Transcending Madness

The Tibetan word <i>bardo</i> is usually associated with life after death. Here Chgyam Trungpa discusses bardo in a very different sense: as the peak experience of any given moment. Our experience of the present moment is always colored by one of six psychological states: the god realm (bliss) the jealous god realm (jealousy and lust for entertainment) the human realm (passion and desire) the animal realm (ignorance) the hungry ghost realm (poverty and possessiveness) and the hell realm (aggression and hatred). In relating these realms to the six traditional Buddhist bardo experiences Trungpa provides an insightful look at the madness of our familiar psychological patterns and shows how they present an opportunity to transmute daily experience into freedom.