joe randel's art dump

I mentioned in a post a long time ago one of my top fears.  The fear of dying.  I’m quite terrified of death, what happens after and the thought that I won’t be here any more.  I can keep myself awake at night thinking about such things.  So I asked for The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying and wife got it for me on my birthday back in February with the hopes that it will help me though my fears and answer some of my questions.  Which it very much did.

The book covers two topics living and dying (duh).  But with in those there is such a wealth of knowledge on how we live our lives and how much of the current society views death in contrast to Tibetan views.   There is a section meditation and the mind with was fascinating.  And the final section about death which covers others deaths, near deaths, helping others deal with death and our own death.  Of course all is discussed from the Tibetan view point, which I find is very close to my own.

So did it help me at all?  Yes, it did.  I’m still nervous about it but I do feel better about it.  It taught me that thinking about ones death is actually quite encouraged in Tibet and among the Masters.  It mentions how most will live and never really give it more then a passing thought. Even things that I’ve thought of on my own and wondered about where answered and it was nice to have some reassurance on those ideas.  Out of the whole book though, the chapters on Bardos (death state), Rebirth and near death experiences where probably my favorite.

I feel that this is one of those books I’ll read over and over again and I’m quite happy to have it in my collection.  If you have death fears like I do and a lean towards Tibetan views then I highly recommend it.  With any luck, when my time comes… I won’t be so afraid.