Good Life, Good Death
One of the Last Reincarnated Lamas to Be Educated in Tibet Shares Hard-Won Wisdom on Life, Death, and What Comes After
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
"This book is a must-read for those who have ever feared death for themselves or for those they love." -Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., author of Kitchen Table Wisdom
By the late Gehlek Rimpoche, the bestselling book that changed the way we think about death
Who are we? Where did we come from? Where are we going? How do we get there? Many have asked these questions, and many have attempted to answer them. But there is another question Good Life, Good Death asks us to contemplate: how does the idea of life after death affect how we live our lives? Gelek Rimpoche tells stories of the mystical Tibet he lived in, as well as the contemporary America he is now a citizen of, and shares the wisdom of the great masters. He asks us to open our minds and see if we can entertain a bigger picture of life after life, even for a moment. He makes the connection between powerful emotions such as anger, obsession, jealousy and pride, and our past as well as our future.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Tibetan lama Gehlek says he doesn't want to persuade readers of reincarnation; rather, he wants them briefly to consider reincarnation and see how that consideration changes their attitude toward death. His insightful discussions of anger, love, compassion and ego will help readers not only reflect on death, but also as the title suggests to live a good life. Still, Gehlek's fundamental message is about dying: we all have to die eventually, and we should not fear it. He urges us to get to know our death, to imagine and accept it. And though death shouldn't be scary, he admits that it is often hard, even ugly. Gehlek acknowledges that one can have a "bad rebirth," and he cautions that "What I learned in the Buddhist tradition about hell would make your hair stand on end." But that occasional harshness only enriches the book, providing a useful corrective of the feel-good, pick-and-choose ethos of American religion. Gehlek is a felicitous writer, especially gifted with analogy ("Attachment is... like dipping paper in oil. When the paper touches the oil... a large amount of oil is quickly absorbed.") What might seem like needless name-dropping in another writer's hands to wit, Gehlek's many references to Allen Ginsberg here seem gentle and organic. Buddhist readers will cheer about this fresh voice, and even those who don't believe in reincarnation will find something valuable in this short meditation on death.
