Tibetan Philosophy

Respected and loved by millions of people around the world, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, is a powerful and profound man. The Tibetan spiritual leader's words of wisdom resonate with everyone from world leaders to the common man. Born into a peasant family, the Dalai Lama was two years old when he was recognized as the reincarnation of his predecessor, The 13th Dalai Lama. And Tenzin Gyatso was only 16 when he assumed full political power, once China threatened to take over his country.

Surprisingly, one of the more lucid insights on the philosophy of the Tibetan Book of the Dead comes from a Hindu mystic, named Baba Faqir Chand, who apparently was not familiar with the original Tibetan text or its English translation. Although Faqir was not conversant with the Bardo Thotrol, he was nevertheless steeped in its philosophy as taught to him by his guru, Shiv Brat Lal of Gopiganj. Faqir Chand, like his lama counterparts, spent much of his life in meditation, attempting to consciously go through the dying process in order to prepare himself for his final exit.