Bardo refers to an intermediate state between death and rebirth that is a concept in Buddhism, especially Tibetan Buddhism. It describes three transitional phases: the painful bardo of dying between life and death, the luminous bardo of dharmata which is death itself, and the karmic bardo of becoming between the intermediate state and the next life. The bardo concept arose after Buddha and is a central theme of the Tibetan Book of the Dead, which provides guidance on liberation during the intermediate state.
2. It is a concept which arose soon after the Buddha's
passing, with a number of earlier Buddhist groups
accepting the existence of such an intermediate state,
while other schools rejected it.
In Tibetan Buddhism, bardo is the central theme of the
Bardo Thodol (literally Liberation Through Hearing
During the Intermediate State), the Tibetan Book of the
Dead.
6. The painful bardo of dying is the
transition between life and death; the
luminous bardo of dharmata is death
itself, the transition between this life and
the intermediate state; the karmic bardo
of becoming is the transition between the
intermediate state and the next life.
