Where Western society views death as the last taboo, the Tibetan tradition incorporates meditation on death into everyday life. Tibetan Buddhists believe that a conscious awareness of one's own impermanence allows a person to live a happy, fulfilled life.

Over the centuries the Tibetans have developed a wide-ranging literature on death, including inspirational poetry and prose, prayers, and practical works on care for the dying.

Presented here are nine Tibetan texts. Important writings by the Second, Seventh, and Thirteenth Dalai Lamas, and by Karma Lingpa, author of the Tibetan Book of the Dead, are included. Topics such as meditation techniques to prepare for death, inspirational accounts of the deaths of saints and yogis, and methods for training the mind in the transference of consciousness at the time of death.

Detailed notes and a bibliography of the translated texts are included.

Living in the Face of Death: The Tibetan Tradition, Glenn Mullin, Snow Lion Publications, 238 pages, $24.95.

Glenn H. Mullin is an internationally renowned Tibetologist, author, and expert on Buddhist meditation. Glenn Lived in Dharamsala, India, the home of the Dalai Lama, for many years, where he studied Tibetan language, literature, yoga, and meditation under twenty-five of the greatest masters of Tibet. He is the author of over fifteen books on Buddhist topics and has led many pilgrimages to Nepal and Tibet in the last five years. He now divides his time between writing, lecturing, giving workshops, leading pilgrimages to the power places of Central Asia.

	Foreword by Professor Huston Smith		7
	Preface by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross		11
	Acknowledgments		15
	Introduction		19
	1.	Death and Bodhisattva Trainings by Gyalwa Tubten Gyatso	45
	2.	Tibetan Traditions of Death Meditation by Geshe Ngawang Dargye	69
	3.	A Conversation with an Old Man by Lama Gungtang Konchok Dronme	89
	4.	The Death of Gye-re Lama by Terton Dulzhug Lingpa	101
	5.	Self-Liberation by Knowing the Signs of Death by Terton Karma Lingpa	129
	6.	The Longevity Yogas of the Bodhisattva of Life by Gyalwa Gendun Gyatso	149
	7.	The Yoga of Consciousness Transference by Lama Tsechokling Yeshe Gyaltsen	171
	8.	A Ritual for Caring for the Dead by Lama Mahasukha	189
	9.	Meditations on the Ways of Impermanence by Gyalwa Kalzang Gyatso	209
	Epilogue		215
	Notes		221
	Bibliography of Texts Translated		237