From a spiritual perspective, death is the crowning moment of life. The karma that brought you into this life is exhausted, and the karma (habits) that will propel you into the next one hasn’t yet formed. This gap (bardo) provides a golden opportunity for rapid spiritual progress – if you are prepared. This week-long program gets you prepared. The luminous bardo of dharmata is where the peaceful and wrathful deities appear, which represent the archetypal aspects of your own mind. How can you meet those deities now? “Dharmata” means “suchness, reality” and refers to the enlightened state. All of manifest reality arises out of this bardo, and returns to it. It is the womb and the tomb of existence. Because of the subtle nature of this bardo, this program is more advanced. Some familiarity with the bardo teachings is recommended.

Topics we will cover:

• How to remove all fear of death
• How to help others at the end of life
• The Tibetan Book of the Dead
• The phases of the Bardo of Dharmata
• The Reverse Meditations that prepare you for it
• What continues after death ­– where do you go?
• What doesn’t continue
• How the power of mantra protects you
• Where near-death-experiences fit in
• Contemplations and meditations that help you prepare
• How dream yoga and sleep yoga help you prepare
• The role of psychedelics in preparing to die
• The problem of proof
• How this bardo relates to nonduality and enlightenment
• How this bardo manifests in daily life

Who Should Attend?

This program is for anyone seriously wanting to prepare for the end of life. It is a no-nonsense deep dive into the profound teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. While it describes the spiritual preparation from a Buddhist perspective, the teachings are for anyone interested in a non-materialistic approach to death. This retreat is for those interested in exploring meditations that prepare you for death, and to “die before you die” — to discover states of mind that do not dissolve at the end of life. This program is also for those wishing to help others during the dying process, either personally or professionally, from both a spiritual and practical perspective.

This is a hybrid program and you are on the registration page to attend at your home, online. If you prefer to attend in person, at DMC, you can find that registration page at this link.