The world-renowned Tibetan Book ofthe Dead has its origin in the esoteric disciplines of the 'Great Perfection' which represent the highest system of meditation in the Tibetan religious tradition.

These texts — which date back to the pre- Buddhist Bonpo era — include The Great Secret Union of the Sun and Moon and The Doctrine of the Six Lights. According to these esoteric writings all aspects of the after-death experience — vivid lights, sounds, imagery — arc reflections of one's own mind, and it is important to recognise that such appearances are essentially illusory. In this way we can liberate ourselves from the causal chain of birth, death and rebirth, and achieve transcendence from the world of form.