Mindfully Facing Disease and Death: Compassionate Advice from Early Buddhist Texts

by Bhikkhu Analayo

Overview

Praise for Analayo:

"Serious meditation students will benefit tremendously from the clarity of understanding that Venerable Analayo's efforts have achieved."—Sharon Salzberg, author of Real Happiness

This book provides a practical guide for those facing disease and death by helping them to access the ageless wisdom of the Buddha's teaching.

Disease and death are undeniably integral parts of human life. Yet when they manifest we are easily caught unprepared. To prepare for these, we need to learn how to skillfully face illness and passing away. A source of practical wisdom can be found in the early discourses that record the teachings given by the Buddha and his disciples.

Analayo's chief aim is to provide a collection of passages taken from the Buddha's early discourses that provide guidance for facing disease and death. He focuses on the theme of compassion, and is concerned with anukampa: compassion as the underlying motivation in altruistic action.

Analayo uses his own translations from the Chinese originals, presented here for the first time. Taken together with his practical commentary, we thereby gain a first-hand impression of what early Buddhism had to say about disease and death.

Analayo is a professor of Buddhist Studies at the Sri Lanka International Academy in Pallekele. He teaches at the Center for Buddhist Studies of the University of Hamburg and researches at the Dharma Drum Buddhist College in Taiwan.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781909314726
Publisher:	Windhorse Publications
Publication date:	02/14/2017
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	1,160,193
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Analayo is a professor of Buddhist Studies at the Sri Lanka International Academy in Pallekele. He teaches at the Center for Buddhist Studies of the University of Hamburg and researches at the Dharma Drum Buddhist College in Taiwan. Analayo's published works include Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization (2003), Perspectives on Satipatthana (2014) and Compassion and Emptiness in Early Buddhist Meditation (2015).

Table of Contents

About the Author xi

Acknowledgement xii

Publisher's Acknowledgements xiii

Doctrinal Topics Introduced In Each Chapter xv

Foreword xvii

Introduction 1

Chapter I The Buddha As A Supreme Physician 9

1 Introduction 9

2 Translation 11

3 Discussion 14

Chapter II Sick Body and Healthy Mind 17

1 Introduction 17

2 Translation 18

3 Discussion 24

Chapter III The Arrow Of Pain 27

1 Introduction 27

2 Translation 28

3 Discussion 31

Chapter IV Qualities of a Patient and a Nurse 35

1 Introduction 35

2 Translation (1) 36

3 Translation (2) 37

4 Discussion 38

Chapter V The Healing Potential of the Awakening Factors 43

1 Introduction 43

2 Translation 45

3 Discussion 47

Chapter VI Mindful Pain Reduction 51

1 Introduction 51

2 Translation 53

3 Discussion 56

Chapter VII Enduring Pain with Mindfulness 59

1 Introduction 59

2 Translation 60

3 Discussion 63

Chapter VIII Mindfully Facing Disease 66

1 Introduction 66

2 Translation 67

3 Discussion 71

Chapter IX Fearlessness When Sick 74

1 Introduction 74

2 Translation 75

3 Discussion 77

Chapter X The Medicine of Insight 81

1 Introduction 81

2 Translation 82

3 Discussion 86

Chapter XI Liberating Teachings from a Patient 90

1 Introduction 90

2 Translation 91

3 Discussion 97

Chapter XII A Curative Meditation Programme 99

1 Introduction 99

2 Translation 100

3 Discussion 104

Chapter XIII The Inevitability of Death 110

1 Introduction 110

2 Translation 111

3 Discussion 114

Chapter XIV Mindful Freedom from Grief 118

1 Introduction 118

2 Translation 119

3 Discussion 123

Chapter XV Dying and the Divine Abodes 127

1 Introduction 127

2 Translation 129

3 Discussion 133

Chapter XVI Deathbed Instructions 135

1 Introduction 135

2 Translation 137

3 Discussion 140

Chapter XVII Non-Attachment and Terminal Disease 143

1 Introduction 143

2 Translation 144

3 Discussion 146

Chapter XVIII Advice on Palliative Care 151

1 Introduction 151

2 Translation 152

3 Discussion 156

Chapter XIX Mindful Dying 159

1 Introduction 159

2 Translation 160

3 Discussion 165

Chapter XX The Liberating Potential Of Death 167

1 Introduction 167

2 Translation 167

3 Discussion 171

Chapter XXI The Power of Insight at the Time of Dying 176

1 Introduction 176

2 Translation 176

3 Discussion 182

Chapter XXII The Last Words of an Accomplished Lay Disciple 185

1 Introduction 185

2 Translation 187

3 Discussion 190

Chapter XXIII The Buddha's Meditative Passing Away 192

1 Introduction 192

2 Translation (1) 193

3 Translation (2) 194

4 Discussion 196

Chapter XXIV Recollection of Death 200

1 Introduction 200

2 Translation 201

3 Discussion 203

Conclusion and Meditation Instructions 208

Introduction 208

The Meditation Instructions to Girimananda 210

The Perception of Impermanence (1) 214

The Perception of Not-Self (2) 216

The Perception of the Lack of Beauty (3) 217

The Perception of Danger (4) 220

The Perception of Abandoning (5) 223

The Perception of Dispassion (6) 226

The Perception of Cessation (7) 227

The Perception of Not Delighting in the Whole World (8) 227

The Perception of Impermanence in All Formations (9) 228

Mindfulness of Breathing (10) 229

Appendix on Mindfulness of Breathing 242

Postscript by Aming TU 250

References 257

List of Abbreviations 267

Index of Subjects 269

Index Locorum 281