Case file · High strangeness
Delok Dawa Drolma's journey beyond death
Around 1926, aged sixteen, the Tibetan lama Dawa Drolma of Tromthar in Kham lay as if dead for five days and returned to describe the bardo and the hell realms, becoming a delok ('one who returns').
1926 CE · 31.20, 99.00 · status: account
The account
Her account, dictated in Tibetan, was published in English as 'Delog: Journey to Realms Beyond Death' (1995), with a foreword by her son Chagdud Tulku. Delok narratives are a recognised genre in Tibet, Bhutan and Himalayan Nepal.
The sceptical view
Medical explanations include catalepsy and near-death experience; scholars treat delok stories as religious literature that teaches karma.