The Bardo Thödol. Padmasambhava's liberation through hearing in the intermediate state.
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.
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.
The Diamond Vehicle — the tantric path that uses mantra, visualization, deity yoga, and direct transmission to make buddhahood possible in a single lifetime, in this very body, provided one has the right empowerment from a qualified lineage holder.
Eighth-century tantric master from Uddiyana who brought Vajrayana to Tibet at the invitation of King Trisong Detsen, founded Samye monastery in 779 CE, subdued the protector spirits of the Himalayan land, and concealed teachings — the terma — for retrieval by future generations. The founding figure of the Nyingma school and, in the Tibetan imagination, a second Buddha.
