In todayand#8217;s FBA Dharmabyte, and#8220;The Bardo of Life, An Extraordinary Opportunity,and#8221; Padmavajra explores the great text that reveals the realms between death and new life, where anything is possible in the Bardo and#8211; the and#8216;intermediate stateand#8217;. and#8221; From the first talk in the series and#8220;Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thodol).and#8221;
Dharmabytes from free buddhist audio
The Bardo of Life, An Extraordinary Opportunity
[music] Dharma Bites is brought to you by Free Buddhist Audio, the Dharma for your life. Our work is funded entirely by donations from our generous listeners. If you would like to help us keep this free, make a contribution at freebuddhistaudio.com/donate. Thank you, and happy listening. At the beginning of this talk, I read the first of the root verses of the six bardos. And that verse described the bardo of life. This human life itself is a bardo. It's a space. It's an opening. This precious human life, this precious human existence is regarded in Buddhist tradition as something wonderful and rare and precious. We are human beings, conscious and aware. We can think, we can reflect, we can feel very fine feelings, we can talk, we can communicate. This is so extraordinary, Buddhist tradition says. This is a very good condition, a perfect condition for spiritual life, for a creative life, a meaningful life. So the verse says, don't waste it. Don't be idle. Don't fritter your life away on meaningless activity. Don't fritter it away on consuming, on moaning, on complaining, on resentment, on deferring. Don't have a great future behind you as Sanger actually once said. Do something meaningful with your life. You can do amazing things with this human life. You can enter the path undistractively. You can follow the path of spiritual development, undistractively. Your deepest nature is your Buddha nature, your potential for enlightenment. So bring it forth, develop it by following the path of study, reflection and meditation. Study the Buddha's teachings, study them, reflect upon them, turn them over in your mind, follow them, practice the ethical precepts, practice meditation and make the Buddha's teachings an actual living experience. In particular, begin to see the true nature of all experience, both inside and outside. See and know in your being the profound impermanence of all things. See how everything changes, how everything flows, how everything is a flow of ever changing conditions, how nothing is fixed, how everything is insubstantial. See the emptiness of all things, which isn't a blank, not a nothing, see that everything is like an extraordinary vision. Realize enlightenment itself in its fullness. Realize the tree kaya, the three bodies, or better the three dimensions of Buddhahood. Realize the dharma kaya, the emptiness of all things. Realize the sambhoga kaya, the luminosity of all things. Realize the nirmana kaya, the all-pervading compassion within all things. Realize these in unity as the true nature of experience. Of course, all this has to be worked for. We need to devote our lives as much as we can to continue a spiritual practice to realize this. We are all now in the bhado of life. Our lives are a space of extraordinary potential, so let's activate this space. Let's activate this potential for the benefit of everyone. If we do, we'll enter all bhados, the bhados of meditation, of dream, of death, of reality, of rebirth, in the best possible way. We'll enter them without fear, but with confidence, with inspiration. We'll open up to whatever opens up, so I'll just read to conclude that verse on the bhado of life. O now, when the bhado of life upon me is dawning, abandoning idleness, there being no time for idleness in this life. Entering the path undistractively, studying, reflecting, and meditating. Taking perception, experience, and the nature of mind as the path, may the tree kaya be realized. Once that the human form has been attained, may there be no time or opportunity in which to idle it away. We hope you enjoyed today's Dharma Bite. Please help us keep this free. Make a contribution at freebuddhistaudio.com/donate. And thank you. [music fades out] [music fades out] [music fades out] [BLANK_AUDIO]