The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

 

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

By Sogyal Rinpoche

 

I first read this book in a tipi that I lived in years ago when Zen-Buddhism made a sensation here in America.  Recently, we spied my ten year old grandson reading the book out loud to his dog.  I thought then two things.  First, is this book for children?  Second, I should probably read it again for when he starts asking questions?  After reading it I was discussing with my son and he told me he had fist read it when he was fourteen.  UUUhhhm.  This said, I would put the book in the academic section of my library and leaving it for anyone to read.  The book reads much like a field manual - textbook.  Even so it is refreshing in terms of the effect it has on the reader.

Rinpoche, a Tibetan in exile, thanks to China’s brutal invasion of which the World did nothing about, introduces, in a very matter of fact way, a different view of death from that of Western civilian thinkers.  Westerners he says have a morbid view of death and therefore live in extreme fear of death.  I don’t think an opposing argument could be made.  In Tibet the Buddhists embrace death as simply another phase of soul.   This phase being essentially the rewarding and exciting possibilities found in reincarnation.  Knitted in these possibilities is karma, a word in the western world simply means ‘what goes around comes around.’  Hence one of the tenants of this book is meant to relieve the fear westerners have by simply stating that the way we live our life and the thoughts we carry through life will define what to expect in our dying.  If we hold a positive view on life, our death too will be a positive and joyful experience.  It prompts this thought: ‘live like you are dying.”

 

Rinpoche first spends a lot of time describing how to live in the practice of Buddhist’s by living with a deep devotion to medative thought.  He states that all your reality is in the mind, and this produces what we have come to in the west as karma the absolute tenant of Buddhism.  When in fact the end goal of meditation is to stop grasping at things of this material world and let go of ALL thought, reaching the empty and meaningless Buddha nature absent of karma …  Liberation. You are then at absolute peace with no reason to reincarnate and the circle then ends.  This alone in my view is the koan nature of Tibetan Zen Buddhism, opposites defining each other and coming together as ONE.

 

Speaking of opposites, Rinpoche’s conclusion is profound in tying religion and science together.  He says “Ultimately the vision of the Buddhist bardo teachings and the deepest understanding of both art and science all converge on one fact, our responsibility to and for ourselves; and the necessity of using that responsibility in the most urgent and far-reaching way to transform of our lives, and so the world around us.  As Buddha said “I have shown you the way to liberation, now you must take it for yourself.””