DEATH

There is something paradoxical in taking the non-decaying body as evidence for a consciousness that transcends the body and physicality. However, here we should be careful to note that in the Tibetan Buddhist tantric tradition different levels of mind are associated with different types of embodiment. Subtler forms of consciousness are associated with tantric subtle bodies or physiologies familiar to advanced tantric practitioners. As these are in a way two sides of the same coin, mind always affects body and vice versa. Such subtle bodies are arguably different from, though connected to, the “gross” biomedical body that scientists work with, which also shows effects of subtle levels of mind and embodiment.

As in life and death, the dynamic of presence and absence is central to tukdam. Here we come to a basic conflict between the Tibetan Buddhist and current biomedical views of death. For the latter, death unequivocally means absence Once the heart shuts down, brain death quickly follows—unless it’s been inflicted before the heart stopped—and the person is gone. But for Tibetan Buddhists, there is presence, or mind, in death.

Dr. Tsetan: To me, from my understanding of His Holiness’ hope from this project,

Tibetan tradition exhibits a great deal of sophistication and specificity when it comes to signs or ways of ascertaining whether a person is in tukdam —as well as when it ends. The body will slump over if it was sitting upright; smell and normal signs of decomposition will appear. In accordance with subtle tantric physiology, red and white liquids may come out the