The Bard (Intermediate State)

The term refers to the state reached by the soul after having crossed the boundaries of present life. We can think of it as a “life between lives”: a time in which the spirit rests before being re-incarnated in the next existence.

It is common in regressive hypnosis sessions to witness patients speak of a suspended period between re-incarnations.

History:

Indians deeply believed in the existence of this period of suspension beyond life and named it with the Sanscrit word antarabhāva. According to Tibetan tradition, after death we experience various well defined stages that follow a specific sequence of breakdown of the body as well as of evolution of the spirit.

The Bard Todrol, also known as the Tibetan Book of the Dead, contains a series of instructions to be delivered by a trusted person to the dying.

These instructions are of extremely ancient origin and date back to the pre-Buddhist times in Tibetan history. They were compiled by Padmasambhava who buried them in the Gampo Mountains of central Tibet. In more recent times, they were recovered by Karma Lingpa, the re-incarnation of one of Padmasambhava’s disciples.

According to Tibetan tradition, each period of our lives is called Bard, there is then a natural life bard stretching from birth to death, a painful bard of death in case of agony leading to death, a luminous bard of Dharmata in which the soul is conscious of the true nature of its own mind during a post death period.

There is also a bard of becoming: the time preceding rebirth in which we are able to look upon every moment of our past life and of our previous re-incarnations. During this time we re-live every act and all the joy and pain in order to analyze our Karma.

Suggested reading:

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Sogyal Rinpoche