I heard in Tibetan Buddhism the soul will remain in Bardo after death.
In what form or manner is this entity, after it detaches from the body at death, perceives the physical reality?
Yeah, I don't get it.
The grammar is not so perfect.
criticize that, but it's hard to understand exactly what's being asked there.
Perceived?
In what manner is it perceived, or what manner does it perceive the physical reality?
Well, first of all, I'm not a Tibetan Buddhist, so I'm not going to comment exactly, and it may not be the exact answer to the question, but
I don't actually think that Tibetan Buddhists believe in a soul.
I'm not positive on that, but I would highly doubt it that the Tibetan Buddhists do believe such a thing.
What they believe is the being continues, or the existence continues in what they call the bardo.
Now, maybe they do have the idea that there is a soul there.
I'm sure some people do.
Of course, many Buddhists do have attachment to the soul.
Until you become a sotapanna, you still have the potential to cling to .
Cling to self.
But the truth of what's going on there is there is experience.
There is the arising and ceasing of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling, thinking.
In Theravada Buddhism, we might call that a ghost.
And I know in Tibetan Buddhism they say 49 days is the time that they stay in the bardo.
I think in Theravada Buddhism we're not so clear on the 49 days, but it may be the truth.
People have actually kind of verified this, that on the 50th day the ghost comes and says goodbye or something like that.
We would just say it's a ghost.
The point is that it's not in between.
It's not an antarabhava.
in an ultimate sense.
It's not between existences.
It is an existence in and of itself.
If a person who dies, if the experience continues on locally or even remotely or in whatever location without the arising of a coarse material body, we consider that to be a bhava in and of itself.
It's an existence.
the existence of the being has continued.
And how long it lasts, it might last a short time, it might last a long time.
Usually I would say depending on the karma, if the person has done the karma to lead them to be a ghost for a long time, then they might stay in that state for longer than 49 days.
The Tibetans have interesting ideas about what that being perceives.
Now, when they are getting ready to go on to the next life, they will perceive all sorts of crazy stuff.
They'll perceive, well, technically they'll perceive one of three things.
They'll perceive the, so up until this point they would perceive reality kind of like an angel.
They would perceive people maybe flying around, kind of like floating around and
They would see the people crying over their dead body and they'd be unable to communicate with these people.
Or they might go here or go there based on their attachment to their past lives.
But then at the moment when they're going to move on, one of three things will come to them.
And this, of course, can also come at the moment of death in the body.
So without actually leaving the body, a person can go directly, apparently can go directly to heaven or hell or wherever.
based on the arising of three things.
So whether it's still in the body or whether it's after having left the body, there will be one of three experiences.
One, an experience or a remembrance of the karma that one has done.
I did a talk a while back.
I should probably do a video.
I don't know that I've ever done a video on the 12 types of karma, but there are four types that are pertinent here.
there is karma that is niyata, the garu kamma, the kamma that is sure.
After you've done this karma, that's what's going to lead to the rebirth.
So if you've killed your father, killed your mother, killed an Arahant, hurt a Buddha, or caused a schism in the Sangha, if you've done any of these things, then...
That's what's going to come to you.
You're going to remember the karma, or you're going to remember a symbol of the karma.
So there's kama nimitta, then there's kama, kama nimitta.
So a symbol of the karma.
You might not remember the actual act, think of the actual act, but instead you'll think of something that symbolizes it.
So if you killed someone, you might see a knife, or you might see blood, or so on.
If you've done this, you'll see something that reminds you of it, or that is symbolic of it.
Or third, you might see ,, you might see an image of the way that you're going to go.
So some people actually feel like they're flying up to heaven, or they're taking a trip.
Kids who were reborn, kids who remember their past lives, will say they remember traveling to the house that they were born in.
And they're standing outside of this house, and suddenly,
born in the womb of the woman inside the house.
This is called gati nimitta, so the person sees the destination, a vision or a dream of the destination.
So if it's garu kamma, it will be, if you've done any really, really bad deeds, it will be based on this.
If you did something particularly potent at the moment of death,
then you're more likely to remember, but you haven't done a garukamma, then you're likely to remember that.
If there's nothing you've done, particularly at the moment of death, and you haven't performed garukamma, then you'll remember some karma that you did repeatedly that was habitual, the chinakamma.
Something that, so if you were a thief and you stole, continue, you stole regularly, or if you were a murderer, a hunter, or a
a butcher or so on, then this is what would come back to you as one of these three things.
Or that one of these three things would be based on that karma.
And if not, then it will be just some sort of karma that you perform, meaning some experience that had an effect on your mind that caused you to
attached to it, like it or dislike it or so on, and so was some sort of karma in the mental sense.
So that's the last perception, and at that moment, and Tibetan Buddhism, as I understand, they talk about this as well, how there will be an image or a vision come up, and you'll be attracted to that, and if you're not mindful at that moment, you'll get sucked into it and be reborn based on it.
So that's the process.
Now, as far as the existence up to that time, well, as I said, it's either the moment of death passing on, or else at the moment of death, there's an out-of-body experience, like the bardo, and then eventual continuing on into the next life.