The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying......

What is death if it’s not the end? This is what most of us think and what I thought until I read this book. I thought death as a tragic end, end of everything! The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying is a good beginner’s introduction to Tibetan Buddhism for those who are interested in understanding it. Even if you ignore all the religious detail, you can still learn a lot about love, living and dying.
I should admit that the book is quite painful to read. It explains the process of dying in great detail, with much clarity and acceptance. This book helps us to come to terms with the emotional abyss, spiritual questioning, and physical aspects of dying. 

The first chapter addresses the nature of mind and how to meditate in order to escape our ego and connect with oneself which is the essence of all things. Rinpoche talks about what karma really means, the logic and method of reincarnation, whether euthanasia is a compassionate option, the need for spiritual guidance in all our lives, the heritage and struggles of Tibet, and the similarities between the major religions of Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism.

We can also see Rinpoche's deep love for his home country (Tibet), and the various spiritual masters in his life who played a role in his formation. 

Here are some quotes from the book which I love the most. “Perhaps the deepest reason why we are afraid of death is because we do not know who we are. We believe in a personal, unique, and separate identity; but if we dare to examine it, we find that this identity depends entirely on an endless collection of things to prop it up: our name, our biography, our partners, family, home, job, friends, credit cards… It is on their fragile and transient support that we rely for our security. So when they are all taken away, will we have any idea of who we really are?” (page 16)

“We often wonder: ‘How will I be when I die?’ The answer to that is whatever state of mind we are in now, whatever kind of person we are now: that’s what we will be like at the moment of death, if we do not change. This is why it is so absolutely important to use this lifetime to purify our mind stream, and so our basic being and character, while we can.” (page 115-6)

“I want every human being not to be afraid of death, or of life; I want every human being to die at peace, and surrounded by the wisest, clearest, and most tender care, and to find the ultimate happiness that can only come from an understanding of the nature of mind and of reality. Thomas Merton wrote: ‘What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it, all the rest are not only useless, but disastrous.’” (page 360)

After reading the book I learnt that Death is a part of life, and until we have learnt the meaning of dying well, we will not know how to live well. Some people may find reading and talking about death morbid, yet each of us will have to face it at some point. In my view, it is much better to go on a journey having some sort of road map than none at all. Like anything we do in life needs preparation, we also need to prepare for death.