The Illustrated Tibetan Book of the Dead: A New Reference Manual for the Soul

by Stephen Hodge, Martin Boord

Uniquely blending poetry and prose, this magnificently illustrated modern adaptation of the Buddhist “reference manual to the soul” offers spiritual teachings that are practical for today’s world. Adapted from a version written by one of Tibet’s great spiritual leaders in the 8th century. “A new translation and commentary...features lively poetry and prose accompanied by lavish full-color illustrations.”— Publishers Weekly.

Genres: Buddhism, Religion

128 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1999

Reviews

[Lynne King · Rating 4 out of 5]

To die, to sleep;
To sleep; perchance to dream; ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause.

And what a better way to start this beautifully illustrated and abridged version of the Tibetan Book of the Dead (known as the Bardo Thodol which describes the six Bardos), than with a quote from Shakespeare and this rather interesting introduction:

From the earliest times until the recent past, the vast majority of people have believed in some form of survival after death. It is only in modern times that uncertainty about an afterlife or even complete disbelief in one has gained common consideration. Yet we are all faced by the same dilemma that tormented Hamlet as he contemplated suicide. Most of us really do not know what to believe anymore. Life itself can be bad enough but what if still worse awaits us after we have died? Inevitably, all religions, from the great world religions such as Christianity and Buddhism down to the myriads of small local cults, attempt to give answers to this mystery. They all claim to describe the events which will follow the moment of death and what the outcome will be according to our fate. Even if we ourselves adhere to one of these religions, most of us would not think too much about our own deaths. It is not surprising, therefore that any spiritual teachings our particular religion might offer generally remain unheeded and unused.

The above paragraph states life and death so succinctly and basically none of us knows what awaits us in the future. One hears of near-death experiences but it is not the same thing at all.

I’m the first to admit that I know very little about Buddhism. I do know, however, that it’s a subject that has fascinated me since I was a teenager and nothing would give me greater pleasure than to go and visit Lhasa in Tibet. I’ve found out that you can get a permit if you travel with a group but there’s one thing for sure that will never enable me to do there and it’s the altitude of 3,650 m that stops me. I stayed in Puebla (2,200 m altitude), Mexico a few years back for a month and I felt quite ill the entire time I was there. I will unfortunately have to remain an “armchair lover” of this religion.

I’ve often tried to read the complete text of the Tibetan Book of the Dead but I always found it very difficult to come to terms with the doctrines, in fact very heavy going. So when I had the opportunity to acquire an abridged version, I believed that would help me in my understanding. What is delightful about this book is that the translator Stephen Hodge with this new translation (with Martin Boord) has added a commentary which helped me no end in my understanding of these esoteric teachings. In fact it even makes the idea of life after death quite an exciting experience but, of course it all depends whether you were good or evil in your life whether you go to the heavenly realms or the lower ones which include the animal realm, hungry ghosts and the hell beings.

The book acts as a guide for the dead during the state that intervenes between death and the next rebirth. Padmasambhava is considered to be one of the first persons to bring Buddhism to Tibet. The Bardo Thodol is a guide that is read aloud to the dead while they are in the state between death and reincarnation in order for them to recognize the nature of their mind and attain liberation from the cycle of rebirth.

The meaning of impermanence, I found difficult to comprehend, i.e. the term expresses the Buddhist notion that all of conditioned existence, without exception, is in a constant state of flux.

I kept on wondering whether I was religious or spiritual after I read this text. Do I believe in God? No, I don’t think so but I believe there is some other “being there”. I think that I’m probably spiritual as I tend to focus on the spiritual world.

In conclusion, this is a modern spiritual classic that is so lyrical and poetic and I believe that everyone needs to read it. It’s a delight to read it out loud too as it resonates. The photographs are incredible too. So do read this book.

[Jimmy Ele]

Filled with great nuggets of wisdom, however I did not choose to give this a rating because it is a spiritual/religious text, and therefore chose to exempt a rating based on my opinion. I did this because it could be deeper than I currently understand or it could be otherwise. My point being, I do not know and therefore instead of rating it and subjecting a spiritual/religious text to my human interpretation I have decided to leave it unrated. What I can definitely say is that I found certain statements in this book to coincide with physics and other religious/spiritual beliefs. I enjoyed it because it expanded my awareness and understanding of another belief and culture.

[Claudia Loureiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

A more accessible version for Westerners of the ancient Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, 'The Great Liberation Through Hearing'. I love it. It's really easy to understand - the commentary really helps - and the photos are beautiful. I recommend this book.

[Aunty Social]

Martin Boord is a twat and i hate all of his books and advise no-one to read them