Ghatika Monthly Meditation 24 — Minding the Gap: Life as Preparation for Death and the Bardos with Lopön Robin Gayle

“In life and in death, in meditation and in sleep, every transitional stage of consciousness, or bardo, provides an opportunity to overcome limitations, frustrations, and fears.” —B. Alan Wallace, Natural Liberation: Padmasambhava’s Teachings on the Six Bardos

In this session Lopön Robin Gayle offers an inner exploration of the Six Bardos as they occur in life and after death. The bardo state has been characterized by various dharma teachers as a gap, an interval, a crossing, a transition, and an in-between-ness. Due to impermanence, small and large gaps appear constantly in life and at death—whether they are recognized or not. The past is gone, the future has not yet arrived, and the gap in between offers both uncertainty and possibility.

To recognize and relax into such uncertainty, to allow the gap to open, is to discover the inherent power of luminous emptiness that is always present. In each bardo, we are presented with a choice: continue to establish the ego with all its reified patterns, or let go and explore what is in the gap, allowing it to luminously reveal possibilities where anything can happen.

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Additional Resources

• Guided meditation audio
• Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind handout
• Listen to Dr. B. Alan Wallace’s 14-part lecture series on Natural Liberation: Padmasambhava’s Teachings on the Six Bardos via Seeds of Wisdom

Recommended reading on the Six Bardos:

• The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Trans. Gyurme Dorje, Ed. Graham Coleman with Thupten Jinpa
• Luminous Emptiness: Understanding the Tibetan Book of the Dead by Francesca Fremantle
• Journey of the Mind: Teachings on the Bardo by Thrangu Rinpoche
• Natural Liberation: Padmasambhava’s Teachings on the Six Bardos, Trans. B. Alan Wallace, Commentary by Gyatral Rinpoche

About Lopön Robin Gayle

Lopön Robin Gayle, PhD, MDiv, MFT has been practicing Buddhism since 1986. She has been teaching Dharma for 35 years and has been a senior teacher (Lopön) at Tara Mandala Retreat Center and International Buddhist Community for many years. She moved to Crestone and is now White Jewel Mountain’s resident Buddhist teacher. She has studied under many renowned Buddhist masters including the H. H. Dalai Lama, Ven. Yangthang Tulku Rinpoche, Ven. Gyaltrul Rinpoche, Dr. B. Alan Wallace, and Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche, among others.

What is Ghatika Monthly?

Ghatika Monthly is an in-person and virtual gathering held on the 2nd Saturday of every month, in which CCR expert teachers offer accessible guidance in foundational yet transformative contemplative practices. Ghatika is the Sanskrit term for one 24-minute meditation session, which is a recommended length for beginning meditators. While most of the CCR’s expert teachers come from a Buddhist background, these sessions are designed to be secular, informative, and welcoming to beginning and advanced practitioners alike. At Ghatika Monthly, we hope to offer a taste of the contemplative technology that our full-time contemplatives cultivate for 8–12 hours per day at Miyo Samten Ling Hermitage in Crestone. Subscribe to never miss a session!