What I Don't Know about Death: Reflections on Buddhism and Mortality

A Buddhist scholar reflects on life, death, and the ways we blind ourselves to the inevitable as he confronts his own mortality.

In the winter of 2020 a renowned scholar of Asian religions, lifelong meditator, and novelist accustomed to vigorous health received a terminal diagnosis. By summer his cancer had run its course. In the short time in between, C. W. “Sandy” Huntington faced his own impending death, leading him to reconsider the teachings and practices, as well as philosophy and lite...