A masterful distillation for the West of the priceless wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism that gives us practical instruction and spiritual guidance on how to live in light of the greatest teacher of all -- death.

REVIEW From LibraryThing

Who dies? The answer to this question goes straight to the heart of Dzogchen, a 1,200-year-old school of Tibetan Buddhism that sees impermanence as the very essence of existence.

Sogyal Rinpoche grew up in the last generation of Tibetans who learned Buddhism as it was traditionally taught in Tibet. Schooled by his country's most revered masters, and later educated at Cambridge, Sogyal Rinpoche is uniquely prepared to bring this ancient tradition to the Western world today.

On Tibetan Wisdom for Living and Dying, Rinpoche presents a grand and transforming vision of life and death, introducing you to Tibetan practices that can help anyone live fully, while preparing for the extraordinary adventure that death offers each one of us.

What we call life and death, Rinpoche teaches, are merely shades of the same unbroken wholeness. By daring to see clearly the truth of our lives, and by exploring the part of us that is changeless and eternal, we can face the last moment of life without fear.

Masterfully taught, Tibetan Wisdom for Living and Dying is both a guide to this inner technology and a sacred document for listeners of all faiths and traditions.

A book to hang out with as a reference for the whole family... Interestedly the highest teachings are shared within this book, yet the vast majority of peeps would know this is so... and the author recognises that those teachings (unspecified by the author) are viewed as useful for peeps with PTSD of all kinds... A SELF-HELP book... I am not Buddhist by the way. . . ( )

I think this book has sat on my physical TBR longer than any other book I have owned, somewhere in the region of 10 years. Since then I have tried to read it several times, each time not getting more than 50 pages into it before having to put it aside. I always put it aside due to the fact it is pretty heavy going, this is not a book to read when you are tired or distracted. In recent months my reading has been going great so I decided to pick it up again and this time to finish it. Along the way I also read something lighter to give me some entertainment when I felt a big bogged down.

Looking at reviews of the book online it appears that it does live up the claim on the cover, it is widely regarded as a spiritual classic. My forays online also revealed something that I was unaware of. Sogyal Rinpoche has been implicated is a sexual abuse scandal involving his female disciples. He took advantage of his position of master and as a result has been widely shunned by the Tibetan Buddhist community. This put me in a bit of an awkward situation, I wanted to read the book but felt his actions are very contradictory with regards to his message. I felt I should plow on with the book though and see what it had to offer.

Sadly for me the book was a miss despite it being loved by many people. I have had an interest in Buddhist for most of my adult life but I wouldn't really consider myself a religious person. I am agnostic by nature and one thing I have always admired about Buddhism is the message to make use of what you find value in and let the rest go. Unquestionable belief is not a requirement and I find this comforting. This book contained far too many tales of miracles and mystical woo woo for my liking. The parts about compassion, empathy, and caring for the dying were fantastic but too often they were packaged with unbelievable 'facts'. If i had been a fully signed up Buddhist with a leaning towards the Tibetan traditions I'm sure I would have loved this book.

Large sections of the book are very pressing on the importance of the master-disciple relationship. This was uncomfortable reading as it is easy to see in hindsight how he has used these beliefs take advantage of women by giving them 'special teachings'. For the relationship to work I would imagine there has to be complete trust and as someone who held such a highly respected position to abuse this trust is unforgivable. This is even more troubling when you consider many people went to him for guidance on dealing with death of either themselves or their loved ones. ( )

This book reminded me of why I ditched Buddhism years ago. The condescending tone. The mysticism. The abject renunciation of critical thought. Nope. Back to the Stoics. ( )