Bardo - Intermediate States
The transitional states between death and rebirth.
The bardos are intermediate states - primarily the bardo of dying, dharmata, and becoming. Understanding and preparing for these states offers opportunities for liberation.
Now when the bardo of dying dawns upon me, I will abandon all grasping and clinging.
The bardos offer unique opportunities for liberation that differ from waking life.
Bardo Thodol
Written about in
- What Tibetan Buddhism says about grief
The bardos are the intermediate states of dying, dharmata and becoming, and the tradition holds that the dead person is mid-process rather than finished. This is the hinge of the entire Tibetan answer: the one you lost has somewhere still to be, and can still be reached.