The Tibetan Buddhist teaching on the six bardos maps the territory of human experience, not as abstract philosophy, but as a practical guide for living and dying well.
A bardo is a gap, a transition, an in-between state. Tibetan practitioners identified six of them: the bardo of everyday life, of dreaming, of meditation, and three bardos related to the dying process. Rather than being exotic or mystical, these teachings offer a framework for working with what’s actually happening in your life right now.
This course pairs two methodologies that Tibetan masters considered inseparable: Dharmakīrti’s Pramāṇavārttika (the science of valid cognition) and the six bardos (the intermediate states we move through constantly, not just at death). We will start with how mind works according to Buddhist epistemology. What counts as direct perception versus conceptual thinking. Then we will track these patterns through waking life, meditation, dreams, dying, the after-death state, and the process of taking rebirth.
The course teaches a way of investigating your own experience that has immediate application. Each week combines philosophical investigation with contemplative practice. By the end, you’ll have both a theoretical map and practical methods for working with consciousness in states ranging from ordinary waking life to the radical transitions of death. While this is not a course for complete beginners, you don’t need an extensive Buddhist background, just genuine interest in understanding your mind and a willingness to question your assumptions about what’s real.
What you’ll gain:
✨ A working understanding of Buddhist epistemology and how it applies to practice
✨ Practical techniques for recognizing the nature of awareness in different states
✨ A process for understanding death and intermediate states
✨ Methods for working with dreams and meditation
✨ Direct investigation into the difference between valid and distorted cognition in your own experience
Join us to learn to work with your mind the way it actually is. Together we’ll investigate the nature of reality and discover how the bardos can be transformed into genuine opportunities for awakening.
Open door, open heart. Donations are always optional.
You may also like the following events from The Buddhist Center Thubten Norbu Ling:
- This Wednesday, 10th December, 12:00 am, Compassion Meditation in Santa Fe, New Mexico
- This Thursday, 11th December, 02:00 am, Heart Advice for Death and Dying in Santa Fe, New Mexico
- This Saturday, 13th December, 10:00 am, The Mindful Path: Meditations for Everyday Wisdom and Wellbeing in Santa Fe
Also check out other
Workshops in St Cloud,
Health & Wellness events in St Cloud.
