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Bardo

World Religion
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

In Tibetan Buddhism, an intermediate, transitional, or liminal state between death and rebirth.

Detailed Definition
The Bardo concept, detailed in the Tibetan Book of the Dead, describes a 49-day period where consciousness navigates various visionary realms after death, presented with opportunities for liberation. In literature, the Bardo has become a powerful metaphor for any transitional state—psychological, creative, or existential. Poets use it to explore themes of uncertainty, the dissolution of identity, and the confrontation with one's own mental projections. It represents a liminal space where the past is dead and the future is not yet born, ripe with potential for terror or transformation.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Tibetan Buddhist poetry, the Bardo (intermediate state) is a liminal space of choice and consequence: “Between breaths, the Bardo opens—will you recognize the light?”; Contemporary poets use Bardo to describe grief or transition: “After the funeral, I lived in Bardo—neither here nor there”; In Allen Ginsberg’s work, Bardo becomes a metaphor for societal in-betweenness; Poetic meditations on Bardo emphasize impermanence and opportunity: “This pause is not emptiness—it is the womb of becoming.”
Additional Notes
Bardo, especially the “bardo of becoming” in the Tibetan Book of the Dead, is a 49-day transitional state where consciousness navigates karmic visions before rebirth; modern poets and writers (e.g., in Beat or postmodern literature) adapt bardo as a metaphor for liminality—grief, exile, or creative uncertainty—where identity dissolves and re-forms.
Other Meanings of “Bardo”
Also Known As
Intermediate State Antarabhava
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