A question about bardos or the astral

almer45

Hi dear friends,

I would like to know something. Buddhist speak about the bardos after death if you are not an enlightened being. There are other religions which speak about the astral (Higher astral, astral of the earth, etc). How can we know for certain the truth about this,that is to say, what there is after death?

(note, I am not an expert in buddhism)

Almer45

MindGate

You can't know for certain. You can know nothing for certain.

Although, if you want, you can experiment with "Astral Projection." It all could be a product of your mind, though. We don't really know.

Hanzze

There are some schools who speak about such things, but its not an issue of Buddhism generally. *smile*

MindGate

There are some schools who speak about such things, but its not an issue of Buddhism generally.

Agreed.

Jeffrey

Hanzie is incorrect. Bardos is a term from Tibetan Buddhism. Whose Buddhism is Truest? is an article which discusses and refutes the notion that Therevada Buddhism is 'the' true buddhism. *smile* D

MindGate

Tibetan Buddhism is one sect of many. Thus, Bardos is not an issue for Buddhism in general. How is this incorrect?

Jeffrey

It depends how you think of it.. I think buddhism in general as a composite of sects.

MindGate

It depends how you think of it.

Fair enough.

almer45

Perhaps, I should have said, "some buddhists tell us about the bardos" referring to Tibetan Buddhism. I have read some Tibetan books, two or three Zen books and only one Theravada book in all my life. I didn't know that in other buddhists sects they didn't believe in the idea of bardos. Then, it is half true what I said. I told you I am not an expert in Buddhism.

I ask you this question because I would like to know if there is a possibility to know what there is behind our physical life. Don't you think that it is important to be prepared when we die? But if we die and things are different to what we thought what life after death is then it can be a bit dissapointing. Don't you think so? It is very notorious to know things in advance. By the way, what does the Theravada tradition in a brief way tell us about life after death?

Almer45

Jeffrey

I believe its possible to be in a meditative state and experience some of the bardos. But only some of them.. Just some bits I read not sure its relevant: There is a white light when desire dissolves, a red light when anger dissolves and a black light when delusion dissolves. Once you see the black light it is not possible to return to your previous life.

That is for a highly accomplished meditator.

My lama wrote a book for lay persons with little meditation experience to understand death. It is called There is More to Death than Dying, by Shenpen Hookham.

MindGate

Read into astral projection (try it too). Read the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Read "Life After Death" by Deepak Chopra and other books like this. - But make sure you look at everything with a skeptic's eye and don't believe everything you hear. In all actuality, no one will know for sure if there is an afterlife until we die. We can be pretty sure, we can know nothing at all too, or we can even think we know for sure... but we really don't.

Some people have personal experiences of past life memories. Some people claim to astral project. Some people claim to have near-death-experiences. But again - look at these things with a skeptic's eye, even if they happen to you.

upekka

How can we know for certain the truth about this,that is to say, what there is after death?

learn about 'Dependent Origination'
try to understand it
you yourself will know the answer for certain
no need to depend on others' speculative answers

Mani

Just as a bit of an aside, "bardo" roughly translates to "intermediate state" or "state in between" from Tibetan to English. So according to the Dzogchen view, there are actually many bardos, with the intermediate state after one's death being only one of them. From the Dzogchen viewpoint, sleep/dream state is a bardo, meditation time is a bardo, and waking reality is also a bardo. In fact, the moment to moment continuum of our minds are also bardo's in this sense.

Mani

Hanzze

So you mean a moment of different awareness/consciousness. Every consciousness moment follows the other without interruption. So life is like a year. It starts with 1 January (birth) and ends with 31 December. Why, because we agree generally so, actually its just another day. Days go on and on in any way. So if we look at Bardo and we are creative we could say this are the days we are still drunken from Silvester *smile* but actually there is no special state of consciousness, just another.

almer45

Thank you for your answers. I have been looking up some of the ideas you have offered me on the internet.

Almer45