Is the gap between death and rebirth a literal place or a constant state?

Ideas & Philosophy · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Bardo, the liminal space between lives, was once a point of fierce debate among early Buddhist schools. While some rejected the idea of an intermediate existence entirely, others codified it into a complex system. Today, it is understood as both a post-death journey and a metaphor for every fleeting moment.

The concept of bardo, or antarābhava, emerged shortly after the death of Gautama Buddha. It describes a transitional state of consciousness existing between the end of one life and the beginning of another. Historically, this idea was not universally accepted; during the third Council in Pataliputra, the Asokan section of early Buddhism explicitly rejected it. However, schools like the Sarvāstivāda argued that an intermediate stage was logically necessary to prevent a discontinuity in time and space between death and rebirth.

In Tibetan Buddhism, the Bardo Thodol—or Tibetan Book of the Dead—serves as a guide for the deceased, helping them navigate the hallucinations that arise from past unskillful actions. While traditional views suggest this state can last up to 49 days, the concept has evolved significantly. Modern interpretations, such as those by Yongey Mingur Rinpoche, suggest that the bardo is not limited to death. Instead, it can be viewed as any transitional experience, or even the present moment itself, which is always suspended between the past and the future.

The interpretation of bardo has shifted dramatically in the West since the 1927 translation by Walter Y. Evans-Wentz. In 1964, Timothy Leary and his colleagues famously framed the bardo as an account of an eight-hour psychedelic experience. Later, figures like Chögyam Trungpa and Sogyal Rinpoche recontextualized these realms as psychological states or social commentaries. Despite these varied modern lenses, the core of the doctrine remains a profound inquiry into the nature of change, where every second is seen as a constant process of becoming.

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