Bardo of Dharmata (Chonyid Bardo) — Luminosity Between

The Chonyid Bardo is the second intermediate state in the Bardo Thodol, arising after the dissolution of the Chikhai Bardo when the ground luminosity has not been recognized. Over a period traditionally counted as fourteen days, the forty-two peaceful deities (zhi-ba'i lha) and fifty-eight wrathful deities (khro-bo'i lha) manifest as spontaneous displays of dharmata — the luminous nature of reality itself. The Bardo Thodol emphasizes that these visions are rang snang, self-projections of the practitioner's own rigpa (pure awareness), not external entities: the five Buddha families (Vairochana, Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, Amoghasiddhi) radiate as the five wisdom lights corresponding to the purified forms of the five kleshas. Recognition of any deity as one's own dharmakaya display liberates instantaneously; failure to recognize drives consciousness into the third bardo.