Table of Contents
Introduction ix
1 The Wondrous Flow of Birth and Death 1
2 Continual Change 5
3 Passing Memory 11
4 How We Live Is How We Die 15
5 When the Appearances of This Life Dissolve: The Bardo of Dying 23
6 Mingyur Rinpoche's Story 31
7 Mother and Child Luminosity 37
8 What Goes through the Bardos? 45
9 The Two Truths 51
10 Propensities 57
11 Feel What You Feel 65
12 The First Step to Courage: Refraining 73
13 The Second Step to Courage: A Positive Take on the Kleshas 77
14 Two Practices for Transforming the Heart 83
15 The Third Step to Courage: Emotions as a Path of Awakening 87
16 Five Flavors of Wisdom 91
17 Experiencing Things as They Are: The Bardo of Dharmata 101
18 Opening to the Sacred World 109
19 From Openness to Concreteness: An Eternal Pattern 117
20 Entering the Bardo of Becoming 123
21 Heart Advice 139
22 The Sis Realms 143
23 Choosing Our Next Birth 153
24 Helping Others with Death and Dying 161
25 Waking Up in the Bardo 171
Conclusion 175
Appendix A A History of the Bardo Teachings 179
Appendix B Practices 181
Basic Sitting Meditation 181
Meditating with Open Awareness 183
Tonglen 184
Appendix C Charts 188
Stages of Dissolution 188
The Five Buddha Families 190
The Six Realms of Samsara 192
Suggestions for Further Reading 193
Acknowledgments 195
Index 197
About the Author 211
Books and Selected Audio Pema Chödrön 213
