Skip to content

Dharma Documentaries

Buddhism and Its Cultures

Menu
  • Dharma
  • Culture
  • Ecology
  • Archives
  • About
Menu

The Tibetan Book of the Dead: A Way of Life

Posted on January 21, 2011March 26, 2022 by Dharma Documentaries
This is the first of a sensitive two-part documentary showing how death and dying is contextualised in the traditional Buddhist culture in Ladakh.

Dying of Cancer

This is the first of a sensitive two-part documentary showing how death and dying is contextualised in the traditional Buddhist culture in Ladakh. A Tibetan man has died and the family gather round as the Tibetan Book of the Dead is read to help guide the dead man into a good rebirth in his future life.

There is an interview with HH The Dalai Lama; interviews with ordinary Ladakhis and we see how they feel about death and dying; and we also see how those teachings are also helping people in the West to undergo the transition from life to death and back to life again at the Living/Dying project in the USA.

The documentary was made as a joint project between NHK (Japan), Mistral (France) and NFC (Cananda), and has a haunting narration by Leonard Cohen, one of the earliest and most intelligent of the “celebrity” converts to Buddhism in the West.

 

if the video does not appear on the page, try reloading the page; and if that doesn’t work, leave a comment so I can update the page (the comment is not published)

 

to see an album of screenshots click here

 

TAGS:
Dharma, Gods, Ladakh, Vajrayana

1 thought on “The Tibetan Book of the Dead: A Way of Life”

  1. Kah Choon says:
    January 31, 2011 at 4:57 pm

    Dear Bhante

    This is a lovely and sensitive portrayal of the soul’s journe through the bardos as well as an important portrayal of the way religion is intertwined with living and dying.

    Thank you for posting it.

    With metta

    Kah Choon

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Kah Choon Cancel reply

Comments do not appear straight away, but are moderated before publication

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Subscriptions

Follow our Facebook Page Follow our Tweets Subscribe to our Feed

Subscribe by Email

Email


Shortlink and QR

https://dharma-documentaries.net/b/nD

Donations

This site has taken more than fifteen years and 1,000s of hours to build, and has more than a thousand documentaries on it. If you would like to help, you can do so here. Even small amounts make a difference.

Copyright

If anyone has any copyright claims please contact me at dharmadocus@gmail.com and the posts and films will be immediately removed.

Top Ten Tags

Theravada
Mahayana
Vajrayana

India
Silk Road
China
Tibet

Arts
Lectures
Women

Sponsorship

 hosting sponsored by exabytes.my 

Random Posts

  • The New Pinnacle on the Ruwanweli Maha Seya
  • A Certain Kind of Death
  • Earth from Above (Full Film)
  • Amazing China
  • The Dalai Lama’s Succession Strategy
  • Indian Deities Worshipped in Japan
  • The Roaring Silence
  • The Glory of Dunhuang 5, Painted Sculptures
  • Revival of Angkor, the City of Gods
  • The Great Pilgrim Xuanzang

Recent Posts

  • Brancaccio, Buddhist Monasticism in Kanheri
  • Marco Polo, The Great Explorer
  • 1948, Creation & Catastrophe
  • Bhutan, Back to the Roots along with Matthieu Ricard
  • Walid Haddad, Jātaka, the Buddhas Past Birth-Stories, 02
  • Walid Haddad, Jātaka, the Buddhas Past Birth-Stories, 01
  • Karma Girl
  • Wang Erchuan, Thangka Collector
  • Mongolian Temple Architecture
  • Mongolian Applique

Related Posts:

  • The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation
  • Overview of the Tibetan Book of the Dead
  • Life of Tibetan Buddhist Nuns at Dolma Ling Nunnery
  • Tibet - A Buddhist Trilogy
  • Lost Civilisations: Ancient Tibet
  • Brilliant Moon, Glimpses of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
  • In Search of the Dead III: Remembered Lives
  • Enlightened, an unauthorised story of the Dalai Lama
  • Great Minds 28, Padmasambhava to Tsongkhapa
  • In Search of the Dead II: Visions and Voices
© 2025 Dharma Documentaries | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme