Tibetan Book of the Dead

Impact

The Tibetan Book of the Dead is a spiritual guide that is both meaningful and essential to everyday life. It influences the way people view life and death: If people have a holistic view of their existence, they will no longer be oppressed by the fear of the inevitable dying and death. Unlike the West, which is a global trailblazer in science and technology, the East—especially Asian countries like China—has been very advanced in the spiritual and psychological spheres. The people of Eastern nations are seemingly more attuned to grasping the meaning of life through meditation and yoga. The Tibetan Book of the Dead tells us it is possible to recognize that all phenomena are actually none other than reflections of our true nature of mind. This text highlights the Eastern exploration of the psychic and spiritual world. It tells people that death is not the termination of life; rather, it is the beginning of another existence or another form of being; in other words, it is an extension of people’s existence.

The history of Tibetan Buddhism during the first millennium of the Common Era was erratic at best. In the ninth century, King Langdarma launched persecutions of Buddhists and threw his support to the native Bon religion. Warfare flourished, monasteries were destroyed, and thousands of Buddhist monks and laypersons were murdered. Accordingly, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, along with other Buddhist texts, was hidden in caves and other secret places to be discovered in later centuries, when they were designated as thermas, a Tibetan word that means “treasures.” The discoverers of the text were called tertons, and these spiritual leaders propagated Tibetan Buddhism in the centuries that followed. Buddhism revived in Tibet in the eleventh century with the arrival of Atisa, an Indian monk, and the establishment of the Sakya Order of Buddhism by Khon Kongchog Gyalpo, a member of a Tibetan noble family. In the twenty-first century, the Tibetan Book of the Dead continues to embody the Buddhist view of death as a journey upon which people should embark calmly and gracefully.