Phowa And Bardo Teachings

This volume collects H.E. Garchen Rinpoche's teachings on two related topics, the practice of Phowa and the six kinds of bardo.

Guru Rinpoche said, "Everyone has instructions for one to become enlightened through meditation, but I have a teaching that offers enlightenment without meditation." He was referring to the instructions on Phowa. However, this does not mean that one does not need to mediate at all, but one only has to mediate for a short period of time. As it is endowed with great blessing and powers, the Drikung Phowa is considered to be the most precious of all. This lineage is called the "practice blessing lineage". In Tibet, the great Drikung Phowa teachings are given once every twelve years.

A "bardo" is an intermediate state, an in-between experience or phase between two major states of existence. Between one life and another, there is a bardo. Dreaming is also a bardo state between the waking state of one day and the next. Garchen Rinpohe gave teachings on an essential text called the "Main Verses on the Six Bardos," written by Padmasambhava. This text explains the best states of mind to develop and the practices to engage amid the different kinds of bardos.