One of the 25 most influential people in America according to Time Magazine, and "the leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism (The New York Times), Robert Thurman illuminates The Tibetan Book of the Dead with up-to-date insights for modern audiences. For centuries, this text has been read aloud to the dying, "who Buddhist masters say are capable of hearing up to three days after clinical death" as a guide through the tumultuous and often terrifying process of dissolution.

Now, in Liberation Upon Hearing in the Between, Professor Robert Thurman demystifies this esoteric teaching and reveals the Tibetan view of dying: it is not an ending to be feared, but a wondrous and liberating culmination of our life's journey, potentially opening into glorious new beginnings. Entering the bardo "the in-between state in which one reality dissolves and the next has not yet formed" we need not become prey to our fears and hopes. Instead we can relax into our natural clarity and stabilize the journey. And, this treasured teaching is for much more than just changing our understanding of death. Whether we have lost a dear relationship, awoken from a dream, or face the loss of our bodied life, simply hearing these teachings steadies our minds and hearts so that the journey from one state to the next changes from a tragic voyage into a clear adventure through the brilliant sky of great liberation.

Liberation upon Hearing in the Between, Robert Thurman, Sound True, 5 hours/ 4CDs, 2005, $29.95

Robert Thurman currently teaches at Columbia University and holds the first endowed chair in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in America. He received Upasika ordination in 1964 and Vajracharya ordination in 1971, both from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He is a cofounder of Tibet House in New York City, a cultural nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the endangered civilization of Tibet. Robert Thurman is the author of Essential Tibetan Buddhism; Inner Revolution: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Real Happiness and many other original books and translations of sacred Tibetan texts.