What is Tibetan Book Of The Dead?
The Tibetan Book of the Dead is the English translation of the Tibetan texts known as Bardo Thodol (bar-do thos-grol)—“Liberation Through Hearing During the Intermediate State”—and serves as a guide for the soul of the deceased after it has left the body and before it is reborn. The text is a terma from a larger corpus of teachings, the Profound Dharma of Self-Liberation through the Intention of the Peaceful and Wrathful Ones, revealed by Karma Lingpa (1326–1386).
Unlike the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which contains spells for the deceased to carry, the Bardo Thodol is a set of instructions the living read aloud to the dying, and then to the corpse, and then to the empty room where the corpse used to be. For forty-nine days. The text describes the bardos, the intermediate or transitional states that mark an individual’s life from birth, death, and rebirth, a period lasting 49 days with three phases.
Origins & lineage
The original is believed to have been composed in the eighth century c.e. by the great master Padma Sambhava, then hidden away by its author for the salvation of future generations. His principal student, Yeshe Tsogyal, wrote down the teachings. The terma tradition, a practice specific to Tibetan Buddhism, held that certain teachings were too advanced or too dangerous for the present age. Masters concealed them in rocks and lakes, and sometimes in the fabric of consciousness itself, to be rediscovered when the time was right.
Karma Lingpa (1326–1386) was the tertön (revealer) of Bardo Thodol, also known as The Tibetan Book of the Dead. When he was fifteen years old, he discovered several terma texts on top of Mount Gampodar, including a collection of teachings entitled “Profound Dharma of Self-Liberation through the Intention of the Peaceful and Wrathful Ones”. It is the best-known work of Nyingma literature.
The first English translation, by Walter Evans-Wentz in 1927, was given the name “The Tibetan Book of the Dead” as a deliberate echo of the then-popular Egyptian Book of the Dead. The actual translation into English was provided by Kazi Dawa Samdup (1868-1922), who had previously served as interpreter to both the British Government in Sikkim and the Tibetan Plenipotentiary in India. The first full translation was done in 2007 by scholar and translator of Tibetan Buddhism Gyurme Dorje.
How it’s practiced
A lama (Tibetan Buddhist monk) would read the Bardo Thodol aloud to let the soul know what it was encountering, and this understanding would enable a more peaceful transition through the intermediate state to a new form of being. The Bardo thodol is read aloud by a lama or tantric adept (ngag-pa) in the presence of the dead body for 49 days.
Recitation of the Bardo Thödol, typically by a lama, ideally begins before death and continues throughout the 49-day period, helping the deceased navigate confusion and attain a better rebirth. The dead or dying person is guided through encounters in the bardo with wrathful and peaceful deities, beautiful and terrifying, which are to be understood as projections of mind.
When one died, it was believed, one was confronted by the deeds one had done in life personified in the forms of wrathful and peaceful entities. The practice assumes consciousness continues after physical death for a period, and that hearing these instructions can influence the trajectory of the consciousness toward liberation or a favorable rebirth.
Tibetan Book Of The Dead today
Contemporary seekers encounter the Bardo Thodol in multiple forms. Evans-Wentz was deeply impressed by the theosophy of Helena Blavatsky (l. 1831-1891) which taught the Divine Absolute dwelt within each immortal soul that passed through many lifetimes toward liberation, a concept quite close to Buddhism and especially to the Esoteric Buddhism of Tibet. This interpretation has shaped Western reception.
These understandings have been highly influenced by Western spiritualist movements of the 20th and 21st centuries, resulting in efforts to adapt and synthesize various frameworks of “other” religious traditions, particularly those from Asian societies that are viewed as esoteric or mystical. This has resulted in creative forms of appropriation, reinterpretation, and misrepresentation of Tibetan views and rituals surrounding death, which often neglect the historical and religious realities of the tradition itself.
Modern practitioners use the text for meditation retreats, death preparation courses, hospice chaplaincy training, and contemplative practice. The teachings have been integrated into mindfulness-based approaches to dying, grief counseling, and transpersonal psychology. Some Tibetan Buddhist centers offer formal training in phowa (consciousness transference) and bardo practices for both monastics and lay practitioners.
Common misconceptions
The Tibetan Book of the Dead is among the most famous Buddhist texts in the West — and one of the most misunderstood. Its real Tibetan name, Bardo Thödol, means “Liberation Through Hearing During the Intermediate State,” and that is closer to its purpose: not a morbid catalogue of death, but a practical guide read aloud to the dying and the dead.
Evans-Wentz translated only a part of the book, and the translation was based on oral commentary rather than the Tibetan text. Evans-Wentz reworked, edited, and composed lengthy notes to the surviving translations, basing his interpretive conclusions upon material drawn less from the Tibetan Buddhist traditions (with which he was only vaguely familiar) and more from the Spiritualism of Madame Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, and from the neo-Vedantic Hindu views of his Indian guru Swami Satyananda. Consequently, Evans-Wentz’s reworking of Dawa Samdup’s earlier translations and his copious commentarial footnotes are truly idiosyncratic and impressionistic interpretations of the Tibetan Buddhist doctrines contained in the text.
The text is not a general-purpose self-help manual for Westerners seeking enlightenment. It was written for a specific audience within Tibetan Buddhist culture who had been preparing through meditation practice throughout their lives. In Tibet there is no single text directly referred to as the Tibetan Book of the Dead. The English title is a marketing invention that has stuck.
How to begin
For serious study, begin with Gyurme Dorje’s 2007 complete translation, which includes scholarly apparatus and proper context. Robert Thurman’s 1994 translation is another academically rigorous option. Avoid relying solely on Evans-Wentz’s 1927 version without understanding its limitations.
If approaching from a practice perspective, seek instruction from a qualified Nyingma teacher. Many Tibetan Buddhist centers offer courses on death and dying that contextualize the Bardo Thodol within a broader framework of meditation practice. Sogyal Rinpoche’s The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying (1992), though controversial for other reasons, provides accessible contemporary interpretation. Chögyam Trungpa’s commentaries offer another entry point rooted in authentic lineage transmission.
The most honest approach recognizes that the Bardo Thodol was never meant to be read in isolation. It assumes years of preliminary practice, relationship with a teacher, and familiarity with Vajrayana Buddhist view and meditation.