Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death
The Buddhist approach to death can be of great benefit to people of all backgrounds—as has been demonstrated time and again in Joan Halifax’s decades of work with the dying and their caregivers. Inspired by traditional Buddhist teachings, her work is a source of wisdom for all those who are charged with a dying person’s care, facing their own death, or wishing to explore and contemplate the transformative power of the dying process. Her teachings affirm that we can open and contact our inner...
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The Buddhist approach to death can be of great benefit to people of all backgrounds—as has been demonstrated time and again in Joan Halifax’s decades of work with the dying and their caregivers. Inspired by traditional Buddhist teachings, her work is a source of wisdom for all those who are charged with a dying person’s care, facing their own death, or wishing to explore and contemplate the transformative power of the dying process. Her teachings affirm that we can open and contact our inner strength, and that we can help others who are suffering to do the same. Publishers Weekly In this moving meditation on palliative care, Halifax tells a story about a dying Zen teacher who confesses to his students: "Maybe I will die in fear or pain. Remember there is no right way." This sentiment forms the core of a book that provides practical and philosophical guidance to caregivers. Drawing on her 30 years of experience in the "contemplative care of the dying," Halifax honestly enumerates the challenges of being with the dying while exalting it as "a school for unlearning the patterns of resistance... [it] enjoins us to be still, let go, listen, and be open to the unknown." According to Halifax, "bearing witness to dying" can teach innumerable lessons to the living—assuming "we give up our tight control strategies, our ideas of what it means to die well." Halifax is a Zen priest, and while many of her teachings derive from Buddhism, her supremely readable book will attract readers of all faiths who will appreciate her clarity and compassion and the poignancy of these stories of ordinary people facing their final hours with quiet courage. (June)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Introduction Healing the DividePt. 1 Uncharted Territory 11 A Path of Discovery: The Lucky Dark 3Meditation: How Do You Want to Die? 62 The Heart of Meditation: Language and Silence 9Meditation: Strong Back, Soft Front 143 Overcoming the Porcupine Effect: Moving Past Fear into Tenderness 17Meditation: Mercy - Exchanging Self with Other 234 The Wooden Puppet and Iron Man: Selfless Compassion, Radical Optimism 25Meditation: Contemplating Our Priorities 335 At Home in the Infinite: Dwelling in the Boundless Abodes 37Meditation: Boundless Abodes for Living and Dying 456 You Are Already Dying: Realizing Impermanence, Selflessness, and Freedom 47Meditation: The Nine Contemplations 54Pt. 2 Giving No Fear 617 Fictions that Hinder and Heal: Facing Truth and Finding Meaning 63Meditation: Bearing Witness to Two Truths 678 The Two Arrows: I Am in Pain and I Am Not Suffering 71Meditation: Encountering Pain 789 Giving No Fear: Transforming Poison into Medicine 81Meditation: Giving and Receiving through Tonglen 8810 Take Care of Your Life, Take Care of the World: Seeing My Own Limits with Compassion 93Meditation: Boundless Caring 9911 The Jeweled Net: Communities of Care 101Meditation: The Circle of Truth 10712 Wounded Healers: The Shadow Side of Caregiving 113Meditation: Four Profound Reminders 122Pt. 3 Making a Whole Cloth 12513 Doorways to Truth: From Fear to Liberation 127Meditation: Walking Meditation 13314 Embracing the Road: How We Remember, Assess, Express, and Find Meaning 137Meditation:Letting Go through the Breath 14215 Between Life, Between People: How We Forgive, Reconcile, Express Gratitude, and Love 145Meditation: Boundless Abodes for Transforming Relationships 14916 The Great Matter: There is No One Right Way 151Meditation: Encountering Death 15917 The Broken Pine Branch: Deaths of Acceptance and Liberation 163Meditation: Dissolution of the Elements after Death 17218 Gratitude for the Vessel: Care of the Body after Death 179Meditation: Charnel Ground Meditation 18519 River of Loss: The Plunge of Sorrow 189Meditation: Encountering Grief 195Afterword: Being One with Dying 197Acknowledgments 203
\ Publishers WeeklyIn this moving meditation on palliative care, Halifax tells a story about a dying Zen teacher who confesses to his students: "Maybe I will die in fear or pain. Remember there is no right way." This sentiment forms the core of a book that provides practical and philosophical guidance to caregivers. Drawing on her 30 years of experience in the "contemplative care of the dying," Halifax honestly enumerates the challenges of being with the dying while exalting it as "a school for unlearning the patterns of resistance... [it] enjoins us to be still, let go, listen, and be open to the unknown." According to Halifax, "bearing witness to dying" can teach innumerable lessons to the living—assuming "we give up our tight control strategies, our ideas of what it means to die well." Halifax is a Zen priest, and while many of her teachings derive from Buddhism, her supremely readable book will attract readers of all faiths who will appreciate her clarity and compassion and the poignancy of these stories of ordinary people facing their final hours with quiet courage. (June)\ Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.\ \
