Samding Dorje Phagmo In Tibetan Buddhism and Bön, Zhitro (Standard Tibetan: ཞི་ཁྲོ) or Shitro zab-chos zhi khro dgongs pa rang grol, also known as kar-gling zhi-khro[1] refers to a cycle of teachings revealed by the terton Karma Lingpa and traditionally believed to have been written by Padmasambhava.
These hundred peaceful and wrathful deities are believed to manifest to a deceased person following the dissolution of the body and consciousness whilst they are in the intermediate state, or bardo, between death and rebirth.
The Bardo Thodol, commonly known in the West as "The Tibetan Book of the Dead", forms one section of Karma Lingpa's Zhitro cycle.
The Zhitro mandala teachings were found in the same terma collection as the Bardo Thodol, a text well known in the West as The Tibetan Book of the Dead.
[4] The Dzogchen practice of Zhitro involves viewing the body as a mandala of both peaceful and wrathful deities, the inclusivity promoting awareness in the practitioner of the universality of Buddha-nature.