The Hundred Deities of the Bardo (Shitro) comes from terma such as the "Self-Arisen Vidyadhara" and is Nyingma’s core teaching on the bardo visions. After death, the consciousness meets, in sequence, the forty-two peaceful and fifty-eight wrathful deities—appearances of the practitioner’s own primordial awareness, not outer gods.

Nyingma holds that if, during the bardo, someone reads and guides the dead, they can recognize these deities as the light of their own mind, ceasing fear and the drift of karma. That is the purpose of the ceremony: with the voice of lineage, awaken the dead’s innate awareness.

• **Liberation by recognition.** Guide the dead to recognize the peaceful and wrathful visions, loosening attachment to the body and turning toward liberation or a good rebirth.
• **Settling the bardo.** Offer real support to the wandering consciousness, keeping it from fearful paths.
• **Comfort for the living.** Joining the practice turns longing into concrete virtue, bringing peace to the heart.

The ceremony follows the Shitro terma:

• **Mandala and hundred-deity visualization.** The lama performs the Shitro ritual before the mandala, summoning and guiding the dead.
• **Reading the bardo guidance.** Following the "Liberation Upon Hearing," the lama instructs the dead stage by stage on meeting each vision.
• **Mantra and dedication.** Reciting the hundred-syllable and deity mantras purifies obscurations; merit is dedicated solely to the dead.
• **Smoke offering.** Upward gift and outward generosity so bardo and hungry spirits share the benefit.

You need not be present—the lama’s guiding voice crosses the distance.