The Journey

The exploration of divergent views of the nature of mind, consciousness and awareness set out in this website provide the backdrop for the final discussion.  What do these widely varied perspectives tell us that might be useful for understanding our own personal experience of consciousness (Skt. citta)?  One evening, when considering this question there was, for me, a moment of insight. Somehow I knew that part of the answer lay with the concept of the “Bardo” (Skt. antarabhāva) or “Liminal” space.  Literally the term bardo means the transitional state between death and rebirth, but is used more broadly to indicate “a space in between”.  In Tibetan Buddhism there are six bardos:

1. Kyenay Bardo:  This bardo commences from conception until the last breath, when the mindstream withdraws from the body.

2. Milam Bardo:  is the second bardo of the dream state.

3. Samten Bardo:  is the third bardo of meditation.

4. Chikhai Bardo: is the fourth bardo of the moment of death.

5. Chönyi Bardo: is the fifth bardo of the luminosity which commences after the final 'inner breath'.

6. Sidpa Bardo: is the sixth bardo of becoming or transmigration.

There are periods in life when an old self subsides and a new one emerges.  Not completely new:  Much of the old self remains.  But a transition takes place.  Sometimes the process moves in fits and starts:  Periods of stasis followed by rapid change.  Through it all the notion of a singular “I” remains.

The liminal spaces which I am about to describe are different to the Tibetan treasures listed above.  Some of their content is present.  They are approached from the first person experiential perspective.  As mentioned in the “Physics” page, B. Alan Wallace challenges us to learn from Eastern contemplative practice and look deeply into our own minds to explore the nature of consciousness.  We can come alive to the essence within.

These spaces are non-linear and coterminous.  I have chosen to use Sanskrit to name them.  There are two reasons for this:  Sanskit is one of the root languages of Buddhism and other Eastern traditions.  It often captures complex concepts in a single word.  Secondly, there is an inherent healing quality that surrounds these words. 

1.1    The Six Liminal STATES

Follow links:

1. Unmajana; where consciousness begins to emerge from its primordial origins.

2. Citta; where heart-mind consciousness develops and transforms.

3. Vigraha is about the transition of the host vehicle:  the body.

4. Advaya considers the notion of our identity.  Our mind-set.

5. Sahaja explores the possibility of spontaneous awakening.

6. Ananta; where consciousness returns to its origins – the infinite.

From the substrate appears a sense of the “I” forever in transition.  I am “here” and all appearances to consciousness are “over there”.  This is the essence of duality.  It (consciousness) emerges from non-duality to which the “I” longs to return.  To break through the substrate where all appearances to the mind have the ultimate taste of emptiness and return to the source.  This is the essence of these six liminal states.  They are about the flow of consciousness. 

“Between the banks of pain and pleasure the river of life flows.  It is only when the mind refuses to flow with life, and gets stuck at the banks, that it becomes a problem.  By flowing with life I mean acceptance -- letting come what comes and go what goes.  Desire not, fear not, observe the actual, as and when it happens, for you are not what happens, you are to whom it happens.  Ultimately even the observer you are not.  You are the ultimate potentiality of which the all-embracing consciousness is the manifestation and expression.”

Nisargadatta, Sri Maharaj.  I Am That.  1981. P 3.

This is our challenge.  To explore the many transitional fields of consciousness.  To move through and become aware of the obscurations that block our path.  Again, this is the work of a lifetime.  It begins with Unmajana and continues until Ananta and the passage into Avijnata – the unknown and the unknowable.