Bardo 1 - Birth and Life

From “Mind Beyond Death” – Dzogchen Ponlop

Life as a Temporary Abode

From the Buddhist point of view, whenever any being takes birth, what is taking birth is the mind—our individual consciousness. The relationship of our mind to our body is that of a traveler to a temporary abode. We are like a guest who stops for a while in an apartment or a hotel. Our stay is indefinite, but we can reside there only for as long as our lease allows. We do not know the length of our lease because we signed it in our past life.

The natural bardo of this life starts at birth, when we leave our mother’s womb and enter this life. It continues until the time we meet the condition that will cause our death—that is, the condition that becomes the fundamental cause for leaving this body.

The Buddhist path, with its emphasis on knowledge and the fulfillment of our potential for enlightenment, can therefore be said to be both a science of mind and a philosophy of life. It is not a religion in the conventional sense. It does not attribute divinity or supreme power to any external being or force. Rather, it is a way of viewing our existence that brings meaning into our lives and benefit to the world as we become more and more capable of manifesting the compassionate activity that is inseparably linked to wisdom.

The Three Stage Path to Enlightenment
 

The path of enlightenment is by engaging in the three-stage process of study, contemplation and meditation. 

The stage of study involves activities such as listening to teachings, attending classes and the reading and discussion of texts. In this stage, we initially develop a conceptual understanding of mind’s ultimate nature, as well as its relative appearances—our confused thoughts and disturbing emotions.

The stage of contemplation consists of training in analytical meditation. By applying our intellect to an examination of mind, we learn to see those appearances with greater precision and clarity. 

The stage of meditation, we let go of our conceptual examination and simply rest our mind in a state of one-pointed meditative concentration. At this time, we experience a cessation of our usual agitated state of mind and can rest peacefully in the present moment.

Life Patterns

It is important to identify major life patterns—those behaviors that have been repeated again and again. We may see that our lives are like that of the main character in the movie Groundhog Day, who wakes up every morning to the same day and continues to repeat the same mistakes over and over.

Talking With Our Emotions

We do not really “talk” with our own emotions because we do not really know them, and we prefer to maintain that distance in some cases.

We have a similar, strong prejudice against emotions, especially anger. Consequently, we tend to segregate emotions instead of integrating them into our experience. We try to ignore them or run away from them, or we just “blow up.” Instead, we can make friends with our emotions as we contemplate them and gradually learn more about them. This process is like making a connection with somebody who is a stranger; it is a means of overcoming the separation we feel between “us” and “them.” In this case, we are making a deeper connection with our emotions. If we rely on this approach when our emotions come up, we will not want to run and hide. Even as emotions arise, the mind that is becoming unstable will be stabilized through the power of hearing, contemplating and meditating. We will be able to say, “Oh, this is my friend, anger, and I know how to talk to this anger. I know how to subdue it. I know what will free this anger from its suffering.”

In this way, we can calm our minds and pacify our emotions. Slowly but surely, we will realize the true nature of our emotions, even our most disturbing emotions, such as anger and jealousy. That nature is the true nature of mind itself: open, luminous wisdom, primordially pure awareness.