z (06/18/82)
The Tibetan Book of the Dead is a Buddhist text written about 1200 years ago which describes the process of death and rebirth. It describes the process of dying, the separation of consciousness from the body, the brief wandering of the disembodied consciousness in this world, the wandering of the consiousness in the bardo (intermediate state between life and death), the process of choosing a new birth, and the process of actually entering the new birth. One point which is made continually is that one's experiences after death are merely the projections of one's own mind, and result from the actions (karma) one has committed during one's previous lives. Even the choice of one's future birth is determined largely by karma, as it is very difficult to break the pattern of likes and dislikes built up over many lifetimes. On another note, someone mentioned that it would be a real drag to have to go round and round in the cycle of birth and death forever. Definitely true. In fact, all the philosophies that I know of which propound the doctrine of reincarnation also say that it is possible to leave this cycle by attaining enlightenment and realizing the true nature of reality, such as the Buddha did. It's hard to describe enlightenment, since if it were easily understood it could be easily attained, but one thing which can be said about it is that it is a state totally beyond all suffering. The philosophies which propound reincarnation prescribe various spiritual practices which have as their ultimate goal the attainment of this state of enlightenment and freedom from the cycle of birth and death. Steve Zimmerman