Graceful Exits, How Great Beings Die: Death Stories of Tibetan, Hindu and Zen Masters, compiled and edited by Sushila Blackman (TPB, 1997, $2.25)
"In a society in which the fact of death is obscured by fear and denial, we are in dire need of teachers who can show us how to leave this world with grace and dignity, and to place death in its true perspective. Graceful Exits offers such guidance in the form of 108 stories recounting the ways in which Hindu, Tibetan, and Zen Buddhist masters, both ancient and modern, have confronted their own deaths. By directly presenting the grace, clarity, and even humor with which great spiritual teachers have met the end of their days, it provides inspiration and nourishment to anyone truly concerned with the fundamental issues of life and death."
Sometimes last words are profound- "Happiness comes when the individual merges in God". Sometimes they are humorous- "My, but this cake is delicious!"
The final story is the author's own. Just as she finished this book she found she had terminal cancer. "I had, unknowingly, been busy compiling a training manual for my own "graceful exit".
I have known people who lived life with grace, but fell apart as they came close to death. I have also known people who lived lives of anger and denial, who ended their life with great peace and dignity. Most of us fall somewhere in between. Hopefully this book can help those of us who are not "great beings" make our "exit" a graceful one.
Look for this book on the new non-fiction table, avail. 3/23. (L-int. rel.)
