A few years back I heard a report out of Tibet, that a lama had called a dead woman back to life. Supposedly, this was done by reciting parts of the “Book of the dead” over the corpse.
No word on what the revived corpse had to say, but what is this book anyway? Is it available in English translation?
I’d like to give this one a try!
Sure, I could be wrong about this, but…no he didn’t.
That being said, I’d still like to hearty recommend that you (or anyone else who looks into this thread) go out and read The Book of the Dead (or the Journey of the In-between , or the Book of Living and Dying, depending on the publisher’s / translator’s preference). I had the wonderful opportunity of taking a class with Robert A. Thurman (yes, Uma’s Pa) so I would also like to recommend his translation. It also includes an excellent introduction to Tibetan Buddhism (and Buddhism in general). It is a fantastic work, quite capable of changing your life without necessarily changing your religion.
Once in a while you can get shown the light
in the strangest of places
if you look at it right…
I haven’t heard that story either.
“The Great Liberation through Hearing in the Bardo”, or the “Tibetan Book of the Dead”, is traditionally read as a person dies in order to guide them through the death process and in the after-death states.
Robert Thurman’s translation is excellent. Another book that clarifies the complexities of Tibetan Buddhism, especially regarding death, is “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying” by Sogyal Rinpoche.
Both of these teachers travel, and if you have the chance to hear them, don’t miss it! I saw them together teaching a seminar at the International Conference on Tibetan Medicine, and was amazed at their ability to explain very difficult concepts to our Western minds. With good humor too!
What exactly happens to someone (Bardo?) after they die? Do they hang around for a while before being re-incarnated? How about the people that claim to remember their past life-what does the book say about this?
This book was also fixated upon by Timothy Leary and crowd, who found it an exceedingly apt description of the trip. I never tripped like they did, so I can’t say.