Living in the Light of Death: On the Art of Being Truly Alive [Paperback]

Larry Rosenberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 18, 2001

This book presents the Buddhist approach to facing the inevitable facts of growing older, getting sick, and dying. These tough realities are not given much attention by many people until midlife, when they become harder to avoid. Using a Buddhist text known as the Five Subjects for Frequent Recollection, Larry Rosenberg shows how intimacy with the realities of aging can actually be used as a means to liberation. When we become intimate with these inevitable aspects of life, he writes, we also become intimate with ourselves, with others, with the world—indeed with all things.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Those aches and pains, that sagging and graying--the booby trap of death is hidden in the undergrowth of the future, but how far into the future? One of the Buddha's great realizations was of the reality of aging and death. As Larry Rosenberg points out, it's not the reality that is the problem but what our minds do with it. One of America's leading meditation teachers, Rosenberg has in his repertoire a time-honored meditation practice: death meditation. In a sense, all Buddhist meditation is about facing impermanence, but death meditation is facing the ultimate impermanence. In Living in the Light of Death, Rosenberg brings forth some of his best anecdotes from his stays in foreign lands (and other painful experiences) to illustrate that aging, illness, and death can not only try us but teach us as well. To meditate on them is to initiate that teaching process. What Rosenberg has realized and tried to pass on to others is that although we cannot avoid the painful or frightening phenomena of the body, they do not have to weigh us down and can instead lend a lightheartedness to living. --Brian Bruya --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

"We know in our heads we will die," says Rosenberg. "But we have to know it in our hearts. We have to let this fact penetrate our bones. Then we will know how to live." Rosenberg, founder and teacher at the Insight Meditation Society in Cambridge, Mass., believes that part of being human means refusing to embrace or even acknowledge our fates, avoiding the subjects of illness, pain, aging and death. However, it is his contention that if and when we can become so intimate with these facts of life that we can accept them as such and let go of the emotional agendas that accompany them, we will become truly liberated. Rosenberg explains the practice of "death awareness," an ancient tradition that uses the Buddha's five contemplations on death for meditation exercises. The first three state that aging, illness and death are unavoidable, and the last two stress personal growth and responsibility for one's actions. Gearing his book toward novices as well as those who practice meditation, Rosenberg very capably teaches correct meditation practice and defines Buddhist terms. He is honest about what he doesn't know, such as what actually happens after death. The book is occasionally marred by Rosenberg's irritating name-dropping of "famous teachers and masters I have known"; otherwise, it is a worthy read. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala (September 18, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570628203
• ISBN-13: 978-1570628207
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.6 x 8.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #426,942 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Death is a great teacher., August 30, 2000

By 

G. Merritt (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Living in the Light of Death (Hardcover)

Larry Rosenberg, a respected meditation teacher, insightfully succeeds in bringing death to life in this meaningful new book. "The truth is," he observes, "death is not waiting for us at the end of the road, it is walking with us the whole time," from the moment we are born (p. 13). Unfortunately, readers who are uncomfortable confronting the unavoidable realities of aging, illness, and death may find this book morbid or depressing. Instead, however, Rosenberg encourages us to view death as "a great teacher . . . it teaches us how to live life" (p. 107).

"Death is here now," Rosenberg writes (p. 80). Everyone must die (p. 87). Our remaining life span is decreasing continually (p. 88). Death will come regardless of whether or not we are prepared (p. 91). Human life expectancy is uncertain (p. 93). There are many causes of death (p. 95). The human body is very fragile (p. 97). Our wealth cannot save us (p. 99). Our loved ones cannot help us (p. 101). Nor can our body help (p. 102). When viewed correctly, Rosenberg observes, these facts can become "doorways to liberation" (p. 141) that "make life more precious. They show us that every moment is a gift" (p. 97).

This book reads easily, and is filled with both interesting anecdotes and profound insights. Reading it could change your life.

G. Merritt

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rising above physical limitations, August 4, 2000

By 

Jussi Bjorling - See all my reviews

This review is from: Living in the Light of Death (Hardcover)

This book stands out from the crowded genre of authors dealing with loss, pain, and death. Most of the books I have read on the subject focus on the struggle against death and against pain, but while Larry Rosenberg certainly supports the idea that you should embrace life, he takes an honest look at what happens to people who will lose the fight--a group that, in the final analysis, includes everyone.

Rosenberg is one of the few authors I have read with the courage to address the inevitable and to show us how to embrace what we can delay, but what we cannot prevent. Using examples from a wide variety of cultures, he looks at the way in which others face death, and shows us what lessons we can learn as we approach the ends of our lives. Whether you hope to live for eight more weeks or eighty more years, Rosenberg has an important message for you.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars living in the light of death, August 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Living in the Light of Death (Hardcover)

This book is brilliant..........using death awareness as subject, the author shows us how we can actually live in freedom now, today. His clear, experiential understanding of the dharma is revealed over and over again throughout and his convicted and loving embrace of it is an amazing gift, given graciously, to us all. One of the finest dharma books ever written!