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Death
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 The
Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche
A new spiritual classic from one of the foremost
interpreters of Tibetan Buddhism to the west.
An acclaimed spiritual masterpiece, The Tibetan
Book of Living and Dying is a manual for life and death and a
magnificent source of sacred inspiration from the heart of the Tibetan
tradition. Sogyal Rinpoche delivers a lucid and inspiring introduction
to the practice of meditation, to the nature of mind, to karma and
rebirth, to compassionate love and care for the dying, and to the trials
and rewards of the spiritual path. This jewel of Tibetan wisdom is the
definitive new spiritual classic for our times.
In 1927, Walter Evans-Wentz published his translation
of an obscure Tibetan Nyingma text and called it the Tibetan
Book of the Dead. Popular Tibetan teacher Sogyal Rinpoche has
transformed that ancient text, conveying a perennial philosophy that is
at once religious, scientific, and practical. Through extraordinary
anecdotes and stories from religious traditions East and West, Rinpoche
introduces the reader to the fundamentals of Tibetan Buddhism, moving
gradually to the topics of death and dying. Death turns out to be less
of a crisis and more of an opportunity. Concepts such as reincarnation,
karma, and bardo and practices such as meditation, tonglen, and phowa
teach us how to face death constructively. As a result, life becomes
much richer. Like Elisabeth
Kubler-Ross, Sogyal Rinpoche opens the door to a full experience of
death. It is up to the reader to walk through. --Brian Bruya
"As a guide to the Tibetan tradition and its
insights into life and death, Sogyal Rinpoche is without peer. . . .
Sogyal Rinpoche. . . has delivered the Tibetan equivalent of 'The Divine
Comedy.' One could imagine that this is what Dante might have written
had he been a Buddhist metaphysician rather than a Christian poet."
-- New York Times Book Review
"Rinpoche's teachings have much to offer. . . .
His down-to-earth tone, peppered with songs and poetry from Buddhist
sages, takes away much of the intense fear of death and makes it seem
like an old friend." -- Los Angeles Times
"A magnificent achievement. In its power to touch
the heart, to awaken consciousness, it is an inestimable gift." -- San
Francisco Chronicle Book Review
About the Author
Sogyal Rinpoche was born in Tibet and raised by one of the most revered
spiritual masters of this century, Jmyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro. He
travels and lectures throughout the world and is the founder and
spiritual director of Rigpa, an international network of Buddhist groups
and centers.
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Erratic Impact's page of resources on AIDS, HIV, Safer
Sex and related issues.
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This web page is an attempt to offer readers resources
on the topic of death and dying. Not vampires, gargoyles, the dark side
of life or things that go bump in the night. Just death and dying, with
a side trip to reaction.
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This website is devoted to understanding and
appreciating cemeteries.
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Modern Russian philosopher from Sankt-Petersburg
(RUSSIA) Andrei Demichev investigates a problem of death.
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Andrei Demichev
Excerpt:
We have now two quite opposite of mind in nowadays
Russian mentality. The first of produces optimist revivalist
expectations in the culture and so is directed from the past to the
future; another one is painted with ironic discordance and "post -
modernist fatigue" and so oriented to cultural excavation of the
past. The first gives rise to numerous renovation projects and
strategies, the second makes accent on the necessity to recognize that
the culture has its limits and that we have to give up the hope to find
any new "erogenous zones" of the culture. The theme of the
death, so important in post - modernist discussion ("death of
culture", "death of philosophy", "death of
man", 'death of author", etc.), becomes dominating in modern
Russian mentality, Russian intellectuals even tend to think this an
evidence of competency and bon tone. The situation is in sharp contrast
with very recent time, where the death was completely forgotten and
prohibited by communist ideology; we have now, for example, such a kind
of the art as so - called necrorealism, where the late stages of body
decomposition. "All social atmosphere is now polluted with the
thanatomania. Indifference toward human beings has led to indifference
toward the death itself and to its disqualification" (V. A.
Podoroga). In the Western countries, this post - modernist mortal
intention has its roots in the situation of "supermarket", i.s.
excess consumption, excess information, etc.; in Russia, our deficit
reality makes the interest in the death really dramatic. Post -
modernism in poor society is rather strange and unpredictable thing...
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Linda Jaine and Louise Halfe
Excerpt:
Cree people believe in Spirits visions and dreams. They
are mediums through which we attempt to enlighten our understanding of
the world in which we exist. And if we develop them properly, we find
our answers.
Each of the Creator's gifts, particularly animals and
humans, possess a Spirit. Because the Spirit is eternal we know that
when we die, it is only a physical death and our journey continues on.
Traditional Cree spirituality also strongly reinforces
the principle of a circle of life, the essence of which is found in
Spirit. One who finds honor in the circle of birth, infancy, childhood,
youth maturity and old age, can also find honor in death. Although the
body undergoes physical transformations, the Spirit remains unchanged.
When the body is no longer viable the spirit ascends into another realm...
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By Steven Heine
Excerpt:
Responding to what Tanabe Hajime has called the
current "age of death, "(1) Martin Heidegger and Nishitani
Keiji present an ontological critique of the origins and deficiencies of
science and technology. They analyze and attempt to overcome the
apparent global hegemony and potentially catastrophic destructiveness of
the scientific era. Heidegger and Nishitani charge that science and
technology represent a derivative or objectifying development of
primordial truth that partially expresses yet inevitably conceals its
source. Both thinkers insist that modern science be transformed or
appropriately recovered by the disclosure of an ontology. that is
nonsubstantive and nonobjectifiable in revealing holistic, contextual
events consisting of interrelated, functional components rather than
particularized, independent entities. The ontology must also be
nonconceptualizable and nondifferentiable by encompassing the
conventional oppositions of man and nature, subject and object, and life
and death...
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