Life Stage

Dying

For the last passage. The Bardo Thödol, the Mahaparinirvana, the Buddha lying between the sal trees.

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Knowledge

Tibetan manuscript pages of the Bardo Thödol on display

TextsVajrayana

The Tibetan Book of the Dead

A 14th-century Tibetan terma text revealed by Karma Lingpa — instructions to be read aloud to the dying and the dead, guiding consciousness through the bardo states between death and rebirth.

ConceptsVajrayana

The Bardo

In Tibetan Buddhism, the bardo is the intermediate state between death and the next rebirth — but more broadly, any transitional state. The Bardo Thödol maps these states as terrains of practice and recognition.

Gandharan stone relief of the Parinirvana of the Buddha, surrounded by grieving disciples

Core Teachings

Nirvana and Parinirvana

Nirvana is the extinction of the fires of greed, hatred, and delusion — the unconditioned reality realised when craving ceases. Parinirvana is the final passing of an awakened being beyond the conditioned aggregates at death.

Sacred Sites

india arc

Kushinagar

The Parinirvana.

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