"A Stunning Guide Through Afterlife Vision of Tibetan Buddhism"

While Sogyal Rinpoche’s "Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" has been a regular item on bookstore shelves since its first publication a full decade ago, I just recently came to the book.

It’s the first time I ever finished the last page of a book and immediately returned to page one to retrace the steps I had just completed.

Over the years "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" has been viewed as one of the most complete and genuine presentations of Tibetan Buddhist teachings ever presented in the west. It has been used as a primary source for many workshops and courses on Buddhism. Now published in 14 languages, it is now studied around the globe.

Rinpoche has the all too rare gift to bridge the frequently daunting chasm between eastern and western thought and spritual traditions. A lifelong student of Tibetan Buddhism, Rinpoche has the ability to present often complex and obscure Tibetan metaphysics in a manner and language accessible to westerners.

His explanations of such basic Buddhist concepts as impermanence, Buddha nature, karma, rebirth, bardo states and egolessness manage to cut through many of the simplistic - and frequently faulty - interpretations of those concepts that have evolved in the west.

Of most value, however, Rinpoche provides practical insights on placing Buddhist practice in everyday living - and dying - by providing gentle guidance on meditation, the use of mantras and visualization. In a culture so mesmirized by the glitterry toys of the physical realm and so allergic to contemplation of death, Rinpoche shares an ancient worldview that is as comforting as it is radical to western spiritual benchmarks.

I found the book to be a wonderful gift in the months leading up to my mother’s lingering death from lung cancer.

Echoing the "Engaged Buddhism" teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, Rinpoche’s words continually challenge us to integrate the past with the present, the east with the west, spiritual with the secular. His teachings are no "pie-in-the-sky" promise of heavenly reward. Instead he places the challenge in the only spot that counts - right before us in the unrelenting clear light of today and this precious moment.

- M.L. Taylor