As a funerary text and guide to the afterlife, The Tibetan Book of the Dead was read aloud to the dying or recently deceased so that they could recognize the true nature of the mind and thus attain enlightenment and liberation from the suffering associated with the endless cycle of death and rebirth. A classic Buddhist text with origins in the 'treasure texts,' it is said to have been hidden away by Padmasambhava, the Lotus Guru, in Tibet in the 8th century AD so that it could be revealed at an appropriate time in the future. 
 
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