First, let me introduce an ancient Tibetan text which has been praised by scholars as a must-read for the study of life and death, Bardo Tödröl (the Tibetan Book of the Dead).

1. Bardo Tödröl– a guide for the deceased

A book, titled Impressions of Heaven – 100 orally recorded stories of near-death experience (NDE), published by the Foreign Language Press in Beijing, China made the following comment: Bardo Tödröl has been around for more than 1000 years, but now it is the oldest reference for modern research on death. In the West, scholars who specialize in the study of death all recognize Bardo Tödröl and the Egyptian Book of the Dead as the two most important texts in their field. And by coincidence the description of the intermediate state given in Bardo Tödröl also agrees with the various phenomena found in the study of NDE. Therefore, it can be said that Bardo Tödröl is one of the most valuable contributions from the Tibetan people to the modern world.