The-Tibetan-Book-of-Living-and-Dying

THE BARDO OF BECOMING 293even for an instant. It is ceaselessly on the move. It can gowherever it wishes unobstructedly, just by thinking. Becausethe mental body has no physical basis, it can pass throughsolid barriers such as walls or mountains. 2The mental body can see through three-dimensionalobjects. Yet since we lack the father and mother essences ofthe physical body, we no longer have the light of sun ormoon, but only a dim glow illuminating the space immediatelyin front of us. We can see other bardo beings, but wecannot be seen by living beings, except those who have thekind of clairvoyance developed through deep experience ofmeditation. 3 So we can meet and converse for fleetingmoments with many other travelers in the bardo world, thosewho have died before us.Because of the presence of the five elements in its makeup,the mental body seems to us to be solid, and we still feelpangs of hunger. The bardo teachings say that the mentalbody lives off odors and derives nourishment from burntofferings, but it can only benefit from offerings dedicated speciallyin its name.In this state mental activity is very rapid: thoughts come inquick succession, and we can do many things at once. Themind continues to perpetuate set patterns and habits, especiallyits clinging to experiences, and its belief that they areultimately real.THE EXPERIENCES OF THE BARDODuring the first weeks of the bardo, we have the impressionthat we are a man or woman, just as in our previous life.We do not realize that we are dead. We return home to meetour family and loved ones. We try to talk to them, to touchthem on the shoulder. But they do not reply or even showthey are aware we are there. As hard as we try, nothing canmake them notice us. We watch, powerless, as they weep orsit stunned and heartbroken over our death. Fruitlessly we tryto make use of our belongings. Our place is no longer laid attable, and arrangements are being made to dispose of our possessions.We feel angry, hurt, and frustrated, "like a fish," saysthe Tibetan Book of the Dead, "writhing in hot sand."If we are very attached to our body, we may even try, invain, to reenter or hover around it. In extreme cases the mentalbody can linger near its possessions or body for weeks oreven years. And still it may not dawn on us we are dead. It is