Bardo Tödrol Chenmo
The Bardo Tödröl Chenmo ('The Great Liberation through Hearing in the Intermediate State') is a Dzogchen terma discovered by Karma Lingpa (1326–1386) at the age of fifteen atop a mountain in Tibet. As the title conveys, the text is a guidebook to the dying process and the path to liberation therein, meant to be read aloud to a person on the verge of death. It rose to fame in the Western world through the publication of Kazi Dawa Samdup's English translation under the name 'The Tibetan Book of the Dead' by W. Y. Evans-Wentz in 1927, who added an introduction based on his own mystical understanding—though the title, inspired by the Egyptian Book of the Dead, is somewhat misleading.
Since the early 8th century, Tibetans and Himalayan people have treasured "Namtars" as written or spoken narratives that demonstrate the realization of the Buddhist path by exceptional practitioners. These namtars, or spiritual biographies, serve as inspirational guides on the path to enlightenment.
Today, Namtars Foundation aims to record, preserve, and freely offer the world a written and electronic treasury of the oral wisdom of Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhism.
