"Originally bardo referred only to the period between one life and the next, and this is still its normal meaning when it is mentioned without any qualification. There was considerable dispute over this theory during the early centuries of Buddhism, with one side arguing that rebirth (or conception) follows immediately after death, and the other saying that there must be an interval between the two. With the rise of mahayana, belief in a transitional period prevailed. Later Buddhism expanded the whole concept to distinguish six or more similar states, covering the whole cycle of life, death, and rebirth. But it can also be interpreted as any transitional experience, any state that lies between two other states. Its original meaning, the experience of being between death and rebirth, is the prototype of the bardo experience, while the six traditional bardos show how the essential qualities of that experience are also present in other transitional periods. By refining even further the understanding of the essence of bardo, it can then be applied to every moment of existence. The present moment, the now, is a continual bardo, always suspended between the past and the future". - Luminous Emptiness. 2001. Francesca Fremantle. Boston: Shambala Publications. ISBN 1-57062-450-X Kyenay is the first bardo of birth and life. This bardo commences from conception until the last breath, when the mindstream withdraws from the body. Milam is the second bardo of the dream state. This bardo is a subset of the first. Dream Yoga develops practices to integrate the dream state into daily spiritual practice. Samten is the third bardo of meditation. This bardo is generally only experienced by meditators, though individuals may have spontaneous experience of it. Chikhai is the fourth bardo of the moment of death. According to tradition, this bardo is held to commence when the outer and inner signs presage that the onset of death is nigh, and continues through the dissolution or transmutation of the four elements (earth, water, fire and air) until the external and internal breath has completed. Chönyi is the fifth bardo of the luminosity of the true nature which commences after the final 'inner breath. It is within this bardo that visions and auditory phenomena occur. Concomitant to these visions, there is a welling of profound peace and pristine awareness. Sidpa is the sixth bardo of becoming or transmigration. This bardo endures until the inner-breath commences in the new transmigrating form determined by the "karmic seeds" within the storehouse consciousness.