Derived from a Buddhist funerary text, this famous volume's timeless wisdom includes instructions for attaining enlightenment, preparing for the process of dying, and moving through the various stages of rebirth. In 1919 the distinguished scholar Walter Evans-Wentz visited an Indian monastery, where he encountered the source of this famous volume. Derived from a Buddhist funerary text, it offers instructions for preparing for death and moving through the various stages of rebirth. The book has since developed into a guide to attaining enlightenment and assuring an auspicious journey through the realms of the afterlife.

This Ixia Press edition is an unabridged republication of The Tibetan Book of the Dead or The After-Death Experiences on the Bardo Plane, according to Lama Kazi Dawa-Sandup's English Rendering, originally published by Oxford University Press, London, in 1927.

The Tibetan Book of the Dead, W. Y. Evans-Wentz, Ixia Press, Paperback, 249 pp, $14.95

Walter Yeeling Evans-Wentz (February 2, 1878 � July 17, 1965) was an American anthropologist and writer who was a pioneer in the study of Tibetan Buddhism, and in transmission of Tibetan Buddhism to the Western world, most known for publishing an early English translation of The Tibetan Book of the Dead in 1927. He had three other texts translated from the Tibetan: Tibet's Great Yogi Milarepa (1928), Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines (1935), and The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation (1954), and wrote the preface to Paramahansa Yogananda's famous spiritual book, Autobiography of a Yogi (1946).

CONTENTS: Tibetan Book of the Dead
PREFACE		ix
ILLUSTRATIONS		xvii
FOREWORD: The Science of Death by Sir John Woodroffe		xxv
INTRODUCTION		1
I.	The Importance of the Bardo Thodol	1
II.	The Symbolism	2
III.	The Esoteric Significance of the Forty-Nine Days of the Bardo	6
IV.	The Esoteric Significance of the Five Elements	8
V.	The Wisdom Teachings	10
VI.	The Death Ceremonies	18
VII.	The Bardo, or After-Death State	28
VIII.	The Psychology of the Bardo Visions	31
IX.	The Judgement	35
X.	The Rebirth Doctrine	39
XI.	The Cosmology	61
XII.	The Fundamental Teachings Summarized	66
XIII.	The Manuscript	68
XIV.	The Origin of the Bardo Thodol	73
XV.	The Translating and the Editing	78
BOOK I
THE CHIKHAI BARDO AND THE CHONYID BARDO
THE OBEISANCES		85
THE INTRODUCTION		85
	The Transference of the Consciousness-Principle	85
	The Reading of this Thodol	87
	The Practical Application of this Thodol by the Officiant	88
PART I
THE BARDO OF THE MOMENTS OF DEATH
INSTRUCTIONS ON THE SYMPTOMS OF DEATH, OR THE FIRST STAGE OF THE CHIKHAI BARDO: THE PRIMARY CLEAR LIGHT SEEN AT THE MOMENT OF DEATH		89
INSTRUCTIONS CONCERNING THE SECOND STAGE OF THE CHICKHAI BARDO: THE SECONDARY CLEAR LIGHT SEEN IMMEDIATELY AFTER DEATH		97
PART II
THE BARDO OF THE EXPERIENCING OF REALITY
INTRODUCTORY INSTRUCTIONS CONCERNING THE EXPERIENCING OF REALITY DURING THE THIRD STAGE OF THE BARDO, CALLED THE CHONYID BARDO, WHEN THE KARMIC APPARITIONS APPEAR		101
THE DAWNING OF THE PEACEFUL DEITIES, FROM THE FIRST TO THE SEVENTH DAY		104
	The First Day	105
	The Second Day	108
	The Third Day	110
	The Fourth Day	112
	The Fifth Day	115
	The Sixth Day	118
	The Seventh Day	126
THE DAWNING OF THE WRATHFUL DEITIES, FROM THE EIGHTH TO THE FOURTEENTH DAY		131
	Introduction	131
	The Eight Day	136
	The Ninth Day	138
	The Tenth Day	138
	The Eleventh Day	139
	The Twelfth Day	140
	The Thirteenth Day	141
	The Fourteenth Day	143
THE CONCLUSION, SHOWING THE FUNDAMENTAL IMPORTANCE OF THE BARDO TEACHINGS		151
BOOK II
THE SIPA BARDO
THE OBEISANCES		155
INTRODUCTORY VERSES		155
PART I
THE AFTER-DEATH WORLD
THE BARDO BODY: ITS BIRTH AND ITS SUPER-NORMAL FACULTIES		155
CHARACTERISTICS OF EXISTENCE IN THE INTERMEDIATE STATE		160
THE JUDGEMENT		165
THE ALL-DETERMINING INFLUENCE OF THOUGHT		169
THE DAWNING OF THE LIGHTS OF THE SIX LOKAS		173
PART II
THE PROCESS OF REBIRTH
THE CLOSING OF THE DOOR OF THE WOMB		175
	Method of Preventing Entry into a Womb	176
	The First Method of Closing the Womb-Door	176
	The Second Method of Closing the Womb-Door	177
	The Third Method of Closing the Womb-Door	178
	The Fourth Method of Closing the Womb-Door	180
	The Fifth Method of Closing the Womb-Door	181
THE CHOOSING OF THE WOMB-DOOR		183
	The Premonitory Visions of the Place of Rebirth	183
	The Protection against the Tormenting Furies	185
THE ALTERNATIVE CHOOSING: SUPERNORMAL BIRTH; OR WOMB-BIRTH		188
	Supernormal Birth by Transference to a Paradise Realm	189
	Womb-Birth: the Return to the Human World	190
THE GENERAL CONCLUSION		193
THE APPENDIX
I.	THE INVOCATION OF THE BUDDHAS AND BODHISATTVAS	197
II.	'THE PATH OF GOOD WISHES FOR SAVING FROM THE DANGEROUS NARROW PASSAGE-WAY OF THE BARDO	199
III.	'THE ROOT VERSES OF THE SIX BARDOS'	202
IV.	'THE PATH OF GOOD WISHES WHICH PROTECTETH FROM FEAR IN THE BARDO'	205
V.	THE COLOPHON	209
ADDENDA
I.	YOGA	211
II.	TANTRICISM	213
III.	MANTRAS, OR WORDS OF POWER	220
IV.	THE GURU AND SHISHYA (OR CHELA) AND INITIATIONS	222
V.	REALITY	224
VI.	NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY	232
VII.	THE MEDIEVAL CHRISTIAN JUDGEMENT	238
INDEX		243