Chapter 2 Translator's Preface

In this timely book, Sogyal Rinpoche discusses in depth how to understand the true meaning of life, how to accept death, and how to help the dying and the dead.There is life, and there is death naturally. Everyone needs to face death sooner or later.When we are still alive, we can deal with death in two ways: ignore death, or face our own death, and reduce the pain that death may cause by thinking clearly about death.Neither of these approaches, though, will allow us to truly overcome death.As a Buddhist, I regard death as a normal process, as long as I live on this earth, it will inevitably happen.After I knew that I couldn't escape death, I didn't see anything to worry about.I would rather think of death as a garment that wears out and must be replaced with a new one, rather than an end.Yet death is unpredictable: we don't know when or how we're going to die.Therefore, before death actually happens, it is necessary for us to do some preparatory work. Most of us naturally want to die in peace, but it is obviously impossible to hope to die in peace if our lives are full of violence, if our hearts are always controlled by emotions such as anger, attachment or fear.Therefore, if we wish to die well, we must learn how to live well: if we wish to die peacefully, we must cultivate peace in our hearts and in our daily lives. As you will read in this book, the actual experience of death is very important from a Buddhist point of view.While how and where we will be reborn depends largely on karma, our state of mind at the moment of death can make or break our next life.Therefore, at the moment of death, even though we have accumulated all kinds of karma, as long as we strive to generate a virtuous attitude, we can strengthen and stimulate the virtuous karma, resulting in a happy samsara. The moment of death can also produce the deepest and most beneficial inner experiences.Through the repeated understanding of the death process in meditation, an accomplished meditator can achieve a very high level of enlightenment through his actual death.This is the reason why old monks passed away in meditation.Their bodies often begin to decay long after they are medically declared dead, symbolizing their spiritual accomplishments. Helping others die peacefully is as important as preparing your own death.Each of us is born alone, and if we were not born with care and attention, we would not survive.Because dying people cannot help themselves, we must do everything possible to relieve their pain and anxiety and help them die peacefully. The most important point is to avoid making the dying person's mind more disturbed.Our first goal in helping the dying is to bring them peace, and there are many ways to do this.Dying people who are familiar with the practice method can get encouragement and enlightenment if someone reminds them; but if we can restore the confidence of the dying people with a kind tone, even if they are ordinary, they can have a peaceful and peaceful state of mind. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying provides a meeting point between the two traditions of Tibetan Buddhism and modern science.I believe that both offer considerable benefits to each other at the level of understanding and practice.Sogyal Rinpoche couldn't have been better to bring this meeting together; he grew up in the Tibetan tradition and studied with our greatest lamas.He has also benefited from modern education, having lived and taught in the West for many years, and has a good grasp of the Western way of thinking. This book provides readers not only a theoretical description of death and dying, but also practical methods, which can be used to understand the truth of death and dying, and help themselves and others to die peacefully and fulfillingly.