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I have to acknowledge up front that I am a very secular Buddhist.

While I grew up in a Buddhist household, my dad was a practitioner back when in the 1970s when it was rarefied to have to be a Buddhist practitioner, certainly in the early 70s.

I've never been one to be interested

in the metaphysics or the religious qualities of Buddhism.

I've always loved the psychological insights, which is not to say that I don't believe that there are certain

metaphysical or spiritual claims in Buddhist literature that don't offer significant wonderful insights.

And so to wit tonight I'm going to be talking about the bardo. What is the bardo?

The bardo is actually a concept that is central to Tibetan Buddhism.

You might have heard of the Tibetan Book of the Dead,

actually known by its original title, the Bardethodal, which was produced sometime

in the 8th century.

So what is the Barda?

Well, it actually stems from an early Buddhist belief called

on Tara Bala, which means a trans migratory state of being that occurs after death before one is reborn.

So I have to acknowledge straight up that everything I'm going to talk to you about tonight I take metaphorically not literally but there are many Buddhists who actually

believe in this so I don't want to treat it lightly, but I still think that even if like me you don't lend it much credence in terms of its feasibility, you might still find something of value from

understanding or familiarizing ourselves with it.

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