Mental Body

2026, July, Issue 211

Death!

Here we are in death,

transmigrating

with this mental body,

This mental body, mental body,

mental body…

this body is not real!

Dreams!

Here again in dreams,

transmigrating

with this mental body,

This mental body, mental body,

mental body…

this body is not real!

Daily life!

Here we are in our daily life,

transmigrating

with this physical body,

This physical body, physical body,

physical body…

this is just

another mental body!

This physical body

is an illusion,

this body is not real!

A poem by Robert Aho © 2026

A few people have gotten rather confused when I explained my journey back from death, chanting mantras, forming countless mudras for over a hundred years in order to appear back in this physical body. They didn’t understand how I could have done this if my body was back in a hospital receiving treatment for a heart condition. How could I chant or form mudras without a physical body? It didn’t make any sense.

When we think about our lives, we usually think that every single thing about it is somehow real. Our physical body seems real. Our thoughts seem real. Our perception of the world around us seems real. What we don’t realize is that none of that can be located. No two people can actually view anything the same way. Likewise, no two moments in our own lives can be regarded as the same reality. It’s all in constant flux, constantly changing, completely unlocatable.

The body we experience in our dreams is the same way. Nobody questions that our body while we are dreaming is unreal, except when we are in the middle of that dream. During the dream, our body feels every bit as real as our body feels when we are experiencing our daily lives, even if we dream that we are a different person, or even if we dream that we are a different type of being. It seems real, even though it is changing and unlocatable, and in constant flux.

When we die, we experience something that seems far more real than either our daily lives or our dreams. This is because the experience is more open. We are raw, exposed to the elements. Energy flows through us and we are aware of this energy. This is the condition of the mental body in the death bardo. Even though we may be aware that our mental body is not solid, flowing with the currents of eternal karmic winds, it seems very real. The reality that we experience in the death bardo is far greater than anything we are accustomed to feeling while in a physical body.

Understand this: We are always in a mental body. Without our mind fabricating every aspect of this body, our physical body could not even exist. We cling to life, thinking that it is real, so that we can continue to fabricate our own existence. Our physical body is a mental body.

Now, so that you don’t misunderstand what I just said, you must treat this mental body with extreme care, or your obstacles will only increase. We must treat our physical body with extreme care, or you will be unable to awaken. Just because your mental body is not real does not mean that you should be careless about it. In order to go beyond the confines of this cyclic existence, you must create causes and conditions for your own Awakening. If this does not happen, you will only make your situation much worse!

We are fortunate when we have the opportunity to Awaken. If we are careless with this life, then we will only find our own misery magnified. We will continue to wander. By seeing the world around us, as it is, we unlock great love and compassion. We begin to see the hold that this terrible illusion has had on us. We begin to loosen the chains that have bound us for an eternity.

I think that the reason there are so many secret teachings in Tibetan Buddhism is because people are prone to taking this knowledge and then doing something very foolish with that. It takes time to develop a way of seeing things that does not become sort of a tragic blunder. When we are in a dream, it is a mistake to simply jump off a cliff once we realize the dream is unreal. If we do something like that, we still experience the tragedy that is inherent in the dream. This can cause us lasting trauma. Likewise, when we live our lives, doing anything to harm our physical body can cause terrible lasting trauma; and, it will most certainly become a most terrible obstruction for us.

Our mental body is simply our point of view in a field of relative points of view. It is not to be separated from dreams or daily life, because it is all the same. When we die, we transmigrate with a much more pure form of our mental body, something that becomes abundantly clear to us in its connection to everything everywhere, in all times, without restrictions of any kind. We encounter our eternal Oneness. This experience goes far beyond daily life or dreams. We must remain within this awareness, then Awaken.

Blessings of Source,

Rigdzin Robert Aho

Robert Aho is the author of Timeless Luminosity and The Frog: A Spiritual Autobiography, Spanning Many Lifetimes. Both books, written after his death experience, give advanced spiritual advice regarding the complete Spiritual Path, inspiration for living each day and words of encouragement, with the intention of helping people to stay committed to their Spiritual Path, as well as preparing for death. This ultimately leads to discovering your own power within, which leads to Awakening. Both books are available on Amazon, Zenith Bookstore, as well as various other sources.