Transcending Madness: The Experience Of The Six Bardos

Generally the Tibetan word bardo is associated with life after death and reincarnation. Here bestselling author Chogyam Trungpa discusses bardo in a very different sense--as the peak experience of any given moment--and shows how these six patterns present an opportunity to transmute daily experience into freedom.

The Tibetan word bardo is usually associated with life after death. Here, Ch?gyan Trungpa discusses bardo in a very different sense: as the peak experience of any given moment. Our experience of the present moment is always colored by one of the six psychological states: the god realm (bliss), the jealous god real (jealousy and lust for entertainment), the human realm (passion and desire), the animal realm (ignorance), the hungry ghost realm (poverty and possessiveness), and the hell realm (aggression and hatred). In relating these realms to the six traditional Buddhist bardo experiences, Trungpa provides an insightful look at the "madness" of our familiar psychological patterns and shows how they present an opportunity to transmute daily experience into freedom.