Terrifying sounds are heard such as the din of a tumbling mountain, the crashing of storm waves on the ocean, the crackling noise of fire and the howling of wind. There again, we should not be afraid but rather think that these are only deluded, manifestations of our mind without real existence.

Bokar Rinpoche was born to a nomadic family in Western Tibet in 1940. Recognized as a reincarnation by the Sixteenth Karmapa, he studied at Bokar and Tsurphu Monasteries. He left Tibet at twenty and completed two three-year retreats under the guidance of Kaku Rinpoche. A remarkable Kagyu Meditation master, he teaches practice in Buddhist centers around the world and conducts a meditation seminar for Westerns each year in India. His radiant peace of mind, ineffable love, and the refinement of his intelligence are signs of his great accomplishment. Through his profound wisdom and the clarity of his teaching, he helps anyone who wants to engage on the path of meditation.

Buddhism asserts that all beings live beyond the various fluctuations of this life. Death is merely a passage to rebirth in another realm such as the human world, a pure land or the flowering of the ultimate nature of the mind. Using the wisdom available in Tibetan Buddhism, Bokar Rinpoche explains and guides us through the experience of death and beyond.

Death and the Art of Dying, Bokar Rinpoche, Clear Point Press, Paperback, 1993/2001, 143 pp, $15.95.

Bokar Rinpoche was born to a family of nomads in Western Tibet in 1940. Recognized at four as the reincarnation of the previous Bokar Rinpoche by the Sixteenth Karmapa, he studied at Bokar and Tsurpu Monasteries. He left Tibet for India at twenty and completed two three-year retreats under the guidance of the great Tibetan master, Kalu Rinpoche. Because of his remarkable qualities and deep realization, he succeeded Kalu Rinpoche as head of the Shangpa Kagyu Lineage. He teaches advanced Vajrayana practice at monasteries in Northern India and Buddhist centers throughout the world.

CONTENTS: Death and the Art of Dying In Tibetan Buddhism
Introduction to the French text		9
Death		11
The bardos of death		11
	The bardo of the moment of death	15
	The bardo of dharmata	26
	The bardo of becoming	29
Further details on the bardos of death		31
Practicing with the bardos		39
Suicide		40
Death of great beings		41
The nature of things		47
Art of dying		65
Dying without fear		65
Three ways of dying		70
	Dying while thinking of the Land of Bliss	70
	Dying while thinking of sending and taking	73
	Dying while remaining in the nature of the mind	74
Special issues		78
Approaching death		81
Becoming mindful of impermanence		81
Impermanence in five points		83
The seven branch prayer		88
When other people die		95
Attending dying people		95
Methods of compassion		105
The names of the Buddha		109
Further details		113
Special techniques		117
Appendix 1 The six bardos		120
Appendix 2 Seven Branch Prayer		122
Small glossary		125
Index		141