Death is not an ending. In the Tibetan tradition, it is the most important journey a consciousness will ever take — a passage through the bardo, the intermediate state between death and rebirth, where liberation itself becomes possible. The teachings that map this journey were given by Padmasambhava, the Second Buddha and founder of Tibetan Buddhism, and preserved as the Bardo Thödol — the "Liberation Through Hearing." Yet much of what the world knows comes filtered through later Western interpretation. This book returns to the source.
In The Original Tibetan Book of the Dead, #1 bestselling author Ajarn Shaman Shu (Shri Surya Narayana Swamikal, Oluwo Jolaoso Osainbola) presents what Padmasambhava truly taught about death, rebirth, and the bardo — the ancient science of conscious dying, restored to its depth and power.
Inside you'll discover:
What the Bardo Thödol actually teaches — beyond the popular Western versions
Padmasambhava's original teachings on death, rebirth, and liberation
The bardos — the stages of consciousness between death and the next life
The luminous "clear light" and the moment of liberation at death
How the dying and the living can use these teachings to awaken
The science of conscious dying and what truly awaits beyond
Part of the acclaimed Spiritual Reparations Series, this is the great teaching on death restored to its source — a guide to the most important journey of all, as the master himself intended it.
What Padmasambhava actually taught. Death, rebirth, and the bardo. The original Tibetan Book of the Dead.
OrishaUniversity.com and these books represent the restoration of what was taken from our people. The 256 Odu of Ifa are the original operating system of human consciousness. Oluwo Jolaoso Osainbola has done what many generations prayed would one day be done. My full endorsement and blessing from Ile-Ife, the source of all.
— Araba Agbaye, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Àṣẹ.
Shri Surya Narayana Swamikal is an initiated master of the Shaiva Siddha and Vaishnava traditions, sacred scientist, and founder of ShivaUniversity.com and Krishna.University — the world's first AI-powered universities for Shaiva and Vaishnava sacred sciences. Also known as Oluwo Jolaoso Osainbola (Ifa tradition) and Ajarn Shaman Shu (Thai Buddhist tradition), he is the author of over 70 books spanning Shiva, chakras, Tantra, yoga, Vajrayana Buddhism, and the universal science of consciousness and wealth.
Robert Shumake is the legal name of Shri Surya Narayana Swamikal. Based in Dallas, Texas, he is the founder of Smart Money Media AI — one of the largest independent publishers of African and Eastern sacred sciences — and the owner and publisher of multiple newspapers and digital media properties. He is the author of academic papers and over 70 published books on Ifa, Shaiva philosophy, Buddhist practice, and the science of wealth and consciousness. Learn more at robertshumake.co.
Part of the Sacred Sciences University Network: OrishaUniversity.com · ShivaUniversity.com · BuddhaUniversity.org · Krishna.University