Death and Bereavement Across Cultures

Death and Bereavement Across Cultures

Author: Pittu Laungani

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2003-09-02

Total Pages: 412

ISBN-13: 1134789777

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All societies have their own customs and beliefs surrounding death. In the West, traditional ways of mourning are disappearing, and though science has had a major impact on views of death, it has taught us little about the way to die or to grieve. Many who come into contact with the dying and the bereaved from other cultures are at a loss to know how to offer appropriate and sensitive support. Death and Bereavement Across Cultures, provides a handbook with which to meet the needs of doctors, nurses, social workers, counsellors and others involved in the care of the dying and bereaved. Written by international authorities in the field, this important text: * describes the rituals and beliefs of major world religions * explains their psychological and historical context * shows how customs change on contact with the West * considers the implications for the future This book explores the richness of mourning traditions around the world with the aim of increasing the understanding which we all bring to the issue of death.


The Arts of Contemplative Care

The Arts of Contemplative Care

Author: Cheryl A Giles

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2012-11-24

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 1614290377

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Powerful and life-affirming, this watershed volume brings together the voices of pioneers in the field of contemplative care--from hospice and hospitals to colleges, prisons, and the military. Illustrating the day-to-day words and actions of pastoral workers, each first-person essay in this collection offers a distillation of the wisdom gained over years of compassionate experience. The stories told here are sure to inspire--whether you are a professional caregiver or simply feel inclined toward guiding, healing, and comforting roles. If you are inspired to read this book, or even one touching story in it, you just might find yourself inspired to change a life.


A Buddhist Grief Observed

A Buddhist Grief Observed

Author: Guy Newland

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2016-08-09

Total Pages: 129

ISBN-13: 1614293015

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Amid the world-shattering pain of loss, what helps? In the tradition of C.S. Lewis's A Grief Observed, Guy Newland offers this brave record of falling to pieces and then learning to make sense of his pain and grief within his spiritual tradition. Drawing inspiration from all corners of the Buddhist world--from Zen stories and the Dalai Lama, to Pema Chödrön and ancient Pali texts--this book reverberates with honesty, kindness, and deep humanity. Newland shows us the power of responding fully and authentically to the death of a loved one.


Preparing to Die

Preparing to Die

Author: Andrew Holecek

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2013-07-09

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 1559394080

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We all face death, but how many of us are actually ready for it? Whether our own death or that of a loved one comes first, how prepared are we, spiritually or practically? In Preparing to Die, Andrew Holecek presents a wide array of resources to help the reader address this unfinished business. Part One shows how to prepare one's mind and how to help others, before, during, and after death. The author explains how spiritual preparation for death can completely transform our relationship to the end of life, dissolving our fear and helping us to feel open and receptive to letting go in the dying process. Daily meditation practices, the stages of dying and how to work with them, and after-death experiences are all detailed in ways that will be particularly helpful for those with an interest in Tibetan Buddhism and in Tibetan approaches to conscious dying. Part Two addresses the practical issues that surround death. Experts in grief, hospice, the funeral business, and the medical and legal issues of death contribute chapters to prepare the reader for every practical concern, including advance directives, green funerals, the signs of death, warnings about the funeral industry, the stages of grief, and practical care for the dying. Part Three contains heart-advice from twenty of the best-known Tibetan Buddhist masters now teaching in the West. These brief interviews provide words of solace and wisdom to guide the dying and their caregivers during this challenging time. Preparing to Die is for anyone interested in learning how to prepare for death from a Buddhist perspective, both spiritually and practically. It is also for those who want to learn how to help someone else who is dying, both during the time of illness and death as well as after death.


The Heart of Buddhist Meditation

The Heart of Buddhist Meditation

Author: Nyanaponika Thera

Publisher: Buddhist Publication Society

Published: 2005-12-01

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 9552401003

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In print for more than fifty years and translated into some ten languages, Nyanaponika Thera’s The Heart of Buddhist Meditation has attained the stature of a modern spiritual classic. Combining deep personal insight with the power of clear exposition, the author guides the reader into the essential principles making up the Buddha’s Way of Mindfulness. Besides offering a lucid account of the basic practices of insight meditation, the book contains a complete translation of the Great Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness, the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha’s own instructions on the practice. “A work of unique importance ... written with great depth, extraordinary knowledge, deep humanity... I do not know of any book which could be compared to this work as a guide to meditation.” Erich Fromm


Mindfulness and Grief

Mindfulness and Grief

Author: Heather Stang

Publisher: Ryland Peters & Small

Published: 2018-12-06

Total Pages: 183

ISBN-13: 178249782X

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Without proper support, navigating the icy waters of grief may feel impossible. The grieving person may feel spiritually bankrupt and often the loss is so painful that the bereaved may lose faith in what they once held dear. Mindfulness meditation can restore hope by offering a compassionate safe haven for healing and self-reflection. While nobody can predict the path of someone else's grief, this book will guide the reader forward through the grieving process with simple mindfulness-based exercises to restore mind, body and spirit. These easy-to-follow meditations will help the reader to cope with the pain of loss, and embark on a healing journey. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of grief, and the guided meditations will calm the mind and increase clarity and focus. Mindfulness and Grief will help readers to begin the process of reconstructing the shattered self that is left in the wake of any major loss.


Buddhist Rituals of Death and Rebirth

Buddhist Rituals of Death and Rebirth

Author: Rita Langer

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2007-08-07

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1134158734

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Drawing on early Vedic sutras and Pali texts as well as archaeological and epigraphical material, this book provides a thorough analysis of the rituals and social customs surrounding death in the Theravada tradition of Sri Lanka.


If You Meet the Buddha on the Road

If You Meet the Buddha on the Road

Author: Michael Jerryson

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-03-01

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 0190683570

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It is said that the famous ninth century Chinese Buddhist monk Linji Yixuan told his disciples, "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him." The deliberately confounding statement is meant to shock people out of complacent ways of thinking. But beyond the purposeful jolt from complacency there is another intention. This axiom suggests that, for liberation, one should seek the Buddha nature that resides within, rather than a mere Buddha exterior. The metaphor of killing the Buddha dislodges a person from the illusion that enlightenment lies outside the body. The proclamation also highlights the power of violence, even on a symbolic level. Violence abounds in Buddhist thoughts, doctrine, and actions, however unacknowledged or misunderstood. If You Meet the Buddha on the Road addresses an important absence in the study of religion and violence: the religious treatment of violence. In order to pursue an understanding of the relationship between Buddhism and violence, it is important to first consider how Buddhist scriptures and followers understand violence. Drawing on Buddhist treatments of violence, Michael Jerryson explores the ways in which Buddhists invoke, support, or justify war, conflict, state violence, and gender discrimination. In addition, the book examines the ways in which Buddhists address violence as military chaplains, cope with violence in a conflict zone, and serve as witnesses of blasphemy to Buddhist doctrine and Buddha images.


Complexities of Spiritual Care in Plural Societies

Complexities of Spiritual Care in Plural Societies

Author: Anne Hege Grung

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2022-11-07

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 3110717387

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This volume contributes to an emerging field that could be referred to as "plural spiritual care and chaplaincy". It's innovative approach brings together contributions from a broad range of contexts and religious traditions and includes empirical work and conceptual explorations. It helps to fill the gap between practices and developments related to plural spiritual care and chaplaincy in the scholarly discourse.