Bardo
An intermediate state between death and rebirth where consciousness navigates without physical anchor.
In Tibetan Buddhism, the bardos are transitional states of consciousness — most famously the period between death and rebirth, but also including the bardo of dreaming, meditation, and the moment of death itself. In the bardo, consciousness is exceptionally fluid and malleable; liberation is possible but so is terrifying confusion. The Tibetan Book of the Dead is a guide for navigating the bardo. In film, bardo states are depicted as liminal spaces where normal rules don't apply: dreams within dreams, purgatorial waiting rooms, the space between life and death.