About
Liberation through hearing
The Tibetan Book of the Dead is the name given in English to the Bardo Thödol — in Tibetan, roughly, “liberation through hearing in the intermediate state.” It is a Tibetan Buddhist text traditionally read aloud beside a person who is dying or has died, guiding them through the passage between death and rebirth.
Here you can listen to it one passage at a time: the classic English wording first, then a plain-English reading, then one small thing to keep. Not a class. Not a feed. Just the text, read aloud, quietly.
The three bardos
The path here is a selection of passages from each bardo, not the complete book.
The wording
The classic wording is quoted from The Tibetan Book of the Dead, or the After-Death Experiences on the Bardo Plane, according to Lāma Kazi Dawa-Samdup’s English rendering, compiled and edited by W. Y. Evans-Wentz (Oxford University Press, 1927). Each passage notes its page in that edition.
Our text comes from the volunteer transcription on Wikisource, checked against the scanned pages of the 1927 printing. Wikisource lists the work as public domain in the United States. Bracketed words are the editor’s own insertions in the 1927 edition; an ellipsis (…) marks where we have shortened a passage.
The plain-English lines are our own careful readings, written to open the sense of each passage. They are not a translation, and they are not a substitute for the full text, for later translations, or for the guidance of a qualified teacher in a living tradition.
Listening
The reading is narrated in one calm voice, the same on every device. Passages you choose to keep are saved only in your own browser.
Who it’s for
Anyone who has heard of this book and never heard it read. People sitting with someone who is dying, people grieving, the curious, students of the tradition. You do not need an account, and you do not need to finish anything.
This is a reading of a sacred text, not medical, psychological, or end-of-life care advice.
Keep this free
The book itself asks to be read aloud and shared. The path stays free so the next person can listen without a wall. The first gift is to play it forward — send a passage to someone who needs it. If you ever want to support the wider house that keeps this open, that door is optional and quiet.
No paywall. No hustle. Play it forward first.
The family
- Wiki.Church — the home this site lives under.
- bible.wiki.church — the Bible, read aloud with plain English.
- gita.yoga.org — the Bhagavad Gita, listen and understand.
- Yoga.org — the wider house that keeps education open.