My uncle passed away a few days ago and I am leaving shortly to go up to Sonoma to be with my family for the Sabbath.<\/p>\n
In preparation, my heart has led me to begin reading the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche.<\/p>\n
A quote from Sogyal Rinpoche for safe keeping:<\/p>\n
“To follow the path of wisdom has never been more urgent or more difficult. Our society is dedicated almost entirely tothe celebration of ego, with all its sad fantasies about success and power, and it celebrates those very forces of greed and ignorance that are destroying the planet. It has never been more difficult to hear the unflattering voice of the truth, and never more difficult, once having heard it, to follow it: because there is nothing in the world around us that supports our choice, and the entire society in which we live seems to negate every idea of sacredness or eternal meaning. So at the time of our most acute danger, when our very future is in doubt, we as human beings find ourselves at our most bewildered, and trapped in a nightmare of our own creation.”<\/p>\n And a quote from a reviewer for greater context:<\/p>\n “The subject of death has been most puzzling and perplexing to humankind since the time immemorial. The Eastern way of looking at the death as only a ‘transition’ is explained by the author in a profoundly simple manner. The book certainly helps one to understand the true meaning of the phenomena called death. This understanding helps one to reduce the irrational fear of death. From the lives of the great men and women we know that those who ‘lived’ a life can only meet the ‘death’ with equnimity. Thus the author has first taught the art of ‘living’. It is only through right type of living that we can ‘live’ the death also.
\nI suggest that this book be read by all the Buddhist as well as by non buddhists also. Every one who reads it will find something for him\/her.
\nI salute Sogyal Rinpoche for giving us a wonderful gift of THE TIBETAN BOOK OF LIVING AND DYING.”<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"