| Title | : | Preparing to Die: Practical Advice and Spiritual Wisdom from the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1559394080 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781559394086 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 480 |
| Publication | : | First published July 9, 2013 |
Part One shows how to prepare one's mind and how to help others, before, during, and after death. The author explains how spiritual preparation for death can completely transform our relationship to the end of life, dissolving our fear and helping us to feel open and receptive to letting go in the dying process. Daily meditation practices, the stages of dying and how to work with them, and after-death experiences are all detailed in ways that will be particularly helpful for those with an interest in Tibetan Buddhism and in Tibetan approaches to conscious dying.
Part Two addresses the practical issues that surround death. Experts in grief, hospice, the funeral business, and the medical and legal issues of death contribute chapters to prepare the reader for every practical concern, including advance directives, green funerals, the signs of death, warnings about the funeral industry, the stages of grief, and practical care for the dying.
Part Three contains heart-advice from twenty of the best-known Tibetan Buddhist masters now teaching in the West. These brief interviews provide words of solace and wisdom to guide the dying and their caregivers during this challenging time. Preparing to Die is for anyone interested in learning how to prepare for death from a Buddhist perspective, both spiritually and practically. It is also for those who want to learn how to help someone else who is dying, both during the time of illness and death as well as after death.
Preparing to Die: Practical Advice and Spiritual Wisdom from the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition Reviews
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Of several books I've read or read partly, so far, on how to prepare for dying -- mentally and spiritually, the final days and the final breath, not the paperwork --this is the most specific and spirit-oriented. However, it made me more afraid of the process of dying than ever. So much that I had to stop reading it. I bought it, so I'll probably try it again, but it is quite overwhelming.
I also don't know how authentic it is. I have read both the supposedly most-accurate translation as well as a for-Westerners translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and I know a little about various Buddhist beliefs and traditions. It seems to be consistent yet way, way beyond that. A whole lot of detailed exercises or practices to adopt to be ready for the moment that death comes.
What it said has made me afraid of accepting any pain-killing medicines or relief for inability to breathe as I die, because the book emphasizes that it's imperative to be totally lucid at the moment of death and aware that you are dying, are now dead, because you have only a moment to glimpse true reality and affect what happens to your spirit or essence then and, if you're reincarnated, in what way, what as, to what kind of life. Isn't that enough to scare anybody?
So I'm now reading MIND BEYOND DEATH
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5..., a related book that isn't so overwhelming and terrifying. But I'm not into the core of it yet, so that assessment might change.
If anyone who is Tibetan Buddhist and has read this book reads this review, I'd very much welcome your thoughts about the book as well as its accuracy about Tibetan Buddhist beliefs and practices related to dying and death. -
This is a very valuable reference book, but I found it difficult to read consistently. This may have been that I am very familiar with many of the topics and authors that are quoted in sections of the book, and perhaps because I have been recently saturated in death and dying material. For a Buddhist, this book offers both practical advice and spiritual advice, and deals nicely with issues that are often really not dealt with in other books. Andrew is an excellent writer and teacher and unbelievably knowledgeable. It is necessary to pick and choose what you take from this book, but the resource is fabulous.
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Very technical and esoteric, probably not of much interest to anyone not already steeped in Tibetan Buddhism. But still pretty interesting.
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I liked this book because it explained to you that you do not have to do things they way your told. Since funerals are used as a way of extorting money from people who usually are not prepared afford it. The book explains how you don't have to buy a casket from a funeral home who doubles the price. You can even transport a body on your own and bury your loved one where you want.
I like that the book tells you what to say and not say to a loved one who is passing and also lets you know that you don't have to say anyting just be present.
