Living in the face of death : the Tibetan tradition /

In his sterling foreword to this collection, comparative religion professor Huston Smith remarks that death is to contemporary American culture what sex was to Victorian British culture, a subject to be whispered about behind closed doors. Westerners fear death and have created new technologies to deny death for as long as possible, primarily because they view life and death as two distinct stages. Tibetan Buddhists do not distinguish between life and death in such a rigid way, as Mullin demonstrates in this collection of Tibetan Buddhist texts about death. Mullin, who conducts workshops and lectures on Tibetan Buddhism, gathers nine important Tibetan Buddhist texts from the 15th century to the 20th century. The topics covered range from a hagiographic account of the death of a bodhisattva and "self-liberation by knowing the signs of death" to "Tibetan traditions of death meditation" and rituals for caring for the dead. Each selection emphasizes the Tibetan Buddhist belief that awareness of our transitory state can contribute to our happiness and well-being. Mullin's introduction provides a detailed examination of Tibetan Buddhist history and doctrine, and the translations of the nine texts sparkle with such clarity that the multi-faceted gems of Tibetan Buddhist belief shine boldly. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Mullin has given us clear translations of nine fairly short texts from the Tibetan Death-Awareness tradition. The texts come from varied genres (sermons, poetry, biography) and time periods, each exemplifying some aspect of Tibetan thinking about death: how to live with death in prospect, how to help a dying person, what to expect in the bardo (the state between death and rebirth), and how to have an auspicious rebirth. An enlightening introduction covers general Buddhist beliefs, a brief history of Tibet, and Tibetan literature‘virtually unknown in the West. Mullin, a scholar of Tibetan language and culture, works in Dharamsala, India (the seat of the Dalai Lama's exiled government), at the Library of Tibetan Archives Research and Translation Bureau. A small criticism: Mullin tends to consider Tibetan thinking and behavior better than Western rather than just different. The reader may make the opposite judgment. Recommended for academic and public libraries with strong collections in religion and philosophy.‘James F. DeRoche, Alexandria, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.