[Buddha-l] The process of death

[curt]

In the chapter on "The Abhidharma" Rupert Gethin deals with this in his 
"Foundations of Buddhism" - specifically in the subsection on "The 
consciousness process, karma and rebirth". Here's what he says, in part 
(on p. 217):

"The Tibetan belief in the bar-do or "in between state" (antaraa-bhava) 
is inhererited from the Sarvaastivadin Abhidharma and is associated with 
the elaborate practices of the Bar-do Thos-grol, the so-called Tibetan 
Book of the Dead. This notion of the "in between state" was a subject of 
dispute among ancient Indian schools of the Buddhism: the Theravadins 
denied that it was coherent from an Abhidhamra perspective, since an 
in-between existence must be another kind of existence."

Gethin places the discussion of the "in-between state" in the context of 
two other issues: (1) the Bhavanga, or state of mind a being is born 
with, and (2) the importance of a being's state of mind at the time of 
death.

I know that the idea of the "in-between state" is not limited to Tantric 
Buddhism - in Korean Buddhism it is traditional to perform a "49-day 
Ceremony" 49 days after a person dies, because that is believed to be 
the end of the "in-between state" and the beginning of their new 
lifetime. During the 49 day ceremony relatives and loved ones might pray 
to "Ji Jang Bosal" (the Korean version of Kshitigarbha Bodhisattva).

- Curt


Mike Austin wrote:

> There are several texts in the Tibetan tradition(s) that describe the 
> process of death. Are there any other references - particularly 
> earlier ones?
>