The Sky Behind the Clouds: The Tibetan Way to Awakening in Life, Death, and in Between

Teachings by Pema Wangyal Rinpoche on compassion and awakening in the six bardos, or in-between states of life and death in which we have a unique opportunity to access direct wisdom.

The clouds of our confusion and negative emotions feel like they obscure the pure and luminous sky, but in fact that fundamental sky of our true nature never changes. In this way, Pema Wangyal offers clear and accessible teachings on compassion and direct awakening to reality, including clear meditation instruction for readers to follow. In two parts, this book offers readers a graded path from stillness and insight meditation to training in compassion to direct awakening in the six bardos, six in-between states of being including dreams and the post-death experience. The first part of this book consists of a presentation of bodhicitta, “the mind of awakening,” using as a basis the celebrated Tibetan poem, The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, by the fourteenth-century master Gyalse Togme Zangpo. The second part, on the six bardos, is based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, in which Pema Wangyal shows various opportunities for direct recognition of the nature of the mind. 

Pema Wangyal delves deep into key topics directly relevant to practitioners and readers of Tibetan practice: the effects of the principal negative emotions, the practice of tonglen, dream yoga, our attitudes toward death, and helping the dying with compassion and clarity. Pema Wangyal’s teaching reflects his own extensive experience of Buddhist practice and an intimate knowledge of Western culture.