation in Saṃsāra ( Tibetan སྲིད་པའི་ བར་ དོ Wylie ་ 'srid pa'i bar do , Sanskrit भावअन्तर्भाव bhavāntarābhava )
If the phenomena occurring in Tschönyi-Bardo are not recognized as projections of one's own mind, they manifest in Sipa-Bardo (Bardo of becoming), the rebirth in one of the six realms . After a funeral judgment presided over by Yama , the deceased goes through the phenomena of this bardo produced by his karma. Yama should be recognized as a projection of one's own mind in order to achieve liberation. The qualia during the Sipa-Bardo range from very pleasant to nightmarish, depending on the karma. The Sipa-Bardo always ends with the rebirth either in the Milam-Bardo , when entering a mother's womb, or the Shinay-Bardo with a spontaneous birth in a divine or hell realm. The person on the verge of rebirth is reborn either as a child of their future parents or spontaneously in one of the six realms because of their karma. The qualia of the deceased upon re-entry into the Shinay-Bardo or the Milam-Bardo correspond to those of the dying process in reverse order. The last perception on the border of Sipa-Bardo is identical to that of Chikhai-Bardo : "And so life begins as it ends: With the perception of clear light."

According to the teaching, all bardos have in common that they offer more or less obvious and different possibilities of liberation, which, however, must be actively seized by the individual.

research

The various levels of bardos receive varying degrees of attention in the natural sciences and humanities . While the material processes of life - dream and meditative states included - through medicine , psychology , physics and chemistry already today z. Some of them are very broadly covered, raise questions about a non-existential existence of whatever kind, at least from today's perspective, insurmountable, epistemological hurdles a. are also justified in missing, suitable, methodological approaches. The systematic collection and evaluation of authentic reports and historical writings on near-death experiences and out-of-body experiences is a first examination of the subject, with proximity to the controversial parapsychology .

Well-known scientists such as the Swiss physician and psychologist Carl Gustav Jung , the American philosopher Ken Wilber and the Czech medical philosopher , psychotherapist and psychiatrist Stanislav Grof have dealt with some or all of the Bardos and, through their z. T. extensive work on it done valuable services for understanding the same.

literature

German books

Dalai Lama : The Path to a Meaningful Life: The Book of Living and Dying. 1st edition. Herder, Freiburg 2006, ISBN 3-451-05642-9 .
Alexandra David-Néel : Saints and Sorcerers. Faith and superstition in the land of Lamaism . WA Brockhaus, Leipzig 1931, DNB 572674171 .
Alexandra David-Néel: My way through heaven and hells . Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-596-16458-5 .
Walter Y. Evans-Wentz : Milarepa, Tibet's great yogi . OW Barth, Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 3-502-65191-4 .
Walter Y. Evans-Wentz: The Tibetan Book of the Dead or The After-Death Experience on the Bardo Level . Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf 2003, ISBN 3-538-07173-X .
Ingrid Fischer-Schreiber, Franz-Karl Ehrhard, Michael S. Diener: Lexicon of the Eastern wisdom teachings. 4th edition. OW Barth, Frankfurt am Main 1997, ISBN 3-502-67403-5 .
Francesca Fremantle: The Tibetans' Book of the Dead. (= Diederichs Yellow Series. Volume 6). Diederichs, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-424-00506-1 .
Stanislaw Grof: The adventure of self-discovery: healing through changed states of consciousness. A guide . Rowohlt, Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-499-19640-9 .
Stanislaw Grof: Topography of the Unconscious. 7th edition. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-608-95232-2 .
Monika Hauf: The Tibetan Book of the Dead. 4th edition. Piper, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-492-23694-4 .
Jolande Jacobi : The Psychology of CG Jung: An Introduction to the Complete Works. 21st edition. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-596-26365-4 .
Philip Kapleau: The Zen Book of Living and Dying . OW Barth bei Scherz, Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 3-502-61057-6 .
Gregoire Kolpaktchy: The Egyptian Book of the Dead. 6th edition. OW Barth bei Scherz, Frankfurt am Main 1979.
Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche: The Bardo Book: A Guide through Life, Death and Rebirth . Schirner, Darmstadt 2008, ISBN 978-3-89767-618-3 .
Sogyal Rinpoche : The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. A key to a deeper understanding of life and death . Scherz, Frankfurt am Main 1999, ISBN 3-502-67008-0 .
Ken Wilber: The Spectrum of Consciousness. 6th edition. Rowohlt, Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-499-18593-8 .
Ken Wilber: Integral Psychology: Mind, Consciousness, Psychology, Therapy . Arbor, Freiburg 2001, ISBN 3-924195-69-2 .
Kay Zumwinkel: The Buddha's Discourses from the Middle Collection: Majjhima Nikaya; 3 volumes . Jhana-Verlag, Oy-Mittelberg 2001, ISBN 3-931274-13-6 .

Books in other languages

André Bareau: Les sectes bouddhiques du Petit Véhicule . École Francaise d'Extreme-Orient, Saigon 1955, OCLC 760543447 .
JH Brennan: Tibetan magic and mysticism . Llewellyn Worldwide, Woodbury MN 2006, ISBN 0-7387-0713-9 .
Glenn H. Mullin: The Practice of the Six Yogas of Naropa . Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca NY 2006, ISBN 1-55939-256-8 .
Glenn H. Mullin: The Six Yogas of Naropa: Tsongkhapa's Commentary . Snow Lion Publications, Ithaca NY 2005, ISBN 1-55939-234-7 .

Internet

Explanations of the Bardos by Lopön Tsechu Rinpoche on Buddhism today

www.bardo.org - The Bardo of Death Studies , a site that tries to approach the topic systematically

The six bardos . Writing of a teaching from Kalu Rinpoche from 1982

Chapter 6: The Tibetan After-Life . Part of a website for a comparative understanding of different spiritual traditions on the subject of "death"

Footnotes

↑ nitartha.org
↑ spokensanskrit.de
↑ MN 38,26: "... but the being that is to be born again ...", according to Translation by Kay Zumwinkel
↑ Pro: Sarvāstivāda, Darṣṭāntika, Vātsīputrīyas, Saṃmitīya, Pūrvaśaila and the older Mahīśāsaka schools; Contra: Mahāsaṃghika, Theravāda, Vibhajyavāda, Śāriputra Abhidharma and the younger Mahīśāsaka schools
↑ Mahavibhasha, "great detailed explanation" on the Jnanaprasthana of the modified Sanskrit version of the Pali canon: "... the being in the intermediate state, which paves the way from one to the next existence ..."

[1] tartha.org

[2] spokensanskrit.de

[3] MN 38,26: "... but the being that is to be born again ...", according to Translation by Kay Zumwinkel

[4] Pro: Sarvāstivāda, Darṣṭāntika, Vātsīputrīyas, Saṃmitīya, Pūrvaśaila and the older Mahīśāsaka schools; Contra: Mahāsaṃghika, Theravāda, Vibhajyavāda, Śāriputra Abhidharma and the younger Mahīśāsaka schools

[5] Mahavibhasha, "great detailed explanation" on the Jnanaprasthana of the modified Sanskrit version of the Pali canon: "... the being in the intermediate state, which paves the way from one to the next existence ..."