The Tibetan Book of Dead

"The Tibetan book of the Dead" is translation work of Prof. Robert Thurman. This book is translation of "The Great Book of Natural Liberation through understanding in-between" or “The Bardo Thodol” in Tibetan. This is the translation of the original composition by Padma Sambhav. There are many translations of this great text. However as per the preface of The Dalai Lama, this one by the author is more realistic. 

The book explains the phenomena of dying and is related to body of literature popular in Tibet which is similar in theme, and is kind of a manual for people who are facing the death of self or of dear ones.

Death is one of the most mystic and researched topic in the world. There is no absolute truth, no explanation which can tell us to what happens after one person dies. This book attempts to tackle and explain the phenomenon with help of Tibetan Buddhism. So the book basically explains the in-between state, which refers to whole process between the death and the rebirth as Tibetan believe in birth after death or reincarnation. 

The book is divided into eight chapters with chapter 1 discussing the background. It explains the Tibetan history, its spiritual civilisation and the problems which are faced today. The chapter points that in a diverse society like Tibet there is a common bond of territory, language and religious tendencies. The chapter explains that Tibet is basically a spiritual civilisation which focuses more on inner modernity rather than outer modernity, which is a characteristic of Western civilisation. This leads to difference between two kind of civilisation. The Tibetan civilisation focuses on in our experiences, sensation, relativity, percept, and concept and dreams. The fourth part explains the teaching of Buddhism and how it has been integral part of Tibetan civilisation, the author states that the main aspects of Buddha Dharma are teacher, teaching and community called as triRatna.

Chapter 2 introduces with the concepts of The Six Realms explaining Preta and Asura and wheel of life which we find in Buddhist temples, The three Buddha Bodies namely truth body, beatific body and Emanation body and Stages of Death, The body-Mind complex. This chapter forms the core for understanding the rest of the book. The Tibetans believe that a dead traverses through eight stage dissolution process.

The boook mentions the three main ethical practices for preparation of death which are taken for granted in Buddhist societies namely:

a. Practice giving things away

b. Practice being more relaxed in your relationships

c. Practice being more relaxed with your body

d. Practicing meditation as it is like a tool. there are several varities to it as discussed in the book.

e. intellectual preparation by gaining wisdom 

Though these are integral part of Tibet, the secular  world is also now propounding these as virtues.

The book deals with death like a process and not a finality. the pyschological aspects of death, the emotional bearing on oneself and loved one and how to traverse through that ultimate truth is key learning. The book will be more relevant and rewarding for those interested in Buddhist literature, meditation.