| Introduction | p. ix |
| The Traditions of the Tibetan Books of the Dead | p. 1 |
| Basic Elements of Wisdom about Life and Knowledge about the After-Death State and Rebirth | p. 13 |
| Life, Karma, Death, and Rebirth | p. 15 |
| The Trikaya Doctrine as the Basis of the Initiations | p. 23 |
| The Six Kinds of Bardo and Other "Intermediate States" | p. 33 |
| The First Group of Three Bardos as Intermediate States for the Transformation of Awareness in This Life | p. 36 |
| The Second Group of Three Bardos as Intermediate States for the Guidance of Awareness in the World Beyond | p. 38 |
| Bardo as the Indivisible Union of the Essential | p. 43 |
| On the Symbolism of Tantric Polarity, the Trinity, the Quaternity and the Fivefold, and of Colors and Elements | p. 47 |
| From Unity to Multiplicity | p. 49 |
| Duality as an Expression of Polarity | p. 50 |
| Threefold Articulations | p. 53 |
| Some Groups of Four | p. 58 |
| The Fivefold Arrangement of the Mandala | p. 62 |
| The Six Realms of Incarnation | p. 68 |
| Other Symbolic Groupings | p. 71 |
| The Death Ritual as Guidance through the Bardo | p. 74 |
| Signs in the Transition between the Two Worlds and the Primordial Light at the Onset of Death | p. 87 |
| The Great Ritual of the Initiations into the Mandalas of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities | p. 97 |
| The Peaceful Deities | p. 99 |
| The Adibuddha as the Mystical Creator of the Mandala | p. 101 |
| The Five Tathagatas (Yab-Yum) | p. 104 |
| The Buddha Vairocana | p. 105 |
| The Buddha Aksobhya | p. 106 |
| The Buddha Ratnasambhava | p. 107 |
| The Buddha Amitabha | p. 108 |
| The Buddha Amoghasiddhi | p. 108 |
| The Eight Mahabodhisattvas (Yab-Yum) | p. 114 |
| The Six Buddhas | p. 118 |
| The Six Buddhas of the Bhavacakra and the Ritual of Guidance through the Six Realms of Existence | p. 118 |
| The Six Buddhas and the Great Image of the Realm of Hells | p. 130 |
| The Four Guardians of the Mandala (Yab-Yum) | p. 137 |
| The Five Secret Vidyadharas (Yab-Yum) | p. 139 |
| The Wrathful Deities | p. 141 |
| The Great Heruka of the Adibuddha (Yab-Yum) | p. 144 |
| The Five Wrathful Buddha-Herukas (Yab-Yum) | p. 145 |
| The Eight Keurima | p. 147 |
| The Eight Phra-men-ma | p. 148 |
| The Four Animal-Headed Female Guardians of the Mandala | p. 149 |
| The 28 Powerful Animal-Headed Goddesses | p. 150 |
| The Five Jnana-Dakinis and the Powerful Vajrakumara-Heruka | p. 154 |
| From the Books of the Dead of the Pre-Buddhist Ancient Tibetan Bon Religion | p. 156 |
| The Peaceful Deities | p. 159 |
| The Wrathful Deities | p. 167 |
| Psyche and Awareness | p. 173 |
| Some Comparisons with Ideas about Death and the After-Life in Other Cultures | p. 185 |
| Indian Insights in the Upanisads | p. 188 |
| Comparable Elements in the Religions of Persia, Babylon, and Egypt | p. 194 |
| Comparable Elements with the Greeks, Romans, and Germans | p. 198 |
| The Soul and Death for the Manicheans and the Mandaeans | p. 200 |
| The Soul, Light, Life and Death in Some Western Schools of Thought | p. 202 |
| Psychological Commentary to the Bar-do thos-grol | p. 211 |
| General Basic Thoughts from Buddhist Philosophy and Elements of Psychology | p. 213 |
| Suffering and the Pleasure-Pain Principle | p. 213 |
| The Two Stages of Liberation | p. 215 |
| Ignorance and Wisdom | p. 215 |
| On the Relation of Mind and Body | p. 217 |
| Karma and Self-Responsibility | p. 218 |
| Alayavijnana and Archetypal Structures | p. 220 |
| Psychological Aspects of the Tibetan Book of the Dead | p. 224 |
| Notes | p. 241 |
| Bibliography | p. 250 |
| Tibetan Original Sources | p. 250 |
| Tibetan Buddhist Texts | p. 250 |
| Tibetan Texts of the Bon-po Religion | p. 252 |
| Secondary Literature | p. 252 |
| Comparative Literature | p. 254 |
| Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved. |