The Bardo of Dharmata (After-Death)
After we have officially died, meaning the journey of our physical body and the appearances of this life have ended, the journey of the mind continues into the Bardo of Dharmata. This is the beginning of our journey into our next life.
The Perfect Point to Attain Enlightenment
This is also the perfect point to attain enlightenment according to Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, author of Mind Beyond Death. He maintains that we should look forward to this moment if we have done the necessary preparatory work. He counsels us to remain calm and courageous as we should if we were exploring any new place.
The key to reaching this point would be switching our attention from the outer world to the inner world during our time in the bardo of this life. If all of our focus was outward during that time, then when our outer life goes, we go with it. However, if we had begun to focus more inwardly, then when the outer world goes, something of us still remains to continue the journey through the bardo of dharmata.
Rinpoche lays out the boundaries of the Bardo of Dharmata,
“The luminous bardo of dharmata begins when the element of space dissolves into luminosity, or dharmata. It ends after the various…