Now when the bardo of birth is dawning upon me,

I will abandon laziness for which life has no time,

enter the undistracted path of study,

reflection and meditation,

making projections and the mind the path,

and realize the three kayas;

now that I have once obtained a human body,

there is no time on the path for the mind to wander.
 
 
 

Now when the bardo of dreams is dawning upon me,

I will abandon the corpse-like sleep of careless ignorance,

and let my thoughts enter their natural state without distraction;

controlling and transforming dreams in luminosity,

I will not sleep like an animal

but unify completely sleep and practice.
 
 
 

Now when the bardo of samadhi-meditation dawns upon me,

I will abandon the crowd of distractions and confusion,

and rest in the boundless state without grasping or disturbance;

firm in the two practices; visualization and completion,

at this time of meditation, one-pointed, free from activity,

I will not fall into the power of confused emotions.
 
 
 

Now when the bardo of the moment before death dawns upon me,

I will abandon all grasping, yearning and attachment,

enter undistracted into clear awareness of the teaching,

and eject my consciousnes into the space of unborn mind;

as I leave this compound body of flesh and blood I will

know it to be a transitory illusion.
 

prayer of the six bardos
revealed by

Terton Karma Lingpa 

(1327-1387)

VAJRA FAMILY

Now when the bardo of dharmata dawns upon me,

I will abandon all thoughts of fear and terror,

I will recognize whatever appears as my projection

and know it to be a vision of the bardo;

now that I have reached this crucial point,

I will not fear the peaceful and wrathful ones,

my own projections.
 
 

Now when the bardo of becoming dawns upon me,

I will concentrate my mind one-pointedly,

and strive to prolong the results of good karma,

close the womb-entrance and think of resistance;

this is the time when perseverance and pure thought are needed,

abandon jealousy, and meditate on the guru with his consort.