The Tibetan Book of the Dead, which is more correctly referred to by its actual title, The Great Liberation upon Hearing in the In­termediate State (bar do thos grol chen mo), is traditionally regarded as the work of Padmasambhava, the eighth century founder of the Nyingma-pa Buddhist order and one of the first to bring Buddhism to Tibet. Padmasambhava is believed to have hidden many of his esoteric teachings as literary "treasures" or terma (gter ma) in un­usual and remote locations so that they would later be recovered at a time when their spiritual message would have the most beneficial impact. The remarkable people who discovered these sacred terma texts were identified as "treasure revealers" or tertöns (gter ston). Among the most famous of these discoverers of hidden teachings was Karma Lingpa (Kar ma gling pa, b.ca.1350), who is said to be the revealer of the so-called Tibetan Book of the Dead. According to his biography, Karma Lingpa was born in southeast Tibet as the eldest son of the great Tantric practitioner Nyida Sangye (Nyi zla sangs rgyas). At an early age, he engaged in esoteric practices and was said to have achieved numerous yogic powers. When he turned fifteen, Karma Lingpa discovered several hidden texts (terma) on top of Mount Gampodar. From among these texts he found a collection of teachings entitled The Self-Emergence of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities from Enlightened Awareness (zhi khro dgongs pa rang grol), which included the texts of the now famous Great Liberation upon Hearing in the Bardo.

In Tibet it is commonly held that death is not something that awaits us in some distant future, but something we bring into the world with us at the very moment we are conceived. Our lives run up against death at every step. However, even the seeming finality of death need not be strictly negative; rather, in the religious traditions of Tibet, death is said to provide a unique opportunity for spiritual growth. In fact, the ultimate aim of Tibetan religious practice is the transformation of death into an immortal state of benefit to others. Among Tibet's many and varied religious traditions are found certain esoteric teach­ings that address the art and science of compassionate death. To these traditions belong the wisdom of the Tibetan Books of the Dead. In many respects, these popular texts are manuals of practical instruc­tions for the dying, who are immediately facing death; for those who have died, who are wandering in the intermediate state between lives; and for the living, who are left behind to continue without their loved ones.

Tibetan writing reads from left to right in horizontal lines. It does not employ ideograms like the Chinese, but uses an alphabet derived from a variant of the Devanagri script in which Sanskrit is written, consisting of thirty consonants and four vowels. The script, which is certainly one of the most exquisite forms of writing in Asia, is be­lieved to have been created by Tönmi Sambhota (Thon mi Sambhota) in the mid-seventh century A.D. According to Tibetan tradition, Tön­mi Sambhota was a minister of King Songtsen Gampo (Srong brtsan sgam po, c. 609-650 A.D.), the first Tibetan ruler to be converted to Buddhism. This King had two wives, Wen-ch'eng, the daughter of the Chinese Emperor T'ai-tsung, and Bhrikuti, a princess from Nepal. Both women were devout followers of Buddhism, and at their insis­tence Songtsen Gampo agreed to invite a number of Buddhist teach­ers from different parts of Asia. At the same time, he sent his minister Tönmi to India with instructions to enroll in one of the famed Bud­dhist universities so that he might learn the scribal arts and devise an alphabet suitable for the Tibetan language. After a long and harrowing journey, Tönmi finally arrived in India and for more than a decade sat at the feet of several Indian Buddhist masters, two of whom gave him the name Sambhota, "Good Tibetan." While studying in India, Tönmi Sambhota designed the letters of the Tibetan alphabet and compiled the first grammars of the Tibetan language, thereby providing the Ti­betan people with a means for translating Indian Buddhist scriptures and for recording their own oral traditions. Here it should be stressed that even after the introduction of writing, these oral traditions contin­ued to be a significant element in the transmission of Tibetan culture, in part due to the Buddhist assumption that authentic religious truths are most profoundly conveyed not through writing, but in direct com­munications between master and disciple.

The Tibetan script is considered sacred, since it was created especial­ly for the translation of Buddhist scripture. Over the centuries several forms of lettering have developed, but the two principal types are the block letters, known as u-chen (dbu can, "headed letters"), and the cursive, called u-mé (dbu med, "headless letters"). The block letters are commonly employed in books and printed documents, while the cursive is used in more popular or personal formats. It is not unusual, however, to find printed material in Tibetan cursive. For titles and ornamental purposes other scripts are also employed, such as the high elegance of the seventeenth century Lantsa lettering.

The Art Of Dying

Tibetan literature devoted to the topic of death and dying in the con­text of Buddhist meditative practice is immense. This literature can be organized into several related genres that comprise not only those texts that came to be treated as canonical but also include the instruc­tional advice, dam-ngak (gdams ngag), on yogic and contemplative practice derived from the esoteric experiences of advanced Tantric Buddhist teachers. Characteristically, these instructional systems pro­vide important insights into how the ordinary dying experience, and the subsequent intermediate bardo period, can be altered and purified through a process of intense training, involving the radical manipula­tion of physical and psychological energies to bring about transfor­mative and extra-ordinary states of consciousness.

By at least the sixteenth century, the many traditions of dam-ngak circulating throughout Tibet had been uniformly classified into an eight- fold scheme. Of these eight sets, two are represented in the texts chosen for this section of the exhibit: the traditions derived from the teachings of the Indian supermen (siddha, "perfected ones") Tilo­pa and Naropa, which were transmitted to Marpa Chökyi Lodrö (Mar pa chos kyi blo gros, 1012- 1097); and the lineage drawn from the teachings of Khyung-po Nenjor (Khyung po rnal Îbyor, d.ca.1135).

Having Once Died & Then Returned To Life

The de-lok (Îdas log) is a figure in the literature of Tibetan popular re­ligion who Îdiesâ (Îdas), enters the intermediate bardo state, tours the netherworld, and Îreturnsâ (log) to report his or her afterlife experi­ences and to convey messages about the importance of moral conduct and religious commitment. Biographies of these individuals generally emphasize three points: the Buddhist principles of suffering and im­permanence, the fluctuations of karma, and the means by which suf­fering can be eliminated. As such, the de-lok accounts are in accord with the basic teachings of Buddhism. Unlike the more formal texts included in the genres of Tibetan death literature, such as the Tibetan Book of the Dead, which are meant to be used primarily as guides for the deceased, recitations and readings of the de-lok biog­raphies are aimed exclusive­ly at a living lay audience. While parallels can be found between these popular texts and those of a more techni­cal nature, the de-lok biog­raphies rarely contain all of the details described in the advanced theoretical works. In addition, it is interest­ing to note that recent com­parative and cross-cultural studies have demonstrated that the death-related events recounted in these Tibetan biographies are remarkably similar to the personal ac­counts of near-death experi­ence (NDE) reported in the United States and Europe.

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