Lessons from the Dying

by Rodney Smith, Joseph Goldstein (Foreword by)

Overview

Are a person's perceptions and values altered when facing the end of life? Do the dying see the world in a way that could help the rest of us learn how to live? This book takes ns into the lessons of the dying. Through the words and circumstances of the terminally ill, we become immersed in their wisdom and in our own mortality. The dying speak to us in direct and personal ways, pointing us toward a wise and sane way to live.

In everyday language we can all understand, Rodney Smith extends the conversation about death to people of all ages and states of health. Weaving ancient truths from our religious traditions around true stories of hospice patients, the book develops a clear course for investigating the purpose and direction of our lives. Through exercises and guided meditative reflections at the end of each chapter, the lessons of the dying become a blueprint for our own growth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781614291947
Publisher:	Wisdom Publications MA
Publication date:	01/13/2015
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Rodney Smith, a guiding teacher for the Insight Meditation Society, has taught insight meditation since 1984. He is a former Buddhist monk and worked in hospice care for seventeen years. The author of Lessons From the Dying and Stepping Out of Self-Deception, he founded and guides the Seattle Insight Meditation Society.

Joseph Goldstein has been leading insight and loving-kindness meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. He is a cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Massachusetts, where he continues as one of the resident guiding teachers. In 1989, together with several other teachers and students, he established the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and, later, The Forest Refuge. A seminal figure in the emergence of Buddhism in the West, Joseph is the author of numerous books including One Dharma. He lives in Barre, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Foreword Joseph Goldstein xiii

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction 1

My Journey 2

About the Reflections and Exercises 4

1 Delighting in the Mystery 7

The Intuitive Heart 11

Appreciation and Joy 13

Mystery and Joy 16

2 Seeing Things as They Are 19

Reflecting on Death 22

Observing Resistance 29

3 Risking Our Lives 31

The Urgency to Change 33

From Fear to Affection 37

Habits and Change 42

4 Acknowledging the Shadow 45

Separating Life and Death 47

The Meeting of Life and Death 50

The Shadow 54

5 Being Human 57

Dying as a Human Being 60

Addressing Our Fears 63

Forgiveness 66

Bearing Our Humanity 72

6 Learning from Every Experience 75

Using Life for Learning 77

The Known and the Unknown 82

Learning from Death 85

Learning from the Unknown 88

7 Listening from the Heart 91

Projections 93

Listening to the Dying 95

True and Useful 98

Intimacy 100

Listening and Speaking 103

8 Searching for Meaning 107

Hope 110

The Relativity of Meaning 115

Finding Meaning 121

9 Understanding Our Suffering 123

Understanding Suffering 126

In Conflict with Reality 130

Befriending Pain 134

10 Opening Our Hearts 137

Finding Our Affection 139

The Caring Heart 142

Love and the Ego 147

Love, Compassion, and Intimacy 150

11 The Dying Mind 153

Denial 155

The Loss of Control 158

Losing Our Sense of Self 161

Trusting the Process 163

Letting Go of Control 166

12 Understanding Grief 169

How We Grieve 171

Why We Grieve 174

Grief and Change 176

Opening the Heart to Grief 178

13 The Ending of Time 181

Fractured Time 184

Integrating into Time Present 187

Understanding Your Relationship to Time 191

14 The Deathless 193

Living Our Death 195

From Death to the Deathless 197

Further Reading 203

About the Author 207

Editorial Reviews

"Smith communicates such a deep trust in death that we, too, as readers, start to regard death as a friend."

Inquiring Mind

"In Lessons from the Dying, Rodney Smith shares with clarity and compassion 15 years of insights and skillful means learned from working with the dying. Schooled in Buddhist meditation, Rodney brings clarity and a straightforward approach to these 'lessons' which makes them quite practical for the deepening of the mind as well as the broadening of the heart. He offers to the dying first, and the rest of us by association, an increase in loving presence."

Stephen Levine

"Filled with his wise and rich experience, this is a valuable book of practice, stories and meditations."

Jack Kornfield

"In this book, the richness of Rodney's years of meditation practice combine with his years of working with those dying and those left behind. It is a clear, practical and compassionate combination. The book rests on Rodney's profound dedication to the truth, which shines through in the text, the stories, the reflections and the exercises."

Sharon Salzberg

"Lessons From the Dying could also be called 'lessons for the living' because of the courageous honesty revealed in so many of the stories told here....Rodney skillfully guides us through the subtleties and nuances of our own assumptions, hopes, and fears, and shows the possibility of living and dying with an open heart. [This book] is a wise and gentle reminder of what faces us all, a reminder that death is the great mystery that illuminates life."

Joseph Goldstein

"Lessons from the Dying is a personal and heartfelt exploration of the human spirit and our inevitable encounter with death."

Joan Halifax

"Many will find Smith's heartfelt exploration of the human spirit intriguing and comforting. The book is not so much about dying, but how to live fully, embracing the inevitability of change and loss."

Today's Librarian

"Smith writes compellingly on the nature, value, and connection between life and death. [The dying] have much to teach us about the manner in which we could begin to lives our lives anew. This book is an eloquent, sensitive testimony by an individual who has deeply considered this important, life-altering event."

The Beacon

"Keeps coming back persistently to the wisdom the dying have for us."

Tricycle: The Buddhist Review

"In this extraordinary volume, Rodney Smith opens our hearts, minds, and souls to the great mystery we all must face."

Values & Visions