BARDO THODOL (2027)

DIVINE LITERACY FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

DIV/LIT

READING THE BARDO THODOL

A 12-Week Course on the Art of Devotion

led by Lindsay Sanwald, MDiv

January 12th - April 4th 2027

Tuesday Evenings 7:30-9pm EST on Zoom

Weekly Meditation Labs (recorded)

Wednesday High Noon EST on Zoom

This winter, join me in a ritual reading of the Bardo Thodol (better known in the West as The Tibetan Book of the Dead). Composed by a Vajrayana master from India in 8th-century Tibet, this beloved Buddhist text serves as a guidebook of liberation to be read aloud to the dying. It is famous for articulating the process of death as a path to an enlightened life.

Over the course of these 12 weeks we will humbly study key chapters of the Bardo Thodol (literally: “Liberation through Hearing during the Intermediate State”). What can we discover about the nature of our waking days by confronting the nature of our own imminent demise?

Can learning how to die teach us how to live?

We start in the dark depths of January and agree to meet each week until the beginning of spring. Together, we will keep each other warm through the long loneliness of winter by practicing how to read, write, pray, breathe, move, meditate, listen, share, serve, and surrender.

Through a committed semester of study, you will learn and test practical spiritual skills passed on through the ages that can accompany one for a lifetime (or several). In the second half of the program, each student will also experiment with how to practice their own unique form of monastic renunciation, observing a self-designed 49-days-in-the-Bardo disciplined period of personal transformation (think: Buddhist-flavored Lent).

Our aim will be to understand the fundamental teaching of the Bardo Thodol: that all beings are, in essence, as sublime and perfect as the Buddha, and that all beings have liberation and enlightenment as their natural birthright.

TUITION

Make and honor a 3-month commitment to practice reading and meditation

(charged January, February, and March)

$444/month

*includes (3) monthly 1-on-1 dharma talks with private meditation instruction*

*limited to eight students*

*OR PAY $888 TOTAL NOW UNTIL 12/8/26 FOR EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT*

$777/month

*includes (12) weekly 1-on-1 dharma talks with private meditation instruction*

*limited to three students*

$206/month

FOR CURRENT STUDENTS, ALUMS, & PATRONS

“O, Alas! Alas! Fortunate Child of Buddha Nature,
Do not be oppressed by the forces of ignorance and delusion!
But rise up now with resolve and courage!
Entranced by ignorance from beginningless time until now,
You have had more than enough time to sleep.
So do not slumber any longer, but strive after virtue with body, speech and mind!”

(Opening lines of the Bardo Thodol)

Students are strongly encouraged to source a tree-paged copy of the Penguin Classics edition of The Tibetan Book of the Dead (translated by Gyurme Dorje, with introductory commentary by His Holiness The Dalai Lama).

I highly recommend holding the relic of a wise tree while you read, but you may also listen to the chapters via Audio Book (it’s free on Spotify Premium).

Anyone curious about this course/text should read this brief introduction:

“Guide to the classics: the Tibetan Book of the Dead” by professor Pema Düddul

And this great essay by Carl Jung:

“Psychological Commentary on the Tibetan Book of the Dead”

And listen to the full album, Songs from the Bardo, by Laurie Anderson, Tenzin Choegyal, and Jesse Paris Smith.

Home Devotions:

Weekly Readings (~10-40 pages)
Morning Pages Journal / Share 250-500 words of your writing each month in class discussion board
Audio Letter Exchange with a partner in class (~8-10m voice memo recording)
49-Days-in-the-Bardo Practice of Renunciation (to be determined by student)

Class Schedule:

1- Tuesday 1/12

READ CH. 1 - Natural Liberation of the Nature of Mind: The Four-session Yoga of the Preliminary Practice

2- Tuesday 1/19

READ CH. 2 - A Prayer for Union with the Spiritual Teacher, [entitled] Natural Liberation, without Renunciation of the Three Poisons

3 - Tuesday 1/26

READ CH. 3 - Root Verses of the Six Intermediate States

4- Tuesday 2/2

READ CH. 4 - The Introduction to Awareness: Natural Liberation through Naked Perception

5- (Fat) Tuesday 2/9 *bArDi GrAs*

READ CH. 5 - The Spiritual Practice entitled Natural Liberation of Habitual Tendencies

RENUNCIATION PRACTICE BEGINS: 49 DAYS IN THE BARDO

*RECESS WEEK - NO CLASS ON 2/16*

FREE WEEK TO EXPLORE A DEEPER PRACTICE/PILGRIMAGE/RETREAT/FAST

6- Tuesday 2/23

READ CH. 7 - Natural Liberation through Acts of Confession

7- Tuesday 3/2

READ CH.8 - Natural Liberation through Recognition of the Visual Indications and Signs of Death

8- Tuesday 3/9

READ: “Wishes for Release from the Perilous Straits of the Intermediate State, Hero Releasing from Fright” - a seventeen-stanza poem by the first Panchen Lama. Advice on Dying is the Dalai Lama’s commentary on “Wishes for Release from the Perilous Straits of the Intermediate State, Hero Releasing from Fright,” a seventeen-stanza poem by the first Panchen Lama.

9- Tuesday 3/16

READ CH. 11 - The Great Liberation by Hearing

*HOLY WEEK*

10- Tuesday 3/23

READ CH. 11 - The Great Liberation by Hearing, continued...

11- Tuesday 3/30 - REBIRTH & RESURRECTION

12- Tuesday 4/4 - FINAL SHARES

ENROLL NOW

ENROLL NOW