Bardo: Interval, Intermediate, In-between. Welcome to Now.

Thanks for this little nugget, Dani!

"Whenever we embark on a long journey,
there is a sense of death and rebirth.
The experiences we go through have a transitional quality.
The moment we step outside our house and close the door,
we begin to leave our life behind.

We say goodbye to family and friends
and to the familiar rooms and routines that we inhabit.
We might feel regret mixed with excitement
as we climb into the taxi that will take us to the airport.
As our vision of home recedes,
we are both sadly parted and joyfully released
from all that defines us.

The further from home we go,
the more focused we become on our next destination.
We think less of home and more about where we are going.
We begin to look at a new map;
we start to think about where we will land,
about the new people, new customs, and new environment—
all the new sets of experiences to come...

This experience of the present moment is known as bardo in Tibetan Buddhism. Bardo in a literal sense means “interval”; it can also be translated as an “intermediate” or “in-between” state. Thus, we can say that whenever we are in between two moments, we are in a bardo state. The past moment has ceased; the future moment has not yet arisen. There is a gap, a sense of nowness, of pure openness, before the appearance of the next thing, whether that is our next thought or our next lifetime."

Quote from Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
via thebuddhadharma.com
via my friend Dani at Dani Does England
via Good Morning and Good Night.