Death and Dying in Buddhism
Foreword by Ven. Kusala Bhikshu
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This is not a textbook on death. It is a reminder. The book returns again and again to an ordinary but easily avoided fact: life matters because it ends. Birth and death are not separate problems. Much of our difficulty comes not from dying itself, but from how little attention we give to it while we are alive.
The author does not ask the reader to adopt a belief system or master a body of doctrine. In the chapter Foundations, particularly in the section Who Is Buddhist?, the approach is presented in simple terms. It is grounded in personal reflection rather than religious instruction. The reader is not burdened with having to know everything in order to begin.
Several chapters take the reader into territory that is rarely discussed. Who Dies? asks a direct and unsettling question: what part of me is afraid to die, and what part of me knows it's alive? Fear and the Dying Mind looks at different kinds of fear and offers practical ways of dealing with them. For some readers, these reflections may open new ways of understanding fear.
One passage captures an important thread running through the book: “Death is not the shattering of a core, but the quiet cessation of conditions that were never fixed to begin with.” This understanding of interdependence shifts the focus away from a separate or stand-apart self and toward an ongoing process of changing conditions.
The book is careful to be clear about what Buddhist practice does not promise. It does not guarantee a calm, fearless, or orderly death. We all die in our own way. Karma has a role to play, but so do time, place, and circumstance. This clarity keeps the discussion grounded and avoids idealization.
Throughout the book, practice is presented in plain terms. Medication can help with pain; meditation can help with suffering. Practice is not something to wait for or postpone. It is something to take up now, and to continue in everyday life.
Near the end of the book, the section titled, After Death: Immediate Practical Matters, turns the journey of dying toward what remains for those left behind. Bank accounts, credit cards, homes, pets, funerals — the ordinary work of tying up loose ends is treated as part of responsibility rather than something separate from practice.
That straightforwardness runs throughout the book. It does not avoid death, nor does it make promises about how it will unfold. It invites the reader to meet it with honesty, attention, and some measure of preparation.
— Kusala Bhikshu