The Tibetan Book of the Dead recognizes that the Soul is caught in an endless cycle of births and deaths and can use the death experience to achieve enlightenment. It teachs that one is aware in a dream world afterdeath and there is away to navigate this dream world.
However, if we could find evidence in the Bible that the dead are aware after death, then Christians could have more faith in the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Lets examine some key biblical references from the old and new testament that provide information about where and what the dead are doing.
In 1 Samuel 28 we have the story of Saul secretly going to the witch of Endor so that he could contact the spirit of the dead prophet Samuel. This of course is a forbidden art, not because it can't be done but that it is evil to contact the spirits of the dead using witchcraft. Despite the wickedness involved, Saul has the witch do the divination necessary to contact Samuel. Samuel is summoned and has the following words for Saul.
15] And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do.
16] Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the LORD is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy?
17] And the LORD hath done to him, as he spake by me: for the LORD hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even to David:
18] Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the LORD, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the LORD done this thing unto thee this day.
19] Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the LORD also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.
If you read further in the story, the prophecy of the dead prophet turned out exactly as predicted. This shows us that Samuel was aware after death and was in contact with God even during death. We also know that Samuel was abiding during death in one of the realm of the Gods from verse
13] And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.
The Tibetan Book of the Dead describes how one can navigate the dream world of Death and enter the God realms. Who else but a prophet of God would know how or be deserving of the God realms during death? In the Book of Enoch, Enoch also visits the hells and the heavens and describes things not unlike Buddha did of his travels among the 7 hells and 7 heavens.
(This is the value of being a syncretic.)
That was in the Old Testament, lets visit the New Testament and find what it has to say about dead souls. Specifically I point you to Revelations 6:9
9] When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.
10] And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"
11] Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.
Here we have the apostle John visiting heaven in vision much like Enoch did in the Book of Enoch
In Johns version he sees souls in heaven aware enough to know they were awaiting a new life with Christ and they get robes. The third section of the The Tibetan Book of the Dead tells of souls preparing for rebirth.
If the passage in Samuel and Revelation can be believed, then we know of sou ls being aware and we can safely say that The Tibetan Book of the Dead and the Bible are both texts that teach of a soul being aware after death.
Did Jesus teach that a soul is aware after death?
Luke 16:19-31
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In hell,[3] where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.' 25"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.' 27"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, 28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' 29"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.' 30" 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' 31"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' "
Many Christians miss the plain truth about death Christ revealed. Notice that Abraham was not in Heaven. He was in Hades so was Lazarus. The rich man was too but in a place for souls being punished. (And very aware after death.)
Hades / Sheol is simply where souls go at death, but it can be pleasant or painful.
The Visions of Sadhu Sundar Singh of India Are very consistent with the Book of Enoch and Luke 16.
More about Hades/Sheol
The word in the Old Testament that is sometimes translated as hell or grave or pit is the hebrew word "sheol" which corresponds to the New Testament Greek word "Hades" and the proper translation is "abode of the dead" not hell or grave or pit. Some translations try to avoid the translation by transliterating the words as "sheol" or "hades" but this hasn't fixed the confusion.
Colliers Encyclopedia (1965 ed., vol 12, p27) says concerning "hell"; "First it stands for the Hebrew Sheol of the Old Testament and the Greek Hades of the Septuagint and the New Testament. Since Sheol in Old Testament times referred simply to the abode of the dead and suggested no moral distinctions, the word 'hell' as understood today is not a good translation."
Basically the meaning of the original word "hell" is quite similiar to the meaning of the scriptural words but that meaning has been lost from sight and replaced by another meaning in great contrast to the original. Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary, Unabridged, under "Hell" says: 'from *helan*, to cover, conceal." The word "hell" originally never meant heat or torment but a concealed place or an unseen place as the "abode of the dead".
The time that one is thrown into "hell" is when the "lake of fire" appears and for most, that is after the 1,000 year reign of Christ. The word sometimes translated as hell is from the Greek word geenna or Gehenna and I will quote Strongs Concordance. "I say most because Revelations reveals the beast and the false prophet are to be thrown there at the return of Christ. So obviously it exists today. This is consistent with Buddhist theology but I will get to that later.
Revelation 20
10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and
brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented
day and night for ever and ever.
1067 geenna {gheh'-en-nah} of Hebrew origin 1516 and 2011; TDNT - 1:657,113; n f
AV - hell 9, hell fire + 3588 + 4442 3; 12
1) Hell is the place of the future punishment call "Gehenna" or "Gehenna of fire". This was originally the valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, where the filth and dead animals of the city were cast out and burned; a fit symbol of the wicked and their future destruction.
So when you die, unless you have qualified to be in the first resurrection you go to sheol/hades. This is the abode of the dead and this is where you wait until you are reincarnated. You will die and be reincarnated several times before the day of judgement. The Old Testament refers to death to be like sleeping. According to the Tibetan Book of the Dead it is a dreamlike state. However, if by the time you are in the resurection of judgement, and in all your lifetimes, which are recorded in books, you haven't made the desired progress to enter paradise then you are thrown into the lake of fire. (Gehenna) Note: Each lifetime equals a book.
Revelation 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.
Revelation 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
The only other word besides sheol, hades or gehenna that is translated as hell is when the Bible speaks of the demons and that word is from the Greek as "tartaroo" and it doesn't apply to humans.
Jude 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
2 Peter 2:4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
Here the word hell is from the Greek word tartaroo and I quote Strongs again.
5020 tartaroo {tar-tar-o'-o}
from Tartaros (the deepest abyss of Hades); v
AV - cast down to hell 1; 1
1) the name of the subterranean region, doleful and dark, regarded
by the ancient Greeks as the abode of the wicked dead, where they
suffer punishment for their evil deeds; it answers to Gehenna
of the Jews
2) to thrust down to Tartarus, to hold captive in Tartarus
This covers hell from the Old Testament and New Testament. I won't quote the Koran but it is filled with references to hell and they correspond to Gehenna and the Koran makes it plain it is an eternal place of suffering. According to the Koran, Hell comes after the Day of Judgement for the wicked but the good go to paradise.
According to the Buddha, karma of varying types can lead to rebirth as a human, an animal, a hungry ghost, a denizen of hell, or even one of the Hindu gods.
There are five or six realms, the number depending on what sources one is using (early sources list five, but six are mentioned in later works), into which one can be reborn55. On the upper half are gods, titans and humans, while ghosts, animals and hell are on the bottom. Rebirth as a human is considered very desirable and difficult to reach. While there are higher levels of rebirth, human existence has the greatest potential for spiritual progress and therefore the most chance of escaping cyclic existence. Being reborn as a god, one may lose sight of the need for nirvana, of the end goal. Leading a human existence, on the other hand, provides constant reminders for the need for nirvana and allows one to learn and teach the dharma.
Buddhist hell is not where one goes when you die but there are three that you can reincarnate into. The worst is a fire filled place where you are constantly being born into and then you die in one day. Buddhism teaches if you learn karmic lessons you can be reborn out of hell and return as a human on earth and progress further spiritually. So by combining what we learned from Revelations, "death and hades was throne into the lake of fire" and Buddhism, if at the time of the resurrection to judgement you are not found worthy, you will be condemned to forever cycle in births and deaths in the lower regions of suffering. This is the definition of suffering from Buddha, to be trapped in samsara, the constant cycle of birth and death. God said we will live eternal if we are not thrown into the lake of fire. According to Buddhism, one cannot reach nirvana from hell. So it appears that once God has resurrected all that have ever lived to judgement, being thrown into the lake of fire, is a rather permananet condition. Also making it to the paradise of God is permanaent too.