From This Life to Liberation: The Evolution of Consciousness and the Dissolution of the "Self" in the Framework of the Six Bardos

Abstract

The system of the six bardos—the bardo of this life, the dream bardo, the meditation bardo, the bardo of dying, the bardo of dharmata, and the bardo of becoming—found in the Dzogchen and Anuttarayoga Tantra teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, constitutes an extraordinarily precise philosophy of birth and death and a model of the evolution of consciousness. Grounded in the core Buddhist ontological principles of no-self (Anātman) and emptiness (Śūnyatā), this study examines how the six bardos deconstruct the continuous flow of human life into a series of dynamic "transitional states" (bardo). The study argues that the six bardos are not merely a phenomenological description of the process of living and dying; they also constitute a contemplative paradigm for dismantling the reified notion of a permanent "self" and the fixation on solid reality.