Publisher's Synopsis
Buddhist understandings of death and practices surrounding death have been hallmarks of the tradition since its beginning. Over the last forty years, they have been an important part of the global revival of Buddhism, especially in the West-from the popularization of the Tibetan Book of the Dead to Zen poetry about death, to Theravadan meditation on the decaying body, to belief in the welcome of Amida Buddha on one's deathbed. Today there is a plethora of new titles by various authors on how to use Buddhist teachings and practices to face death and the dying of loved ones, yet these titles by and large focus on how an individual can prepare for death (their own or another's) as an inner journey. Relatively little is known, however, about the number of Buddhist-based initiatives for caring for the dying and bereaved through the development of trained professionals and the building of facilities that have mushroomed since the late 1980s. While a number of these initiatives have been created by high-profile Buddhist teachers, like Sogyal Rinpoche and Joan Halifax, who have written heart-moving books on death, their initiatives and others are not as highly publicized in the mass media. In this volume, we have culled some of the best and most inspired examples of Buddhist care for the dying and bereaved from all over the world, covering the entire Buddhist tradition with essays from the Theravada tradition in Thailand and Cambodia; the Tibetan tradition in the Rigpa Spiritual Care Program, which functions primarily in Europe and the United States; the East Asian Mahayana tradition in Taiwan; and the Lotus Sutra, Pure Land, and Zen traditions in both Japan and the United States. The Buddhist hospice movement marks a recovery of the ancient practices of Buddhism towards death and their application in new, modern conditions and societies. Many Buddhists today are drawing upon this long and deep tradition to find their own models for developing forms of Buddhist engagement that not only confront but also transform the many problems facing people dying in the world today.
