Advice on Dying: And Living a Better Life (Hardcover)

~ Dalai Lama (Author), Jeffrey Hopkins (Author) "It is crucial to be mindful of death-to contemplate that you will not remain long in this life..." (more)
Key Phrases: Panchen Lama, Highest Yoga Tantra, Spiritual Community (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Buddhist scholar and professor Hopkins studied intimately with the 14th Dalai Lama to complete this volume on spiritual preparation for death and dying. The book draws upon the 17th-century poem by the First Panchen Lama, which focused on Buddhist techniques for mastering the fear of death and finding spiritual enlightenment through the "stages of dying." The 17 eloquent stanzas begin with ideas about awareness of life's cycle ("May we extract the meaningful essence of this life-support/Without being distracted by the senseless affairs of this life"), and move through each level of consciousness in anticipation of death, or rebirth ("May we be reborn with the supreme life-support of a Tantra practitioner using the sky"). The Dalai Lama elaborates upon the verse with Indian and Tibetan textual and oral traditions; the rather esoteric poem thus leads to more concrete advice, such as "You have to practice morality, concentrated meditation, and wisdom on a daily basis." Fear disappears when practitioners learn to embrace awareness of death, the Dalai Lama says, and through such insight, they are able to more fully take advantage of the given life.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Eloquent."
-- Publishers Weekly (Publisher's Weekly ) --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Atria (November 19, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743463021
• ISBN-13: 978-0743463027
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #639,241 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Technical Manual on Physical and Spiritual Reality of Death and Living a Better Life, February 10, 2007

By	Stephen Thomas "SteveT" (MiamiBeach-SLC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Did you know that Tibetan Buddhism is tantric? That is just one of the revelations of this book. It is obvious that, through the ages, the meditation masters have been observing the physical symptons of death and dying. This book explains the physical symptoms one experiences at each stage of the process of dying, described in a thick context of a metaphor of energies and levels of mind. (If you are a spiritual mystic, you'll love this! I must admit, I have had to read it a couple of times to get my Western mind to surrender -- but the journey is worth the concentration.) When I get to my death bead, instead of allowing the people around me to mourn, I have written instructions for my family to have someone read this book to me (over and over if I last that long) -- whether I'm apparently conscious or not (and I will invite the others to read Hesse's Siddhartha and go home and forgive someone they hate). Along with physical symptons of dying, this book details the journey of the mind and consciousness as the traveler experiences the only event we are all born to experience. Many thanks to the Dalai Lama and his teachers.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Book About Life, March 30, 2005

By	D. Sean West (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After having received this book along with another book by The Dalai Lama, How to Practice:The Way to a Meaningful Life, I read the other one first since based on the titles alone I thought that it would have more application to little ol secular me than a very narrow book about death. After having read both of them though I am shocked to see that I was wrong - despite what I had initially though I got more out of this book as a non-Buddhist that I got out of the first one.

While I have long been familiar with the idea that the specter of death can give one their driving force in life - when tomorrow isn't promised to you today is all that you have - I have never heard it more eloquently expressed than here.

Certainly there were parts of this book that I did not find applicable except from an academic standpoint since I myself am not Buddhist but on the whole I was surprised by just how much of this book could be seen as important for the Buddhist and non-Buddhist alike. And as with the earlier book I had read by him one of the main treats of this one was to get to experience what a remarkable man The Dalai Lama comes across as through his writings - not only as a sincerely religious man but also a truly modern man embracing science as another way to probe the divine rather than shunning it.

The only thing that really stands out in my mind as something that I didn't like in this book was the translator, Jeffrey Hopkins. I don't remember his forward in the previous book I read as being notable but his one in this book seems to serve no other purpose than to express his deep contempt for the Chinese government - naturally there is a reason for this but it can't help but put a bad taste in your mouth when you read something like that before starting a book about Buddhism. The forward did contain interesting information about how the Panchen Lama and Dalai Lama are selected but I still think the reading experience would be better off without it.

All in all though I must say that The Dalai Lama, as an author and as a person, has greatly exceeded any initial expectations that I came to his books with. No doubt his other works would prove as enjoyable and I am sure I will make my way to them before too long.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scarce information presented clearly and concisely., August 1, 2008

By	Islander (Islesboro, ME USA) - See all my reviews

This particular text contains very hard to find information on the inner structure,
presented in a clear, straightforward, concise and comprehensive manner:
included are descriptions of the symbols for, and the actions of, the various
levels of consciousness, chakras, channels and winds and the results of prana movement through the body.
This information is just not easily findable or accessible elsewhere in any one place.
You could even use this information to accurately decipher ancient teaching thankas.
His Holiness has written many books and there is, of necessity I think, a great deal of similar information overlap
amongst them, however he always manages to insert into each work some truly unique gem of information
not readily found elsewhere. It's rather like the old children's visual game of
Find The Precious Objects Hidden Somewhere In This Picture.
These unique additions in the midst of familiar territory are tiny hints
at the profound depth of wisdom inherent in this great teacher. Don't fret over this book's details.
Read it once through whether or not you like it, then just be patient and go back,
and read it again, and yet again, and eventually, you will find it easy.