Since its beginning, Buddhism has been intimately concerned with confronting and understanding death and dying. Indeed, the tradition emphasizes turning toward the realities of sickness, old age, and death - and using those very experiences to develop wisdom and liberating compassion. In recent decades, Buddhist chaplains and caregivers all over the world have been drawing on this tradition to contribute greatly to the development of modern palliative and hospice care in the secular world at large. Specifically Buddhist hospice programs have also been further developing and applying traditional Buddhist practices of preparing for death, attending to the dying and comforting the bereaved. Buddhist Care for the Dying and Bereaved contains comprehensive overviews of the best of such initiatives, drawn from diverse Buddhist traditions, and written by practitioners who embody the best of modern contemplative hospice care programs practiced all over the world today.

Buddhist Care for the Dying and Bereaved: Global Perspectives, Jonathan Watts, Yoshiharu Tomatsu (Editors), Wisdom Publications, 312 Pages, $22.95

Jonathan S. Watts graduated from Princeton University in 1989 with a B.A. in comparative religions and political science. He has been working with the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB) in a variety of capacities since 1990. Living in Japan for over 25 years, he has been coordinating the Engaged Buddhist project at IBEC since 2006 and the Japan Network of Engaged Buddhists (JNEB) since 2009.

Rev. Yoshiharu Tomatsu became a fully ordained Buddhist priest in 1978. As a temple abbot, he has presided over thousands of funerals and memorial services while attending to spiritual needs of lay people. He received his masters of divinity at Taisho University, Tokyo, in 1979 and his master�s of theological studies at Harvard University Divinity School in 1991. Rev. Tomatsu has been the coordinator of Jodo Shu Research Institute Study Group on Bio-Ethics since 2000, an associate professor at Keio University School of Medicine since 2005, and the founder and director of Jodo Shu Research Institute Ojo and Death Project since 2005

	Contents: Buddhist Care for the Dying and Bereaved by Jonathan S. Watts and Yoshiharu Tomatsu
	Introduction, Jonathan S. Watts	1
	JAPAN: Challenges of Caring for the Aging and Dying, Carl B. Becker	19
	JAPAN: Tear Down the Wall: Bridging the Premortem and Postmortem Worlds in Medical and Spiritual Care, Yoshiharu Tomatsu	37
	JAPAN: "True Regard": Shifting to the Patient's Standpoint of Suffering in a Buddhist Hospital, Moichiro Hayashi	57
	JAPAN: The Vihara Movement: Buddhist Chaplaincy and Social Welfare, Yozo Taniyama	75
	USA/JAPAN: One Dies as One Lives: The Importance of Developing Pastoral Care Services and Religious Education, Mari Sengoku	95
	TAIWAN: The Development of Indigenous Hospice Care and Clinical Buddhism, Jonathan S. Watts and Yoshiharu Tomatsu	111
	THAILAND: The Seven Factors of a Peaceful Death: A Theravada Buddhist Approach to Dying, Phaisan Visalo	131
	CAMBODIA: Actualizing Understanding: Compassion, AIDS, Death, and Dying among the Poor, Beth Kanji Goldring	149
	UNITED KINGDOM: The Birth of a New Culture of Active Dying: The Role of Buddhism in Practices and Attitudes Toward Death, Caroline Prasada Brazier	169
	GERMANY: Buddhist Influences on the Scientific, Medical, and Spiritual Cultures of Caring for the Dying, Jonathan S. Watts and Yoshiharu Tomatsu	189
	USA: Being with Dying: The Upaya Institute Contemplative End-of-Life Training Program, Joan Jiko Halifax	209
	USA: Zen Approaches to Terminal Care and Buddhist Chaplaincy Training, Jonathan S. Watts and Yoshiharu Tomatsu	229
	USA: "Listening to the Dharma": Integrating Buddhism into a Multifaith Health Care Environment, Julie Chijo Hanada	249
	Notes	271
	Bibliography	279
	Index	285
	About the Authors	301