Short answer
Buddhists do not agree. Tibetan Buddhism teaches the bardo, a passage of up to forty-nine days between death and the next birth. Its best-known text is read aloud to the dead, so that they may still be freed. The Kathavatthu, in the Theravada canon, argues the opposite: there is no in-between state. Later Theravada texts say one life follows the next with no gap. Each school stands on the Buddha's words, so the sources give two answers. Islam also teaches a time after death, but it is not a bardo. The barzakh is a barrier, not a road to a new birth. God (﷾) keeps the soul, and the same person is raised once, at the resurrection. No one is sent back to try again (23:99-100). So the question is who can know, and Islam's answer is the One who made us.
Full explanation
The Tibetan teaching: the bardo
Bardo is a Tibetan word that means "between two". The best-known text on it is the Bardo Thodol, which the West calls the Tibetan Book of the Dead. It calls itself the Great Liberation by Hearing. It belongs to Tibetan Buddhism, a Mahayana tradition. It is not in the Pali canon, the scriptures of Theravada Buddhism. Tibetan tradition says it was written down in the eighth century, hidden, and later found by Karma Lingpa, a finder of hidden texts. The text speaks straight to the dying and the dead person. A teacher or friend reads it close to the ear, as soon as the breath has stopped. It names three stages: the moment of death, the experiencing of reality, and the seeking of rebirth. In the first, a clear light dawns. In the second, many peaceful and wrathful figures appear, and the text says they come from the person's own mind. In the third, the dead person sees his family and speaks to them, and no one answers. Seeing them weep, he understands that he has died. The text says this state lasts from one week to seven, up to the forty-ninth day. It adds that karma decides, so no length is fixed. A person who does not understand may drift to the entrance of a womb, and a new birth follows. So in this teaching the weeks after death are a chance to be freed before the next birth. That is why the text says it matters very greatly to keep up the reading for forty-nine days.
The word bardo literally means "between two": the state between death and rebirth. The text calls itself the Great Liberation by Hearing. By Tibetan tradition it was first written down in the time of Padmasambhava in the eighth century. It was then hidden, and later brought to light by Karma Lingpa, a finder of hidden texts.
The text says that a teacher, a brother in the faith or a dear friend should read it with the lips close to the ear of the body, as soon as the breath has stopped.
The text tells the dead person that he will pass through three stages: the moment of death, the experiencing of reality, and the seeking of rebirth.
At the moment of death the dying person is told he is about to meet the Clear Light. In the next stage peaceful and wrathful figures appear. The text says they come forth from within the person's own brain, and tells him to know them as the embodiment of his own intellect.
The text tells the dead person that he will see his relatives and speak to them, and that they will not answer. Seeing his family weep, he understands that he has died.
The text says the dead person stays in this state for between one and seven weeks, up to the forty-ninth day. It adds that the usual time is said to be about twenty-two days, and that karma decides, so no length is fixed.
An instruction to the one who reads. A dead person who has not understood may be overcome by illusion and drift towards the entrance of a womb. The reader is then to call the dead person by name and read him the teaching on closing that entrance.
The text says the funeral rites help because the dead person's mind is clear and can take in what it is taught. It concludes that keeping up the reading of this text for forty-nine days matters very greatly.
The moment of death
A clear light dawns.
Reality
Peaceful and wrathful figures appear. The text says they come from the person's own mind.
Seeking rebirth
The dead person sees the family and gets no reply, for up to forty-nine days.
The entrance of a womb
A person who does not understand goes on to a new birth.
The older Indian case for an in-between state
The idea did not begin in Tibet. The Kathavatthu's commentary says two early Indian schools, the Pubbaseliyas and the Sammitiyas, taught it. Vasubandhu, an Indian Buddhist teacher of about the fourth or fifth century, set out the case in his Abhidharmakosa. Between death and birth, he says, there is an existence that travels to the place of birth. His picture is a grain of rice carried to a far village. It passes through every place on the way, and it does not vanish here and appear there. So the stream of mind cannot break off at death and start again somewhere else. Two passages in the Pali texts seem to leave room for this. In one, the wanderer Vacchagotta asks about someone who has laid down the body and is not yet reborn. The Buddha replies: "I say they're fueled by craving." In another, some people are "extinguished between one life and the next", like a spark that flies off hot iron and goes out. These passages matter because they let a Buddhist say the idea comes from the Buddha himself.
“held that there is an interim stage where a being awaits reconception for a week or longer. The counter-argument is based on the Exalted One's dictum that there are three states of becoming only”
Vasubandhu teaches that between the moment of death and the moment of birth there is an existence that travels to the place of birth. Other schools say there is a break and no such existence, and he calls this false. A grain of rice carried to a far village, he says, passes through every place on the way. In the same way the stream of mind does not start again after a break. He rejects the reply that a reflection appears in a mirror with nothing in between: a reflection, he says, proves nothing.
“When someone who is attached has laid down this body, Vaccha, and has not been reborn in one of the realms, I say they’re fueled by craving.”
“With the ending of the five lower fetters they’re extinguished between one life and the next.”
The Theravada answer: there is no such state
Theravada Buddhism, followed mostly in South and Southeast Asia, rejects all of this in its orthodox teaching. The Kathavatthu is the book of disputed points in its Pali canon. One debate is headed: "That there is an intermediate state of existence." The Theravadin argues against it. The commentary explains that some "held that there is an interim stage where a being awaits reconception for a week or longer". The reply rests on the Buddha's saying "that there are three states of becoming only". An in-between state is not one of the three. The Theravadin then presses the opposing teachers. Is it a real realm of beings? "Do beings get born in it, grow old, die in it, decease from it, and get reborn from it?" They say no, so the Theravadin asks how it can be held at all. Later Theravada writers agree. Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga, the standard Theravada manual, says there is no break or interval between one life and the next. It adds that nothing goes across. The Milindapanha, a classic Theravada text, points the same way. Rebirth in a far heaven takes no longer than rebirth in a nearby land. A far place and a near one can be thought of in the same time. So on this teaching no one waits, and no one wanders for forty-nine days.
“Controverted Point.—That there is an intermediate state of existence.”
“held that there is an interim stage where a being awaits reconception for a week or longer. The counter-argument is based on the Exalted One's dictum that there are three states of becoming only”
“Do beings get born in it, grow old, die in it, decease from it, and get reborn from it?”
Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga, the standard Theravada manual, says in verse that at rebirth one moment of mind breaks up and the next is born. There is no break or interval between them. Nothing goes from here, and yet rebirth takes place.
“Just so, great king, would it take no longer to be reborn in the Brahma world than to be reborn in Kashmir.”
Two answers that cannot both be true
Either there is a gap between one life and the next, or there is not. These two teachings cannot both be right. The dispute also goes further than one question. Vasubandhu says something travels, as rice is carried from village to village. Buddhaghosa says nothing travels, as an echo depends on a sound without moving. He gives a reflection as one of his pictures. Vasubandhu rejects the reflection as proof of anything. Even the Buddha's words divide them. The Pali word in the passage above is antaraparinibbayi. One modern translator gives it as "between one life and the next". The translators of the Kathavatthu give it as "within the first half of the term". Their note explains this as dying in the first half of a life in a heaven. So the Theravadin there denies that it proves a separate state. Those who teach the in-between state do not agree with each other either. Vasubandhu reports answers of seven days, of seven weeks, and of only a short time. Other Indian schools denied it altogether. This matters for anyone who has lost someone. If the Tibetan text is right, the dead person is there to be spoken to. If the Kathavatthu is right, no one is waiting to hear. Disagreement does not prove that both are wrong. It does mean that no one can honestly say Buddhism teaches one answer. A reader has to ask what could settle it.
Vasubandhu teaches that between the moment of death and the moment of birth there is an existence that travels to the place of birth. Other schools say there is a break and no such existence, and he calls this false. A grain of rice carried to a far village, he says, passes through every place on the way. In the same way the stream of mind does not start again after a break. He rejects the reply that a reflection appears in a mirror with nothing in between: a reflection, he says, proves nothing.
Buddhaghosa says consciousness does not arrive here from a previous existence. To show how it can still arise from past causes, he gives an echo, a lamp, the print of a seal and the reflection of an image. Each of these depends on something else, and none of them moves from one place to the other.
Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga, the standard Theravada manual, says in verse that at rebirth one moment of mind breaks up and the next is born. There is no break or interval between them. Nothing goes from here, and yet rebirth takes place.
“With the ending of the five lower fetters they’re extinguished between one life and the next.”
“But are there not beings who ‘complete existence within the first half of the term?’”
Vasubandhu reports that those who taught the in-between being differed on how long it lasts. One teacher said seven days, after which it dies and is born again in that state if its birth cannot yet take place. Others said seven weeks. The Vaibhasika teachers said it lasts only a short time, because it longs for birth.
| The question | Those who teach an in-between state | The Theravada texts |
|---|---|---|
| Is there a gap between lives? | Yes: an existence between death and birth | No: no break or interval |
| Does anything travel? | Yes, as rice is carried to a far village | No, as an echo depends on a sound without moving |
| The Pali word antaraparinibbayi | "between one life and the next" | "within the first half of the term" |
| How long does it last? | Seven days, seven weeks or a short time | There is no such state |
Who is listening?
The Bardo Thodol calls out to a person. It tells the reader to call the dead person by name, and it speaks to him directly from first to last. It warns this person, comforts this person, and tells this person what to do. Yet Buddhist teaching holds that nothing in a person, body or mind, is a lasting self. A Tibetan Buddhist will answer that the name is only a way of speaking for a stream of mind. But a way of speaking cannot hear, remember or choose. The text's instructions need the same one to go on. The page on karma and rebirth without a soul gives this argument in full. It matters here because the whole practice depends on it. Words read to the dead make sense only if someone is there to receive them.
An instruction to the one who reads. A dead person who has not understood may be overcome by illusion and drift towards the entrance of a womb. The reader is then to call the dead person by name and read him the teaching on closing that entrance.
“This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self.”
A reckoning with no Judge outside the mind
The Bardo Thodol describes a reckoning in its last stage. Good deeds are counted with white pebbles and evil deeds with black. The Lord of Death looks in the Mirror of Karma, and lying is of no use. So far a Muslim hears something close to a judgement. But the text then tells the dead person what this really is. The Lord of Death, the gods and the demons have no existence outside himself. They are his own mind's hallucinations. The same text does tell the dead person to pray to the Compassionate One, the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. But it gives no Judge who stands outside the mind. The Pali texts tell of King Yama in another way, and another page covers that. So the sources differ here too. The real choice is between meeting your own mind and meeting your Maker.
The text describes a reckoning in the last stage. Good deeds are counted out with white pebbles and evil deeds with black ones. The Lord of Death looks in the Mirror of Karma, where every act is reflected, and lying is of no use.
The text tells the dead person that the Lord of Death, the gods and the demons he sees have no existence outside himself. They are his own mind's hallucinations.
The text tells the dead person to pray to his guardian deity, the Compassionate One. The edition's notes explain that the Great Compassionate Lord is the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, called Chenrazee in Tibet.
Who can know what lies beyond death?
A Buddhist may say the Buddha saw these things for himself. Every school in this debate believes that, and they still disagree about what he said. Visions cannot settle it either. The Tibetan text says that what is seen in the bardo comes from the person's own mind. No one today can go and look. So the question turns on one thing. What lies beyond death can be known for certain only if the One who made us tells us. The Qur'an says that He alone "knows the Unseen", and that He makes it known to "a messenger whom He has chosen". Muslims do not claim to have seen the barzakh for themselves either. They believe in it because they hold the Qur'an to be God's (﷾) word. So the honest test is not a vision. It is whether the Book is truly from God (﷾), and that can be examined by anyone. The page on how to test a scripture sets out how.
“P.—Surely then the person is known in the sense of a real and ultimate fact? Th.—Granting that the Exalted One said that which is quoted, is that a reason for affirming that the person is known in the sense of a real and ultimate fact?”
The text tells the dead person that the Lord of Death, the gods and the demons he sees have no existence outside himself. They are his own mind's hallucinations.
“"He (alone) knows the Unseen, nor does He make any one acquainted with His Mysteries,- "Except a messenger whom He has chosen: and then He makes a band of watchers march before him and behind him,”
The barzakh and the grave: what Islam teaches
The Qur'an describes a dying man who begs, "O my Lord! send me back (to life)", so that he may do the good he neglected. The answer is: "By no means!" Then it says: "Before them is a Partition till the Day they are raised up." The Arabic word for this partition is barzakh, a barrier. The Qur'an also says Allah (﷾) takes the souls at death, and that those whose death He has decreed, "He keeps back". The barzakh is not an empty wait. The Prophet (ﷺ) said that two angels come to the dead person in the grave and sit him up. They ask what he used to say about Muhammad (ﷺ). The believer bears witness that he is Allah's (﷾) servant and Messenger. He is shown the place in the Fire that he has been spared, and his place in Paradise. In another report the believer adds that they accepted the Prophet's (ﷺ) guidance and followed him. The disbeliever or hypocrite says he does not know, and that he only said what people said. He is punished. So the answer comes from how a person believed and lived. Each dead person is then shown his place, in Paradise or in the Fire, morning and evening. This goes on until Allah (﷾) raises him on the Day of Resurrection. The Qur'an says the people of Pharaoh are brought before the Fire "morning and evening", before the Day of Judgement. Faith does not shield a person from every punishment for sin. The Prophet (ﷺ) heard two people being punished in their graves. One did not keep himself clean from his urine, and the other went about spreading tales. So the grave is where the result of a life begins to show. It is not a second chance. Muslims say no more about this state than God (﷾) and His Messenger (ﷺ) have told them. The page on what happens after death in Islam gives the full account.
“(In Falsehood will they be) Until, when death comes to one of them, he says: "O my Lord! send me back (to life),- "In order that I may work righteousness in the things I neglected." - "By no means! It is but a word he says."- Before them is a Partition till the Day they are raised up.”
“It is Allah that takes the souls (of men) at death; and those that die not (He takes) during their sleep: those on whom He has passed the decree of death, He keeps back (from returning to life), but the rest He sends (to their bodies) for a term appointed verily in this are Signs for those who reflect.”
Anas reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: when a person is laid in the grave and his companions leave, he hears their footsteps. Two angels sit him up and ask what he used to say about Muhammad. The believer testifies that he is the servant and Messenger of Allah, and is shown the place in Hell he has been spared and his place in Paradise. The disbeliever or hypocrite says he does not know, that he only repeated what people said, and he is punished.
Asma' reports that after the eclipse prayer the Prophet (ﷺ) said people will be tested in their graves and asked what they know of this man. The believer says that he is Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, who came with clear signs and guidance, and that they accepted it and followed him. The hypocrite or doubter says that he does not know: he heard people saying something and said it too.
Ibn Umar reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: when one of you dies, he is shown his place morning and evening, in Paradise if he is of its people and in the Fire if he is of its people, and he is told that this is his place until Allah raises him on the Day of Resurrection.
“In front of the Fire will they be brought, morning and evening: And (the sentence will be) on the Day that Judgment will be established: "Cast ye the People of Pharaoh into the severest Penalty!"”
Ibn Abbas reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) heard two people being punished in their graves. He said they were not punished for something they thought hard to avoid, yet it was a major sin: one did not keep himself clean from his urine, and the other went about spreading tales.
Is the barzakh just a bardo?
No. A reader may say Islam has an in-between state too, and it does. But the two differ in almost everything that counts. First, the bardo is a passage, and the barzakh is a barrier. Unless a person is freed, the bardo leads on to a new birth. The barzakh stands against any return. Second, the length differs. The Tibetan text speaks of up to forty-nine days. The barzakh lasts "till the Day they are raised up". Third, in the bardo the person can still act. He can be freed by hearing and understanding. In the barzakh he can do nothing more, and the plea to go back and do better is refused. A person's own deeds end at death, apart from three things he left behind. These are lasting charity, useful knowledge and a righteous child who prays for him. Fourth, in the bardo the figures are the mind's own. In the grave the two angels are real, and on the Day the Judge is God. Fifth, the one who waits differs. Buddhist teaching finds no lasting self in the one who passes through. Islam says the soul is kept by God (﷾), and the same person is raised. So the likeness is only that both come after death. One sends a stream of mind on to another birth. The other holds a person for one Day of account.
The text says the dead person stays in this state for between one and seven weeks, up to the forty-ninth day. It adds that the usual time is said to be about twenty-two days, and that karma decides, so no length is fixed.
An instruction to the one who reads. A dead person who has not understood may be overcome by illusion and drift towards the entrance of a womb. The reader is then to call the dead person by name and read him the teaching on closing that entrance.
The text tells the dead person that the Lord of Death, the gods and the demons he sees have no existence outside himself. They are his own mind's hallucinations.
“(In Falsehood will they be) Until, when death comes to one of them, he says: "O my Lord! send me back (to life),- "In order that I may work righteousness in the things I neglected." - "By no means! It is but a word he says."- Before them is a Partition till the Day they are raised up.”
Abu Huraira reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said that when a person dies, his deeds come to an end except three: lasting charity, knowledge that people benefit from, and a righteous child who prays for him.
Anas reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: when a person is laid in the grave and his companions leave, he hears their footsteps. Two angels sit him up and ask what he used to say about Muhammad. The believer testifies that he is the servant and Messenger of Allah, and is shown the place in Hell he has been spared and his place in Paradise. The disbeliever or hypocrite says he does not know, that he only repeated what people said, and he is punished.
“It is Allah that takes the souls (of men) at death; and those that die not (He takes) during their sleep: those on whom He has passed the decree of death, He keeps back (from returning to life), but the rest He sends (to their bodies) for a term appointed verily in this are Signs for those who reflect.”
“Every man's fate We have fastened on his own neck: On the Day of Judgment We shall bring out for him a scroll, which he will see spread open. (It will be said to him:) "Read thine (own) record: Sufficient is thy soul this day to make out an account against thee."”
| Compared | The bardo | The barzakh |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A passage | A barrier |
| How long | Up to forty-nine days | Until the Day of Resurrection |
| What comes after | A new birth, unless the person is freed | One resurrection and judgement |
| Can the person still act? | Yes, by hearing and understanding | No: the plea to go back is refused |
| Who is met | Figures from the person's own mind | Two angels, and on the Day God (﷾) the Judge |
| Who waits | No lasting self is found | The same person, whose soul God (﷾) keeps |
One life, then one resurrection
Islam teaches that there is no round of births to escape. God (﷾) gave you life where there was none. He will "cause you to die, and will again bring you to life", and "again to Him will ye return". The Qur'an asks if people think "that We had created you in jest" and that they will not be brought back. The Qur'an says that when the trumpet is sounded, "from the sepulchres (men) will rush forth to their Lord". It answers the man who asks who can give life to dry bones: "He will give them life Who created them for the first time!" And each person is told, "Read thine (own) record". So what you do in this life matters more than anything said over you after it. That is a hard truth, and it is also a mercy, because you can know it now, while there is time. This life is the chance. God (﷾) says to those who have wronged themselves: "Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins". The next verse says how: turn to Him "before the Penalty comes on you". So the turning back has to come in this life. The Qur'an says: "Of no effect is the repentance of those who continue to do evil, until death faces one of them". A wrong done to another person must also be put right with that person. The Prophet (ﷺ) said to settle it today, before the Day when good deeds are taken in payment.
“How can ye reject the faith in Allah?- seeing that ye were without life, and He gave you life; then will He cause you to die, and will again bring you to life; and again to Him will ye return.”
“"Did ye then think that We had created you in jest, and that ye would not be brought back to Us (for account)?"”
“The trumpet shall be sounded, when behold! from the sepulchres (men) will rush forth to their Lord!”
“And he makes comparisons for Us, and forgets his own (origin and) Creation: He says, "Who can give life to (dry) bones and decomposed ones (at that)?" Say, "He will give them life Who created them for the first time! for He is Well-versed in every kind of creation!-”
“Every man's fate We have fastened on his own neck: On the Day of Judgment We shall bring out for him a scroll, which he will see spread open. (It will be said to him:) "Read thine (own) record: Sufficient is thy soul this day to make out an account against thee."”
“Say: "O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”
“"Turn ye to our Lord (in repentance) and bow to His (Will), before the Penalty comes on you: after that ye shall not be helped.”
“Of no effect is the repentance of those who continue to do evil, until death faces one of them, and he says, "Now have I repented indeed;" nor of those who die rejecting Faith: for them have We prepared a punishment most grievous.”
Abu Hurayra reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: whoever has wronged another, in his honour or in anything else, should seek his release from it today, before the Day when there will be no money. If he has good deeds, they will be taken from him in proportion to the wrong. If he has none, some of the wronged person's bad deeds will be laid on him.
This life
The one chance to act.
Death
God (﷾) keeps the soul.
The barzakh
A barrier until the Day of Resurrection. Each person is questioned and shown his place.
The resurrection
All are raised once.
The record
Each person reads his own.
An invitation to look at the Qur'an
Buddhist sources give two answers to this question, and they cannot both be right. The Qur'an gives its answer in plain words. It also invites checking: had it come from anyone other than God (﷾), it says, people would find much contradiction in it. It says Muhammad (ﷺ) was sent to all mankind. Muslims ask every reader, Buddhists too, to read it for themselves. They ask each reader to weigh what it says about death, the barrier and the Day of return. There is still time to act on it.
“Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other Than Allah, they would surely have found therein Much discrepancy.”
“Say: "O men! I am sent unto you all, as the Messenger of Allah, to Whom belongeth the dominion of the heavens and the earth: there is no god but He: it is He That giveth both life and death. So believe in Allah and His Messenger, the Unlettered Prophet, who believeth in Allah and His words: follow him that (so) ye may be guided."”
"Islam has an in-between state too"
Qur'an 23:99-100 — Surat al-Mu'minun (The Believers), verses 99-100
“(In Falsehood will they be) Until, when death comes to one of them, he says: "O my Lord! send me back (to life),- "In order that I may work righteousness in the things I neglected." - "By no means! It is but a word he says."- Before them is a Partition till the Day they are raised up.”
Cited for
Islam has a bardo of its own. The barzakh is a state between death and what comes next, just as the bardo is.
The response
Both come after death, and there the likeness ends. The bardo leads on to a new birth, and the barzakh is a barrier against return. The dying man asks to go back and is told "By no means!" The barzakh lasts "till the Day they are raised up", not for forty-nine days. It ends in one resurrection and one judgement, never in a womb.
Where it lands — The barzakh is a barrier until the one resurrection. The bardo is a passage to another birth.
Sahih Muslim 1631 — Kitab al-Wasiyya (The Book of Wills), hadith 1631
Abu Huraira reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said that when a person dies, his deeds come to an end except three: lasting charity, knowledge that people benefit from, and a righteous child who prays for him.
Cited for
Muslims pray for their dead. So Islam also holds that words said after death can help the one who has died.
The response
Muslims do pray for their dead. After a burial the Prophet (ﷺ) would stand at the grave and tell the people to ask forgiveness for their brother. He told them to ask that he be made firm, because he was being questioned at that moment. He also named a righteous child who prays for a parent among the three things that go on. But every such prayer is spoken to God (﷾), and asks Him to forgive. It teaches the dead person nothing, and it gives him no new choice to make. Muslims do prompt a dying person to say that there is no god but Allah (﷾). That is before death, while he can still choose. The Bardo Thodol speaks to the dead person after death and tells him what to do. In Islam his own deeds have ended, and the mercy is God's (﷾) alone to give.
Where it lands — A Muslim's prayer asks God (﷾) to forgive the dead. The Tibetan reading instructs the dead person, who can still act.
Qur'an 72:26-27 — Surat al-Jinn (The Jinn), verses 26-27
“"He (alone) knows the Unseen, nor does He make any one acquainted with His Mysteries,- "Except a messenger whom He has chosen: and then He makes a band of watchers march before him and behind him,”
Cited for
No Muslim has come back from the barzakh either. So Islam knows no more about it than Buddhists know about the bardo.
The response
Muslims do not claim to have seen the barzakh for themselves. They hold that God (﷾), who "knows the Unseen", told it to His chosen messenger. So the claim stands or falls on whether the Qur'an is from God (﷾), and anyone can examine that. The page on how to test a scripture sets out how.
Where it lands — Islam rests this on revelation, and the revelation can be tested.
Perspectives
Tibetan Buddhist teaching (the Bardo Thodol)
Between death and the next birth lies the bardo, a passage of up to forty-nine days. What a person sees there comes from his own mind. If he recognises this he can be freed. So the text is read to the dying and the dead.
Tibetan Buddhism, a Mahayana tradition, with older Indian teaching on the in-between state
A stream of mind cannot break off at death and start again elsewhere. Rice carried to a far village passes through every place on the way. So there must be an existence between death and birth (Abhidharmakosa III.11).
Rebuttal
The Theravada canon rejects this. Buddhaghosa says nothing travels, and there is no interval. So the picture of rice proves nothing to those who deny that a stream of mind has to move at all. The Buddhist sources do not settle it.
The Buddha himself spoke of someone who has laid down the body and is not yet reborn. He said such a person is fueled by craving (Samyutta Nikaya 44.9).
Rebuttal
The passage does not name a state, a length or any stages. The Kathavatthu, in the same canon, argues that no such state exists. So the Pali texts do not give the bardo that the Tibetan text describes.
The bardo is a map of the mind, not a place. Its figures are the mind's own, and the forty-nine days are a symbol.
Rebuttal
The text is read to a real dead person. It speaks of family who give no reply, of weeks and of the entrance of a womb. If all this is only a symbol, it no longer says what happens at death, and the question remains.
Theravada teaching (the Kathavatthu)
There is no in-between state. The Buddha named three states of becoming only. One life follows the next with no interval, and nothing travels across.
The Pali canon, and Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga
The Buddha taught three states of becoming only, and an in-between state is not one of them. So those who teach it have misread a phrase (Kathavatthu VIII.2).
Rebuttal
Other Buddhists read the Buddha's words the other way, and each school claims them. A dispute over one word, kept up for centuries, shows that the reader needs a clearer source for what lies beyond death.
Nothing passes from one life to the next, yet rebirth takes place, as an echo depends on a sound without moving (Visuddhimagga).
Rebuttal
An echo does not answer for the sound that caused it. If nothing passes across, then the one who meets the result is not the one who did the deed. In Islam the one who acted is the one told, "Read thine (own) record".
The Islamic perspective
There is no rebirth. After death comes the barzakh, a barrier that lasts until the Day of Resurrection. God (﷾) keeps the soul, the same person is raised, and each one meets his own record.
The Qur'an says the dying man's plea to go back is refused. A Partition stands before the dead until the Day they are raised (23:99-100).
God (﷾) takes the soul at death and keeps it back (39:42). Each person is shown his place morning and evening until the Resurrection.
The One who made man the first time will give him life again, once, for judgement (36:78-79; 2:28).
Only God (﷾) knows the Unseen, and He makes it known to a messenger He has chosen (72:26-27).